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Struggled to finish the drama
The drama kept me interested for a while until the two main leads GBZ and WSY started all of a sudden caring so much about each other and getting all emotional when something happened to the other. I think the plot was interesting, it kept me watching with the mystery aspects but the romance was done terribly. I think the two main leads had like two interactions and all of a sudden they are willing to die for each other and getting all jealous and wanting to control each other's decisions. It just didn't make sense to me. I like the plot and I think it could have been a great drama if they didn't add these poorly done romance aspects. Another annoying thing was how they characterize BLHY to be this super smart guy but a lot of figuring plots out is given to the character GBZ, and they show BLHY's intelligence mostly by BLHY figuring out what GBZ is trying to convey to him in threatening moments. The characterization and plot together just wasn't very coherent to me. I liked some of the support characters back stories like that of GBZ's lady friend, while the addition of other supporting characters were quite confusing. Like, why give such characters so much screen time when they have little influence on the plot? It was just annoying watching them (like that of LR's brother). The point of LR's character and her ear-piercing "Er Lang" was also confusing to me. Why??? What is the point to show us this besides annoying viewers?Was this review helpful to you?
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BLOOD
My Golden Blood is a vampiric BL fantasy that’s campy, sensual, and irresistibly melodramatic—packed with intense chemistry between Joss Way-ar (Mark) and Fluke Gawin Caskey (Tong), layered with supernatural intrigue and just enough humor to lighten the gothic tension.Mark, a 200-year-old vampire heir, discovers Tong—a naive, rare “golden blood” individual whose scent attracts vampires. He protects him from rivals (including cousin Nakan), battling his own bloodlust while their bond deepens. A standout twist: Tong, thought to have hemophilia, learns his blood is coveted—and he becomes strong and confident through Mark’s protection
If you're here for sizzling supernatural romance, dramatic flair, and unapologetic fanservice—My Golden Blood delivers in droves. It’s over-the-top, sexy, and sometimes cheesy, but driven by superb lead performances and heartfelt emotion. Ignore the CGI quibbles (unless you're a perfectionist) and let yourself be swept up in this gothic BL romp.
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"Policeman and Me" ("P to JK") based on a manga sh?jo by Maki Miyoshi.
The film is therefore more inclined to romantic comedy than a serious drama about inadequate love for age, although Kota, his police hero played by pop idol Kazuya Kamenashi, is the soul of sincerity. And, as his teenage bride Kako happily observes.
There is more to the story than Kota's desire to ease his conscience and restore his male pride, but Nami Yoshikawa's script is short on explanations, at least initially. What is obvious, however, is Kako's delight in playing house with her husband in his house very large for a police officer's salary, although she swear the aforementioned friend to the deep and dark secret about the engagement.
Meanwhile, Kota behaves like a perfect gentleman with his teenage girlfriend. In their moments, they exchange little more than smiles and the occasional hug, initiated by a stunned Kako. However, this interlude of innocent happiness is short. Okami Mahiro Takasugi, the temperamental, blond-haired punk who accidentally put Kako in the emergency room, becomes Kota's nemesis, as well as his sickly friends.
In addition, the realities of being a wife to a guy often absent in a dangerous job begin to affect Kako's fantasy world. She gets jealous, fearful and dubious. Can Kota see her as another human being, rather than a burden he must protect? In other words, a good mellow movie but that could be perfect for a mature drama.
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A paradox indeed
First the positive:None of us can deny, that the mains delivered what we knew they would deliver. Especially Son and Choi both bring a nuance to their characters that honestly I wouldn't have gotten from the writers.
Cinematography and editing are immaculate. This probably can also be hugely due to very good direction. I thought I would get dizzy from the match cuts after a while but they continued to be se interesting I didn't (the fact that the cuts actually added to the storytelling is a big plus).
All in all very pleasing to look at.
However the unwillingness to decide on a tone was hard to ignore. Is it trying to be gritty? funny? melancholic? what is going on
Messaging is also quite muddled.
This is all due to the writing I must say.
