Sword Art Online (light novel)
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| It's getting harder for me to watch this anime in each episode. Honestly, I don't know why am I still watching SAO but at least I want to finish it since I've got so far. |
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| Vasago being slaughtered for his memories, it was a very good scene, so much so that he ended up dead and with a fatal face. Many characters go beyond the limits in this chapter, the most shocking being that of Kayaba-San, which reminded me of a chapter of the teen titans about cyborg and his inability to go beyond because the limits are set by his machinery. The physical phenomena are difficult to explain but I do not think that a robot can go further, only by using its will. This could have been a better season if only so many things were not removed from the sleeves, I don't like it at all, it was a regular season within the current catalog, now to wait for the conclusion ... |
  Humans may have two eyes, but we can only see one thing Don't use the scores to see an anime ええい！ なんでも やって やる |
| This episode did leave more questions than answers, but in terms of pure tension, it did a pretty good job at it. Gabriel's scene was properly disturbing, though. It felt like I was watching a horror anime with the way that Alicia grabbed hold of Gabriel, with her empty eyes, as she dragged him down. Not to forget, the faces on his and Vassago's bodies were a bit disturbing, too. Akihito's influence proves to be another pivotal point again as he was part of the robot, Niemon, as it went down to stop the bomb from going off in the main engine room. I'm not going to bother with the whole "asspull" argument and I'll just say that it still made for a thrilling scene regardless of the faults. Although, it's interesting to note that Niemon's body had disappeared at the end of the episode, so something odd is happening still. Overall, this was a good episode and the post-credit scene with Asuna and Kirito is rather sweet, too. =) |
| Just watched it (I'm a fan). What the hell happened????? There was no explanation or whatsoever, I had to google it to connect the dots. |
| Wow! They pulled Kayaba from the grave, and the woman he likes reduced him to ''Kirito's rival''. Sure he is a mass-murderer, but that was cold! I would let her die if i was in Akihiko's shoes... Also; Lets see what 200 years of character development looks like next episode -_- YUP! Sure! |
I think I don't know wtf I'm doing. Maybe. Probably. |
| Jesus christ Kayaba is back at just the right time and somehow able to connect to a random robot and even power it up with sheer willpower, as if that's how physics work. I knew he was around in virtual worlds, as seen in ALO back in the day, but this was just stupid. And now it's gone. Either he disappeared with it himself, or somehow Alice gets in to that (unless she just becomes a Yui-like AI thing). I'm glad at least Gabriel is seemingly dead. Such a pointless and boring character. PoH is still alive somehow, even after what Kirito supposedly did to him... Great, we can't have enough laughing coffin members i guess, gotta have them keep coming back. I sure hope he dies in the next 2 episodes. I wonder if 200 years really are gonna pass for them or if by some weird miracle it's not actually that slow. I mean after that many years if they come out and Asuna still calls him Kirito-kun or they show even remotely any sign of not knowing every detail about each other and their life, I'm calling bullshit. I guess they could also say that they somehow don't have to remember those, cause of how they could remove Kirito's memories before when he was only testing this. |
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| I would of loved the last few episodes, but I think the studio messed up. The background sound/music drowned out the seiyuu's voices..... Such a horrible mistake that even I could have fixed as an amateur |
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| Akihiko appearing was very nice but the best part of it was that piano OST at the 22 min. mark. That piece gives me so much nostalgia hearing again and again even listening to it while asleep. I forgot the name sadly... |
