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Apr 3, 2024
Is this anime overrated? Yes.
Was it still enjoyable? Yes.
Would I watch it again? No.
Sousou no Frieren is an anime that tells the story most other anime don't - what happens after the villain has been defeated. The focus of the anime is almost entirely on the character (or, in most cases, lack thereof) development of Frieren. I think there's a good portion of the plot dedicated to exploring the emotional responses a long-lived species, such as the elves, have compared to the shorter-lived species and the complications that can arise from the conflict this can create. Yet, this doesn't make for an
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entirely entertaining anime.
As an emotional exploratory series, it's still relatively boring for me (I prefer action over contemplation in most cases). However, with that in mind having an apathetic Frieren as the main character really kills this anime for me. There is often not a whole lot to explore emotionally with our MC considering she's so apathetic and while in many cases little views into the past show that maybe she might have a heart somewhere in there, it's not appealing enough to make it stand out or gain empathy from me. I like apathetic characters, they're funny and enjoyable, however, I think Frieren is perhaps too apathetic for this series to work well for me.
There is some action here and there, but I'll be honest many of these episodes started putting me to sleep.
It's got pretty art, a decent ost, and a fairly new type of plot (at least for me). However, I'd never give this series a second watch and I have no idea why it's rated as high as it is. It's good, slightly above average in art, at best.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Feb 11, 2024
I have so many mixed feelings with this anime. On the one hand, it was plucky and interesting with a twist I never expected. On the other hand, it was the most frustrating anime I have ever watched. I can't tell if that was a stroke of genius or just unending annoyance.
The characters were decent, but the main character was hard for me to connect with and seemed to have no redeeming qualities outside of his tenacity. I found most of the other characters more interesting.
The plot was well paced yet I found myself enjoying the earlier arcs more than this past one,
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perhaps because more was on the line and the constantly failing main character just couldn't seem to get it right for most things.
I'm not entirely sure if this is the end of the story because I haven't read the manga and don't plan to, but if so...it was kinda shitty and left me with more questions than answers at this point.
I think part of the reason I can't decide how I feel about this anime is because I'm not a huge fan of the hoodlum trope. I never quite understood what they were fighting for besides the fact that they were emotionally repressed young boys whose only outlet was throwing their fists at each other. There was some family feels mixed into their hoodlum antics but not enough for me to say it helped make the whole idea work.
Some people might enjoy it, others may not. I say give it a shot and see for yourself.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Sep 5, 2023
After seeing the score on this anime I had high hopes for it. However, ultimately I felt like it failed to deliver in every aspect except the art.
I felt like the plot had a lot of potential and I really enjoy slice of life anime, but I felt like the characters really ruined the story.
The characters are where I really started to lose interest in this anime. The first episode was enough to have me pretty interested but quickly thereafter it began to lose me. First, I think some of my frustrations come from some cultural differences but I've seen anime where the
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same issues were portrayed and resolved that made sense to me from a cultural perspective. So, maybe it's just this anime, who knows.
My main grievances were with two characters. Ohana, the main character, at first comes across as sweet and considerate, standing up for others when she thinks they're being mistreated and each time this completely backfires on her. Alright, fine maybe she should be more mature about the situations she involves herself in but considering her age and lack of parental teaching I think she was doing fine. Towards episode 6 I just wanted to be done with this anime and Ohana; she became obnoxiously loud and seemed to lose some of her perceived maturity after coming to the inn. She did stupid things to solve problems that somehow worked for her and that character trait was apparently her selling point and what she should continue doing. Portrayed in a different way I think it would have worked but its was just annoying in this anime.
Minko was painful to watch, she's immature, loud, brash, violent, your typical tsundere but without any redeeming qualities. She was the first rock that derailed my enjoyment of this show. She annoyed me to no end and didn't seem to add anything to the story.
Most of the other characters were decent if overly done.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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Feb 17, 2017
This story is actually pretty good but I feel that several errors (had they not occurred) would have made it so much better.
