Tag: negima

Anime Wish List

Come to think of it, there are a number of properties that I would have liked to see animated. Let me list down a few of those.

This post may be updated whenever a “wish comes true”, or a new wish comes along.

Death Note
status: Live Action Movie
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Not quite sure of the current story, but I read the first 50 or so chapters of Death Note, and I was so appalled by it’s intricate intelligence. It’s a story of an extremely smart game of cat and mouse, and beyond. The way the protagonist (who seems to be quite evil himself) gets away from situations by making situations is extremely cool. Also cool is the way his enemies hunt him down as intelligently as him. I’m all for intelligent shounen series like this.

Densha Otoko
status: still a wish
Otaku anime about otakus are interesting to watch, but [few->genshiken] and far between. Although I will see a side attraction in terms of NHK ni Youkoso coming next year, I would like Densha Otoko better. The jdorama was awesome, and I think it will really translate well as an anime.

Tenshi no Inai 12-gatsu
status: still a wish
Whenever I think of dating sims, I still think of candy-pop, cute girls in happy high school settings. Though some also deal on serious issues, they only appear near the end of the game just for climactic purposes. But this one game from [Leaf->leaf-aquaplus] totally broke my expectations! It’s depressing, serious, dramatic, and realistic from the get-go. I really want to see this as an anime, sort of a strong contender for ero-game turned anime drama queen Kimi ga Nozomu Eien. Isn’t too farfetched I hope, after all Leaf ‘backtracked’ to allow an Utawarerumono anime version.

Yotsubato!
status: still a wish
This manga series is quite appealing to me as a lighter and more slice-of-life version of Azumanga Daioh. I think this would be nice for an anime series.

Mahou Sensei Negima (remake)
status: OVA in the works
I’ll want to pretend that the [anime->mahou-sensei-negima] didn’t exist, really. With Negima being one of the best and most engaging mangas I’ve ever read, I think it deserves something better than those 26 episodes of varying [animation->negima-sakuga-tracker-asuna-version] [levels->negima-sakuga-tracker-yue-version] and impossible fillers. This Akamatsu guy is so talented in bringing wonderful characters that strike a tone, that no matter how many they are, you’re bound to like so many of them. Story is not too bad either. Make a faithful rendition of the manga original and they’ll have an anime classic. Bet on it.

Fruits Basket (continuation)
status: a farfetched dream
While I have many wishes for sequels and stuff like that, Fruits Basket takes top priority. The anime and manga introduced me to the shoujo genre, which eventually became my top genre of choice whenever there are new series to watch out for. The Fruits Basket anime ended up so sour, I really wanted more. This holds a very special place in my wish list, something I’ll never let go even when I know the odds of new Furuba animation are close to nil. For now, I’m holding on to the Tokyopop manga.

Mahou Sensei Negima

Mahou Sensei Negima!

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I first heard about Mahou Sensei Negima because of my Love Hina hype back in my early anime days. Back then, Love Hina was one of my favorites, and so having this Ken Akamatsu guy doing another new manga serialization is quite a treat.

31 girls? Whoa! 31 girls! When I heard about Negima having 31 girls, I was thinking the guy is really crazy. I mean, are 7+ girls, Love Hina-style not enough? Furthermore, in the midst of the Harry Potter movie craze, main character Negi is being hyped as a HP-ish magician, hmm… a shounen series eh? And so, put extreme harem and shounen together, I didn’t think it was going to be good at all. I forcefully read the first chapter, and I was not impressed at first. Anyway since it was a new serialization at that time, I figure I skip this first, and get back to it when more volumes or chapters are available.

I ate my words that time. Upon announcement of the anime, I went back to reading the manga… and I was so hooked! I went totally ballistic, it is a great manga series! Words can’t express the happiness I had at that time, eating 50+ chapters (up to the Kyoto arc) all in one go, collecting wallpapers, music, etc. I expected the anime to be the main dish. Watching the two initial introduction videos, I was literally stunned! Familiar seiyuu, masterful animation, and staying true to its manga roots, I was thinking Negima anime is bound to be a success, maybe more so than the huge (but in the end crappy) anime that was Love Hina.

Alas, a disappointment.

