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Apr 3, 2020 9:41 AM
#1

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Nov 2011
129186
THIS IS AN ANIME ONLY DISCUSSION POST. DO NOT DISCUSS THE MANGA BEYOND THIS EPISODE.
----------------------------------------
Talented writers making up this series....

Ok, this was strange but it has a somewhat interesting premise. Out of the characters introdued so far, Ryuunosuke has my attention the most. Looks like the show is about fighting to protect books and literature in this fictional world. There's some supernatural elements that may take time to get used to.
Apr 3, 2020 11:13 AM
#2
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Dec 2019
11
I'm super excited for next episode! The interactions between Akutagawa and Dazai were hilarious :)

I was kinda confused at the begining tho... and then I finally understood what was going on like a quarter of the way in I think.
Apr 3, 2020 11:15 AM
#3
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Apr 2019
90
So this is basically Touken Ranbu but with authors and books.
Weird flex but ok.
It was an ok first episode though this series screams 'average anime'. Watchable but something you would forget after a week or two.
Apr 3, 2020 11:16 AM
#4
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Sep 2015
6723
I have a curse, I can't romanticize real life people no matter how hot they look in anime.

And the war to replace Touken Ranbu between this and Hypnosis Mic, look like Hypnosis Mic will win. But hey! The market is big enough.
Apr 3, 2020 11:18 AM
#5

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Jan 2019
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I really loved. I was just speechless throughout the episode!!
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Apr 3, 2020 11:21 AM
#6

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Jun 2014
126
Worst first episode I've seen this season so far, it'll be hard to top.
Apr 3, 2020 11:32 AM
#7
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Jul 2018
564055
SmolOwl21 said:
So this is basically Touken Ranbu but with authors and books.


My thoughts exactly, I already like it XD very entertaining so far, will keep watching !
Apr 3, 2020 1:00 PM
#8

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Apr 2010
3745
Well, I took the anime only for its name without even reading what it is about, so I didn't expect that XD Looks nice, but I must say, after watching Bungou Stray Dogs that Dazai and Akutagawa relationship looks really funny (I know in real life it Dazai was the one to admire Akutagawa, but still)


Apr 3, 2020 1:15 PM
#9

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Jun 2012
60
Happiness.. After looking forward to it since the announcement, it was so exciting to see the fires episode up. I had a lot of fun watching this episode, I was all giddy even at the serious scenes (sorry Dazai).

Shouldn't "Cloud Thread" be "Spider Thread" though, subtitles? It being Akutagawa and all.
Apr 3, 2020 1:22 PM

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Mar 2017
2256
This was surprisingly good. I was worried it might be all art and no substance the way these Bishi anime can be, but the action was good and I really like the concept. On a scale of Namu Amida Butsu to Touken Ranbu, this is solidly on the side of Touken!

It also feels like this will be a great source of learning about Japanese literary and authors (which is a personal interest so I'm excited about that!)
Apr 3, 2020 1:23 PM

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Mar 2017
2256
EfiChan said:
Well, I took the anime only for its name without even reading what it is about, so I didn't expect that XD Looks nice, but I must say, after watching Bungou Stray Dogs that Dazai and Akutagawa relationship looks really funny (I know in real life it Dazai was the one to admire Akutagawa, but still)


I have a feeling it'll be hard not to compare the two different relationships haha
Apr 3, 2020 1:24 PM

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Oct 2012
31
Bungou to Alchemist is a game by DMM GAMES, so it obviously has Touken Ranbu vibes. However, the gameplay is sliiiiiightly different and BunAl offers more depth (just my opinion, I love both series to be honest but BunAl wins in many ways). It has a proper story and more content than Touken Ranbu, which is mostly a grindfest and ya look at nice guys. BunAl has lots of stories and other content to gather beside the good-looking authors.