First of all, I really liked the idea. Two guys who have known each other for several years remain friends but eventually, things take a more romantic turn when one of them realizes he “likes” the other. Of course, there’s the stress of the whole “we’re both men” and “I bet he finds it disgusting” or my favorite “he can’t possibly like me as well”. Naturally, they both like each other so things progress well enough. The ending is really cute and
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probably one of my favorites.
However, throughout the series there’s a definite neglect to time lapse. It all pretty much feels the same and for the most part the characters don’t age or grow noticeably different to mark the passage of time. There’s also no announcement like “5 years later” or such in or around the beginning of the chapter to make the transition smooth. Instead, you have to wait for the dialogue to inform you of this point. It just doesn’t flow well, in my opinion, and with a little extra attention to this detail the series could have been a bit better.
The second thing I didn’t like, was the lack of obvious expression. Otoumi remains fairly impassive and expressionless throughout the series. This in itself is not bad, however, coupled with the fact that he doesn’t really have a cool and calm personality, it just didn’t work for me. I could never really tell whether what the dialogue said was actually true or not because his expressions never really coordinated with it very well. Don’t get me wrong, Otoumi had expressions but nothing…interesting. He would blush or look away when embarrassed or flustered and in some of the more explicit scenes a gentler expression would be shown but I can’t really call those expressions if that’s all he has. Had his personality been more compatible with this “expressionlessness” then I think it would have worked, but since that isn’t the case…it was a bit of a letdown.
Another thing I didn’t like, was the fact that a lot of the female characters looked way too much like Otoumi. Perhaps this is just me being a poor reader, but a few times I even confused a female character with Otoumi, and wondered what the heck was going on. Granted, most times you can tell by the clothing, but I just think the similarity was too much. At least, have them drawn with a different hair style or hair color to make it more obvious.
Finally, I feel like this manga’s pacing was inconsistent. At times, I got to watch the characters interacting slowly and painfully, just like a real relationship. The actual timeline between when Otoumi begins acting strange and realizes he likes Yukari, to the time when they both actually confess and begin a relationship is quite long. (Though even in this the lack of detail in regards to the reader is poor.) At other times, I was thrust into a completely different time with no explanation why. I didn’t get to see Yukari and Otoumi move in together or their insecurities about any of that. Not to mention the opening of Yukari’s shop, which had been his dream for several years. There could have been a lot of potentially fulfilling material there. For instance, Otoumi could have helped Yukari design the store and decorate it. He could have helped pick out silverware, plates, cups, etc. They could have bonded over the experience and Yukari could have been shown really appreciating Otoumi’s presence and input during such a stressful period. I feel like this would have given a lot of depth to the characters and solidified their relationship for the reader. For the end, during Yukari’s birthday, the chapter was short and there was hardly any dialogue, or internal dialogue either, so this very touching moment was sort of ruined for me. Like it was just an afterthought the author came up with on a whim and decided to include in the volume.
So, to sum it all up, the character’s come across as fairly superficial, due to a lack of attention to detail and commitment to show the character’s relationship. The time lapse is a bother and, for me, it just doesn’t work. The similarity in character design is troublesome. The disregard for the reader, also caused the series to slide down in my opinion.
Now, since I am also a writer (though not of manga, just stories) I can understand how hard the author worked on it and I applaud them for it. In the end, the story was cute and quaint but not particularly original. Overall, I enjoyed the series, but did have some difficulty reading it smoothly. A little more attention to the reader and this would have been an amazing series.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Dec 20, 2016
To be honest I’m not too sure where to start with this review so I guess I’ll just dive in.
Bloodivores is, in my opinion, a beautiful work of half-assed animation that either tried to hard or didn’t try hard enough. Personally, I like the landscapes and inane amount of detail regarding small insignificant things, like the intricate cracks in the cement and old buildings. It makes it feel like someone really worked hard on this series. Sadly, I think that was the only thing they worked hard on.
I will say out right that the concept and ideas behind Bloodivores is intriguing to me.
