| How did you think it was going to go differently? The movie opens with him being dead in a train station. O_o Yeah... it's sad... it's really really sad... but it's such a great movie. I didn't cry and blubber and moan like I do when a favorite character of mine dies, but I did get teary eyed at several points during the movie. It moved me to tears... and something that happens rarely... it made me depressed. Yes... I was DEPRESSED after I saw this movie. I couldn't get it out of my mind for a couple days. But it's a realistic picture of war... and how the civilians are affected. The animation was beautiful, the story was moving, and I rated it a 10/10 overall. But I will NEVER watch this movie again. O_o But (and this is going to sound crazy)... for anyone that hasn't seen it... I recommend it... HIGHLY!! It is a must see. T_T |
| it was GREAT! and acctualy the only anime movie that gave me a sad feeling... |
| well, that sure puts life in perspective. i think i want to take warm bath with a razor blade now. that may be the saddest thing i have ever watched. EVER. cloud Chelle said: How did you think it was going to go differently? The movie opens with him being dead in a train station. O_o Yeah... it's sad... it's really really sad... but it's such a great movie. I didn't cry and blubber and moan like I do when a favorite character of mine dies, but I did get teary eyed at several points during the movie. It moved me to tears... and something that happens rarely... it made me depressed. Yes... I was DEPRESSED after I saw this movie. I couldn't get it out of my mind for a couple days. But it's a realistic picture of war... and how the civilians are affected. The animation was beautiful, the story was moving, and I rated it a 10/10 overall. But I will NEVER watch this movie again. O_o But (and this is going to sound crazy)... for anyone that hasn't seen it... I recommend it... HIGHLY!! It is a must see. T_T i argee totaly |
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| This was the first anime that made me cry. It's one of the most sad anime movies that I've seen. I watched this a around 4 or 5 years ago and havent seen it since but I can still remember very clearly what happened. It is a MUST AND MOST DEFINITELY SEE. It makes you realize how fortunite we are that something that bad isn't happening here (US) although it is still happening else where. A very sad anime. |
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| I think that this movie gave an honest truth about the war and it didnt take sides. I think thats what gave it a really depressing mood during the whole movie. It is one of Miyazaki's great works of art. If you are an anime fan you must see this movie and all the other Miyazaki films. |
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| simply amazing. i loved how it was down-to-earth, simple on-a-plate storyline, which was beaultiful and touching. extremely sad though. especially how it seemed like they were the one ones suffering. i was crying most of the way through. |
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Dykstra said: I think that this movie gave an honest truth about the war and it didnt take sides. I think thats what gave it a really depressing mood during the whole movie. It is one of Miyazaki's great works of art. If you are an anime fan you must see this movie and all the other Miyazaki films. It's not Miyazaki's. Why does everyone say that? It's Takahata Isao's movie. Being a Studio Ghibli's work doesn't mean being Miyazaki's. |
| Just watched the first half in Modern World class (we're learning about WWII). The dubs... made me on the verge of tears because it was that horrible. I don't know if it's sadder in subs, but the dubs depicted the main character as mentally retarded and the little sister as a stupid spoiled brat. I'm not trying to insult the movie, nor dubs as a whole, just dubs in this movie. |
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| I saw this movie long long time ago when I was a little babe. I don't particularly remember crying for the movie back then but then again, it was in another language that I didn't understand very well, plus I was about like 4 and couldn't understand the whole concept of 'sadness'. I re-watched this movie just today for the first time ever since I was little. I can't really say I cried a lot but even a tearless person like me can tell that this movie was a masterpiece. The concept, the whole idea, everything including the essence of this movie was fantastic. Now I'm one of those people who are ridiculously pathetic. I mean I had very high expectations for this movie because there's just hoards of people proclaiming the utter wonderfulness and sadness of this movie. It was indeed sad and without a doubt wonderful but I didn't cry much since I pretty much steeled my heart. I expected to cry so I didn't. It was an incredibly beautiful tale, and now that I think about it, this may be one of the few times that a movie has lived up to my extremely high standards. Not saying I'm snobby or what not, just that when other people say its good, I expect it to be like really really really really