Rob7 said: PraizOP said: I liked this episode but it was confusing as hell. -Kayaba in a robot? How did that even happen. Just showed up out of nowhere. -I understand Gabriel’s death, but how did his brother die. It looked like Gabriel died to some type of mental problem but his brother should’ve just gotten logged out. Other than these, I liked how the assistant guy volunteered to go remove the bomb and how Niemon actually played a good part in it all. Wished they could’ve added some clips of Kirito and Asuna living out the 100+ years in the Underworld. By Gabriel's "brother" you mean, Vassago / PoH, right? (they are not family. Or the "bro" there was in the meaning of "pal", "friend"?) Anyway, it is clear that Vassago has not died. The "evil-hacker" guy just mistake it because Vassago's face in shock. We can remember that Kirito just turned Vassago into an ancient tree and said "[b]maybe in some hundreds of years someone cuts you[b] (just like we did to the tree wich my blade came from)" So, more than a hudred years (5 min) have passed in super-acceleration of time in Underworld, somehow Vassago-tree was cutted and he logged off, and then returned to the real world surely with his brain and mind compromissed. Yeah sorry, I meant vassago. Haven’t been paying too much attention to him, forgot about the whole tree thing. Thanks for clearing up that he didn’t die, was kind of confused there. |
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Rob7 said: Cleostar said: this is what I've been wondering for so long. SAO anime lacks the depth of explanation that the novels had ever since season 1. What the hell A-1 has been doing for long time? They never learn from past mistakes. The scenario movement was always just move forwards whatsoever with the lack of plot twists (which is actually very necessary because SAO is hard to preach for audiences about the actual meaning of their powers despite SAO is categorized as neither SciFi nor Mystery) At this point it is not a mistake by A-1, it is on purpose. The Director is aware that Kayaba's endgame is about "spirit, soul", almost religious afterlife mumbo-jumbo, and he despises it. @Inorichi did a great sumary about the most important revelations that were cuted. It too consistent for a mistake. A-1 don't want the anime have this moral behind it. I'm curious what tbe author of SAO think about this point of the adaptation. Probably he is forbidden by contrat to leak any word about it. From what I seen and heard, Reki has been explaining / commentating? each episode on a weekly basis. Someone also said he's been explaining the reason why some cuts took place, (maybe defending, can't confirm this due to machine translations being pretty poor). Though from his POV, it's rare that an author gets this many anime adaptations, so unless they're downright messing up his work, (which is arguable, but not actually the case imo), he's probably happy with the adaptation and that's what it seems like from twitter. Still doesn't change the fact that some of these changes are pretty upsetting to the audience that have been following this franchise for nearly a decade, some over a decade if they read the ln early on. sigh~ |
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398288 said: Inorichi said: Personally i still call bullshit as to why the author is still tryong to picture him as not a bad guy, regardless of whatever his motive was in killing the 4000 people back in SAO. Also in his faith being shaken over a stupid plot armor from back then as if it wasn't stupid enough alreadyHello again everyone, I'm here to write an encyclopedia page to myself again! Seriously, who is directing this? It's like whoever adapted the first 4 episodes went MIA. From incredible anime only content to engage the viewer and keep the exposition easily understandable, we have the most mindless cutting of dialogue period. Although the Kayaba scene was pretty good imo, it was nowhere near as good as it should have been. Same with the Kirito-Asuna scene epilogue, why they decided to use a Tender Feeling ost literally back to back after a 10s pause? (when theres literally almost a hundred osts to choose from) I have absolutely no idea. Art & Animation - Thank you for the first time this season, I don't need to flood the thread with screenshots that hurt my soul. Although there was some odd faceless scene at the Kirito-Asuna epilogue, at the very least the art wasn't a rollercoaster of epic battle to ran out of budget. Seriously, compared to last episode there's significantly more LN readers that have some form of praise. I don't get it. It's like we read different novels and watched different anime. Kayaba's Development as the First Antagonist of SAO Cut. Beyond disappointing, it's an utter insult. Seriously, this one upset me. Although it wasn't a climax battle, in the novels, I felt that Kayaba's return held significant importance and was incredibly 'hype'. His return had a significantly larger presence on the story and felt more emotional due to the context of the arc. What happens in the anime? Instead of having Rinko and the staff notice one of their robots have gotten highjacked, lets just make Kayaba appear in the middle of a firefight. ??? Like his introduction is literally in the middle of a fucking gunfight, and then they decide to have Kayaba suddenly