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It’s your typical survival game but with quite a few twists. There’s some possible ‘in game’ stuff going on. Some apocalypse feels going on, fantasy, and supernatural all bundled up into this one little package. Had it succeeded, I think it would have gotten an 8 or at the least a 7 on MAL. Sadly, none of these were looked into in depth during the 12 episodes. In fact, the whole thing kind of feels like a mega long series with how slow it develops but it is developing, just, in creepy crawly standards.
Now, for what you’ve all been waiting for- the good, the bad, and most importantly, the ugly! (Totally kidding, but I just had to say it.)
First up – Story/Plot
As I stated before, this series had some serious potential hidden beneath the ridiculous layers of ‘WTF is this’ and other nonsense. Had the time been given to the actual plot and not to the animation (which still pretty much failed in my opinion) I think we could have bumped this series up a few points on the MAL Scale. It pretty much feels like something that got a huge budget but then they didn’t know what to do with all that money so they were just like – “Landscapes?” “Landscapes.” “Spend all the money!” Lots of stuff is going on in Bloodivores and I like that a lot of information is just there and there isn’t a narrative (though I do like those). Sadly, with a hundred theories and ideas going and none actually being proved right or wrong you just end up with this huge ball of possibilities but nothing to honestly work with. There are a million little mysteries in Bloodivores and once you think you’ve figured one out they either drop it like a hot potato (in which you never get an answer) or your theory is completely shut down. There really isn’t an in-between for Bloodivores. You know, you think you know, and you don’t know. End of story.
Number 2 – Art
Moving on. The landscapes and scenery in general were pretty meticulous so it felt like it was a good high quality anime at times however, art is only one small part of an anime and thus just because you have awesome art doesn’t mean you have an awesome anime. Everything else was pretty half-assed. (Spoiler warning!) For instance, that lovely scene with what’s his face walking around with a freaking sword in his shoulder! I cannot even begin to describe my dismay when half the scenes didn’t show any blood on him. Like “whoops guys we’re running out of time here!” “Skip the blood, no one will notice!” “Are you sure, I feel like they’ll notice?” “I’m positive.” (I swear it must have happened.) So, let’s be honest here – no one gets up with a sword in their freaking shoulder and just walks the F around without any grimacing or hunching over! Doesn’t happen! And another thing! I feel like the monsters from this series had been taken from somewhere else, I’m thinking Blood + or something like that, so they weren’t surprising to me (though I suppose occasionally leaving behind a small human shaped concentrated crystal of blood is interesting). Fight scenes could be a bit on the lame side but I felt they were decent enough.
Champion number 3 – Character
Ho, Ho, Ho WTF! I’m all for a good hysterical cry once in a while in a SOL anime or one of those heart-wrenching tragedies like Tokyo Ghoul. As long as I can understand why the hell a character is crying and I can feel that pain with them, I have no qualms. (I mean who doesn’t want to cry when they see beautiful Kaneki carrying Hide down the street, ya know?) Anyways….whopsies…carrying on. The characters are really generic and while there’s a small amount of backstory for one or two there’s nothing for anyone else. You don’t understand what motivates them to do what they do or why they act the way they act. They’re complete strangers that you’re simply observing as they survive this death like game. The MC at least looks and acts a little cool however, I do prefer assassin dude since he’s actually badass. Anju…bitch please…stop crying all the time. The hysterics…OMG no. Just no. Way too much. Helloooo, check for a freaking pulse before you give people up for dead, yeah? Tch. Needless to say, she was a pain in the ass the entire series and honestly I don’t see how the series could have felt her loss, in fact, I know they would have been just fine. I was ecstatic when she died…and then she was no longer dead (seriously you’re worst choice this whole series guys). There is ZERO character development. Anju seems to make a comeback in episode 12 but honestly, she was just as annoying as she was before and since there was no progressive development it feels fake and being the last episode didn’t help matters. It was just an utter fail.