And it all goes wrong with the addition of a character (actually two but one is dependant on the other). The moment we meet RoBin this kind of falls to pieces for me. And as soon as that happens our story shifts from whom I assumed to be the main character for the first 4 episodes. Tang kind of runs around grabbed by his strings throughout the rest of the story. Seeing how his character conflict from the beginning is his inability to decide on what to do and just going with the flow I felt like we threw all of his chances on changing that out the window. Unless I am missing something his character gets stuck right there and it is frustrating.
Personally I couldn't bring myself to be interested in Cho whatshisfaces story. That might be just on me. But each time he occupied the screen I was wishing for Tang and NanGam back.
All in all this story failed for me. On one side due to my expectations of this being a sharp cat and mouse game a la Heat or Catch me if you can (to be fair that is what the promo made me believe). On the other side losing us due to the writing in the second half.
That being sad I enjoyed our mains and again technical aspects of this are brilliant. The drama is a solid middle tier for me.
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Setting that aside though, I still enjoyed Jin 2 in all it's glorious details about the Tokugawa-Shogunate era in Edo. I loved the cinematography and the actors. These actors by the way aren't like the average newbies or jpop idols who could only pose on screen and look good. These actors are veterans who has a couple outstanding dramas and movies under their belts to boast of.
My favorite character would be Tachibana Saki acted by Ayase Haruka. What's so interesting about her character is the fact that she's the only female doctor who has chosen her own path, away from a samurai clan. This being said, women with strong aspirations in life gives lasting impressions.
Music wise, the drama had a good OST. The ballad on every dramatic scene was in perfect sync and feel. I also like the theme song Itoshiki Hibiyo by Hirai Ken, it felt like every time I would hear it, I would feel Minakata Jin's internal turmoil.
I may not watch this again, but I would highly recommend it to people who like Japanese History and is into sci-fi-medical drama and all the likes.
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The story? It just describes the lives of the most ordinary students who have taken their direction in life... music+acting=musicals... but, is the simple combination I had in mind before watching this still working for me? Guess what - it doesn't, now I am thinking, how could I have been so naive to have thought like that for that long!
As the story progressed, as the students were getting into the world of musicals deeper and deeper, I was studying with them, I was absorbing every word their wise professors were teaching them. I came to know much more, for example that acting is not always the emotions that you make yourself believe you have at the moment, the greatest acting is when you actually feel the way your character would have felt at the moment, and you stop acting and actually feel that way, you cry real tears, you smile a real smile, you really get angry...
In the beginning there are several stories, as every character has an issue to deal with be it a parent related, lack of self esteem, haunting past mistakes, fear of exposure, guilt, cry for freedom... then, as the story goes on, and all this, at the first sight separate people, become closer, share each other's pain, happiness, tears and laughter, the stories become so entangled, that, when one of the issues gets its resolve(not always the perfect one), you breath such a sigh of relief, you could fly...
There are so many moments I would like to complement the actors for making my heart skip a beat, I would end up telling the whole story. There are so many moments I was on verge of tears, just because I felt so overwhelmed and touched... the first time JaeHun sings, the tears in his eyes at the moment, TaeHee's song for him, their first dance, DoSung's battle with himself, with the music in his head, ByungGun's first song heard by the ghost, his second song heard by many, TaeHee's conversations with her father, JaeHun's consideration for her father (actually his photo), his lover for her, Professor SunWoo's 50cent information for TaeHee, his advice to the students (especially the last one about the 'show stopper'), all the students' songs and performances...
As this is a musical drama, there are many songs here, but especially heart clenching peace is called 'With You' performed by TaeHee and ByungGun, I can't stop listening to it... And of course Park Bom's You and I, very artistically inserted here, was a very good addition to the collection. How can I not mention the great covers from famous musicals like 'Jekyll and Hyde', 'Grease', 'Fame', 'Phantom of the Opera'...
My lament is WHY THERE IS NO OST??? How can this happen? *I am really on verge of tears because of this* These is no OST, and I listening to the songs through ripped version directly from the drama...