have a conversation while taking a bunch of bullets....... Instead of just downright having Rinko mindlessly and confusedly asking if that's Kayaba, having the VA literally just voice the words "I will go" would have had much more impact on those in the audience that recognize the voice and will provoke certain thoughts to those who faintly remember hearing it somewhere before. Not to mention Rinko fucking lived with this man and loved him, she should recognize his voice with a bit more emotion rather than confusedly asking if it's actually him. Also it kinda makes more sense that he's having a conversation not in the middle of a firefight... Unvoiced Monologue Explaining Kayaba as a Character Finally the decision not to include this also upsets me to no end. Not even in a show, not tell sort of fashion. This one was a big slap in the face tbh. ----- It was true that they had faced many dangers so far. But Rinko felt that she understood why Kayaba had chosen this moment to shed his role as an observer. “…He’s not doing it for Underworld. That man has no intention of intervening with the simulation. He chose this moment to reveal himself because he wants to protect Kirigaya-kun and Asunasan…” ---- Although, the first season wasn't without it's flaws as an adaptation. Disregarding Ordinal Scale, I feel like these few lines sum up Kayaba Akihiko, our first antagonist of this franchise, perfectly, yet whoever is directing doesn't decide to add it for whatever reason... It cements and clarifies Kayaba's position as not a villain, but an observer with interests that once distraught the main character, and it even slightly builds his character as someone who has some feelings of care for Kirito and Asuna. (Yes they cut the ramen restaurant thing from S1, but his portrayal in the climax of Alfheim was enough to show that he doesn't downright disregard the two). Instead, Kayaba remains some random 'oh so mysterious' super genius that nobody can comprehend why he does anything. Cutting Explanation of the Overarching Plot of the Entire Franchise Honestly, at the very least, this line should have been monologued by Rinko's thoughts. "That’s what you noticed and discovered during your two years in that floating castle — their infinite potential, and the dazzling, blinding light of their spirits." It doesn't take a scientist to figure out that the premise of Sword Art Online (franchise, not arc1) is about incarnation or human will transcending the limits imposed by a system if you're reading the novels. However, if you're watching the anime... You may need a whole squad of researchers, since it may be safe to say that the director probably doesn't even know. Miracles vs Plot Devices —I don’t believe in miracles. Kayaba Akihiko said to Rinko that day — the day that the death game SAO was cleared far ahead of schedule and every player was released. His eyes shone with an unwavering light, and his unshaven mouth was curved into the hint of a smile. —But today, for the first time in my life, I witnessed a miracle. —I had him at the end of my sword; his HP should have dropped to zero for good. But almost as if he were resisting the system itself, he refused to accept his own destruction… then he moved his right hand, and thrust his own sword into my chest. —That moment might have been just what I’ve been waiting for all this time… Finally, after 5 years the mysterious reason as to why Kayaba Akihiko trapped TEN THOUSAND PLAYERS in a Death Game, may have been revealed. A-1 decides to fuck over everyone and anyone following this series. I genuinely fail to understand what the director is doing with this anime. At this point I genuinely think they despise this franchise or something and is subtly fucking with anyone who wants to watch it. The only single praiseworthy decision in this adaptation was the inclusion of the butterfly on the flower, which first introduced us to this arc and the Underworld in episode 1. I think it was brilliant they decided to have the same scene conclude the Underworld. I've only inserted text explaining Kayaba's logic, development, and reasonings regarding SAO, etc. The author isn't picturing him as a 'good guy' and Rinko still condemn's him saying whatever reasons he had, it still doesn't change the fact he killed 4,000 people in SAO. Also what faith being shaken are you talking about... ? The audience doesn't know why he trapped 10,000 players in SAO. Those few lines, "That moment might have been just what I’ve been waiting for all this time" - hints at his reasoning behind trapping everyone in SAO, - that he was an observer, perhaps looking for someone to overcome the limits of the system he developed. |