The TV series was shrouded in horrible stock market animation levels. One episode may not look like another, and inconsistent [character->negima-sakuga-tracker-asuna-version] [art->negima-sakuga-tracker-yue-version] annoyed me to the core. Moreover, the colors of their hair, it’s like basic and neon. I was asking “WHY” all over the internet. Why did XEBEC, the same company who did the excellent introduction videos, change the look of the TV anime? Why is each episode radically different from others? Why did they arrange and mix up events from the manga?

On the flip side however, the strength of the manga content still shines through. I anticipate watching the latest Negima episode every week, more so than similar current anime series. As I said, the Negima manga RULES, and even though the fanservice is toned to nothingness, the rest of the story and events stayed true. My hopes of having better animation came to fruition little by little, as the latter half of the series had some great animation moments, and the upcoming DVD releases will feature remastered versions of the horrible episodes.

The latter half, however (again), became ridiculed with speculation. Fillers, and extreme story rearrangements are abound, but nevertheless it is still as good as it gets. One highlight is the ghost girl Sayo episode, one of the best episodes in the anime. But, here we go to the Kyoto arc, a massive 20+ chapter spectacle in the manga, now reduced to 2 episodes. How about that? From an outsider viewpoint (someone who hasn’t read the Kyoto arc), it was an excellent, action-packed 2 episodes. For fans, it is a disservice.

The alternative story leading to the anime’s ending is a given, knowing that the manga still isn’t finished. While it is quite a SHOCKER, it isn’t too strong to make a good conclusion. Seeing that, I guess the varying animation quality levels, coupled with multiple staff changes including staff and directors really hurt the entire series’ coherence. It’s a shame really, considering that the rest of the Negima franchise is doing so well. I was astounded at the huge number of singles and drama cds related to Negima, and even some of them sell well enough to rank in the Oricon music sales charts. I guess the PS2 and GBA games are doing well too, but I haven’t played them too much because I can’t understand the gameplay. The PS2 game was quite nice though. I should mention all the great seiyuu devoting time and effort for all their voice work in those multiple mediums. And of course, the manga has a huge following because of its awesome quality, both in drawing and story. Ken Akamatsu is quite smart.

Anyway, I can talk legions more text specifying all the different emotions that this series (manga, anime, music, games) had brought to me, but I have to stop at some point. (I thank myself by the way for not reacting on EACH of the 31 girls) In any case, Mahou Sensei Negima the anime is still a worthy watch, despite the flaws. But be sure to check out the manga too. Besides, where else can you get more than 31 beautiful girls, and a great shounen-style story progression, all in one package? Look no further.

Continue reading Mahou Sensei Negima

Negima sakuga tracker: DVD comparison

I found comparisons of the original broadcast Negima episodes with the supposedly remastered DVD version.

It is said that the animation company has re-edited some entire episodes of the TV series in the transition to DVD, because as we all know, Negima’s animation quality is like a stock market. Featured here are some links that show side-by-side screencaps of the first few episodes.

http://anime.thenexxus.org/blog/archives/2005/07/negima_dvd_impr.html
http://anime.thenexxus.org/blog/archives/2005/07/negima_dvd_2_im.html
http://www.prototype-blue.com/log2005_06.html
http://www.ne.jp/asahi/kinu/tategamiya/NegiDVD.htm

Seeing these comparisons, I could say that they have really changed a LOT of scenes, and this is entirely great news for me! The girls look a lot more beautiful in these DVD episodes as compared to the original broadcast versions.

I actually watched the DVD versions of episodes 1 through 4, and I can say that not only the girls look better, but the colors (especially their hair colors) are much richer now. Fans will like this, although I wouldn’t know if people would rewatch the series just because of this.

The [Asuna->negima-sakuga-tracker-asuna-version] and [Yue->negima-sakuga-tracker-yue-version] sakuga trackers are updated with some DVD versions, so check them out.

But you don’t understand them at all project: bluemist chart liner

bluemist’s “But you don’t understand them at all” Project: bluemist chart liner

Status: On Hold

Here I go again, with a new blogging project after the successful To Heart 2 project.

This time, it will be an anime music ratings chart!

