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2n2n · 1 year

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Hey miss, there’s something I’ve been asking myself for a long time and I can’t find any answer… did Yako was rewarded for her own selfishness?

She wasn't, but that's a part of carrying a theme and letting it evolve over time; addressing it so early on for a reason, that being that we will come back to it repeatedly. I also think there's multiple ideas of what it means to be 'selfish'.

In many stories, the first instance of confronting something may be opposite to our eventual understanding of it. It's not a matter of inconsistency or contradiction, it's a matter of having to start somewhere, with any narrative. It'll show you many situations, and early on it will be more vague and broad, generally, to get just a kind of.... ecosystem going. Just observe a lot of situations. Observe where our mains are at. Staring Point!

[After all, at the beginning of this story, Hanako himself was pro-system, and the story framed Tsukasa as dangerous or villainous for opposing it; but by now, Hanako is also opposing the system, and we as readers are not fans of it either, and want to see it pulled apart. It's not that it's inconsistent in its belief vis-a-vis the system being good or bad or it being right or wrong to do this or that-- its that our understanding of the purpose of the system and what it does evolves over time, and we follow the perspective of ignorant Nene, who is also figuring out that something needs to change. Even though her and Hanako initially saw themselves as upholding the order. Everything complicates over time, and often, things we malign early on in a story will be deconstructed later-- was it right to lash out? Was it right to punish? Was destroying the yorishiro ever OK, now that we know all that we do? Would Nene have done things differently if she could start over? Would she handle Yako differently?]

When Nene confronts Yako about her selfishness, Nene is completely inexperienced in love. She's a humble, servile sort of girl, who will change her entire personality for the delusion of a relationship. She would toil to appease a boy, to gradually work her way into his good graces, if she had to. As a girl with few friends and little going on in her life... that is her idea of love. It's shallow. It's something she wants to have, as a romantic fantasy. She wants to get to be a person in love.

Of course a girl like this would see actions like Yako's as selfish and self-serving. Embarrassingly so.

Nene relates her crude high school crush experience to Yako's experience...

... but do you think that's accurate? Misaki died. Yako is desperately mourning someone gone. She is a kaii, a mystery, a creature blackmailed into servitude in the school via her attachment to something precious (by nature, that's related to her love). She isn't a dumb teenager working up her courage to ask out a boy she doesn't know just so she can have a boyfriend. Nene has a life ahead of her. What does Yako have? What are kaii's lives typically like, now that we're 100ch in?

Nene's love was selfish in the sense that it was impersonal and strictly self-serving,

but, Wanting something precious to you at all costs, even if it's not wanted by the other party, that's something Nene experiences firsthand, later. As much as Yako misses even being scolded by Misaki, Nene misses Hanako negging her and pestering her. Misses making him jealous. Because she's in love with him! She wants him back ... even though he's pushed her away willfully.

sidebar: How about Tsukasa, as well? How should we analyze his action of escaping Hanako's boundary, where Hanako had placed him, and challenging his frozen position as a mystery? Is that something Hanako wanted, or is it Tsukasa's selfish desire to learn more about Hanako? Is it wrong or bad for Tsukasa to wish to learn everything about Amane? Is it wrong for Nene to pursue knowledge about Hanako's past, against his will to keep his secrets, because she loves him, wants to know him? Much to think about....

When Nene forcefully visits Hanako in the far shore, despite his insistence she leave, his insistence that he doesn't want her here, she defends her reason for doing this--

That's not dissimilar to Yako's feeling. Nene simply wasn't in love, at the beginning of this manga. She didn't understand this demanding desperation. She understood her childish, shallow delusion of getting to have a boyfriend. She didn't really know what love can make you into.

Hanako of all people, would not reward behavior like Yako's-- he sees her as foolish, more than anything. Fighting back against something hopeless, pointless. She should know better, as a kaii, as a mystery... that's how Hanako feels.

Because Hanako himself (was?) is vividly nihilistic about fate.

Even the concept of 'bringing someone back' (even deformed, even twisted) like Yako wanted, is something Hanako finds foolish.