smashing the wall good. I dunno why, my stupid brain is just like that. The pretty weird thing though..was that I can recall some scenes from this movie from the time I watched when I was little. But all the things that I remember included dead bodies which is pretty weird for a little girl to remember specifically those things. To be precise, I only remembered the dead guy on the beach, the part where he met up with his mom who was covered in bandages (I think I thought she was a guy back then cause there were such thick wrappings + I couldn't understand what was going on since I couldn't understand what they were talking), and the part where the fruit drop can was almost empty but 3 candies stuck together and a few bits and pieces fell off (to be specific, I only remember the part when the 3 candies fell onto her hand) [plus also the part where he fed her the watermelon..maybe]. I dunno why I'm babbling. Sorry. Basically, movie was a piece of work. I'm scared I might be just saying this because a lot of other people are saying its a piece of work and I'm just subconsciously pounding that into my head like the stupid little subconscious conforming I am, but I highly doubt it. The story was clearly a masterpiece and hopefully even a numb skull conformist like me can tell. |
"I've read so much manga that at times my mind works in comic panels and dramatically expressed chibis. I'm both ashamed and amused by this." |
CookedCelery said: Just watched the first half in Modern World class (we're learning about WWII). The dubs... made me on the verge of tears because it was that horrible. I don't know if it's sadder in subs, but the dubs depicted the main character as mentally retarded and the little sister as a stupid spoiled brat. I'm not trying to insult the movie, nor dubs as a whole, just dubs in this movie. Dont.. do that!.... |
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| The dub wasn't THAT bad. It was only Setsuko's old woman voice. |
| It greatly surprised me just how good this movie was. My tastes in anime and most forms of entertainment tend to focus on more straight foward action rather than emotional stories, but this movie was great. The characters were incredibly believable and and the story is haunting. |
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| well its been years i haven't watch this movie and the only thing i remember was that it was a really sad ending and how did they died ? frog poisoning?? i don't remember can someone tell me? |
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| Some scenes ere really touching my favorite part of the movie was the beginning when he was found dead with the box of candies >< at the end I wished they would show how he ended up there felt alittle incomplete Seita's little sister was Really annoying I ws just about to cheer when she died but after she died it was like something was missing and I go teary eyed for some reason This movie almost made me cry but didn't which was a little disapointing But when the movie finished I was very very depressed and opened my eyes on how easy life is now compared to how the olden ways were and some naions still are |
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| Great movie which moved me to tears. At first, I didn't get the first part at the train station when he died. I'm slow, I know that. This movie really showed me how terrible war is. |
| ~Friendship is so sweet that it can cause tooth decay~ ~Respect the losers, cause without them, there'll be no winners~ |
| Very very good, but very sad. |
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| I seem to be the only one who absolutely hated the film, I had to force myself to finish it. I just found it extremely boring. |
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| I loved the movie and it's usually the type of movie I show to people to have them see that anime isn't just all about Pokémon or Dragon Ball or Naruto or whatever is going to be the next thing in the eyes of most of the public. It was made well and I'm glad it didn't show much of a bias. It just told a story of what war can do to people and those that get left to feel the effects of war. At the time many Americans as well as other nations that fought against Japan could only see that the Japanese were an enemy, but there was more to that, there always is. The movie shows the behind the curtains look of that "more to that" aspect of war. And what really got me was also how they treated each other. These two kids were trying to fend for themselves, but rarely did people help them out. Even after they died and you see the scene of where they had live, viewers get to see for the first time that right across them had always been a rich house. I'm those people saw that there were two children, yet they didn't do anything for them. There were people that still were able to have the luxury of getting ice, yet the kids couldn't even get food. It' sad. I cried a bit, but not too much. But I was sure depressed by the end of the movie. |