What are you trying to do here?
I’m going to list down the top anime songs that currently ring in my mind (and my music player). It doesn’t necessarily need to be the latest anime music (I pick up classics from time to time), and doesn’t necessarily need to be a favorite of mine (I may torture bad songs from time to time). I’m gonna put some descriptions about the song, and my witty reactions about it and stuff. However, I will NOT tell where to get the songs (well if you wandered into the anime world you probably have enough know-how to find them anyway).

Why would you do this?
I guess I needed a venue to shout out on how good or bad a song is, and this may serve its purpose pretty well.

How about jpop and stuff?
Generally, this will apply to only anime and related music, but it wouldn’t hurt to include some right? Unfortunately, I don’t seem to dig them lately, for various reasons:
– Many of them sound alike anyway. Face it, a Nami Tamaki song just sounds like any other Nami Tamaki song, talk about variety.
– The jpop industry seems stagnant nowadays. Proof is that even Negima music singles shoot straight up the charts everytime.

Mechanics?
Well this is still in the planning stages so I don’t know of an approach yet. Stay tuned for updates, I guess.

Anime On Location

Of course, not all places in anime worlds are virtual. Some of them are artistic renditions of real places in Japan, others are completely based upon the place.

This post is a collective of links and images which feature some locations in Japan which have been rendered in animation through various anime productions.

This is gonna be an ongoing collective so if anyone wants to contribute other material related to this, just comment in this post. Please do also contact me if some of the links are already down.

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Locations of NANA
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Nana Navigator Nana (arrgh ok, the Nana anime navigator who happens to be named Nana too) reports about Jackson Hole, the cafe that some characters of the [Nana->] series hang out in. This is actually a real cafe in Japan, with the same design. I capped some shots of it.

Locations of Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuuutsu
http://haruhi.sonnabakana.com/file.html
http://kanai.dw.land.to/location/haruhi.htm
Nice comparison shots from the Suzumiya Haruhi anime and the real deal.

Locations of Ichigo Mashimaro
http://www2.wbs.ne.jp/~misscast/location/ichigo_marsh/marshmallow.html
Interesting stuff. The manga settings were derived from these places, so hopefully they would be rendered in the new anime as well.

Locations of Kamichu!
http://d.hatena.ne.jp/sgtpepper/20050711/p1
Pretty nice, a couple of comparison shots of the town of Kamichu.

Locations of Mahou Sensei Negima
http://forums.animeblogger.net/viewtopic.php?t=99
Maestro4k has some interesting shots over at the forums, real places where Negima’s Mahora Gakuen locations are seemingly inspired from. Look at the Library Island, it looks very similar.

Locations of Futakoi Alternative
http://www3.plala.or.jp/happyhobby/2koi/2koi.htm
This town seems to be called Nikotama. Looks… desolated. How did the guy take pictures of the streets without any people in sight? Probably early morning.

Locations of Uta~Kata
http://matthew.animeblogger.net/archives/2004/12/07/utakatas_setting.php
http://www22.ocn.ne.jp/~autumn/tabi_utakata.html
It is said that Uta~Kata takes place in Kamakura. Matthew has some pictures up, while the Japanese link shows more pictures of Kamakura, with matching Ichika and Manatsu figures showing up sometimes.

Locations of Initial D
http://www.h2.dion.ne.jp/~eg9/gallery.htm
The tracks on Initial D are amazingly based on real-life mountain passes in Japan. If you do get to Japan and drive these mountains, don’t even dare to try driving like Takumi. Just enjoy the view.

Locations of Onegai Teacher/Onegai Twins
http://www.eonet.ne.jp/~smith/article/log/20030825.htm
http://www5d.biglobe.ne.jp/~kazeyama/one2sato/one2sato.htm
These two sites compare real-life counterparts with the corresponding animated backgrounds. The resemblance is absolutely impressive.

Locations of Love Hina
http://www.geocities.com/myksvoll/photo1.htm
This is a nice page about real-life locations used in Love Hina, including an actual Hinata Sou.

