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 It's pretty late, but this show is really starting to blow up in Japan, and it seems to be making some more waves over here as well, so I figured a thread might be nice since there's some interesting things to talk about regarding the show, and there seems to be more and more fanart by the day. Anyway, Kemono Friends is the story of a young girl who's lost her memories and suddenly wakes up in the middle of Japari Park, a gigantic safari park where the mysterious "Sandstar" substance has caused the animals to change into partially human forms. They seem to have adapted their lifestyles to their new forms, but keep many of their animal instincts.  The girl comes across a friendly and energetic Serval Cat, who is fascinated by her and wonders what kind of animal (or as she calls it, "Friend") she is.   Unfortunately, Serval can't figure it out and the girl doesn't remember, so she gives her the nickname Bag-chan because she's got a large backpack with her. At Serval's suggestion, they set off together for the Library so they can figure out what kind of Friend Bag-chan is.  Meanwhile, Raccoon and Fennec Fox appear to be chasing the two, as Raccoon believes something bad will happen to the park if they can't catch them.  Along their journey, they'll meet lots of new Friends and help them with their problems, have tons of fun, and maybe uncover the secrets of Japari Park! So you're probably wondering why a show with such janky looking CG is worth a poo poo. But despite it's limitations in that respect, there's a lot of care put into the characters. The staff seem to have gone the extra mile to ensure their costumes, movements, and mannerisms evoke the animals they represent, and have done their best to portray that with the limited tools they have. Add some fantastic voice acting on top of that, as well as a simple and charming story where Bag-chan and Serval help various Friends deal with their problems and conflicts on their way to the Library, and you wind up with a wonderfully calming and heartwarming show that's rather endearing in it's limited animation. There's lots of Cool Animal Facts along the way as well so you might pick up something you didn't know before! It's also got a pretty interesting undercurrent of mystery surrounding Bag-chan and the nature of the park, with little hints here and there as to what's really going on outside the park. I think this pic sums it up the best:  Or maybe this:  At any rate, Japan definitely seems to have latched on to it pretty hard after the first couple of episodes. It's a bit of a shame that the manga is over and the game has already shut down, so this is somewhat of a last stand for the franchise, but maybe the popularity spike will help revitalize it. Anyway, please give it a try, especially if you're into into healing-type shows or cute-girls-doing-cute-things sort of stuff. I think you might enjoy it despite it's initial appearances!  (ps the OP is catchy as gently caress) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zeq2M6_sJP8
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Feb 15, 2017 13:51
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| # ¿ May 2, 2024 12:36 |
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Davincie posted:thoughts on the dark past? personally i think some sort of science experiment got interrupted by a volcanic eruption caused perhaps by the sandstar meteorite. it would explain all the destruction (and lava duh) and why new kemono friends are still popping up. i figure the kemono friends that recognize bag are some of the older ones, from back when humans hadn't died out yet. though of course the alien invaders remain unexplained, unless they too are the consequence of the experiments... who knows I still think the Ceruleans are related to the Sandstar somehow, like they might have been responsible for getting it there in the first place, but it's also possible that they were generated by it or something. At any rate the show kind of ignored them after the first ep or two, which is probably for the better as the character interaction stuff is way more interesting. One interesting thing after the latest episode is that Raccoon has a red feather that will get Boss/Lucky Beast to talk. Bag-chan has a green feather. The guide character from the game has both:  Her hat also looks very similar to Bag-chan's, so I'm curious to see if she's shown in the anime at all. One other neat thing I noticed is that in each episode, Bag-chan seems to be the one to provide the sort of logical thinking and problem solving that the Friends don't usually think of, and it's usually that thing that winds up being the push that helps sort out whatever issue they have. So, as a human, that's sort of her "special ability" and the thing that sets her apart from other Friends. Naksu posted:Why do they have 4 ears? Because they're halfway in between human and animal, so they ended up with both!