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| Amazing movie, simply amazing. I agree with everyone who says it doesn't just make you tear up, it's just so depressing, it's all I could think about for 2 days, such a realistic tale of kids fighting simply to SURVIVE. I thought it would be hard to watch again and I had postponed it for a long time, but I just sat to watch the original version instead of the dub, and of course it's much better, but I sort of realized that Seita could've just done his share of work and lived with his aunt while she would've taken care of Setsuko during the day, but hey, it's still amazing, it's a profound war movie, it's just perfect. 10/10. |
| Damemametane@Twitter (Trilingual, tags #nsfw and #spoilers but not BLmatsu, rambles like a machine then disappears for weeks. follow at your own risks and perils) |
| I found this movie to be in the "okay" range. Didn't really hit me as a masterpiece at all. But there were good moments in the movie. Setsuko pissed me off though, what a brat. |
LolitaDecay said: I seem to be the only one who absolutely hated the film, I had to force myself to finish it. I just found it extremely boring. So I'm not the only one. Truthfully, I thought the film was an absolute waste of time. I found myself fast-forwarding a lot which I normally would hate to do. The story and all was great and touching at points but it just didn't strike me as a masterpiece or anywhere near great or wonderful and my standards are usually very low. Orkel said: Setsuko pissed me off though, what a brat. Ahh, same. But considering her age and their situation, it's probably how all of us would have acted. |
RainriNov 22, 2008 11:22 PM
| i'v just finished this movie and now i'm a little depressed, it was sad seeing the two kids suffer so much and it was sad see setsuko die it made me want to cry and that doesn't happen much. |
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| I don't think I appreciated this film as much as I should have. Maybe I need time for it to soak in. However, it truly is one of the most powerful anti-war movies I have ever seen. The movie doesn't take sides, and shows the true love of a brother for his sister in the brutal times of war. Great movie, but again I cant label as masterpiece....yet. |
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| i absolutely loved this movie, it just draws you into the world and you feel like your suffering along with the main characters, enough to make you shed a tear every once and a wile during the movie.Its a movie that makes you feel like war is just another word for suffering. and war...... war never changes. (my favorite quote ever, from fallout, i had to put it in there ^_^) This movie is a 10/10 for sure and a is must watch. |
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| Yeah, very, very sad movie... I had tears in my eyes :( So different from other movies... it shows the cruelty of wars. Governments declare or join war, but the ones who suffer the most are innocent people - this movie shows this truth without hesitation. This movie doesn't have any exciting action, no fights no culminating point (that's why it can be boring for some people) but even without them, this i really good movie! 9/10. |
| Sorry, my English isn't perfect ^^ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ "...because the people who are crazy enough to think that they change the world are the ones who do..." |
Rainri said: I only managed to force myself through 35 minutes, didn't bother to finish what I started.LolitaDecay said: I seem to be the only one who absolutely hated the film, I had to force myself to finish it. I just found it extremely boring. So I'm not the only one. Truthfully, I thought the film was an absolute waste of time. I found myself fast-forwarding a lot which I normally would hate to do. The story and all was great and touching at points but it just didn't strike me as a masterpiece or anywhere near great or wonderful and my standards are usually very low. Orkel said: Setsuko pissed me off though, what a brat. Ahh, same. But considering her age and their situation, it's probably how all of us would have acted. |
| I loved the movie, great story... made me want to cry though, it's really sad. |
| ^.^ |
| Being an older brother who has raised a sister, this movie hits me HARD. Never have I wept so hard at a damn movie. The masochist in me wants to see this again, but I don't know if my heart can put up with the tragedy. |
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| total masterpiece ! must see 100% |