Locations of Air
http://htc.moon.st/ota/05041601.html
http://tarax.flop.jp/alive/log/000660.html#more
I found this interesting site which features the real-life locations for the bishoujo game and anime Air. Those Misuzu and Minagi dolls will guide you through the places, with the corresponding screenshots for the animes. The site also seems to feature other locations for bishoujo games like Fate/Stay Night, so check them out as well. The second link goes to the same location, this time… a real-life Misuzu acts out scenes from Air?? Find out how they did it…

Shibuya
Shibuya is a popular shopping and entertainment district. It is where lots of gals hang out and shop around. It’s the perfect setting for the anime Super GALS! Kotobuki Ran.

Shibuya 109
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A popular building for those fashionistas…

Hachiko Park
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A park with a dog statue named Hachiko. Hachiko was regarded as Japan’s most faithful dog because it patiently waited outside Shibuya station for its owner every day, even years after its owner died.

Tokyo Big Sight
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The Tokyo International Exhibition Center, more known as Tokyo Big Sight, is Japan’s largest exhibition and convention center. For otakus, this means a haven of comic and anime-related conventions being held there, the most popular being Comic Market.
Anime:
Comic Party
Comic Party Revolution
Genshiken

Kyoto
Kyoto, being one of the most popular tourist destinations, would obviously be used by countless other anime series. Whenever there is a field trip in an anime, Kyoto is a preferred tourist spot.

Kiyomizu temple
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Kiyomizu is a popular temple in Kyoto because of its great height and view.
Anime:
Love Hina
Mahou Sensei Negima
Sensei no Ojikan

To Heart ~Remember my Memories~

To Heart ~Remember my Memories~

I love the [To Heart->] anime. I love that anime so much, that I really wished nothing will get wrong about the new series which is called To Heart ~Remember my Memories~.

Alas, I was wrong.

Being an anime-only fan of To Heart, I can already expect that I may not deserve to say bad things about To Heart ~Remember my Memories~ (hereby named as To Heart R for clarity), clearly because I haven’t even played the entire game nor understood it fully. For the bishoujo game players, To Heart R is a big treat. They get to see the new stories that happen after the original game. To Heart R is not a direct sequel of To Heart, and because of this, I am trying hard to separate them.

Technically, it’s an absolute shame. The art and animation levels are more of a stock market from the first 2/3 of this series. Sometimes good, sometimes horrible. I know that the producers of this anime are trying to make an accurate art rendition of To Heart using the original game’s character designs, and that’s fine with me. However, the massive and radical differences of the designs between each episode really make me sick. The same character in ep. 1 may not ever look the same in other episodes. Thankfully, the latter part of the series have gotten it right, which makes you wonder why they didn’t do it that way from the first time through. Yup, even before Mahou Sensei Negima, anime like To Heart R is already suffering from varying sakuga levels.

The story is, for me, something up for debate. On one hand, it was nice that they had a full forward story approach, as opposed to the filler-ish nature of the first series. On the other hand, one can argue that the series has been too focused on Multi. Multi’s plotlines run deep through every single episode of To Heart R, in that you may think they are really leaving Akari behind, despite her being the main girl. For fans of the iconic HMX-12 robot, To Heart R is a dream come true. For non-fans of Multi, To Heart R became too unfair to the other characters.

The biggest complaint I had with To Heart R is of one character itself, and that’s Hiroyuki. This is really the biggest disappointment that made me want to ask if his attitude is really that way in the original game. To Heart R’s Hiroyuki is the most insensitive, indecisive, and inconsistent bishoujo male lead I’ve ever seen. It’s an extreme reverse to To Heart’s Hiroyuki, the bored but kind male lead. There is a reason for the girls to love Hiroyuki of the original To Heart, because he is really kind and helpful to all of them. To Heart R’s Hiroyuki, yea sure he’s kind too, but I really can’t see it that way. For one, his “cruelty level” to a person is proportional to how close the person is to him. It means that he is somewhat mean to Masashi and Shiho, and to the worst extent, he is really mean to Akari. He is also hot-headed, and shouts a lot, especially when things don’t go his way. He is impolite to the elders he talks to throughout this series.