I will actually not say 'recommended' this time, as I am sure some plot holes, smoothed out ending, and other issues will stop many people from watching this, or liking it, but I loved every moment, and I absolutely did not want it to end...
I hope there is Vol.2...
What's Up? hihi~
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Is this Show a duck or a goose?
I thought the Show started well. A dose of mystery, a touch of humour and a hint of romance. There is a burst of manic energy as the Show introduces the key players and setup the main plot. After the meet-cute, the show slows down to a steady pace. There are some funny moments early on as the ML learn to live with ghosts and how to profit from them. However, the humour is fleeting. While it sort of sticks to the initial premise of a taxi for ghosts, we soon find out that it is far from being joyrides. Most of the ghostly tales are quite weighty and depressing. These subplots appears to be random at first but over time, we are given clues to find the missing link that ties them all together.I actually felt a bit lost by the half way point because I was expecting the Show to go down a certain path based on the marketing and the early episodes but it turns out to be quite a different beast. I won’t go as far as calling it bait-and-switch, but I was not excited about where the story is heading.
Fortunately, the Show finally starts to pull the threads together in the last 1/3 of the run. The final destination is revealed, and we gather momentum as we sped towards the climax. I have to admit that it is neat how the loose threads are related to each other and slots in with each other. The only problem is that by this stage, I’m feeling a little jaded as I can see the Show is clearly manipulating the narrative and subplots until all the pieces are perfectly aligned. The puzzle can’t be solved because the pieces are hidden on purpose from us. We are drip fed very little concrete information while it grows painfully obvious who the real culprits are. This includes creating contrived situations while bending rules to suit the task at hand. Some of these involve questionable police procedurals while others will leave you baffled by the inconsistency if not out right contrivance. The Show will try to explain the ruse afterwards but it does test your credulity.
Acting is acceptable on the whole. I won’t call any of them breakout roles. The FL has a more challenging role than the ML. He can appear a bit wooden at times. They have decent chemistry and there is a bit of skinship in ep.12.
Production value is par for the course. It doesn't have lavish sets but they are functional and fit for purpose. Not a lot of CGI is used even though you would expect more from a supernatural themed show. What is there is acceptable but fairly rudimentary by today's standards. Once again, adequate rather than exceptional.
In the end, all the loose ends are tied up. Emotions run high and a few tears are shed. Antagonists are dealt with. Protagonists have the happy endings we all wish for. The Show turns the fan service dial to the max in ep.12. It is probably the best episode of the series and it is the real highlight for me.
Regrettably, the bulk of the show is fairly pedestrian. Similar ghost/wish fulfilling plots have been done before and often better. There is certainly something old something borrowed here. What we need is more of something new.
In hindsight, it is watchable and kept my interest but it can be testing at times. I won’t mind rewatch a highlight reel but not the whole show. Peace out.
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The main problem I had with the show was the writing- there were too many elements mixed together. The supernatural element especially was only thrown in from time to time- as if someone occasionally remembered it was supposed to be there, but didn't know how to fit it in. The ending felt strange for that reason. The acting was a bit clunky at times, but I felt that the actors did the best they could with a dubious script- or in the case of the actor who played Alex, with a character who was written with very little personality.
But, like I said, I enjoyed this show. The romance was sweet, although I was angry at the main female lead more than once. Jin and Kay had a lot of personality and weren't bad to look at. The case of the day, while usually weird and (for some weird reason) leading everyone to forgive someone who committed a crime, was usually interesting.
If you are looking for something amusing and not overly coherent, this might be for you.
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Foundational Romance Tropes: whipping boy, spoiled prince, obsessive crush
I love a sympathetic main character and Japan delivers introvert well (emo is their brand, after all). This is a pretty classic whipping boy trope meets spoiled prince (it’s been a while my old friend).Our POV is that weird kid who takes photos and thinks he wants to be invisible but actually just wants to be seen by one person (and belong to him). The beautiful boy who starts bossing him around is protective out the gate, having decided that this weirdo is HIS weirdo, no one ELSE can boss him around. This execution of whipping boy was a whole lot gentler than I expected, but because Hira is the seme character it did pivot into attack dog half way through and I LOVED that. One of the things I like about Japanese BL is that it's not afraid of darkness,
Utsukushii Kare managed to be harsh as all get up, angry with us and itself, reminding us of old tropes and archetypes long forgotten but still utterly appealing.
