Letter Bee – 16

Another filler.

But holy crap, who cares?! This episode was so good that even the main storyline of this show so far was inferior to it. It’s quite possibly my favourite Letter Bee episode so far. It’s true that it’s a bit of a pity that the main storyline isn’t getting anywhere at this pace, but damn. With episodes like these I can really forgive this show for it.

The story in this episode was beautiful, with a rich characterization and gorgeous music. It tells about a pianist called Matilda Rein… who isn’t like what you’d expect as a pianist. She’s down to earth and honest, however very talented when she’s motivated. And it’s her manager who is able to get that potential out of her. The problem however was that the two just continue to bicker when they’re near each other. Cue the manager’s best friend, who puts on a little show to get them together. The previous fillers all had the problem of being a bit shallow, and having characters who were just too simple, but this was different: all three of them were very well coloured and diverse. And the main cast made it even better with their subtle additions, without taking too much screentime for themselves. I loved it when Nichi compared that manager to Matilda’s Dingo. That’s so true. ^^;

And here’s one thing I’ve noticed: there’s a clear distinction between the main storyline and the fillers. At this point, it’s too early to tell what the main storyline has been building up to, however you can see that the fillers have taken up clear themes of truth and honesty and they’re actually exploring these themes really well at this point! They’re actually turning this series into a pretty decent episodic series and at this point the fillers are just going to turn into anime-original material, where they stop being pointless and actually contribute to the storyline!

Seriously, Studio Pierrot has learned! To be honest, I really feared the worst when I first found out that this show would delve into fillers. Remember Naruto and Bleach? Aside from the usual flaws, like how the fillers were shallow, dull and either just silly comic relief or they just told a story for the sake of telling a story and filling up time: the creators couldn’t do anything interesting because the Studio Pierrot executives wouldn’t let them screw up the story of the manga. They just never added something to the series, but these Letter Bee fillers are different. When I first started watching this series, my biggest fear indeed was these Studio Pierrot executives.

Around ten years ago, studio Pierrot made some amazing series with awesome animation (Key the Metal Idol, Kaze no Yuojinbo, GTO, Juuni Kokuki, Fancy Lala, Area 88, et cetera). But after they discovered Naruto, and later Bleach, something seems to have changed with them. I’m really glad that they intend to change the tide this season. Yumeiro Patissiere was a tad to cliched for my tastes, but you could see that it wanted to put a lot of effort into its scenario. And Letter Bee is the same: the writers could have just as easily come up with a number of bargain-bin episodes to fill up time and keep the fans waiting for the main storyline, but the fillers at this point have created something worthwhile on their own.
Rating: ** (Excellent)