I really wonder how the To Heart R Hiroyuki made 3 girls in love with him. Yes folks, 3 people confessed to him in this series, as opposed to 0 in the first. And I really hate how he handled their broken hearts. We all know Akari is the main girl, and Hiroyuki is destined to be with Akari. But those 2 other poor girls got the no answer while Hiroyuki is still confused about his priorities, and Akari is being jealous. Therefore, the 2 busted girls didn’t have the chance to to make themselves worthy of Hiroyuki’s affection at all.

I want to say something good this time about To Heart R. Well, the OP and ED are really good. The OP reminds me of classic bishoujo game music, while the ED is a new rendition of a popular To Heart song. There are also multiple cameos of characters from the new bishoujo game To Heart 2, which I liked very much. The voice cast is almost the same as the first series, which is one of the best ingredient of this anime. Back in 1999, many of those seiyuu are already relatively popular. In 2004, the same seiyuu cast made To Heart R one of the most spectacular lineup of voice talents in recent history. I never thought I could see [Yui Horie->horie-yui] and Ayako Kawasumi together in an anime again.

I really want to say many more things about To Heart R, but you may be bored about this absolutely biased rant. Sorry that I am biased towards the original To Heart anime, but that’s my true and honest opinion. To Heart R is actually an ok anime, but because of so many reasons, I can’t find myself to liking it.

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This is a [Summer of Bishoujo->] feature

Friday the 13th

Welcome to my (late) Friday the 13th post, where… can you believe it? Almost all the anime I’ve watched this week has some kind of crypt/angst/loneliness/unluckiness tied down to it! Well… don’t believe it, because I just made it up, hehe. Many anime gets kinda down sometimes. But anyway I just wanted to tell some ‘down’ moments for this special week:

(of course… SPOILER ALERT!)

Monday
Mahoraba ~Heartful Days~ 19

Sayoko… lost! Plus it’s raining! With luck, Shiratori was there, and they went home safely. Unlucky mother, just when she wanted to pick her child up from school amongst the rain, she herself got lost!

Tuesday
Futakoi Alternative 6

This one’s full of angst! It initally looked like the Shirogane twins were just jealous of the Ichijou twins, but I guess their problems are deeper than that. They have not much time, because they said that by their 16th birthday they can’t be with Rentarou anymore… why? Anyway, out of confusion, they hurt Rentarou in the face and went back to Tokyo. Rentarou went back to Tokyo too and gave them a hug, saying “I don’t understand”.

Comic Party Revolution 6

Chisa’s father just collapsed! Now Chisa’s so sad, and so Kazuki and Subaru went to Tsukamoto Printing. Chisa now has to run the family shop alone because of this. Later on, they find out her father’s condition wasn’t as serious as it seems. He’s quite sick because of… playing video games!!!

Wednesday
Naruto 134

Obviously this will be a dark episode for our favorite shounen ninja, because for the first time ever, he has lost a major fight! And with his best friend no less. Sasuke and Naruto face off with their final blows, and Sasuke is left standing. Kakashi finally reached them, but he only saw an almost-dead Naruto. Sasuke, failing to kill Naruto, is now determined not to follow his evil brother’s footsteps, and he will try to obtain power in his own way.

Thursday
Gokujou Seitokai 6

Rino’s is being pressured by the student council members about her puppet Pu-chan. Is the puppet just her act? Is Rino making fools out of them all? Just when the student council realized that Pu-chan is the real thing, the puppet gets struck by lightning. Rino now realizes that her beloved Pu-chan is dying, and cries, saying that she still needs Pu-chan. Well guess what… Pu-chan is just playing dead!

Mahou Sensei Negima 19

Imagine the loneliness of a 60-year ghost. Sayo Aizaka has been a ghost in Mahora Gakuen for that long time acting as a student. She sees many classmates she wants to be friends with, but she can’t because they can neither see her or touch her… until now. Kazumi, the scoop girl reporter, researched about Sayo’s past life, in effect making Sayo remember her long-lost memories, and she cries. Now Kazumi, the only one who sees Sayo so far, is determined to let her join in the class trip, but she’s apprehensive because the others can’t see her. With help by Evangeline, everybody sees Sayo afterwards, and she’s now part of the group! This is one of the best Negima episodes so far, and it’s an absolute rare gem in that I actually watched the episode twice in a row!