It was exactly as weird and as messed-up as any origin manga and it was great to watch a no holds barred authentic Japanese yaoi adaptation once again. Sure this was an angsty af warped little BL, but it was entirely true to itself with no attempt made to modify its POV for modern sensibilities or international audiences. It highlights one of the things Japanese cinema is best at, staying true to itself.
Up until the last episode this was a solid 8/10, right there with Japan’s other 2021 offerings... and then the final ep BLEW MY MIND. I did not understand how they could possibly end this series well, I half expected tragedy, but this BL turned into a life lesson in how to stick a landing. Japan, why you gotta do us all so fantastically dirty like that? I tend to put all my eggs in the endings basket, as a result episode 6 alone bumped the whole thing up 9/10. I may not rewatch all of Utsukushii Kare but I have already rewatched the final ep 3x. So, yeah.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED, JUST KNOW WHAT YOU ARE GETTING INTO
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Sunshine Angel is a romantic story which follows the life of a young rich boy who unexpectedly falls in love with someone he wouldn't even bother to give a secound look to normally.. This story, Starring Rainie Yang and Farenheit's Wu Chun as the lead roles takes on the every day issues about the man who has it all, Unexpectedly then to lose everything previously valued to him before he met the girl of his dreams. I'll leave this review spoilerless..Di Ya Xin is a young male who has it all.. He was born into a wealthy family and has friends and is the general director of a company of his own left behind after his parents death. Everything seems to go well for him, Until he takes a trip to Japan while skydiving. Falling towards the ground with a parachute who seems to be broken, Only to be saved by falling into the small bathroom of a young girl named Yokou (Yang Guang). Yokou is a girl with a far different background. Her parents are professional scammers who take money from people and usually leaves her behind to deal with the issues of cleaning up after them. Some people's finally had it with her parents behavior and demands for her to pay them back all the money her parents stole from them. With no chance of paying back they employ her with a job in Taiwan as a Maid of a young man.. This man, The same man who broke her bathroom. As Di Ya Xin slowly falls in love with Yang Guang and decides to give her his all, There are someone in his company who are trying to take all that he truly owns and cherish away from him. As the story develops you'll see Love, Drama, Proverty.. Along with lots of unexpected twists not expected.
The drama has a really good soundtrack, I Love nearly each and every song in the ost.. The songs are placed into the right scenes so I can't complain of the timing.
I'd really recommend this story to everyone, The story won't progress quite as expected. But I won't lie to you guys.. Despite of loving the main characters acting inside of this drama, It left me with a huge 2nd lead syndrome for Zhang Junning.. (Geng Fei)
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The rest of the cast, I loved; including Hwang Sun Hee as our baddie Ha Na! Talk about making you hate them while they barely had screen time? She did a good job. And let's not forget Choi Jung Woo as Sec Kim. He will go down in drama history as the first Secretary I've totally loved (since Secret Garden) but even more so. His character's love for Joong Won was so evident! The little side romance (or no romance between Seo In Guk and Park Hee Bon was super cute! We are all glad the 'Little Sun' finally got her man.
And last but not least, let's give it up for Uncle (Lee Jong Won). I'll never forget his final words when he saw Gong Shil leaving Joong Won's apartment: Bang Shil, FIGHTING!!
SO BUYING THIS!!
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This has a very 'independent movie' feel to it. The reason I gave it so high a rating is not really because the cinematography was unique or that the story was so different, but rather that this seemed to be a personal story for the filmmaker, that was told well. The story is about a boy who feels isolated. Some of the kids in the school know he's gay, and they single him out to pick on him. What drives him more into isolation is the fact that he is in love with his one really good friend, and can't say anything to him because he's afraid of his reaction. While he's riding the train he sees a gay couple, then follows them curious about their lives. The rest of the movie is him figuring out who he wants to be and if he cares how the world perceives him. There is also a plot line about the gay couple themselves, and how they feel like they are being treated by society, and their families.
