Episode 368

What i liked:
-Roderick's appereance in the release and how he was drawn
-Isidro talking back to Sk
-Magnifico getting ko'ed
-Skull Knight insinuating that the evil spirits we saw are the foundation of the Island. Now the scene with Schierke summoning a latent spirit pops back into my head.
-callback to albion

What i wasn't a big fan of:
-Some panels of Guts look off
-Skull Knight shouldn't be missing a spike
-I made my peace with no Sonia
-no inner thoughts by Guts as Casca was abducted

In general i obviously am left wondering a bit how much cooler Miura would make certain scenes, regardless though it's interesting to think about how the island would have collapsed in such a catastrophic way, while Griffith takes away Casca.

We were surely in ride for some crazy escalation.

Art wise i imagine the assistants share the workload of some character art, while Kurosaki is the one who draws them the best. I hope in the volume release we get some additional insight.
 
It's very strange and amusing to me that Rodrick of all characters was the focus of what was probably the most well-handled scene thus far. I sincerely hope that sets a precedent for how exposition and character writing is handled going forward, and that Guts and Griffith's uncanny silence was a stylistic choice (I doubt it though).

It is strange that SK didn't take a swipe at Griffith, as I'm sure many of us assumed that was the entire reason he was there. The Gurus not even appearing yet also feels odd, considering the whole island is seemingly being engulfed in the ooze. I know many here were hyped up for a big confrontation between Griffith and all these big players who could seemingly pose a threat to him. I don't really know what to make of it either.

Given there's only two episodes left, I really doubt there's going to be some last second intervention to stop Griffith, chances are it'll be focused on saving as many of the island's inhabitants as possible. The witch kids and elders could presumably use brooms to escape, and the elves can fly, but the other fantasy creatures probably won't be so lucky. Farnese and Schierke will probably help Guts.

Speaking of Guts, I wonder how he will be written after this. He seemed utterly defeated at the end of this episode. For much of his journey, there was a conflict between protecting Casca and going after Griffith, who was now back in the physical world "where [Guts'] sword can reach him". Now he's failed at protecting Casca utterly, and it's been shown that Guts still cannot touch Griffith at all. This is effectively his lowest moment; he can't even bring himself to fruitless shoot off arrows at Griffith as he goes, he just despondently reaches out his hand. I wonder if we're going to get a depressed Guts who has simply given up after this? Obviously that wouldn't last long, but it'd be an interesting turn for his character.

As for Casca getting abducted, yeah I'm not a huge fan. I was very much in the camp that thought she would join the group, and that Griffith sharing a body with her and Guts' son would be enough motivation for them to go after him. Making her a damsel again is just disappointing. This was surely what Miura had planned, however, so I'm going to trust it's going somewhere interesting. As long as she's not held prisoner in a tower or something, having her interact with Charlotte and Luca's group again could be cool. That's assuming studio gaga can pull it off, though.
 
Skull Knight’s dialogue is exactly what I expected from this project. It’s clearly Mori’s recollection of what Miura told him, possibly transcribed verbatim by the staff. With that said, this is my favorite episode of the project so far. We got a little more information on the mechanics/nature of the world on top of the “usual” furthering of the story. I’m satisfied with the project so far.
 
As for Casca getting abducted, yeah I'm not a huge fan. I was very much in the camp that thought she would join the group, and that Griffith sharing a body with her and Guts' son would be enough motivation for them to go after him. Making her a damsel again is just disappointing. This was surely what Miura had planned, however, so I'm going to trust it's going somewhere interesting. As long as she's not held prisoner in a tower or something, having her interact with Charlotte and Luca's group again could be cool. That's assuming studio gaga can pull it off, though.
If I had to bet though,
Casca will almost certainly get locked up :( Like, even if Griffith (as Femto) can't kill her due to being bound by Moon Kid, why would he let her just wander around Falconia, where she could spill the beans of his true identity to others? I really wanted her to rejoin the group too, and maybe even have some cool scenes fighting side by side with Guts, with the motivation going forward as a mother and father trying to rescue their son, but in this case Miura-sensei's vision for the story was different. I definitely think he would have told Mori-sensei about this plot development, so it is what it is.
 
Honestly maybe yeah these episodes have been done for a minute and the next ones will have improvements. If they can take time with the art and give us a nicely paced episode like this one, I will be more than happy.
 