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| I recently purchased and watched this movie based on recommendations here and elsewhere. Ultimately, I wasn't impressed. After the destruction of his home and the death of his family, Seita has an obligation to care for his little sister. His singular reason for living should be to support her. After he moves in with his relatives, he also has an obligation to pull his own weight. The guy is fourteen years old. He can make decisions for himself. Instead, he shirks his responsibilities, does whatever he feels like, and expects handouts from his relatives. It's hard to sympathize with a mooch. Of course he notices that his darling imouto is getting sickly and weak. Does he swallow his pride, go back to his relatives and promise to help out in exchange for food to give the sister he so loves? Does he take it like a man and lay down his pride to save her? No, I'm afraid he's above that. Instead, he becomes dishonest and a thief and ultimately allows his sister to starve to death. War is a horrible thing, and consumes the lives of many innocent people. However, I think that the same circumstances would have occurred regardless of the war. If his family was killed and his house destroyed because of different circumstances, I'm convinced that, in the end, the same thing would have happened. He's still a mooch. He still wants handouts. That's his character. The only innocent one here is the sister. Thus, it was hard to start the waterworks for me during the course of the anime. Yeah, it was sad that she died, but he let her die. I certainly wasn't sad when he died. Maybe I missed something, some kind of symbolism or metaphor or something, but I certainly wasn't moved by this movie. |
Smallboss said: I recently purchased and watched this movie based on recommendations here and elsewhere. Ultimately, I wasn't impressed. After the destruction of his home and the death of his family, Seita has an obligation to care for his little sister. His singular reason for living should be to support her. After he moves in with his relatives, he also has an obligation to pull his own weight. The guy is fourteen years old. He can make decisions for himself. Instead, he shirks his responsibilities, does whatever he feels like, and expects handouts from his relatives. It's hard to sympathize with a mooch. Of course he notices that his darling imouto is getting sickly and weak. Does he swallow his pride, go back to his relatives and promise to help out in exchange for food to give the sister he so loves? Does he take it like a man and lay down his pride to save her? No, I'm afraid he's above that. Instead, he becomes dishonest and a thief and ultimately allows his sister to starve to death. War is a horrible thing, and consumes the lives of many innocent people. However, I think that the same circumstances would have occurred regardless of the war. If his family was killed and his house destroyed because of different circumstances, I'm convinced that, in the end, the same thing would have happened. He's still a mooch. He still wants handouts. That's his character. The only innocent one here is the sister. Thus, it was hard to start the waterworks for me during the course of the anime. Yeah, it was sad that she died, but he let her die. I certainly wasn't sad when he died. Maybe I missed something, some kind of symbolism or metaphor or something, but I certainly wasn't moved by this movie. I agree that Seita made some bad decisions, but I think you're making him worse than he actually is, and the aunt better than she is. Seita had no where to go, with both his factory and school destroyed. He couldn't really do anything. Plus, when his mother's kimonos were sold off, the aunt did what she wanted with the rice that rightfully belonged to him. I'm not saying Seita should have run off, but it's understandable why he did. You should check out the interview with the director in the bonus features of the DVD. He talks about Seita's mistakes and why they were there. I think you'd find it interesting. Also, please don't pretend that it would have worked out the same way had this not been war time. That's incredibly delusional. Nearly every issue is created by the war, and Seita's attempts at solving these issues are thwarted by the war itself. Whether its his mother's lack of treatment because she can't get to a hospital, or his inability to buy food leading to his stealing it, or his aunt's stinginess and greed, everything was created by the war. |
tarheel91 said: I agree that Seita made some bad decisions, but I think you're making him worse than he actually is, and the aunt better than she is. Seita had no where to go, with both his factory and school destroyed. He couldn't really do anything. Plus, when his mother's kimonos were sold off, the aunt did what she wanted with the rice that rightfully belonged to him. I'm not saying Seita should have run off, but it's understandable why he did. You should check out the interview with the director in the bonus features of the DVD. He talks about Seita's mistakes and why they were there. I think you'd find it interesting. Also, please don't pretend that it would have worked out the same way had this not been war time. That's incredibly delusional. Nearly every issue is created by the war, and Seita's attempts at solving these issues are thwarted by the war itself. Whether its his mother's lack of treatment because she can't get to a hospital, or his inability to buy food leading to his stealing it, or his aunt's stinginess and greed, everything was created by the war. I can see your points though I really don't agree that much with it. Certainly Seita was in a tough situation there. But at no point do we see him even try to find something to do. He may have lost school and that factory, but does he even try to