Numba 4 – Enjoyment
Eh. Ehhhhhhh. EEEhh. I can’t believe I just wasted all that time on one series that mounted to a handful of WTFs and an ‘Oh, that could have been cool.’ It was pretty to look at sometimes but overall it was more frustrating. There are lots of ideas and theories going on in the background with Bloodivores but sadly none of them are expounded upon so you end up with a whole lot of possibilities but nothing solid. And seriously, what was up with that after credits BS? You planning on making a second season or something? Let dead things stay dead please…(unless they’re characters I loved, then you’re welcome to bring them back).
Reviewer’s Rating: 4
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Dec 14, 2016
The first couple of chapters are confusing and feel incomplete. I get that it's a collection of shorts but some of it felt like it was cut off right in the middle and just before something important. Perhaps these are continued in their own stories (I haven't looked yet). Anyway, another bed thing about this series is that the characters look so similar. I had a hard time telling some of them apart and for some of the stories, it took me a while to understand that they weren't the same characters.
The art it to my taste so i can't complain too much, there
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just needs to be a wider variation in features and designs for the characters.
The last couple of chapters shape up nicely and feel just right for shorts. Not too long, not too complicated, and they accomplish what they set out to do. Characters aren't too shallow, but aren't overly complex and take up too much time. Pretty well balanced. It's just a shame the first chapters weren't similar. Regardless this wasn't a horrible read, but it certainly wasn't one of the best that I've read. I'd say it's a little below average.
Reviewer’s Rating: 4
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Oct 10, 2016
Originally, I had no intention of writing a review for this series but when I found out it was an original and most of the reviewers hadn't finished the series; well, I couldn't help myself.
I'll start off with my sympathy for those who dropped the series early on. I completely understand. If I wasn't so stuck on always finishing series no mater how poor they are in hopes of it turning around at some point, I would have done the same.
In all honesty this series is extremely shallow. It's like a rough draft that somehow made it to the publishing stage without fleshing
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it out properly. The dialogue is shallow but the banter between Shun and Emilio always makes me smile, mostly because it's two teenage boys fighting with each other for no other reason than the fact that they're teenage boys (as far as I could understand). The characters as a whole were very hard to relate to or make any kind of connection with. There was dialogue but very little introspection into what the characters were doing and why. All you really get is that Emilio is bent on revenge and Shun is perhaps overly optimistic and accepting. Alicia is a dead weight throughout the whole series. Most of the time you don't know what she's thinking because you aren't given the proper information, whether actions in sequence, or internal dialogue; it's just not available. For most of the series I was almost dead set that Pascal was a traitor just because the series wasn't fleshed out properly. He makes foreboding facial expressions at crucial times but then nothing is every done about it. No explanation is giving as to why he's making that expression (similar to Alicia). Demetrio and Louise were done quite a bit better and I really feel like these two characters saved the series. Demetrio is pretty bad ass and you have a decent amount of back story given to him. His reasons for fighting are also very clear and you get a good sense of how he thinks and what his personality is like. Louise was a little harder to figure out but her personality is pretty constant, her actions and expressions are also explained well enough for you to make a semblance of a connection to her.
The weapons in this series were outright ridiculous. Louise's weapon...dear god it was awful. Demetrio (once again) is one of the few with a decent looking weapon, most likely because it IS, it's a normal weapon compared to all the Warp Relics everyone else possesses. Speaking of weapons, the fight scenes were so horrible I just wanted to laugh. No one really gets any stronger during the series, Emilio and Shun both suck and continue to do so throughout the series but somehow manage to defeat the bad guy all the same. Which reminds me, the bad guy's weapon seriously looks like Dr. Octopus from Spider Man. Seriously, no lie! There's a lot of issues with coordination as well during the vast majority of the series, if I didn't know any better I'd say it was a rush job. (Even though the episodes were released slowly.)
The plot is a mess. It's a typical 'stuck in fantasy world' series that honestly reminds me a little of Tegami Bachi (with the whole crystal in the sky thing). The pacing is quite bad and things don't start to get interesting until Shun and Emilio end up on the surface. (Literally the last four episodes.) Other than that it's a bunch of nonsense, while it makes you laugh and could be interesting at times, it's nothing special. You could easily brush it off and not think twice about it.