ME reading Yako's story, I felt for her pain, and the way her love had turned selfish made sense. Wanting someone back, even if it were only for them to hate you, because any attention at all, it's something, and it's them. It's even a fragment of them, and that's precious. You would love anything you could have back, wouldn't you? Hmm...

hmmm...

It's simply the early manga, and we can't tug at this too much just yet. Hanako absolutely won't. His entire deal is 'give up' at the start of this manga.

Yako is a good introduction to concepts we'll dive deeper into, later, with our protagonists.

#avvy's JSHK

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randomnessisamust · 4 years

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Friend: so you read all 60 chapters of Toilet Bound Hanako-kun?

Me, brain cells still somehow in tact:

HiCCuP He- TthEYY- wub-WhAti- iFfffthey cHanhiC- changethePAST an-sniff a-AnD-! nnnNenE- FfFfU

#toilet bound hanako kun #spoilers #toilet bound hanako kun spoilers #i can't help it man #i keep wishing for some bs plot-twist where (　；∀；) iono #some spoiler stuff after this tag #either nene dies early BECAUSE she's about to change the past #or just give me them dying together just so they can get reincarnated together too #OR Nene somehow turns into an apparition #but then that won't be good for her #since she wants to live a good life #IDK MAN NOBODY WINS

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elizabeatrice · 4 years

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Mystery Spot (Chapter 68)

Let’s Talk About JSHK Manga #4

If you get the title reference, I applaud you.

Warning: 1) !!! MANGA SPOILERS UP TO CHAPTER 68 !!! Duh.

2) I dropped a couple of f bombs and several curses here ... I really ranted lmao.

3) This reaction/review is closer to me spewing wild theories rather than an actual review. But these wild theories are my reactions. So. Ehhh these theories are probably wrong anyway. Lemme have my dark, twisted fun, mkay? Not sure if they’re entirely coherent though.

Had trouble copying some kanji this time around ‘cause they’re so freaking blurry! So I got too lazy to write this yesterday haha. Thank you Ropes of Fate for the translation! Truly commendable heroes of the fandom *sobs*. I also used three panels from Chapter 61, translated by Caim.

Let’s jump into it (ba dum tss).

This chapter is a bit shorter than usual and boy do you feel it. Well. At least I do. But I really hope sensei are taking some time to relax. Last chapter was 45 pages, after all. Y’all deserve it you wonderful creators.

First of all I would like to dedicate the biggest f bomb for the villagers because what the fuck. Why the fuck would you sacrifice poor, innocent young girls just to keep yourself safe? And it’s not even a sacrifice to kami-sama! Y’all just droppin’ these girls to be eaten by supernaturals! And y’all practically manipulated them smh.

Are y’all insane?! Y’all could’ve just moved the fuck out. What kind of insane people just decide to stay near a literal pit of hell? Don’t give me the ‘we’ve lived here for generations’ bs okay ‘cause y’all neighbors be getting eaten by supernaturals but y’all rather trade innocent young girls for your own safety. If Berkians and Asgardians can suck it up and be the bigger nation with all that ‘Berk/Asgard is not a place it’s the people’ shit, y’all can too.

I’ve disliked characters in JSHK before. But I’ve never hated JSHK characters before. Until now. Y’all fucking did it, dumbass villagers.

Ahem. Pardon me.

Because my brain is a literal self-debate machine let me just say that I did consider several possibilities in these ‘people’’s defense. There’s the obvious ‘some people back then didn’t know any better and believe a human sacrifice will solve everything’ mindset. Then there’s the possibility of them being trapped in their village for some reason, hence not having any other choice but to sacrifice those girls.

But y’know what else could be the case? ‘Cause my mind really went dark there for a bit.

The Minamoto clan let it happen.

In the last chapter it was mentioned that the Minamoto clan was involved. And this is a bit shocking now that I think about it more ‘cause Teru has always been adamant that all supernaturals are evil and must be exorcised, humans must be protected.

But what if they just let the villagers sacrifice these girls so that the monsters can be contained in this village, in that pit, instead of running amok to other places and cause more trouble?

Which makes me wonder.

Uh. Where did Teru go to? Does he know about this? Did he go to that pit (or that village, if Kamome Academy wasn’t built on its land)?