find other work? No he just goes off and goofs with his sister the entire time. The aunt was a mixed bag to be sure. She was overly harsh at times and the kimono situation looked bad on her. Yet instead of hanging in there Seita runs away and puts his sister's life on the line. He could have lessened the ammunition against them if he did more than just be a drain on resources. Both he and the Aunt are at fault, but I think a great deal of blame should be rightfully put on Seita. I think with Seita's personality things could have gotten rather bad in any circumstance. He had options and he just chose not to go after them. Before stealing he knew that it would be possible to go back to the Aunt's place. Yes she's pretty rough and greedy, but is his sister's life worth him being stubborn? Just bow your damn head until the war is over and your dad comes back. After all he didn't know at that point his father wasn't alive. I think the war's greatest impact was with the mother and hurting her chances for medical care. The war created the situation, but I feel Seita turned it into a personal disaster. Anyways personally I wasn't all that drawn into the movie. It was a sad situation, but I couldn't bring myself to care about the main characters. The movie really seemed to revolve around Seita and as you might expect I didn't like him. |
| I had mixed feelings feelings about the movie for some odd reason instead of just having one main feeling. In the beginning I felt sorry for that of Seita and his sister because their mother had died. Yet as FlareKnight had said that instead of dealing with his aunts cruelty he ends up running away with his sister and palcing her life on the line. I mean... If it were me and it was during war time I would of been appreaciative for having a place to stay during that period of time. Seita's aunt did have a point when he was not acting thankful for having a place to stay and he really should have gottena job like a responsible adult instead of putting everything on his aunt so that she could support them. |
FlareKnight said: tarheel91 said: I agree that Seita made some bad decisions, but I think you're making him worse than he actually is, and the aunt better than she is. Seita had no where to go, with both his factory and school destroyed. He couldn't really do anything. Plus, when his mother's kimonos were sold off, the aunt did what she wanted with the rice that rightfully belonged to him. I'm not saying Seita should have run off, but it's understandable why he did. You should check out the interview with the director in the bonus features of the DVD. He talks about Seita's mistakes and why they were there. I think you'd find it interesting. Also, please don't pretend that it would have worked out the same way had this not been war time. That's incredibly delusional. Nearly every issue is created by the war, and Seita's attempts at solving these issues are thwarted by the war itself. Whether its his mother's lack of treatment because she can't get to a hospital, or his inability to buy food leading to his stealing it, or his aunt's stinginess and greed, everything was created by the war. I can see your points though I really don't agree that much with it. Certainly Seita was in a tough situation there. But at no point do we see him even try to find something to do. He may have lost school and that factory, but does he even try to find other work? No he just goes off and goofs with his sister the entire time. The aunt was a mixed bag to be sure. She was overly harsh at times and the kimono situation looked bad on her. Yet instead of hanging in there Seita runs away and puts his sister's life on the line. He could have lessened the ammunition against them if he did more than just be a drain on resources. Both he and the Aunt are at fault, but I think a great deal of blame should be rightfully put on Seita. I think with Seita's personality things could have gotten rather bad in any circumstance. He had options and he just chose not to go after them. Before stealing he knew that it would be possible to go back to the Aunt's place. Yes she's pretty rough and greedy, but is his sister's life worth him being stubborn? Just bow your damn head until the war is over and your dad comes back. After all he didn't know at that point his father wasn't alive. I think the war's greatest impact was with the mother and hurting her chances for medical care. The war created the situation, but I feel Seita turned it into a personal disaster. Anyways personally I wasn't all that drawn into the movie. It was a sad situation, but I couldn't bring myself to care about the main characters. The movie really seemed to revolve around Seita and as you might expect I didn't like him. Japan in WWII isn't a standard capitalist economy. You didn't just go look for a job, send in an application, and get accepted. Everyone was assigned a factory much like they were assigned their school. When the factory was destroyed, you were simply out of luck. See, here's where the whole war causing everything comes from. It's easy to say that he should have gone back to his Aunt's place. Hindsight is 20/20. We know that