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Alfalfa The Roach posted:First episode was real cool. I'm generally a fan of works that take place in WW2 fictitious or otherwise, so I'm intrigued to see where Alternate WW2 + Witches ends up going Very similar impression on my part. I hope they lean into any potential romance between Izetta and Fine, because it looks like it could easily be the sort of passionate, grandiose, melodramatic thing I'm a bit of a sucker for even when there aren't lesbians involved. The ending to the episode was cliche, but oooh that's good cliche. You can definitely see a bit of Code Geass in the setup - what with the witch popping out of the fancypants capsule to make a fairly romantic pact with the protagonist and save the day. I'll be interested to see if the parallels go much farther than that.
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Oct 1, 2016 20:31
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Anyone know how many episodes we're getting? Haven't been able to to find it.
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Oct 1, 2016 22:56
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StrixNebulosa posted:Not the best source, but myanimelist has it down for twelve episodes. That's probably a good length for this one.
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Oct 1, 2016 23:03
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a kitten posted:
Look she just rolled out of bed and had to get straight to work, can't always wear your best pants. Edit: Rewatched that scene on a whim, and man the production values were really top-notch there. Music was great and the animation and choreography were super detailed and visually interesting. Like I said, the whole 'daring airborne rescue' is fairly cliche, but hoo boy did they sell it well. Hope that's indicative of what's to come. Spiritus Nox fucked around with this message at 00:11 on Oct 2, 2016 |
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Oct 1, 2016 23:13
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To be fair, I think the hope was more that the notion of an alliance between Britain and Not-Austria would discourage the Nazis from invading in the first place and avert the war entirely. Buuuuut that obviously didn't happen. I'll be interested to see if the political marriage thing comes back up, or if it died completely when the war started.
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Oct 2, 2016 03:54
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...Obviously too early to tell, but I wonder if/how the actual Nazis' racism will be touched on in this show. It could be kind of neat if Izetta/Witches are intended as parallels to the Roma - they tend to be kind of forgotten in discussions of the Holocaust's victims.
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Oct 3, 2016 02:00
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Ccs posted:The first episode is good, though I found the witch character a little bit annoying. I had imagined her personality being different in the lead up to her appearance. Animation was great though. Yeah, it would've been nice if we'd gotten a line or two more complex than "HIME-SAMAAAAAA." I expect that'll come, though. a kitten posted:Yeah, I feel like part of the setting is to allow then have an aggressive, expansionist "Germany" without the horror of the holocaust. Just....the regular horrors of war. This is probably the most likely scenario. Just saying, it might be cool if they decide to make the Roma connection a thing. It's been a while since I've been excited about a new show without having a clear idea of where it's all going to end up - the last few shows I've watched as they were coming out were SoL affairs where all the drama is pretty much gone (in a good way) once it's clear whether or not the creators can pull off the tone they want. Also makes me a little nervous, since there's a greater possibility of them loving a show like this up, but eh. Risk, reward, etc.
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Oct 3, 2016 03:35
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The Repo Man posted:"The Lesbian Adventures of Lesbian Princess and Lesbian Witch." It might be that, and that could be a perfectly good show if the two leads are well characterized and have good chemistry together - especially if the presentation remains as good and grandiose as the first episode was. I mean, if that's the premise and it's not well executed, or if it's just not your thing then that's obviously fine. I just don't think the premise is inherently schlock like you're kind of implying here. Spiritus Nox fucked around with this message at 14:26 on Oct 3, 2016 |
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Oct 3, 2016 14:17
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I don't see why there's any reason to think Izetta is setting out to tell the entire story of the conflict - the first episode + promo material makes me think she'll primarily be interested in protecting Elystadt and Fine, while Germania is already fighting Britannia and could easily be written into war with Russia and America analogues soon enough. The show could very easily just be about Elystadt basically just hanging on long enough for the allies to repel Germania or for Germania to collapse from within.
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Oct 3, 2016 15:53
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I mean, Casablanca seemed to do okay for itself and that was a whole 102 minutes long. Not to draw to close a parallel between the the two in either tone or quality, obviously, just saying that if Izetta can't tell a good story it won't be primarily for lack of time.
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Oct 3, 2016 16:07
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Most gay shows I've seen still play pretty coy or skirt around making things official in an annoying way, but that aside New Game, Yuru Yuri, Euphonium, and Amanchu are all recent-ish shows that seemed alright about it to me, though it's worth pointing out that I'm a straight dude and those were all way more mundane premises than this thing.