RaffoBaffo

Ex-Newser of the late Berserk Chronicles
The art is ok, the only problem with the art is that isn' Miura's art, but no matter how much time, I don't think they will learn necromancy.
 

Griffith

With the streak of a tear, Like morning dew
I think the art is far from objectively awful, actually a lot of the individual drawings, like Skully, Roderick and his crew, or Zodd flying away with Griffith, look great, and I even get what they're trying to do with Guts' expressions, what they think Miura would do in these moments, but... the sum adds up to less than the whole of the parts, because it's a far cry from Miura's level of artistic direction. Which is one thing when it's an uninspiring action sequence, even against Griffith, but when it's what should be one of the biggest moments for Guts' and Casca's characters and it's just kind of... rudimentary, mediocre, or passable, the contrast becomes blinding and calls into question the purpose of the whole thing. And that's in what's otherwise maybe the best episode they've done so far! But I don't really care if they do the framework of an episode or some exposition with Roderick alright if the series' biggest remaining key moments, like Guts bringing the Dragon Slayer down on Griffith, or Griffith flying away with Casca to Guts' desolation, are going to sort of be fudged, ineffective, or fall flat when they should be epic, climactic, larger-than-life events brimming with drama. It's becoming a recurring pattern, and that's concerning. I'm still in awe they're even capable of this output, but it just might not be enough. :sad:
 
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Atocas

Voice in the Void
Time to throw in my two cents for the first time since the continuation started.

I'm gonna be honest, I didn't enjoy the last two episodes. They felt weirdly soulless to me and I put them down with a feeling of emptiness. This episode made me feel things again. It reminded me of the many things that made a new episode of Berserk so great. It made me emotionally invested again in the characters I came to love over so many years, and I'm really glad it did.

I'm looking forward to seeing more.
 
A few things, straight up not a fan of Casca being taken away. Is this what Miura wanted? Like for this whole situation to go down this particular way? Could this not have happen way further down the line if it had to happen? Speaking only for myself but to me it would had been far more interesting for her to stay with the group.

Art wise, I don’t expect it to be Miura quality. I feel Studio Gaga is figuring things out art wise as they go. Like who is best at drawing this character or that character, but out of this group of artist there is one who clearly is not at the same standards as the others. Indeed some of these renditions are not in the idea level of quality. Not saying it’s terrible, but the lesser quality stands panels stands out among the better artist panels. It’s jarring how hit and miss it is. I do hope they see these short comings and adjust accordingly.
 
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Aphasia

ALL MYSTERIES MUST BE SOLVED
Certainly some wonkiness, mostly in Gut's expressions, but just wanted to say overall I think this is certainly the best art output they've done. Side characters look really great, and I found the whole thing way easier to follow than the last two.
 

Aazealh

Administrator
Staff member
From a technical perspective, this episode is definitely better put together than the three previous ones. The story flows more naturally. That's probably because a lot of it focuses on secondary characters (i.e. not Guts, Griffith and Casca) and that the team felt they could take more liberties in their portrayal. Unfortunately that brings its own set of problems.

Roderick, Isidro and the Skull Knight have some good looking panels. You can tell one of the staffers at Studio Gaga really gave his all on that full page of Zodd, too. On the other hand, every shot of Guts looks like a Las Vegas impersonator, and Griffith and Casca don't look like themselves either. You'd think they would have really tried to nail those faces, and maybe they did. But the end result just isn't there. Which is really too bad, since it happens to be the most important part of the episode.

As far as the dialogue goes, like I had outlined in the previous thread, the problem of doing more dialogue is that it'll quickly show they can't nail the authentic voices of the characters. They sound like caricatures of themselves. For example Isma is a naive country girl, but she's not a 5 year-old. That bothered me in the last episode, but it's more obvious here, especially in the exchange between Isidro and the Skull Knight.

Isidro & SK

Isidro has fought evil spirits for months on end, every night, with Guts and the others. Before that, he was at Albion and also had to survive that apocalyptic event. He's had to fight stronger and stronger opponents over time, and these oozey specters aren't individually dangerous, it's their mass that makes them a threat. All of this to say that he should be able to handle this stuff. It's what the last half of the series prepared him to do. He's even got a fire dagger that feels particularly adapted to the situation, since these evil blobs fear fire if they are similar to those he encountered in Albion.