option B didn't work. He couldn't at the time. Did you forget that neither of them were getting their fair share of food at their Aunt's house? As conditions got worse, their share was only going to get worse. The aunt is clearly selfish, and that selfishness is only amplified from Seita's point of view. Thus, not getting enough food was going to potentially be an issue wherever he went. I'm not saying his decision was the best one, but this isn't the no brainer you're making it out to be. Then, of course, he's forced to steal, not because he left his aunt's house, but because no one will sell him food. That is caused entirely by the war. Hell, his Aunt's greed is only an issue when there isn't enough food. Guess when there's not enough food? During wars. Perhaps the best way to look at this is as follows: what would normally be kids running away from home (wisely or not) because of the unkindness of their relatives and toughing it for a few days turns into a tragic story of two children's deaths because it happened during WWII. Something completely normal becomes completely tragic. |
| Woooow. Such a beautiful movie. Earlier this evening, when zapping through the channels on the tv, I found "Grave of the fireflies" airing and I was like "HOLY HORSE, I totally HAVE to watch this!!!". Glad I did.. Found myself drowning in my own tears at the end of it... |
| It was slow and boring. Ending was the only good part. |
| This movie is a masterpiece. It shows why wars and inhuman and why every country suck. Anyone who is proud of America, China or any other country (Japan) are just narrow minded and unrealistic. We're not toys, if you dont enjoy this movie go watch your daily shit. Everything in this movie was not realistic, it was REAL. It showed the dark side of the wars. The wars that your countries are so so proud of. This movie made me realise how much I hate the thing we call humans. |
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| When i watched this, I was looking for some anime to watch with a friend. Didn't read too much on this to avoid spoilers, but knew it was highly rated and picked it up. We weren't prepared for what we were about to watch, to say the least. After it was over, I think we just stared at the screen for about 10 mins, mostly silent, jaws agape. With the occasional "fuck..." and "damn...". It's a brilliant movie and well worth a view as everyone should understand the impacts of war on people. And I will never watch it again. It was the complete opposite of entertaining. |
alphabeast18 said: I will give the movie its credit, it was absolutely real but i cant feel any pity for the characters. In fact i sort of laughed a little when his sister died just because it was a spite to him. I have seen the defenses of seita but I feel they just don't justify his stupidity. Yes, the aunt was being rude to him, but as it has been said he was a mooch not pulling his weight. Yes, he lost his school and his factory but in that time he could have started helping put out the fires from the bombing and I am sure that the aunt would have let it go if he did that at least but he chose to do nothing. When it got to the point where he was stealing the crops it was justifiable in a sense because as someone has already said nobody would sell him food but his stupidity(im not going to call it ignorance because he knew a way to make it out alive for sure) caused his sister to become malnourished and nothing else. At the point where he took her to the doctor and the doctor told him that all she needed was FOOD he could have went back to his aunts house and had a food supply for her and him yet he chose not to go back because he was stupid. The movie ended the way it did because he chose not to heed the warnings to swallow his pride and beg for forgiveness. Yes this movie is a tragedy. It is a tragedy because all the actions were initiated by war and propagated by stupidity and greed. This is a quite frequent complaint about the film. I'd say it's just a problem of perspective. I think many people blame Seita for "not saving the day" and don't have in account that he is, say, 13 or 14? One of the things this film does instead of many others is present characters who do act like people their age. So Seita is an immature, spoiled, ignorant and impulsive brat and that drives many of his actions. Consider also he comes from a -supposedly- well-off family with a strong military tradition; he is not used to this kind of emergency situations and many times acts as if the events happening were not with him, he forces an image of maturity to help his sister... That's probably the most touching of the points this film makes, as makes the character overcomed, not only by his situation, but his own flaws. When Seita refuses any help from his aunt, he is being arrogant and stupid, I agree with that. But then again, his father was a military. He has a strong sense of honor, because he's been educated in that way. And if he sees as an humiliation to ask his aunt for food, hey, you can't ignore your own system even in the most extreme of the situations. |
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