However, BunAl's problem is that if you have no interest for Japanese modern literature and history, you will have hard times enjoying the game and now this anime too. It's so much full of literature references (that even Funimation's translators seemed to miss some) and historical aspects that it's truly a cultural piece. It has gained quite a bit of attention among literature scholars in Japan for being first big franchise about these authors (Bungou Stray Dogs doesn't count, as it is pure fiction with so little to do with actual history) and the game's staff does close work with literature/memorial museums and many scholars, as well as the relatives of these authors. Very few have their children still alive, but mostly it's their grandchildren and so on that are alive and involved with the series. Few of them have gone to see the stage plays and quite a bunch visited the recent memorial museum collab we had earlier this year. Also, one of my favorite author's grandchild was credited when the ED was playing, along with many of the major Japanese newspapers and literature magazines that have given their support for this anime too (Mainichi shinbun, Yomiuri Shinbun, Asahi Shinbun, Chuuou Kouron etc.)


What comes to the first episode, as a long-time fan of the game and Japanese literature, it was quite enjoyable. Not the best start, but not the worst one either. Reading Dazai's "Run, Melos!" for sure helps a lot to understand what the episode as about, but there's also the fact that if you don't know about the game either, I think it would be hard to enjoy even if you knew the work. Who knows, this is just what kind of feeling I got. They seem really offer a lot for the old fans, but new ones are missing on some things. OP for sure is something I enjoy and I'll enjoy the most through the anime's whole runtime, as each week they will apparently include something new in it. The visuals in it are gorgeous and I for sure wanted to get kicked by my favorite author (lol). It had also some wholesome moments, as well as sad ones that only fans of the authors get.

DazedBird said:
Happiness.. After looking forward to it since the announcement, it was so exciting to see the fires episode up. I had a lot of fun watching this episode, I was all giddy even at the serious scenes (sorry Dazai).

Shouldn't "Cloud Thread" be "Spider Thread" though, subtitles? It being Akutagawa and all.

It for sure should be "Spider's Thread", because it's a reference to said work and it has been referenced before in the stage plays too. But I can accept it as a pun from the translators, because it was coming out of nowhere and "kumo" can mean cloud too.
HaganeproductioApr 3, 2020 1:28 PM
Apr 3, 2020 1:25 PM

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Mar 2017
2256
SmolOwl21 said:
So this is basically Touken Ranbu but with authors and books.
Weird flex but ok.
It was an ok first episode though this series screams 'average anime'. Watchable but something you would forget after a week or two.


This is made by the same people who made Touken Ranbu so...
Apr 3, 2020 1:34 PM

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Apr 2015
190
Omg I'm so pumped for this series! I have seen both Touken Ranbu and Bungou Stray Dogs, so this is perfect. They nailed the Akutagawa charcter design, he is so h0t!


Although we part as I leave for Inaba,
where pines grow on the moutain peaks
If I am to hear that you pine for me
I shall come back to you again
Hyakunin Isshu (小倉百人一首):
Poem #16 "Tachiwakare"
©
Apr 3, 2020 1:41 PM

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Mar 2016
1724
It was kind of funny when the long-haired guy said "hashire, Melos". Then he swung on a spider's web. (The subtitles called it 'cloud's thread', but I think the correct translation is 'spider's thread'. Though, 'kumo no ito' can translate to both.)

I kind of wanted Dazai to stay as Melos the whole time. It's kind of weird when real people are turned into fantasy characters. Especially authors and artists.

When the cat said both of the guys were authors, I was just waiting for the long-haired guy to say he was Akutagawa. Lmao

I wish they kind of mentioned the stakes involved. I can guess the consequences of stories being deleted from this world since some stories are powerful enough to save lives, but I still think the anime needs to define their version of the stakes.
Apr 3, 2020 1:42 PM
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Jul 2019
286
I'm not super sure what's going on, but the boys are awful pretty, so I guess I'm into it.
Apr 3, 2020 2:30 PM
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Dec 2019
11
Haganeproductio said:
Bungou to Alchemist is a game by DMM GAMES, so it obviously has Touken Ranbu vibes. However, the gameplay is sliiiiiightly different and BunAl offers more depth (just my opinion, I love both series to be honest but BunAl wins in many ways). It has a proper story and more content than Touken Ranbu, which is mostly a grindfest and ya look at nice guys. BunAl has lots of stories and other content to gather beside the good-looking authors.