The acting wasn't very good, but they didn't seem to be any really professional actors in the bunch so it was more them doing the best they could. It wasn't ever glaringly bad, like it dragged the scenes or made it seem like the actors were uncomfortable saying the lines. It was more of actors looking at the camera every once and a while, and a smile while they were trying to get out dialogue.
The "sexy scenes" were a little more awkward that the rest of the movie, but thankfully there were only a few of them and easy to fast-forward through.
The music was okay for the most part, nothing to really pay attention to, but there were one or two parts where it just turned weird for no reason.
Overall I would recommend this movie to anyone willing to give an independent movie a shot. It was charming and was made really well with what little resources they seemed to have.
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Fake marriage turned out to be fluffy & cute romance with cliffhanger ending.
This is a very typical cdrama which involved in fake marriage turned to real romance with 3rd party wheel involvement.Since this cdrama has a total of 15 episodes with 30 mins / per episode hence I will not reveal any spoiler over here but to comment on the story, casting & OST.
Story - If you like romcom then this cdrama suits your taste as you may find quite a number of skinship of the main couple over here. Another thing was there is no side couple which we can't make any comparison to the main couple but solely on the main couple that is the ML - Bai Li / Lord Qian Sui acted by Luo Zheng & the FL - Chen You You acted by Ji Mei Han. Luckily both of them managed to create the on screen chemistry considering both are quite young & amateur's actor & actress. Nothing much I can comment on this story & plot as I feel there will be another session of continuation as this story ended with a cliffhanger.
Acting - On the ML by Luo Zheng as Bai Li / Lord Qian Sui, I feel he has improved in his acting skill compared to his earlier cdrama "Cry Me a River of Stars" only thing is his face, personally I feel like he has undergone plastic surgery which in this drama labelled him as the most handsome or good looking person. For me, I feel his look is more suitable to be a model than an actor as for the FL by Ji Mei Han who played the role of Chen You You, certain angle she looks similar as Zhao Lu Si. Even the way she acted & talked in this drama is quite alike Zhao Lu Si too. Another role that I quite enjoyed watch is Bai Li right hand man - Gu Tian He acted by Hu Wei as he has acted in quite a number of cdramas as supporting roles but over here his role was really humorous & funny ones. The rest of the supporting roles too did a great job in portraying their role such as Chen Ming Hao who played the Royal Highness roles who loves to bake biscuits or delicacies.
The OST - I like the opening OST songs it seems nice & pleasant to listen even the ending OST too was good.
Since this is a low budget cdrama so I don't expect it to be very good but overall it was above average to me except the cliffhanger ending. So if you're considering whether to watch it or not then you need to be prepared for the ending or else everything seems to be fine (for me!).
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I used the term "finally" but it doesn't mean it was boring, it's just this one was my first Korean drama to watch while it was still airing so it was a bit of a tough ride (having to wait each week for the next installment with all the cliffhangers)
Right into the review then.
Story (9):
Stories about ghosts and the ability to see them seem to be the trend in Korean dramas the current seasons, but it's safe to say Master's Sun was the first among them (as far as I know).
It was publicized when they first announced the drama that it was a brand new genre "Comedy/Romance/Horror" and it certainly felt NEW.
The story was quite fresh and entertaining, not free of flaws of course but still very enjoyable overall.
The Story mainly concentrated on the couple and Tae Yang's abbility, but there was that second plot that was going on at the background (the mystery behind the incident in the male lead's past that left a trauma), and while it was very interesting and intriguing at the beginning it started to drag just a tiny bit later, but thank God it was cleanly settled early not in the final episodes.
As for the extra episode, it might have caused the last few episodes' story to become a bit stale, but thankfully didn't destroy the drama, on the bright side you can say it gave the viewer more time to enjoy the main plot free of that one side plot.
As for the characters, I personally loved the character development in this one loads.