Instead, he's saved by the Skull Knight and we get some attempt at levity that falls flat while SK demonstrates his power by... slashing these things? Is that supposed to make him cool? It's cool when he dices three apostles in a split-second. These shouldn't even be worth his time. Of course, the real reason he shows up is to deliver exposition... to Isidro. Like the others, he's a caricature of himself. The Skull Knight was never just a vessel for dumping information on the reader, and the things he told Guts always had layers to them.

But here, I can only describe his dialogue as clumsy. It's trying to sound like something Miura would write, but missing all of the depth he actually infused in the text. A good example is the talk of "a vivid light that became a wedge and created cracks all over the island". It honestly sounds so obvious that I feel stupid writing it, but when Miura used "light" to refer to Griffith, he made metaphors that related to light. Like Ganishka talking about "the apostles that swarm like insects around his light". There are plenty of ways it could have been good, but a light turning into a wedge? Not great, sorry.

And did I mention that the Skull Knight's advice makes no sense? He's telling Isidro to flee, but how? Aren't they surrounded? Where are they supposed to go? "You can't save everything"... Who said anything about that? It's like a parody of when he told Guts he would have to choose between seeking revenge and protecting Casca. And then Isidro internally reveals himself to be a coward who only outwardly pretends to stand his ground because he has no choice, which frankly feels like a complete betrayal of his character. This might have made sense when he was on his own in volume 18, but this is volume 42.

Inauthentic characterization

Isidro has shown himself to be dependable, but more importantly to be courageous and even temerarious. He's frequently had to be held back from danger, like in episode 327 when Roderick forcefully grabs him as the Sea God sinks. Here, however, not a thought for Guts or the others. Yet this meaningless show of bravery prompts some internal reflection from the Skull Knight, which again feels like a parody of previous scenes. Frankly, if it's to see stuff like this, I prefer no dialogue.

By the way, the Skull Knight didn't take a shot at Griffith? Really? That's literally all he cares about, and he told Danan as much in episode 363. He came to the island because he knew shit was going down. He even warned Guts about it in episode 361. And he has a score to settle with Femto. But I guess saving Isidro from evil spirits was more important? And he couldn't have done both? I mean, when Slan appeared in the Qliphoth, he was already on the way before she even manifested... And he could cross the short distance between the house and the others in seconds. It's hard to reconcile his actions or lack thereof with who he has been so far.

Ah, and he's missing a spike again for no reason, even though it was fixed by Hanarr as we can see numerous times in episode 363. Given that Studio Gaga finished the mini-posters of volume 41 and that even there he's got his spike, you'd think they would remember.

Before moving on, a quick note on the other characters "present" in the scene. Danan is voiceless and powerless. She lives, but may as well not exist (she also looks like crap, her likeness is on the level of an AOW statue). Did the Skull Knight come for her? Apparently not, from what the scene shows us.
:shrug:
And what about Serpico? He's just there. I guess he can't fight because he's holding Danan... Clearly a wise course of action from this master tactician. It's worth pointing out that he's not wearing his cloak, which has got to be a deliberate choice from the team. I wonder whether that will amount to anything.

Roderick

The deal with Roderick is pretty puzzling. So they were conveniently in the midst of preparing to leave the island... But since when? It can't possibly have just been since episode 365, given that only a minute or two elapsed between then and now. But if they had been preparing to leave for a while, why didn't we see anything before? And why didn't anyone else know? By the way, the Sea Horse isn't in the same place than it was in episode 365. This episode is the first time we see a full shot of the island, too, but I couldn't tell where the Sea Horse is in it.

Roderick says he received an oracle from the merrows... Really? When? How? And he just obeyed like that, without consulting anyone else? He said he warned the village, but he didn't bother contacting his friends? And Isma's mother didn't tell her daughter? When you see the level of activity displayed, it's not something that was done in 30 minutes, so the timeline doesn't make a whole lot of sense here.

More importantly, since when do the merrows have precognitive abilities? And why them and no one else? I mean, you know who has precognitive abilities? Danan, the queen of the elves and ruler of Elfhelm. So she was completely blindsided regarding the destruction of her land and possibly her own death, but the merrows foresaw it?! And what about the Great Gurus, who had also predicted something would happen, as the Volvaba notes in episode 361? Nowhere to be seen. Instead it's Roderick who "warned the village" (who did he warn and how?). Again, doesn't make much sense to me.