However, BunAl's problem is that if you have no interest for Japanese modern literature and history, you will have hard times enjoying the game and now this anime too. It's so much full of literature references (that even Funimation's translators seemed to miss some) and historical aspects that it's truly a cultural piece. It has gained quite a bit of attention among literature scholars in Japan for being first big franchise about these authors (Bungou Stray Dogs doesn't count, as it is pure fiction with so little to do with actual history) and the game's staff does close work with literature/memorial museums and many scholars


I hope I did the quoting thingy correctly... but anyway,

Ya. It seems the BunAl game provides more than the Touken Ranbu game does (I tried to play it but I can't read Japanese and I was to impatient to really figure out how to properly play...).

And this defidentally won't be everyone's cup of tea. But I defidentally enjoyed it (history nerd alert) even though I only recently got interested in authors (I like learning about wars more...)

It isn't going to be the best anime this season. But we can still enjoy it (although us ppl on Discord were talking about the lack of Kyoka...).
Apr 3, 2020 3:44 PM
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Aug 2018
157
masterpiece, and one of the best seasonals so far hands down. depth, cliffhanger, serious matters, fantasy, bishounen. it's perfection. i love the touken ranbu vibes, and the pointing at the importance of reading
Apr 3, 2020 5:10 PM
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Feb 2020
27
I had no idea what was going on for much of the episode but towards the end it became a lot more clearer. This has an interesting premise and I think the potential to be a good show, I'm interested to see where they go from here.
Apr 3, 2020 6:15 PM

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May 2017
367
Reminds me of tourabu a lot when watching this, not bad as i tho it will be....not good either, still watchable...at least the animation and the op are good
Apr 3, 2020 6:40 PM
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Jul 2016
202
Dont know why i listened to the comments, this anime is hits mediocrity at every level.
Apr 3, 2020 7:24 PM

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Jul 2014
800
Was this some school kid's project? Being generous it seemed very very amateurish.
Apr 3, 2020 7:26 PM
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May 2014
154
Interesting concept. That's the only reaction I have to this.

Kinda funny the reactions to this are mostly 'this looks gay' and 'there's no waifus.' I guess everyone has different reasons to watch anime.

Although to be fair, even if all the original authors were male, the show writers could have included a POV female author to avoid the strictly boys club going on at the moment. Ah well.
Apr 3, 2020 8:52 PM
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Jul 2018
564055
Wow this is very interesting. I recently watched Aoi Bungaku Series, so this makes a lot of sense.

Run, Melos! was one of the stories adapted in it, which is written by Osamu Dazai. Osamu Dazai also wrote No Longer Human. It’s very interesting that they are using real authors in the show.

Can’t forget Ryūnosuke Akutagawa. He wrote hell screen as well as Spider’s Thread, which were both adapted in Aoi Bungaku Series. So it’s very interesting to me at
least.

I just realized that Bungou Stray Dogs also has these two authors as characters in it, but I haven’t watched Bungou Stray Dogs so I can’t say much about that.

Because I know about some of these stories and the actual authors, I really enjoyed this episode, and I’m excited to see what other authors or stories they will put in the show.

I also recommend watching Aoi Bungaku Series because it’s amazing.
Apr 3, 2020 9:08 PM

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Jun 2013
6123
Not a bad start, could easily see this becoming dull, but for now its not bad
Apr 3, 2020 9:29 PM
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Jul 2018
564055
I'll have to say the series are really amazing, especially Akutagawa and Dazai's interaction :v And this is basically Touken Ranbu but with authors and books, and focuses more on the action scenes aside from the 'slice of life' scenes that TouRan brought back then. Overall, this series is really great, and I really can't wait for the next episode owo
Apr 3, 2020 9:57 PM

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Feb 2016
2700
Not bad at all, didn't expect something mindblowing, but it's interesting so far. How does this have lower score than Hachi-nan tte? lmfao MAL is definitely Broken.
"We could make the world better, but it's easier to just shut our eyes."
~Blackwall
Apr 3, 2020 10:14 PM

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Oct 2018
762
animation is good but not feeling the story....
“You can always die. It's living that takes real courage." - Himura Kenshin”

.
Apr 3, 2020 10:48 PM

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Jul 2017
14914
Considering that I have never seen Bungou Stray Dogs and a little bit of Touken Ranbu, I guess with this show, we got what we asked for: historical crazily handsome bishounen.