It's not the usual over-used pattern, where a spoilt chaebol with issues gets attracted to the perfect hard working poor woman and that love makes him change into a more mature person, rather it's a story about a couple who both had their own issues to deal with and their love each other gives them courage to face them and deal with them eventually making them grow into more strong characters that know just well what they want to do and decide on their own how to realize that.
I also want to admit how I was afraid at first that there would be resemblances in the characters with Greatest Love (might be because Gong Hyo Jin was common actress and how So Ji Sub's acting and hand gestures seemed a wee bit similar to Cha Seung Wons' Dok Ko Jin) but was I totally mistaken. There were very few scenes where you're reminded of Dok Ko jin but Joung Won's definitely a different character.
I especially liked how both characters were fast on realizing their own feelings not the "what is this feeling?" kind of idiocy that's elaborated in many Korean Rom-Coms but rather they were smart enough to acknowledge how they were attracted to each other and went right away to dealing with that (in a bit of an eccentric manner but any how)
ADORED nearly all the side characters in this one especially Secretary Kim and Joung Won's Aunt and uncle Not much the light-mouth security guy and didn't particularly enjoy his relationship with Gong sil's sister.
Acting (10)
PERFECT!!! I don't want to say it this way but Gong Hyo Jin stole all the lights in this one, imo. She was soooo convincing, lovable & cute at times and scaring clingy at others, witty and playful at times and heart-wrenching lonely and sad at others. I have to congratulate the producer on his choice, no other actress could have delivered Tae Yang any better.
So Ji Sub on the other hand, it's my first drama of his and well I can say I was satisfied with his acting. I know it's got nothing to do with acting but on a side note I hated most of his outfits in this one save for a few casual ones near the end. How can a CEO of a large department store have such a terrible fashion taste!!! But he was still attractive to be honest :D
Script (7)
Here comes my problem with this drama. I'm not saying I didn't like it and also I've always considered myself a Hong Sister's fan, but to be honest that witty and heavy on the metaphors script that's considered their forte or signature can be a bit boring, especially if one's watched several of their dramas. In funny moments it's fun, but using too much metaphors in even serious scenes besides aaall the characters feel like they share the same conversation skills it feels a bit unrealistic at times. It might be just me though.
Directing (8)
It was over all fine, nice camerawork as well. though sometimes it felt distracting with all the close ups on hands and off the topic stuff (clothes and such) and there were some mistakes with sequence in some of the scenes (clothes changing all of a sudden) but those were all small things that definitely don't waste a drama.
Music (10)
I wanted to reduce some points coz some of the vocal songs kept playing at always the same type of scenes that it felt a bit
repetitive, but I just couldn't bring myself to. The OST in this one is just MARVELOUS TAEBAK! I love all the instrumentals and also the vocals, and wish all Korean dramas' OST cover all the songs played in the drama this way(I know it has to do with he production budget but it's just so frustrating to find the long-awaited OST missing your favorite BGMs like in IHYV)
By all means, please do give Master's Sun a chance, especially if you're a rom-com lover. If you're not much of a rom-com fan,....then there's a high possibility you've never watched a hong sister's drama, then I think you should watch this one all the more. It will definitely feel fresh.
Thanks for reading my extra-long review!
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Watch when your bored
This show was not good. The main character was a junior in college but acted like a 12 year old most of the time. The second leads were way better than the main leads. The female 3rd leads were a waste of time. They barely had a story line although the little they had was better than the main leads.What I liked:
-The soundtrack music was decent
-The actors were cute
-The second leads nc scenes were good
What I didn’t like:
-The acting was awful by the main leads
-Nom Jed’s character was too immature for his age.
-Nom Jed drinking milk all the time at 21 years old
-Flirting with milk is a terrible idea and it was not incorporated well in this series at all
-The last episode was a disaster (I skipped through most of it)
-The nc scenes between the main was not done well. The first one wasn’t too bad. Not sexy or romantic at all.
-The leads sitting on a bull trying to create the mood was awful.
Star Hunter you’ve got to invest more in your actors. You are doing them wrong with the terrible directors and scripts and overall productions value. Maybe some of the actors need to jump ship to have a decent career.
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