Magnifico and Azan's portrayal is odd and feels just placed there for convenience. They're drunk for no reason, and Azan is not exactly the kind of person who would get along so well with Magnifico (and vice versa). The interaction between Magnifico and Roderick doesn't feel authentic to me either, and since when do Roderick's men call him Magnifico-sama? Bizarre choices all around.

Speaking of, the sailors who get eaten exhibit ridiculous behavior with the evil spirits. Literally every human character ever has had an instinctive fear and revulsion for these type of things in the past, but they're confusing them with elves? Even trying to touch them? I mean maybe they're actually a different type of being but still, when you see a black mass covering the entire island and swarming towards you, who would think "oh these must be benevolent beings!"

Zodd & Griffith

Zodd's presence is confirmed to just have been for transportation. I'm guessing there were two aspects to it: 1) Mori didn't want to take too many liberties by bringing out Femto; 2) he thought mirroring the Hill of Swords would be visually and thematically powerful. Unfortunately, as far as we know Zodd couldn't really have come there in the first place, and his non-fight with Guts is such a travesty that I don't see how it could be justified.

Beyond that though, Griffith transforming would have made sense in this sequence. First off, he could have flown off by himself, obviously. Second, it would have better explained how he caused the specters to emerge and destroy the island, as opposed to something that happened while he was doing something else, as if he had no agency in it. Third, the impact of Guts seeing Femto grab Casca would have been insane, incomparable to flying off on Zodd. And last, Guts doesn't hit him except at the end, and it leaves no scratch. Again, it'd be more coherent and visually powerful if it had been Femto that he hit, almost like saying "playtime's over".

Of course, the problem here is I'm basing this little scenario on what may have already been a serious departure from what Miura intended in ways we can't be sure of. Can't do anything about that, unfortunately.
:shrug:
I do hope that Mori will eventually reveal exactly what he knew, though. What bothers me is that it feels like he's already walked back on his big claim that he would only do what he knows for sure. That doesn't reassure me about the future.

Guts

Ah, Guts, a character defined by his impotence and abdication in the face of adversity. Truly, if all the other stuff is the price to pay to be able to see this, then it's more than worth it. [Neurodivergence alert: I am being sarcastic] In truth, not much to say here, except to repeat that execution matters enormously, often more than the ideas being conveyed. Even if everything else was actually stellar (which it is not), it would be meaningless if pages 15, 16 and 17 look like a bad Hill of Swords fan fiction. It's baffling and sad that these scenes elicit no emotion in me given what they depict, and yet they don't.

That aside, it's notable to me that the black mass doesn't attack Guts, even though he stays powerless and immobile for the entire episode. There could be an explanation for it, given that they speak to him politely and even ask for him to respond (but to what, since they didn't ask anything?)... But then those same guys just attack the Skull Knight on sight (who is most likely also a sacrifice). Doesn't make much sense. Still, the way they talk to him on that first page is what's most interesting about this episode to me.

What's next

It feels somewhat evident that Guts will enter that fissure we see on the first page in the next episode and maybe come across some secret ruins that will shed light on the island's true nature. By extension this might give us new information on what happened a thousand years ago. Like I said a month ago, it does remain to be seen how it all ties together, since the island is isolated and so far away from Gaizeric's capital city. Was it displaced from its original location? Did another Eclipse-level event occur separately? Were these beings "sealed" by Danan's power/tree? It's notable to me that the episode title (referring to them) contains the same kanji used for the Eclipse, even though it could be involuntary.

Barytes also comes to mind, in particular the difference between the forest and the dwarves' caves. I had speculated when the element was introduced that it could eventually be related to the "evil power" wielded by the God Hand, and that may yet prove to be the case. Speaking of the dwarves, will Guts come across them? Are they even still alive given what just happened? That'd be quite a feat. What about all the other inhabitants of the island? Presumably we'll see the Great Gurus do something at some point...