Series like this when serialized in the West tends to get a lot of missing information, and Funimation's subbing really shows with the insane amount of literature and historical references (at best a 20/20 hindsight). Expecting this to not be sublime to the DMM Games mobile game, but it's OK with "talented" game-adaptation script composer Jun Kumagai (the same person who spoiled Psycho-Pass Season 2).

But as is with games with settings like this, it's easy to riddle this like puzzles: playing out literature like it was written from start to end, plus some caveats.

Pretty average for now, just wanting to see where this will go.
Apr 4, 2020 12:44 AM

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Mar 2020
8
The overall plot sounds very interesting but the characters are pretty boring so far. On top of that, the first episode felt very convoluted and chaotic. I'm still going to check out next episode to see how it goes but so far it feels below average for me.
Apr 4, 2020 2:48 AM
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Nov 2018
6
Interesting premise to this anime hopefully it will continue to be interesting. Made me excited for the next episode
Apr 4, 2020 2:57 AM

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13718
Osamu Dazai & Akutagawa Ryuunosuke i've heard that names before!
ikemen trying to protect books of history huh...
4/5.


Apr 4, 2020 3:25 AM
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Oct 2018
2
Very boring start
Apr 4, 2020 8:33 AM

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May 2010
2887
more than half of the ppl here must have watched something different than what i watched.
or they have way lower standards.

easily one of the worst first episodes ever. actually agree with the MAL rating for once.
Apr 4, 2020 1:28 PM
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Sep 2015
14
DazedBird said:
Happiness.. After looking forward to it since the announcement, it was so exciting to see the fires episode up. I had a lot of fun watching this episode, I was all giddy even at the serious scenes (sorry Dazai).

Shouldn't "Cloud Thread" be "Spider Thread" though, subtitles? It being Akutagawa and all.


Kumo means both spider and clouds in japanese, they are wirtten differently tho
Apr 4, 2020 1:28 PM
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Sep 2015
14
DazedBird said:
Happiness.. After looking forward to it since the announcement, it was so exciting to see the fires episode up. I had a lot of fun watching this episode, I was all giddy even at the serious scenes (sorry Dazai).

Shouldn't "Cloud Thread" be "Spider Thread" though, subtitles? It being Akutagawa and all.


Kumo means both spider and clouds in japanese, they are wirtten differently tho
Apr 4, 2020 9:00 PM
⚧ | 愛と平和

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Oct 2010
3069
I saw several comments comparing this to Touken Ranbu, but there's perhaps an even stronger similarity to Grimm Notes. I didn't read through all the comments, and someone else may have said that already. The truth is, there's far too much reuse of the same setups and tropes in anime, and far too little originality. So why do I keep watching anime? I like the hot guys. I'm looking for the rare series that are truly gems.

Speaking of hot guys, this one should have them in spades. I've been getting acquainted with the characters on Pixiv for a year or so. There's at least something to look forward to with this series, if not the plot.

DazedBird said:
Shouldn't "Cloud Thread" be "Spider Thread" though, subtitles? It being Akutagawa and all.


Good catch. They're both "kumo" in Japanese (and also have the same intonation), so I'm guessing the translator just isn't familiar with one of the most well-known works of Japanese literature—in which case they should not be translating this series. Or maybe they just wanted to keep from making it apparent who Akutagawa was until it was revealed at the end. Hard to tell at this point.
✣ ✣ ✣ ✣ ✣ ✣ ✣ ✣ ✣ ✣ ✣ ✣ ✣ ✣ ✣ ✣ ✣ ✣ ✣ ✣ ✣ ✣ ✣ ✣ ✣ ✣ ✣ ✣ ✣ ✣ ✣ ✣ ✣ ✣ ✣ ✣ ✣ ✣ ✣ ✣ ✣ ✣ ✣ ✣ ✣ ✣ ✣ ✣ ✣ ✣ ✣
“The right to think is the beginning of freedom, and speech must be protected
from the government because speech is the beginning of thought.”
  — Ashcroft v.Free Speech Coalition,
✣ ✣ ✣ ✣ ✣ ✣ ✣ ✣ ✣ ✣ ✣ ✣ ✣ ✣ ✣ ✣ ✣ ✣ ✣ ✣ ✣ ✣ ✣ ✣ ✣ ✣ ✣ ✣ ✣ ✣ ✣ ✣ ✣ ✣ ✣ ✣ ✣ ✣ ✣ ✣ ✣ ✣ ✣ ✣ ✣ ✣ ✣ ✣ ✣ ✣ ✣
Apr 5, 2020 4:02 AM

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26
Is the source of this anime an Otome game?
Apr 5, 2020 4:35 AM

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Aug 2011
97
Oh... the boredom...
I guess i'm not the target audience.