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Oct 4, 2016 00:24
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I'm pretty sure that by now I've heard LoGH described as the peak of just about everything in all genres other than a slice of life. And still it sits there on my backlog, to be gotten around to...at some point.
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Oct 4, 2016 01:02
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Space Flower posted:I don't think that the setting of a coastal European country—bordering the Atlantic Ocean—would have any more to do with the Pacific theatre. ...The other allies fought Japan too, right? I seem to recall Japan invaded Russia at one point and got spanked, and I would assume Austrailia and other Pacific British colonies would be involved in that front at least a bit.
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Oct 4, 2016 15:00
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Pavlov posted:Why did they change all the country names? Is there a copyright on WW2 they were trying to avoid? Eh, I thought it was fine. A little silly, sure, but it makes a certain amount of sense to put that little bit of extra intellectual distance between the viewer and WWII before you start throwing witches and prophecies and such into the mix.
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Oct 6, 2016 04:13
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Pavlov posted:I already forgot what they called France. It was Th- something. I'm not gunna forget France. Thermidor. It was the only one that wasn't just (Real Country)ania or a reference to something I knew about (Livonia is a Polish city, I believe, and Romulus is a figure in a founding Roman legend).
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Oct 6, 2016 04:50
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a kitten posted:And that's why the city wasn't called Rem. A sweeter, cuddlier, more passionate conquering empire 
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Oct 6, 2016 05:07
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ViggyNash posted:They could easily have gone for a fully fictional setting with WW2-era styling, but I guess that's extra work. Extra work that doesn't really provide a ton of tangible benefit, at that. Like, unless you change the whole aesthetic of the show people are still going to immediately look at it and go "oh, we're doing WWII with witches." I don't see that much point in keeping up much pretension to the contrary.
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Oct 6, 2016 19:13
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Lestaki posted:The question is why we've then fallen into this weird middle ground where the names have been changed. I'm hopeful we'll see actual alt history elements that justify the conceit beyond the existence of Fine's weird somehow unconquered homeland but time will tell. ...Wait, how is Elystadt being unconquered prior to the war any weirder than it was for Switzerland?
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Oct 6, 2016 19:26
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Pavlov posted:Right now silly alt-timeline speculation is the only benefit this setting's got. At least let them have that. You're being oddly pissy about a show going "we wanted to use WWII imagery and story themes while still making it obvious that we're not doing literal historical fiction."
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Oct 6, 2016 20:50
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chumbler posted:I'm gonna watch the show and hope the witch continues to ride a giant rifle as her broom and also kisses the cool princess. 
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Oct 6, 2016 21:15
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Episode 2 was good. Slower paced than I expected, and I wasn't in love with the intro action scene like I was with the plane escape at the end of 1, but I was hoping that the show would lean into Izetta and Fine's relationship and it just spent most of an episode doing just that, so yay. I enjoyed the flashback sequences quite a bit. Izetta is a bit more reluctant to fight than I initially expected from how she exploded that plane at the end of episode 1. I'm generally feeling more confident about the rest of the show if this is the tone and rhythm that'll characterize the majority of its run.
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Oct 8, 2016 17:17
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Space Flower posted:I wonder what it means that the German officer from last episode had a pistol encrusted with "Who Dares Wins," since they flashed it again this ep. I think that might just be for visual confirmation that they're looking at the wreckage of Officer Dick's plane.
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Oct 8, 2016 17:58
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Space Flower posted:Why would he be touting a pistol with an SAS motto on it, is the point. Oh, yeah. ...Hm. Yeah, when I first saw it I had assumed it was just a petty war trophy, especially since he called the Britannian ambassador a dog to his face, but it does seem a bit odd that it would come back up if that were all it is. Also, gifs:  
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Oct 8, 2016 18:11
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Pavlov posted:That was pretty funny. Eh, they didn't actually stay on the mountaintops for very long, and there's nothing to suggest it's wintertime down where you'd expect it to be warmer. I did like the detail of Izetta getting her legs all scratched up from having to walk through the woods in a hospital gown. I wonder if her not noticing until the doctor pointed it out was supposed to be more "I am magically resistant to pain" or "I'm so devoted to the wounded Fine that I don't notice my own welfare?" Probably the latter, but we'll see.
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Oct 9, 2016 19:32
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Today's episode was alright. A little slower than I would have liked, but the action scenes were cool. I really liked Izetta hulking out on the Tanks, and the sword-shield. RIP King.
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Oct 15, 2016 17:33
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Weed Wolf posted:I really liked the latest episode (especially the action sequences!), but the frequent-enough-to-be-noticeable fanservice/butt shots kept on taking me out of the scenes The only one that really bothered me was when Izetta landed on a tank and was sitting in front of the viewport, but it was pretty egregious, yeah.
