Tegami Bachi REVERSE – 05

Moc Sullivan is the only Bee who doesn’t seem to have any redeeming traits, so I probably would’ve been on Roda’s side if they met.

「リバース・ワールド」 (Ribaasu Waarudo)
“Reverse World”

It’s a Reverse World alright, not only in the sense of the anti-government organization revolting against underground spirit amber experiments on humans, but also in how nothing is what it seems. The strict social status requirements on stepping foot into Akatsuki already pose several questions on exactly what the government is doing there — or what it can get away with — but the appearance of an ex-Bee and dingo duo who are now inspectors from the capital does as well when they turn out to be Marauder spies. Whether coincidental or not, it’s worth noting that Caribs Garrard (Inoue Kazuhiko) once set his sights on becoming a Head Bee just like Gauche is now in a similar occupation after finding out that the whole Bee thing wasn’t for him. The same goes for his former dingo Hazel Valentine (Tachiki Fumihiko), who has a way with handling both Wasiolka and Niche.

The rest of the episode outlined how Reverse members have been attacking Bees and stealing letters in the southern Yuusari region, and revealed how Garrard and Valentine were there to perform a Spirit Amber experiment of their own, but felt like there was still some sort of untold truth going on. The fact that Garrard didn’t seem to care about the well-being a young boy made him out to be an antagonist, but the way he purposely let Lag’s shindanjuu expose the memories contained in the Spirit Amber bottle suggested otherwise. In light of that, I find it hard to get a read on Garrard’s motives and if he was truly trying to break Lag’s resolve as a Bee, or if he had confidence in him overcoming the challenge. Then there’s Valentine himself, who seems to enjoy teasing Niche about being a second-rate dingo, yet doesn’t come off as a person with any real ill intent. As such, I’m curious as to whether part of this is an act, meaning they used their supposed defection to infiltrate the Reverse organization.

The prospect of the government thinking that far ahead is definitely more intriguing than things proceeded exactly as they’ve been laid out, though I can’t say this series has every been that roundabout in its storytelling. Whatever the case, I’ll be sure to have my eye on these two when Lag and company cross paths with them again.

 

Now that’s how you make an entrance. The Akatsuki inspectors Caribs Garrard and Hazel Valentine pay a visit to Lloyd and kick his door down in the process.

The biggest kick to a pet owner’s face has to be letting a stranger win their faithful companion over… with a piledriver no less.

Valentine makes it look easy with the way he stopped all of Niche’s golden swords with his bare hands. Garrard on the other hand is calm and collected as usual.

Moc clearly didn’t try hard enough to retrieve those 323 letters he dropped.
On a separate note, I still find it surprising that Connor’s Suganuma Hisayoshi voices him as well.

Lag, Niche, and Steak are stowaways, and surprisingly don’t suspect anything of Garrard even after he knocked a boy with information out of his way.

It sounds like Garrard got fed up with his job as a Bee just because there’s a lot of junk mail being delivered. Now he uses letters as Gaichuu bait by mixing it with Spirit Amber.

It’s Dingo Fighter with their pride on the line. Niche guards against Valentine’s suplex like only she can.

Even with the bottle revealing images of Lawrence rallying Reverse members who were experimented on by the government, Lag still doesn’t seem to suspect anything of Garrard nor Valentine.

At least he showed them that his heart doesn’t waver so easily and that he can still fire his shindanjuu to his heart’s content.

It must be some sort of trend for aspiring Head Bees to end up as Marauders.

Preview

As much as I’d like to see more about Reverse, a Sylvette centric episode is always welcome.