1/5
Apr 5, 2020 4:51 AM

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Dec 2008
925
First episode was 2/5 for me, I will watch 1 or 2 more episodes to check how this will go on.

Apr 5, 2020 11:23 AM

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Apr 2017
30
Enjoyed the 1st episode, but I'm a bit of a Japanese literature geek, haha. Curious to see what else they adapt. I haven't played the game so it's all very new to me.
Apr 5, 2020 11:49 AM

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Oct 2012
31
BroskiKyoujin said:
Is the source of this anime an Otome game?

It's not an otome game, you can't date the authors. However, it is aimed for females (josei muke) but still kept so that guys can enjoy it too (in the game the authors treat you gender-neutrally). We've had many guys liking the game through these years and even the anime now, but they are mostly fans of history or Japanese literature, which this series is all about. Guys that don't like such, might not find the series appealing at all and might just think it's some BL (which it isn't, this a series about real-life people after all and they have big sponsors culture-wise behind the franchise).

kyoudai said:

DazedBird said:
Shouldn't "Cloud Thread" be "Spider Thread" though, subtitles? It being Akutagawa and all.

Good catch. They're both "kumo" in Japanese (and also have the same intonation), so I'm guessing the translator just isn't familiar with one of the most well-known works of Japanese literature—in which case they should not be translating this series. Or maybe they just wanted to keep from making it apparent who Akutagawa was until it was revealed at the end. Hard to tell at this point.

I think it's just they didn't understand there was actually his famous work referenced. I've explained this on many platforms already how Spider's Thread as a work and a reference to it has appeared once before in the BunAl stage plays. Knowing how this series is, they wanted to play around with it even in the anime. Kind of a running joke by now along with many other things they will for sure include in this anime.
Apr 5, 2020 12:41 PM

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Sep 2009
2821
It was OK. I'm not really familiar who these authors are~
Apr 5, 2020 5:16 PM
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Apr 2020
6
what a cheap plot

oh we have to protect the books or the world will end

like wut?i mean theres a ton of copies of the book and digital version too
Apr 5, 2020 6:35 PM

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Jun 2013
4852
that was just boring
Apr 5, 2020 8:23 PM
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Dec 2019
65
Well, it was a good episode, in my opinion. I didn't know this anime's source at all, I'm just watching because of the literature references (maybe I like this anime).
I've watched Aoi Bungaku series and BSD, and these two made me get interessed in Japanese Modern Literature, and now I am reading some of Dazai's books (No Longer Human is great, btw).
Apr 5, 2020 10:27 PM
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Jan 2020
2
It was a pretty shaky first episode with a bit of an odd, rushed way to introduce a whole lot of plot . The pacing of it all seemed pretty off, but a lot of first episodes are that way. If they can smooth out the plot in later episodes and develop it more thoroughly, then this could be a pretty interesting series.
Apr 7, 2020 12:27 PM

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Feb 2015
114
Well, it was pretty meh. Felt pretty ridiculous to me. Might as well rewatch the Hashire Melos episodes from Aoi Bungaku Series instead of these shonen-esque and cliché stories. Way better storytelling, and way more satisfying as a whole.
Apr 9, 2020 12:10 AM

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Mar 2013
366
Dazai saying "I don't understand what is going on" was pretty much my whole mood watching the first episode.

Anyway, I like the Idea of the story so far so let's see where this goes.
"You think your power has limits, I say it's limitless."

Apr 10, 2020 2:32 PM

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May 2018
96
The names are confusing me because I think about BSD all the time.
IDK yet, okay start. Let's see what comes next

►"The deeper the darkness the more dazzling the light shines." ◄
►"As you live you lose reasons and hope. But as you keep on going, you pick up new reasons and hope."◄
►"If I don’t stand up here… If I don’t reach higher here… When am I ever going to do it?"◄
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