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Oct 15, 2016 21:00
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A big flaming stink posted:Improbable tactical shorts aside, this show seems really loving restrained on fanservice overall. (outside of the OP) Yeah, half the reason I even noticed it was because of how restrained it was in the first two episodes - Fine's shower scene and her having to go topless while she got her arm patched up were easy opportunities for the show to get pretty skeevy that it thankfully passed on. I imagine Izetta gets one of her battle dresses from the OP next episode, and neither of them looks super fanservice-y, so hopefully this episode won't start a trend. Speaking of which, I bet next episode is more of a character thing. Elystadt regrouping, officially working Izetta into the ranks, Germania plotting, Fine grieving for her almost certainly dead dad, and hopefully Izetta getting to provide some emotional support. Edit: Just rewatched on a whim, and I must say this episode held up a lot better the second time around, for some reason. The music continues to be really good, the animation is generally workmanlike-to-great, the art has a nice eye for small details, and Fine and Izetta's little moment at the end was very sweet - and definitely felt like a real important capstone to the episode. Spiritus Nox fucked around with this message at 23:22 on Oct 15, 2016 |
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Oct 15, 2016 22:22
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Man Dancer posted:I'm curious how they will keep playing with the modern vs. classic theme as the show goes on. There are obvious narrative reasons to theme Elystadt as old-fashioned in style and military accouterments (to make them seem all the more outmatched and in need of rescuing), but when we have the weapons of Elystadt medieval nobility overcoming state-of-the-art Germanian tanks and bombers, I'm expecting there will be something more going on thematically down the line. What happened to the original White Witch of legend? Why was Izetta (apparently) attacked by a rural mob as a child? Will there be a darker side to Elystadt's reverence for the monarchy? I'd be pretty surprised if Izetta getting attacked by a lynch mob turns out to be much more than a bunch of paranoid backwaters going "KILL THE FREAK," though I admit that the fact that they didn't give us the details with the rest of Izetta's flashback in episode 2 makes one assume there's something significant we don't know yet. I will say I'm also curious to hear the whole White Witch legend - the King gave a bit of an impression that he didn't entirely trust the Witch, even if she exists.
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Oct 16, 2016 03:00
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GorfZaplen posted:This show continues to be an A+ production in terms of direction/animation/soundtrack but Fine is really, really boring and her scenes make me blank out Eh, she's been a little too perfect, but she hasn't really been the focus of the show since episode 1. Next episode should hopefully be a good opportunity for the show to flesh her out a little as she deals with the archduke's passing.
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Oct 16, 2016 17:36
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Mokinokaro posted:Yeah, they haven't really established her as a person and, with only 10 episodes remaining, I'm not sure how well they will. They needed to humanize her from the getgo for it to work given the show's pace. Er, ten episodes seems like a lot of time... And again, I would say the odds of the show spending some time in the next episode humanizing the person whose dad just died are pretty good. Spiritus Nox fucked around with this message at 20:51 on Oct 16, 2016 |
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Oct 16, 2016 20:44
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Pavlov posted:Not even that. Her one character trait is believing that the job of royalty is to be selfless civil servants, a view held by approximately 0 historical monarchs. Are you going to make any posts in this thread that aren't bitching about the lack of realism in the show about a witch who flies around on an anti-tank rifle?
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Oct 17, 2016 00:09
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Silver2195 posted:This is a dumb argument. Fiction with fantasy elements isn't exempt from criticism of implausible characterization. And when I see any more substantive criticism than "The names are stupid" or "The princess is too nice," I'll give it due consideration.
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Oct 17, 2016 01:59
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Fangz posted:I don't really think it's a fair accusation, actually. Like I think there's an interesting conflict in that Fine's sense of duty conflicts with her desire to keep Izetta out of the war. Yeah. I can sympathize with wanting to see Fine when she's not putting on a strong face for her people, but I think we've been given a good base to build off of for the next while. And again, we're only 3 episodes in - the first episode mostly characterized Fine, but it had to do double duty with giving us the basics of the setting, and I think it was more important for the show to immediately and firmly establish Fine as a strong and noble leader and to demonstrate her attachment to Izetta than to show her weaknesses just yet. Then the next two episodes were much more focused on Izetta and the war - which I thought was a pretty reasonable pacing decision. Like I said, if the next episode or so is spent on a brief reprieve before the war builds back up again, I think there's plenty of time to characterize Fine more thoroughly before we get too close to the climax.