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guizo- said: Wow! They pulled Kayaba from the grave, and the woman he likes reduced him to ''Kirito's rival''. Sure he is a mass-murderer, but that was cold! I would let her die if i was in Akihiko's shoes... Also; Lets see what 200 years of character development looks like next episode -_- YUP! Sure! Lmao I hate how everything in this world ends up revolving around Kirito, didn't this woman love him, why is the only way she could think of encouraging him, calling him "Aren't you Kirito-kun's rival????" |
| This anime shit is addictive |
| Revision to my above complaints; I didn't realize since WOU just looks so visually different from the original anime in 2012, but recreating the same hand holding scene from the end of SAO s1 was a pretty good decision. Alicia dragging down Gabriel was also fairly good, to be fair. Though, I still think everything about Kayaba was ruined irreparably. From our list of 'bad guys' or antagonists, Kayaba has been the only one to return like this, yet they completely throw his character out the window. Looking back at it, I think the biggest issue wasn't the fact that scenes related to Kayaba and SAO weren't included, but how that lack of development made his whole 'repair the broken robot' scene so cringey / bullshitty. There's no build up or foreshadowing. Incarnation and overcoming the limits which are a core concepts behind SAO which are near absent from this season so everything about this whole scene collapses imo unless you have light novel knowledge. None of Rinko's cry was cut, yet all the context surrounding Kayaba is gone, so everything she says kind of ends up being that 'cry bullshit before the power of friendship,love,orwhatever saves the day'. Without that context, the scene is summed up to - Antagonist from s1 returns to rescue everyone, Robot breaks, Magic miracle occurs and broken robot can move, OG antagonist saves everyone and vanishes into the sunset in a few minutes. Like we don't even know why he came back - at least tell the audience why, it's basically a few lines... |
InorichiSep 7, 2020 2:02 AM
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Inorichi said: Revision to my above complaints; I didn't realize since WOU just looks so visually different from the original anime in 2012, but recreating the same hand holding scene from the end of SAO s1 was a pretty good decision. Alicia dragging down Gabriel was also fairly good, to be fair. Though, I still think everything about Kayaba was ruined irreparably. From our list of 'bad guys' or antagonists, Kayaba has been the only one to return like this, yet they completely throw his character out the window. Looking back at it, I think the biggest issue wasn't the fact that scenes related to Kayaba and SAO weren't included, but how that lack of development made his whole 'repair the broken robot' scene so cringey / bullshitty. There's no build up or foreshadowing. Incarnation and overcoming the limits which are a core concepts behind SAO which are near absent from this season so everything about this whole scene collapses imo unless you have light novel knowledge. None of Rinko's cry was cut, yet all the context surrounding Kayaba is gone, so everything she says kind of ends up being that 'cry bullshit before the power of friendship,love,orwhatever saves the day'. Without that context, the scene is summed up to - Antagonist from s1 returns to rescue everyone, Robot breaks, Magic miracle occurs and broken robot can move, OG antagonist saves everyone and vanishes into the sunset in a few minutes. Like we don't even know why he came back - at least tell the audience why, it's basically a few lines... I've watch Extra Edition now, what is the characters doing a retrospective sumary of Season one, and everything about Kayaba is there: - The moment he smiled when Kirito will/spirit/soul/whatever break the laws of the world he created. - His chat with KiriSuna before begone with more hints. - When he helps Kirito remembering him to "break the laws of system" again to defeat the Alfheim Arc villain. And now we remember that all Alicization first season was about "break the laws of system" (taboo and stuff) again. This series is cleary making circles around the same core. Now finally that Kayaba also hace his moment to "break the laws of the world" and make a miracle, it become vague, random, asspulled. The audience can guess, but the scene don't help anything to state it, unlike in all the rest of the series. And not only with this Kayaba, but with Incarnations too. Why there was not any son of a b* in the vast set of useless characters there to comment "Wadahell, it is like they, Kirito, the ghosts, the villains, everybody is breaking all the rules of this world with their will and spirit, did you see it before audience?" Simple like that, and you unite the loose points of the story, without to make anything vague. |