I honestly don't know why I was hyped about this series, maybe I read the summary when I heard it was coming out and thought it would be an awesome show. When I heard Funimation was taking it up I was even more excited but was disappointed when I didn't see a lot of advertising for it during the time it was airing. Now, I understand why. It's like the red-headed step child no one wants. As a rough draft, it's not bad, it just needs to be fleshed out, but for an original finished series, it's horrible. To publish something like this is just, wrong. You can tell at least one person was working hard and put their heart into the series but no one else followed suit. It's really sad because it could have been a decent series had they really worked hard on it.
Shun's facial expressions are much the same throughout the series and while Emilio gets time to grieve the loss of his family, Shun seems unfazed by his own personal loss, which doesn't make sense because he was agonizing over the person in question for a whole episode. Inconsistency was the main downfall of the series and perhaps a lack of understanding regarding what makes a good series come alive and pull the viewers in. Regardless, I wouldn't recommend watching the series, especially if you can't stand horrible pacing, useless characters, and only four episodes of interesting and moderately good anime.
Reviewer’s Rating: 3
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Oct 4, 2016
91 Days is one of those rare series that doesn't get the praise it's due. There's a lot of subtlety here that can't be appreciated without the proper view. Naturally being a work of art like all anime, not everyone will find it to their liking.
One of the things about 91 Days that i just loved was the masterful way Angelo got his revenge. I guess to some people it would be confusing and hard to follow. Like, why doesn't he just shoot person A and be done with it? Or why not snipe them all from the rooftops, plant bombs, etc. The point
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wasn't to kill them, it was to make them feel the same pain and suffering Angelo himself had suffered when he lost his family and was forced to watch.
There's a very strong human element to the story that is quite easily missed and had I not been truly watching and instead simply enjoying watching anime (as is usually the case) I believe I would have found the series a bit confusing in more ways than one. There's a lot of dry humor in 91 Days, personally I love dry humor especially with expressionless characters, I ended up laughing way more than I felt I probably should have watching a more morbid series. I know some people don't like that kind of humor and unfortunately 91 Days didn't really have any other kind (at least that I noticed, which I'm also guilty of). Another confusing thing about 91 Days is that is jumps from one goal to another without explaining, personally I thought that was one of the things that made it so good, it gave it something of a detective type anime feel to it, I'm all about that stuff. This could get a little weird for people in the (Who the hell is this guy) kind of way. There's also a few hinted relationships (between Angelo and Strega and his family) that just leave you with a question mark hanging over your head. The series also switches between absolutely morbid (the lasagna incident and Orco, those who watched know) and absolutely hysterical (Angelo running people over with cars on 'accident').
While the show has it's faults and I think to most casual anime watchers it would be a hard to understand show, but in reality this show is a work of art. It tells the story how it is and for once it doesn't change mid-way through the series and get all rainbows and butterflies and then horribly sad ending. I appreciated how human Angelo and Nero were, I loved that Angelo continued to hate Nero even though in the end he didn't want to kill him. The story painted the realistic picture of revenge and what it really cost you and those around you. It didn't make it pretty. It didn't have a happy ending (though the ending is up for interpretation). It was all very HUMAN and I loved that. I love Angelo's mastery of his skills, how he killed without regret but later on shows extreme distress after Corteo's death. Again, the human factor in this anime is the strongest I've seen in an anime in a very very long time. There's a lot of subtleties with human nature playing out in this series that I think a lot of the younger watchers wouldn't completely understand. There are also some complexities that are just beautiful to watch unfold before your eyes.
This is worth the watch if you tend to gravitate to the more mature or psychological thrillers but also enjoy a good laugh.