If he does know, isn’t he interested in saving a fellow human student and underclassman? If he does know about the Akane clan, isn’t he interested in telling his VP, who’s obsessed with an Akane? Unless ... you know ... he meant for this to happen, which I kinda doubt.

He must know something about this. He went out of his way to make Akane promise to protect Kou if something were to happen. What’s more dangerous than the Grim Reaper showing up looking for a sacrifice who turned out to be Kou’s beloved senpai’s best friend? What if Akane had to choose between Aoi and Kou at some point?

Okie next I wanna talk about Hanako. This is gonna sound just as far fetched as the previous bit lmao but here goes.

Boiiii y’all saw it. The pause before his answer. His face drawn out of view, in an evasive body language.

(Hanako my boy pls do us all a favor and stop lying to your girlfriend, we all know how well that turned out in Picture Perfect lmao)

Theory. He knew what’s been going on all along. Or at least the gist of it.

Remember this?

Imma take a detour a lil bit.

The Far Shore/torii gate refused Nene in chapter 67, right? In my Chapter 67 reaction I said it was the bracelet that saved her but now I think the bracelet probably disguised her as Sumire in the villagers’ eyes. So the Far Shore/torii gate refused her, and we all thought it was because she wasn’t an Akane.

But then we found out that Hanako was right about the village. It was just a ‘made up world’ inside Shinigami’s boundary. It’s just a reenactment of the day Sumire died, probably based on Shinigami’s memories, as the first page of Chapter 64 said.

So of course Nene was refused. Because in his memories, Sumire was the one who fell into the pit that day.

Sumire also said in this chapter’s narration that the villagers sacrificed young girls. Not Akane girls. Also, before the sacrifices began, the monsters already ate villagers anyway, right? They didn’t only eat young girls. It wasn’t said as such. The villagers probably just chose young girls because that’s sorta like the equivalent of offering the best meat or smth. Practically a please accept our humble offering of tenderloin wagyu, O Horrible Monsters.

The coveted bloodline thing was probably a plus, not obligatory. Often in stories, people with high ‘spiritual energy’ are supposed to taste more delicious and grant whoever eats their meat special powers or smth (e.g. Tang Sanzang from Journey to the West). Also ancient cultures sacrifice young girls often, that was the trend.

And they proceeded to try to sacrifice Nene anyway, despite her not being an Akane. They said it themselves. “It doesn’t matter if it’s that girl.”

So according to the (rather vague) information we have, it’s possible that the sacrifice doesn’t have to be an Akane or a girl.

Some of y’all have been theorizing that the Yugi twins got involved with supernaturals, and that sorta lead to their death.

What if this is it?

I myself am not sure how it went down if this is really the case. But I keep imagining our boy’s infamous ‘I’m not going anywhere’ being said by Sumire because bruh she’s the epitome of not going anywhere. She was chosen to be sacrificed since she was a child, not given a choice. Even after she died and became a yorishiro, she was imprisoned in this time prison world or whatever, reliving her death every single day with no escape.

And I couldn’t help but think ‘hoooo shit what if???’

I mean. I don’t know who was the chosen sacrifice. Could be Tsukasa, could be Amane. Maybe he killed his brother so that he wouldn’t get sacrificed, and decided that he’ll die along with his brother. I’m not going anywhere. Maybe it also means I’m not letting you send my brother to be eaten by monsters, and since we can’t escape either, we’re staying here no matter what.

And if the Minamotos were really in on it, it makes sense for Grandma Minamoto to accuse Amane of being an evil murderer. He practically got in the way ‘of other people’s safety’ by killing the chosen sacrifice.

banjjakz also said something about the possibility of Tsukasa being a previous sacrifice. Read about it here and here. It’s pretty interesting!

Besides, a wonder whose precious person got sacrificed and later became their yorishiro? That’d be some parallel, haha.

Sure, Sumire said ‘if the kannagi was switched’. But the early narration didn’t mention a sacrifice of kannagi. Just ‘young girls’.

Look just lemme have this, alright?

Oh. Also I wanted to point out the possible tension/trust issues between Hanako and Nene but many other blogs have pointed it out quite well so I’m just gonna stick with my wild theories.

But I will address what Nene said about the pit.