And other than that I'm guessing we'll be following each little group's perspective, which honestly seems very ambitious and difficult to do for Mori and the staff. I'm curious to see how each group will handle themselves, and more importantly what's actually going to happen next. I guess I'd like to see Isidro and Serpico go rescue Schierke and Farnese, if they're brought back into existence at some point. Will they all stay split up? How do they even get out of this situation? It feels rather hopeless at the moment. Maybe we were closer to the end of the story than we knew! Next episode, they all get killed. THE END.
:troll:


Casca's abduction

Many people have commented on Casca's abduction, so I want to touch on it a little. I've already given my thoughts on the matter in the last thread: it isn't the scenario I wanted to see; I would have preferred for her to have room to grow with her current companions. That said, I can't believe Mori wouldn't follow Miura's plans in that regard, so it must be what he had envisioned. What he had in mind exactly remains to be seen, so I'll wait to see how it goes.

While we unfortunately will never get to see how Miura would have done it himself, hopefully we'll be able to discern his intentions and the ways in which they made sense. For example he may have seen it as a way to re-establish Casca as a main character, independent of the group, by having her evolve alone and with her own unique point of view and ordeals to get through. Given how he established her PTSD after she was restored, being split apart from Guts is also not incongruous (even if being taken by Griffith of all people isn't exactly great either). Of course it opens many other questions, including how and when they will meet again.

Beyond that, for a very long time now, over 15 years in fact, the question of what would occur after Elfhelm has been one of the biggest unknowns in the series. As I believe I said even back then, transitioning from the familiar journey to a new "configuration" would be a difficult task for Miura, and nigh unpredictable for fans. All big, epic fantasy works tend to start crumbling when time comes for the authors to pay all the checks they've written by endlessly expanding the story, world and characters. But I believed then that Miura would nail it, and I still very much think he could have.

Fundamentally, the problem with how the abduction takes place is that it's a repeat of what happened on the Hill of Swords, except Guts somehow does even worse. On its face, it makes it seem like the whole journey to Elfhelm served little purpose, and it makes me seriously yearn for a glimpse of how Miura would have done it. Of how it could have been good. It's frustrating, because I want to say that the next chapter in the story (which will start in just three episodes) will show us what he had in store for Casca and whether it was all worth it, but the truth is that at best it'll still just be an interpretation of his unfinished ideas.

The island's destruction

The island's almost instant destruction was definitely a surprise and reflects rather poorly on characters like Danan and the Great Gurus. I would go so far as to say it's pathetic, especially given how effortlessly it's made to occur. It even makes you question a character like the Skull Knight, who reflects on how "it's fate" that it happened, but didn't bother warning Guts about it back on the beach. As a side note, the word he uses for "fate" here (定め) isn't the one Miura used in the rest of the series (運命)... Only a detail, you might say, but it bums me out...

At the same time, Skellig's destruction in this specific manner feels like just the kind of twist you could expect from Miura. Again, the obvious question is what he would have done differently, but there's so many variables it's impossible to really say. Even changing the timing a little bit could have made a huge difference. It really reinforces the idea to me that "more is less" in this case. I'd rather only have what Mori knew was planned and be able to imagine the rest, than get additional "decorative" material that implies other things didn't happen when in fact they might have.

Anyway, what would have truly been lame would have been to make it just a repeat of what happened at Flora's place, so I'm glad it's not that. Also, what matters isn't so much the island as the people on it, and they (well, some of them) may yet survive. That would, again, be an interesting twist. Kind of like Daiba's survival after the annihilation of the Kushan empire. The prognosis isn't so good for Danan, though. But I guess she must have something left to do or she'd be dead already. That feels like a particularly sad end for her character, especially given how carelessly she's treated on the page. I hope the next couple of episodes won't be so miserable for her. Now that I think of it, though, if she ends up putting up a last display of power to allow people to escape, that will actually be quite similar to what happened with Flora...
 
Just a question, did Miura drew the storyboards for Duranki or was it done entirely by Studio Gaga?

It was a very beautiful manga and I wonder if Miura contributed with the art or just with the writing.
 

Aazealh

Administrator
Staff member
Just a question, did Miura drew the storyboards for Duranki or was it done entirely by Studio Gaga?

Yes, he did. Then the assistants "inked" the panels he had drafted, and once they were done he did some final modifications to harmonize their art and make sure everything looked tight.
 