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Oct 17, 2016 02:56
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Checked out Funi's simuldub of Episode 1 on a whim - a show with an explicitly western setting like this seemed like a more natural fit for an English dub than a lot of Anime, so I was curious to see how it turned out. Well, so much for that. Maybe they turn it around, but man Episode 1's dub was terrible. The incidental roles were fine and the SS rear end in a top hat on the plane was appropriately smug and assholish, but it's all undercut by the fact that the two female leads in the lesbian war drama just suck. Fine felt way way way too stiff - like a lot of poor dub performances where they don't want to go full ham like a lot of the Japanese VAs but lack either the talent or direction to give a more subtle performance. Izetta, granted, only had a handful of opportunities to make an impression, but when the first memorable line of the show is Izetta singing in the opening flashback and you completely botch it... I mean, I can probably fault poor direction for the fact that she was holding the notes way longer and with way less bounce than the original performance, but that excuse probably doesn't work on the fact that a bunch of notes were waaaay out of tune. Shame. Like I said, this show seemed pretty dub friendly, I might have kept up with a good one. Spiritus Nox fucked around with this message at 00:02 on Oct 22, 2016 |
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Oct 22, 2016 00:00
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New episode was okay. I didn't really care for the fanservice, liked most everything else well enough. Met the Emperor, "The United States of Atlanta," learned more about Izetta's powers, got a nice blueprint for the show going forward. Title for the next episode makes it sound like things are going to take a bad turn, though.
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Oct 22, 2016 17:52
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Space Flower posted:
You joke, but that last exchange does make me a little nervous, especially given the Code Geass connection. Think it'll be a big mistake if this show ends on a dark note. Edit: Skimming back over the episode reminds me of something I've wanted to mention for a while - I really like Fine's VA, which is saying something since I usually don't notice Japanese VAs unless they're really good or really awful. Like I alluded to when I was talking about the English VA's poor performance, the original actress really leans into how bombastic and hammy most of her lines are, and she emotes waaaay better. She really sells the tears at the end of 3 and the start of 4. Spiritus Nox fucked around with this message at 19:01 on Oct 22, 2016 |
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Oct 22, 2016 18:39
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Darth Walrus posted:Guess that answers whether we got a Fuhrer or a Kaiser. Could be a 'greater-scope villain' sort of thing where he's nominally in charge of the villains while Berkman or whoever is the one who's actually hostile/poses a direct threat to the heroes. Also worth noting that he mentioned prison camps, though it's not clear yet whether those are for The Inferior Races or just general dissidents.
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Oct 23, 2016 00:52
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Lucy Heartfilia posted:Well, that was certainly foreboding... Yeah, self-esteem continues to not be a strong point for Izetta. Also, something that occurred to me - the flashback didn't actually make it entirely clear whether or not Izetta WAS actually responsible for burning that barn down. We'll have to see whether she ever has trouble controlling her powers even before she starts bleeding.
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Oct 23, 2016 17:44
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Gave the second episode of the dub a watch last night just to see if Izetta's actress was any good or if Fine's turned it around. With the slight exception of the childhood flashback sequence, the answer to both was a resounding nnnnooope. I feel like it's probably a matter of direction moreso than talent, given how fast they're having to churn these out, but at the end of the day the two leads are just unbearably stiff. There were some reads in there that had me pining for RWBY. Just a shame. Was rooting for a good dub for this one.
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Oct 28, 2016 00:21
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New episode was good. Thoughts -I do kinda wish the coronation had been a bigger deal, but the episode had a lot of stuff it wanted to do, so I can't really fault it for picking up the pace a bit. -Fleshed out Berkman and the enemy squad a bit better. They're totally going to spring a deadly trap on Izetta at some point and I'm starting to dread it.  -The whole propaganda war aspect of this episode was really fascinating, and they had some cool tricks to help sell it. "A False Miracle" in a different sense than I was expecting. -Mildly surprised Jonas is still around, I initially took him for a one-off after he missed episode 4. -I like that Izetta felt the need to put the propaganda show on herself - and I also like that they acknowledged the practical purpose of evading photo analysis as well as the moral one. -I will say, the secret was obviously going to come out in a story like this, but the way they did it was a bit of an eyeroller. WHY THE gently caress ARE YOU TWO OTHERWISE SMART HIGH RANKING PEOPLE TALKING ABOUT THIS RIGHT OUT IN THE OPEN  -I guess we're in for a breather episode next week? Tagline was a bit of a groaner, but the taglines actually haven't been that informative to what the episodes are going to be about so far, so eh. Spiritus Nox fucked around with this message at 19:23 on Oct 29, 2016 |
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Oct 29, 2016 17:43
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