Where is said pit anyway? In Kamome? Why is it open? Is it Tsukasa changing rumors and allowing more supernaturals to cross back to the Near shore? More likely. I mean, he does grant wishes for supernaturals after all.

Oh. Speaking of Nene. Let’s give her a round of applause for her character development. She’s become of better judgement regarding men’s terrible behavior. Wow. That’s my girl. I mean, we still don’t know much about Shinigami, but from what I’ve seen so far, Sumire guuuurrrrllllll you deserve better.

Regardless of my ships, these supernatural boys should take notes from my precious Kou and how he loves so selflessly. Lmao. Remember that one post-chapter panels in Picture Perfect where he said he’ll find Nene a prince in the real world, even though he likes her? Broooo I want ten of this precious boy.

Lastly, Akane and Aoi.

Where are they? They look like they’re stranded in some wild boundary somewhere, the one with half sunken houses and lost things that usually appear in color spreads. I am so hyped, ‘cause I love the aesthetics, and I wanna see more of this place.

Oh. And Akane’s alive. Phew. I gotta be honest though, I kinda looked forward to his death. Not because I hate the kiddo. He’s technically still human, right. I’m just wondering whether his death or Aoi’s would cause Teru to outright declare war against the Seven Wonders because aren’t these folks supposed to protect students like they claim to be? (This, of course, ignores my previous theories about the Minamoto clan)

Basically I just wanna see some shit go down with Teru mkay ‘cause this powerful dude has been useless for quite too long now.

Aoi’s still pretty confusing, too. She went from this weird expression:

to this:

She kinda looked like she was still under the influence of the drug thingy. But she was also concerned about Akane, even though it’s not like how she worried about Nene in the past. And she knew Akane longer than her, they practically grew up together. Real Aoi would be in tears seeing his condition, y’all. So I guess the drug thingy’s effect is slowly wearing out.

Closing! JSHK is dark but usually not in ways my brain expects it to be. (And a lot of times I still get surprised with the amount of comedy it has lmao.) Sooo sensei are probably gonna prove me wrong about most of these, anyway. Haha.

As always feel free to discuss.

#jibaku shounen hanako kun #toilet bound hanako kun #jshk spoilers #tbhk spoilers #minamoto teru #akane sumire #shinigami #aoi akane #hanako #yashiro nene #akane aoi #bea rambles #see there's a reason why my tag is called bea rambles #here y'all have some wild theories y'all didn't ask for lmao #let's talk about jshk manga

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elizabeatrice · 4 years

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Walking Blind + Thoughts on The Little Mermaid Being Episode 12

Let’s Talk About JSHK Anime #2

Warning: Manga spoilers up until Tanabata Arc (basically that + the entirety of season 1 + the skipped arcs)

I’m gonna talk about how the anime keeps proving my predictions wrong with skipped arcs, and later right, with consequences. Due note that this isn’t me hating the anime (because I love it). Just my funny experience attempting to Sherlock my way through the anime, plus my thoughts on The Little Mermaid being the finale.

No deduction works when it comes to predicting this series.

It all started when episode 5, The Confession Tree, came out. I was looking forward to it ‘cause I’m hananene trash af. Legit thought the entire episode was gonna be about Kodama.

But then the episode preview pics came out and I was like, “Sakura wtf are you doing here you don’t show up again until three chapters later?”

My first prediction was ep 5 would be entirely Kodama, and then ep 6 would be Young Exorcist. Seeing that these arcs serve to build up Nene and Kou wanting to know more about Hanako, I thought it’d be nice that we set aside two episodes just for that.

But then Kodama finished somewhere around the fifteenth minute mark, and we started Young Exorcist Part 1. Which was, you know, fine. But then instead of continuing, they jumped right to the end of the arc when Nene met Sakura for the first time, and then kept going to No. 5′s rumor and revealed Tsukasa early. Next episode’s title preview confirmed it, too. Ep 6 was gonna be 4PM Bookstacks.

Okay. I still had hope. Maybe they just rearranged the order.

On the other hand, the lack of ‘Part 1′ in the title was alarming. And it came true. They packed four chapters into one episode. A lot of things got cut. There wasn’t enough room for the op, and they had to run the credits while the episode was still ongoing. Though, tbh, other than Tsuchi’s line about him being able to change the books (with dire consequences), I didn’t have much problem with the cut scenes.