Friday
NO ANIME ON FRIDAY THE 13TH ITSELF!

Suffixes

As far as I know (which isn’t as far as it gets), using -desu as a suffix when speaking Japanese would show a bit of courtesy in a sentence. Well, anime would tend to over-exaggerate that, with some characters overusing the suffix. Even some speak basically useless words affixed at the end of their sentences to show some sort of cuteness in speech.

So here are some examples of anime characters saying different kinds of suffixing in their dialogue. The intensity part basically suggests how much they use the suffix.


Yue (Mahou Sensei Negima)
suffix: -desu
intensity: medium


Chisa (Comic Party Revolution)
suffix: -desu
intensity: medium


Sabato (Bokusatsu Tenshi Dokuro-chan)
suffix: -desu
intensity: high


Tamami (Mahoraba ~Heartful Days~)
suffix: -desu
intensity: high


Kaede (Mahou Sensei Negima)
suffix: -de gozaru
intensity: high


Subaru (Comic Party Revolution)
suffix: -desu no
intensity: high


Pumo (Futago Hime)
suffix: -pumo (doesn’t mean anything)
intensity: extreme

Horie Yui

Well, she’s just one of the few seiyuu I find beautiful, on certain angles and levels of make-up though. It’s undeniable that she is one of the cutest and most popular faces in the industry, and she has that extremely distinct voice that is instantly recognizable. I have already seen a LOT of anime with her voice on it. I like her songs too.


These are some shots from a certain School Rumble Live Concert. She sang Scramble and Feel My Feeling in these two shots, along with other songs. Well, she’s cute here with the gothloli outfits and all, but she didn’t sing well in Scramble. Having her jump around and dancing made her voice a bit skippy at times, but I enjoyed the live rendition of Scramble. In Feel My Feeling, I feel like her voice is a bit off at some notes.


This is from the same School Rumble live, singing School Rumble 4Ever, along with 3 other female seiyuu. I enjoyed this performance! She has a nice outfit here too. The musical notes in her dress… liked it.

Apparently some groups are kind enough to share many anime/jpop promotion video goodies to the public, I’m thankful to them. Please support them as much as you can.

More PVs meant more Yui Horie for me, so here’s some more!


This is a music video called Sakura. Apparently it’s from her first solo album, which is virtually unknown to me surprisingly. Seeing that in that album there is another version of Yakusoku (my all-time favorite Love Hina song), I feel deprived of information. Sakura as a music video… isn’t too good by jpop standards, but oh well, it isn’t aimed at mainstream anyway.


Okiniiri no Jitensha looks like a very refined PV. On the flip side though, dunno why, but I didn’t like her in this one.


All My Life, the OP for Mao-chan, is a simple PV. If you ask me it’s trying to be jpop mainstream but as always anime-related stuff rarely succeed when they do that.


Do I have weird taste? Just tell me. This is Kirari Takaramono, the Love Hina Again OP. And… I liked it. I just like those scenes where she sings in an 80’s microphone and dances around (it’s much like the School Rumble PV). This kind of fun, hectic, and wicked energy is just what anime PVs should be.


Here’s a promotion video for Sister Princess, she sings Love Destiny here. Not bad a music video, not too good either.


She’s in a live concert here, singing again Love Destiny… wearing some sort of school uniform. Kinda in-fashion for that otaku crowd, they like her a lot apparently.


In the Fruits Basket DVDs, she has some sort of omake interview show, where she’s the host and she interviews the three main male seiyuu of Fruits Basket. These are kinda interesting segments.


This is an Ultra Maniac making-of interview. On the left is Kanda Akemi, a bit of a newcomer seiyuu back then.


Another PV, this time from the anime Da Capo. In the anime she plays Shirakawa Kotori, one of my favorite bishoujo game characters. It would have been interesting if she had a PV for Soyokaze no Harmony (a very beautiful song), but this (Pureness) is kinda a consolation.


And another PV, this time from School Rumble. The song is Scramble, a joint with a certain ska group named Unbalance. I have to admit that this is one of the best anime PVs I’ve seen so far because of its style, plus the catchiness of the song itself.

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