The problems continue and I gotta agree with Aazealh that Skullknight is an imposter. That kinda bummed me out. Again I am confused about how this continuation is being handled, but its not all bad.*

I kinda liked Guts reaction though (bad art aside), he appears to be broken in that moment. There is literally nothing he can do. Just helpless which is more akin to the Post Eclipse before Skullknight showed up.
 
Just out of curiosity...

In one panel we can get a clear look at Guts neck through the collar of his armor.
In the armor's collar space where Guts neck Is showing wasn't always his cape filling the gap?
Did Miura ever show Guts neck through the collar of his armor?
 

Aazealh

Administrator
Staff member
In one panel we can get a clear look at Guts neck through the collar of his armor.
In the armor's collar space where Guts neck Is showing wasn't always his cape filling the gap?
Did Miura ever show Guts neck through the collar of his armor?

There's some space, but yeah it's usually almost fully filled out by his cloak. They messed up the proportions, resulting in this giant gap that looks a bit silly.
 

Grail

Feel the funk blast
Looking back on Dur-An-Ki in light of the recent episode releases, it is pretty interesting to think about what sort of work Miura must have done to make everything look so cohesive. The mix of styles in this continuation is a little jarring sometimes, but under the circumstances it's easy to see why.

Aaz's summary of issues is so exhaustive that it covers everything I would have said and much more, but I also agree that the episode flowed a lot more naturally than I was expecting. I could figure out what was going on a lot more easily this time around. For Roderick's part, I had assumed that the Merrows who experienced Griffith's presence must have immediately told him and his crew to get ready to disembark, but it's true that they'd have no way of reacting as quickly as they did if that were the case. That, coupled with Danan's seeming inability to do anything makes this whole turn of events feel disjointed, like everything shown would have happened over a greater period of time, but has been condensed.

It seems that this would all fall under Mori's vow of "if Miura didn't say it, then we won't depict it," but like we've talked about before, it's also hard to know what falls under that category, and what is deemed necessary padding to make the episode not appear like a picturebook. Having it both ways feels a bit strange. As a reader, I feel less like I'm able to look through the episode, and more like there's a visual shorthand that I'm now obliged to learn in order to somehow discern what are just "fill-ins" and what's the real deal. :shrug:
 
The entire Roderick at the ship/port I felt was unnecessary. The Merrow would’ve alerted him the same time the Woodland creature’s noticed something so I have no problem there. But Roderick should’ve appeared at least where Serpico & Isidro is, instead of SK, to which I’d assume Serpico would then leave Danan/mermaid girl and Isidro with Roderick to return to the ship with the promise that he’d bring Farnese back with him. Unless I misread Roderick, he’s the kind of character to tell his men to prepare the ship just in case, while he himself (and a few of his men) would go to check up on the party, and especially Farnese. Just hanging around with his arms crossed, strumming his chin seems odd for the gentleman. This felt like poor use of pages/time that only damaged characterisation (in my opinion anyway).

The poor panel arrangement continues when Serpico yells “Isidro!“, after the blobs were defeated instead of preferably before Isidro even notices. It’s only one panel though.

Last nitpick is the one time Guts should really have atleast one “Griffith!!!”. Instead he just looks like he wants to cry for like 10 panels? Wasn’t really necessary to have so many sad/scared Gut’s panels/pages. And looks like he’s just given up on living by the end.

Anywhoo. At this rate I might redo Studio Gaga’s Berserk myself to ease my tormented heart. Got a little XP with drawing Berserk since the announcement for the continuation.
 

Griffith

With the streak of a tear, Like morning dew
Damn Aaz, this post is bypassing the waiting period and immediately going to Hall of Fame! I was kind of enjoying the intrigue you provided heading into the podcast with your relative silence only because I didn't realize you were literally writing the book on this... adaptation? That feels the most right of any moniker thus far. It's literally an adaptation of unseen materials, like some (a)historical recreation (a shadow of idea =).

The island's almost instant destruction was definitely a surprise and reflects rather poorly on characters like Danan and the Great Gurus. I would go so far as to say it's pathetic, especially given how effortlessly it's made to occur. It even makes you question a character like the Skull Knight

Skull Knight probably just watched Griffith go because he didn't want to get knocked into the dirt.:SK:; I warned everyone, Griffith rules, good guys drool... except for The One: :rickert:
 
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