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| Btw, remembering the end of season one when Kirito beat the crap out of the rapist villain, it is made clear that "when you turn the Pain Absorber to zero, it affects your real body" And in fact we saw the state that guy become after that. 1. So, why Sugu and other players that entered in the UW with zero pain absortion had not their nerves messed up after suffering gore level of pain there? Just like happened with Noboyuki Sugou. Do the novels explain something about? 2. How the world of SAO is still allowing VR equipaments that can mess with your neural system. What a bunch of masochists. |
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| Makes a robot out of battery move again with the power of love Yup, that's some 10/10 material there |
| هیچوقت بهتر نمیشه |
| So Asuna and Kirito spent 200 years in the Underworld? Being with the people you love for 200 years, it won't feel long even if it's 200 years |
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| Welp, in the end, they all got saved by what's left of Akihiko, or his AI, whatever. I wonder how Kirito and Asuna will spend the next 100 years or so in there. They should at least do something fun ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) |
| “What do you do when there is an evil you cannot defeat by just means? Do you stain your hands with evil to destroy evil? Or do you remain steadfastly just and righteous even if it means surrendering to evil?” ― Lelouch Vi Britannia |
| Akihiko Kayaba comes out of nowhere!! That miracle thing was too cliche. But still, this episode gave me the feels! |
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| This anime went too many seasons...It gets more boring with each season |
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| Episode dedicated exclusively to what happens in the real world. I had many questions about how they were going to deal with Gabriel once he woke up but Kirito managed to destroy his soul by brainshock in real life. Regardless it can be said that PoH and Kayaba Akihiko's robot disappeared even though they were shown to be dead / destroyed. I wonder what happened. At least Higa, Rinko, Nakanishi and Kikuoka worked as a team and managed to save themselves without anyone dying, but that ending worries me. Sweet post-ending scene with Asuna and Kirito. |
| All weebs creatures of the galaxy, hear this message. Those of you who listen will not be struck by western animation. You will no longer know hunger, nor pain. Your Anime have come to lead you now. Our strength shall serve as a luminous sun toward which all intelligence may blossom. And the impervious shelter beneath which you will prosper. However, for those who refuse our offer and cling to their western animation ways… For you, there will be great wrath. |
| WTF is happening ?! I laughed so hard in this episode I thought it was a comedy, the funniest part was the robot I don't know why. |
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| Ugh. The number of asspulls on this arc is just agonizing. |
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| w0w! the pick-up lines of these two are so CORNY! |
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| ok episode again. The enemies have finally retreated. Lol wth was with the robot. Why the hell was he Akihiko lmao |
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| Gabriel's hallucination before death was creepy. Kikouka obviously lied when he said that the bullet hit his vest. Kayaba decided to take over Niemon to help Kirito. I think that the anime extended the conversation between Kayaba and Rinko. It was better when it was shorter actually. Everyone's issue with this episode is how Niemon got reactivated. The author posted in Twitter that it was Niemon's auxiliary battery getting booted up that caused the reactivation. The anime should have added at least a comment about that when it got moving again. So many comments say that both Gabriel and Vassago died but they clearly state that only one body was found in the STL room. Why no one pays attention? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Wasn't Niemon collapsed in front of the cameras? So there should be at least a video recording of what happened to it logically lol. Post credits scene had that nice ost from first season. I think it is the first time they used it after the events of first season. |
| This episode sums up the entire series, this just is so bad that its good. Makes you facepalm but laugh at the ridiculousness but you can't help but to enjoy it. Fam this is... IN essence good Trash anime that we all just seem to love ROFL. |
 Behold of my awesomeness~ controversial and/or sensitive topics likely devolve into the same repetitive, derogatory, abusive, and harassing comments can no longer be posted. But my feels. |