I will say my one disappointment regarding the show was the OP. I had no issues with the music, rather it was the animation that bothered me. Maybe I'm just used to being spoiled (and even as I'm writing this I can comprehend the reason behind their decisions) but typically the OP has scenes or characters you can look forward to seeing in the anime. In 91 Days that's not the case, while this amps you up I was also disappointed because at one point I really thought the man with the glasses getting shot was Corteo (valid conclusion right?) nope, it's Angelo's dad. The OP is a mix of past events and normal mafia behavior, I was disappointed when some of the more interesting scenes never came up but understanding that the OP was filling in the blanks so to speak and showing the world that Angelo immersed himself in to get his revenge has it's merits.
I could sit and write forever about this show but I'll wrap it up. For all of you potential watchers out there I recommend giving this show a shot, look at it through serious eyes ready to learn something about humanity instead of looking at it as just another show to watch. I will say the animation lacked in some ways but it never bothered me, it's anime so anime is anime in my opinion, it's not completely about the art and it's not completely about the story, merging the two in a way that works best for both so they can each shine together is what anime is supposed to be. (in my opinion).
Reviewer’s Rating: 10
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Apr 30, 2016
I feel that a lot of people are misjudging/missing the point of this anime. It even states it in the OP "A Story Dedicated to Those Trapped by the Past", this is not a mystery series. It's a story on grief and moving on.
Having said that, if you watch the background carefully throughout the entirety of the series there are cherry blossoms and lots of them. This incites the feeling of Spring and thus New Beginnings. For the most part the series is quite light-hearted with more comical scenes than a normal mystery series should rightfully have however, there's a level of uncertainty that's
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suggested by Shoutarou's actions and hesitancy regarding Sakurako's behavior. This reflects our uncertainty and regret when overcoming our grief.
I believe the creator chose the mystery/murder theme because most people can relate to losing a loved one and it's not something that's easily overcome.
The mystery lover in me wishes that the serial case would have been introduced sooner and thus would have created a more mystery like setting but that would have ruined the creator's original purpose in.
The series doesn't pull its punches when it comes to revealing the depravity in human hearts nor its ultimately kind nature. I also loved that the series constantly brought up the "Two Truths", meaning that truth is somewhat relative to the knowledge we have and so is different for each person and each situation.
Having said all that if you watch this series expecting an awesome Sherlock Holmes type series you will be disappointed. There isn't enough factual substance for that, however if you come to the series looking for what it is actually giving then I doubt you will walk away feeling unsatisfied. In short, I think this series is a masterpiece for taking on a very depressing topic and turning it into a neutral subject that's actually fun to watch and experience.
Reviewer’s Rating: 10
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Jan 9, 2016
This season was a total let down! At the end I just wanted to pull my hair out.
What the heck was with that ending? Why were they even fighting to begin with? Where’s the ROMANCE?!
Half the season was just air time wasted on the Student Council meeting that should have only taken two episodes to resolve. The other half was wasted on pointless fighting between characters that was never explained. While there were some thought provoking ideas nothing was actually accomplished in this season. It was just a mass of confused depression!
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The difference between seasons is like night and day, while season one was light and cheerful with lots of comedy and romantic suggestions season two was depressing and lacked humor and romance alike.
There was such a major lack of information during this series that I have to question whether the creators were even paying attention to what they were doing.
The OP and ED didn’t match the mood of the series at all, nothing about this season was cheerful and lively.
The season wasn’t all bad, it had a few redeeming factors, but only a few. The animation and artwork in this season was much more appealing and I much preferred the design of the characters, Hiki didn’t seem like a “rotten fish eyed freak”. I feel like they really tried to utilize the more profound serious nature of the series and I give them points for that but this is a RomCom and they utterly failed.
The level of enjoyment for this season was roughly 1/5 of the first season. Honestly I felt more depressed and annoyed than happy, which is the whole point of RomComs. If you’re thinking about watching this season after finishing the first, I would suggest you don’t especially if you feel happy and excited about a continuation of the story. You won’t miss anything I promise, no romance and really no comedy in this season, it’s basically a different series.
Reviewer’s Rating: 2
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