Then this thing showed up.

Before ep 5 I didn’t think we’d get Donuts until around episode 9-ish. But nope the No. 7s would meet each other in ep 7 (lmao see what I did there?). Again, I was fine with it, but I was a bit upset about Young Exorcist.

Someone said it may be moved to the finale, and I didn’t like that idea. Mostly because Yashiro, our main audience POV, isn’t in the arc. And it just sounds weird having a finale without your main audience POV.

They could put her there, sure, but that would mean adjusting Nene and Teru’s every future interaction. Even without shipping goggles or Nene’s romance-colored glasses, do you think Nene would still act the same towards Teru if she saw him hurt Hanako like that? ‘Cause that was brutal. Like she wouldn’t run and protect him like she did when they met Kou.

They put Kou and Teru’s resolution from Young Exorcist into their convo in episode 7. This kinda makes Teru a bit useless, though. I mean, he still doesn’t do much in the manga but the tension between him and Kou was supposed to set up this badass fight. Since it didn’t happen, and Young Exorcist isn’t gonna be the finale either, then he’s pretty much useless.

Anyway, the thing about Teru being onto The Broadcasting Club?

Not from the manga.

I’m not sure if Manga!Teru is really onto them. As far as I remember, it wasn’t hinted anywhere in the manga. Do correct me if I’m wrong. So what was the point of that change?

I didn’t get pissed until halfway through episode 7 and suddenly Mitsuba was there, but no fishes.

“What is he doing here, where’s that puffer fish, where’s his murder? Hello?”

I was very neutral about Mitsuba from the very beginning but when he showed up where The Little Mermaid (and my fish murder!!!) was supposed to be I kinda began to grow undeserved resentment toward him (I’m cool now though!). Totally, totally undeserved, because it wasn’t his character’s fault.

I was happy because Mitsuba stans got to see him animated (he was cute, and his VA was so good). But putting him in episode 7??? I mean they just left Hanako and Nene’s tension unresolved like that. That makes the episode really choppy in my opinion. They could’ve had the coolest final shot of the season of Tsukasa murdering that fish to scare and excite the anime-onlys. They missed that chance.

We got to episode 8. Pretty solid. Still would’ve preferred if its first bits weren’t in Donuts, but solid.

Preview title basically confirmed they’re skipping The Little Mermaid too. That was when I lost hope in Young Exorcist. But I tried to compromise. If they weren’t animating The Little Mermaid, then they have to put Hanako and Nene’s conversation and pinky promise in The Little Mermaid at the end of ep 9.

Episode 9 turned out to be my favorite. It was all thanks to Natsuhiko. He really cheered me up over our loss of two arcs. And my prediction was right for once. Hanako apologized for ruining the donuts. That’s definitely not the point of their tension (Tsu-ka-sa and trust), but it was still nice and I’d take what I could get. The hug. The hug was very nice.

I was mostly content, excited to see my boi Akane the next week. But then I thought, wait, we only have three episodes left. And we’re definitely reaching Hell of Mirrors, ‘cause No. 3′s silhouette is in the OP. Then the horrifying thought hit me.

They were gonna skip Searching.

But! The freaking post-credit showed up followed by this:

“They skipped Searching AND Clock Keeper??? Why on earth would you highlight Akane, with Teru of all people, in the OP then?! Paralleling Mitsuba and Kou no less!”

Due notice, yet again, the lack of ‘Part 1′ in the title preview. Before the episode actually aired, this was my train of thought: “Okay so they skipped The Clock Keeper and Searching, and decided to outdo episode 6 by packing 6 chapters (yeah, I counted “Reach Out Your Hand”) into one episode. Ahahaha ... what?”

Thankfully, they proved me wrong. Kay. Good. Thanks a bunch for fooling me with that title preview.

But then it freaking hit me. You got one episode left. The finale. Sure, Clock Keeper as a finale will be perfect. It’s a good hook for season 2. However. You can’t do Clock Keeper without doing Searching. It’d basically be almost the same as doing Donuts without doing The Little Mermaid. The finale wouldn’t feel resolved this way, because, again, there’s tension between Hanako and Nene (and Kou too) that isn’t resolved yet.