| The battle in underworld was over, but not for the real world yet. the dead faces of both Vassago and Gabriel were terrifying haha.. as for Niemon, i'm really curious why Kayaba's conscious somehow planted in there. Good thing he's on RATH side and doing some miracle on disarming the bomb with the help of his beloved Rinko shout XD another curiousity came when both Niemon and Vassago's body were nowhere to be found. i don't think that was a coincidence. and..in the end Kirito and Asuna flying with their beautiful wings to start their journey for about 200 years. 2 more episodes... really excited for the next one |
| I will never understand why the series wants us to believe Akihiko is a good guy and hero now. Pretty sure he's a mass-murderer. |
| The 2015 version of 'me' would have loved this episode. Nah, screw that, this episode was great. Just gonna ignore the 'literature police' idiots that nitpick everything about SAO's plot just for the sake of nitpicking (and to try to look cool on the internet by beating a dead horse that is SAO.) |
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| Gabriel's death felt so sweet, the bastard deserved it. Oops, Poh is probably alive. |
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| Vassago sure doesn't give up, Gabe got pulled into the abyss haha just like a certain villain if anyone knows what I refer to. I wonder what Kirito and Asuna been doing for 200 years, sure it will be full of fun times for them. and definitely sad ones as well. |
| Kayaba!!!!!!!!! |
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| Lol I'm both confused and amazed at the amount of asspulls in the last couple of episodes. I liked the first part of Alicization a lot better. |
| Dude that Akihiko reveal was so random like nobody asked for it. The show could have ended for good after this season, but seeing how Niemon disappeared, there is totally more story to happen after this. |
| omg, ive been trying to give this show the benefit of the doubt, but every episode it gets worse, now the dude that caused so many to die in s1 is here to save the day, lmao, i genuinely think this is my breaking point with this pile of dog turd passing as a tv show... |
| So that Gabriel dude is gone as well as that robot who was possessed by someone I don't remember the name of. Doesn't really make sense and I doubt they will make sense of it in the next episode either. |
| I'm so glad both died. As for Gabriel, that was a satisfying death to watch. AKIHIKO!!!! That makes no sense, but he's heree!! Jokes aside, seeing him doesn't make me surprised given that sense stopped being a thing long ago, especially with that comeback part where he somehow got back up. Also was that really blood? I'm pretty sure Akihiko's body is long gone. At least Kirito and Asuna will live together longer than anyone else, lol. |
Come on man,where is that Noragami season 3 masterpiece.We want it, Bones! |
| Great episode with action in the real world, Brigg is dead thanks to Kikuoka while Miller and Vassago are lying dead on the STLs. Alicia brings Miller down as the souls of the dead have came back to haunt his ass. Goodbye forever ya bitch! Critter seeing both Miller and Vassago dead is going to haunt him for a little while. The enemies plant an explosive in the reactor of the Ocean Turtle and Nakanishi goes to remove it, but one of the enemies stayed behind near the reactor surprising Nakanishi. The Niemon robot that comes out is actually Kayaba, who distracts the enemy until Kikuoka comes in to finish the enemy off. He suffers critical damage and shuts off just when he was about to reach the explosive, but Kojiro's yelling and reminding him of being Heathcliff and praying for a miracle helped bring Kayaba back long enough to get rid of the explosive. That part was amazing. I wonder if Kayaba's consciousness is still out there somewhere, watching other worlds. We end off with Asuna and Kirito flying, with this world being born, which is really exciting. 5/5 |
| Akihiko randomly appearing and saving the day was certainly the most random asspull. Also I kinda wish they made it a bit more clear how Vasango was supposedly killed (or at least him escaping the Underworld considering the implication of only Gabriel's body being found and collected). |
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| That Robo-Kayaba scene was so fucking cringe and it feels like it came out of nowhere. This writing is just atrocious even by SAO standards. My god, has this Underworld saga really crashed and burned in the last part; and after such a promising start, too *sigh* |
Stygian_PrisonerMay 16, 2023 11:05 AM
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