Not that Searching addressed the cause of the tension, but at least it brought the trio back to their status quo (well, with a bit of kounene and hananene development haha). Also, without Searching, it’ll only end like this:

Clock Keeper itself is 5 chapters. They can cut and modify. Sure. But y’all saw ep 6.

So that’s why I was sure we’re definitely not getting No. 1 this season. To me, that leaves three options for the finale.

A. Delivery + Tanabata Arc

Best pick in my opinion

It’s the direct continuation to Hell of Mirrors

The main trio are all there, especially our audience POV

More glimpses of Amane is always a plus point

The ‘getting hit by a bull, waking up in the past, and seeing your boyfriend before he died’ is just so random I think it’d be a pleasant surprise for the anime-onlys

Just wholesome in general, leaves the audience feeling good

The-ma-tic!!! You begin the series with Nene’s wish and end it with Amane’s isn’t that just asdfghjkl wish wish wish, everything’s about wishes in JSHK

B. Young Exorcist

Classic boss battle finale

Just Teru’s badassery *chef’s kiss*

Hanako getting emotional (something we haven’t really seen before)

Getting deeper into Hanako’s motive (episode 8 would’ve been more impactful had we had Young Exorcist before it, what with his view of disappearing/exorcism for ghosts being salvation)

Kou’s character development

^ counter argument: he already got the character development he went through in Young Exorcist in episode 6 and 7, plus, he and Teru already resolved their disagreements - though, not as impactful as in the manga

Also wholesome, HanaKou is great I love their friendship so much *sobs*

C. The Little Mermaid

@emee-ems pointed out here: “it started with the mermaid so they’ll end it with the mermaid” and I agree

Yashiro being persuaded to leave Hanako, while their friendship was what began the whole series? That’s some good conflict right there

Seeing Hanako worried about Yashiro leaving him? Good shit

Also wholesome (extra shipping content never hurts, either)

Hanako willingly opening up to Yashiro for the first time!!! That’s a big milestone for them

Yashiro accepting that he’s just not ready instead of not trusting her like she’d thought is *chef’s kiss*

That pinky promise! Starting the series making a bond due to unfortunate circumstances and ending the series making/staying loyal to a bond out of choice??? Good shit

Aaaaannnnddddd the verdict was:

Mmmmmkay.

I did previously think we’re gonna end the season with The Little Mermaid. But here’s the thing. It only works if everything is in chronological order.

Why? Because the tension that led to this arc in the first place is resolved already in episode 9.

The whole point of TLM is that conversation at the end, really, where:

Hanako apologizes for ruining the donuts (he already did in episode 9)

Hanako thanks Yashiro for telling him that she liked him

Hanako admits that he had a little brother and that he killed him (Tsukasa already confirmed both of this for Nene, both in episode 7 and episode 9)

So having Hanako repeating all this seems kinda redundant. Nene already knows. Sure, it’ll be nice to hear it from him directly ... but it’s too late now, isn’t it? It’s been four episodes. She’s met Tsukasa three times now. However, point number 2 is still available.

Furthermore, since Hanako already apologized in episode 9, I’m not sure if the fishes can use what happened in episode 7 to persuade Nene to leave him. I mean, she forgave him already. Tension resolved. They hugged and all. And it’s been so long since then.

Animating the fish murder scene is also kinda useless. It was supposed to give the audience a glimpse of how dangerous Tsukasa is. But we already know that. We saw him rip someone’s heart out and force-feed it to someone else.

The first half of The Little Mermaid Part 1 and The Broadcasting Club at the end of Part 2 are already animated in episode 7. That leaves them even more room for extra scenes. I hope they take good advantage of that.

Basically, they have to make a lot of adjustments and I’m curious to see what they’re gonna do.

I am happy that we’re gonna see The Little Mermaid. The way Hanako wipes Nene’s face with his sleeve, and then cradles her head? I need it, they make my heart melt. Can’t wait.

#jibaku shounen hanako kun #toilet bound hanako kun #let's talk about jshk anime #bea rambles

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