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Feb 15, 2017 15:20
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Julias posted:Just watched the first ep. The CG definitely looks cheep in motion and several bits look ugly (I swear the grass in the chase scene was literally a 2d sprite). The actual story bits weren't bad, but they were pretty generic. It looks like episode 2 will be better, though, since it's setting up all these characters. I'll probably check that episode out to decide of I'll continue or not, but yeah, the first episode was pretty mediocre overall I wasn't sold at all on the first ep either, honestly. It wasn't until they started running into the other characters and interacting with them that the show really took off for me. Anyway MORE FANART  Obligatory jojo ref:        
cathead fucked around with this message at 18:32 on Feb 15, 2017 |
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Feb 15, 2017 17:39
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Raenir Salazar posted:I haven't caught up yet on the later episodes, but I'm liking the aspect of Baggins human superpower is kind of a low level epitome of "Humanity gently caress Yeah!" and I'm excited if that keeps going on. Yeah just about every episode at some point tends to involve Bag-chan figuring out some way to help out by just seeing things from another perspective or thinking things through logically. I also think Serval deserves some credit for her relentless optimism and the fact that her whole worldview seems to be that everyone's got something that they're good at or that makes them special, and if you think you don't then you just haven't figured it out yet. She seems to get very excited when she learns what cool thing someone else can do. It's also kinda admirable how she just up and decides to help this rando girl that showed up one day trek across the entire park just so she can find out what she is. The whole thing is very positive and pretty heartwarming. 
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Feb 15, 2017 23:53
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In case you were wondering why Crested Ibis was singing about searching for her friends:Wikipedia posted:At one time, the crested ibis was widespread in Japan, China, Korea, Taiwan, and Russia. It has now disappeared from most of its former range. The last wild crested ibis in Japan died in October 2003, with the remaining wild population found only in Shaanxi province of China until reintroduction of captive bred birds back into Japan in 2008. They were previously thought to be extinct in China too, until 1981 when only seven ibises were seen in Shaanxi, China.  Wikipedia posted:On September 25, 2008, the Sado Japanese Crested Ibis Preservation Center released 10 of the birds as part of its crested ibis restoration program, which aims to introduce 60 ibises into the wild by 2015. This marks the first time the rare bird has returned to the Japanese wild since 1981. 
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Feb 16, 2017 04:30
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There is an absolutely insane amount of fanart getting turned out at this point.        
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Feb 16, 2017 23:40
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 I tried and I still can't figure out what's going on in that picture.
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Feb 17, 2017 00:10
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Found some sweet OP covers too https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5H7iwUYvW58 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TeWIDFNEy1E https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0JKPnZT86vU
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Feb 17, 2017 00:44
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Julias posted:It's Popee the Performer! Haha yeah, I watched a few eps of that and now it makes way more sense. And here I thought I was pretty up to date on all the weird poo poo coming out of Japan! Next week is going to be some kind of cooking battle with some owls:  Also, I found out that Friends that were previously extinct don't have the white highlights in their eyes, like Aurochs in this pic. Apparently extinct species were able to be cloned Jurassic-Park-style in Japari Park before the Sandstar hit, so afterward they turned into Friends too.  Anyway, a bit more fanart:    https://u.nya.is/mqaerc.webm https://u.nya.is/nfisqd.webm    
cathead fucked around with this message at 19:54 on Feb 17, 2017 |
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Feb 17, 2017 16:23
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   More jojo:  Crested Ibis and Scarlet Ibis:         Old memes return as Friends: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6456o6ooY4c Youkoso Japari Park goes with everything: https://u.nya.is/ljipmz.webm cathead fucked around with this message at 00:38 on Feb 20, 2017 |
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Feb 20, 2017 00:32
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I'm a bit of a fan of the "Raccoon tries to wash some cotton candy" art: 
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Feb 20, 2017 22:33
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Feb 21, 2017 12:14
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That was a great episode. The owls were cute and funny even though they were kinda jerks. Also if you pay close attention, when the owls mention humans going extinct, the highlights in Bag-chan's eyes start to fade. As we've seen, Friends who were extinct do not have highlights in their eyes at all. 
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Feb 22, 2017 01:14
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  (the line at the bottom says "but everyone still loves you")
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Feb 23, 2017 10:40
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Japan: "Yeah just go ahead and run Serval through every funny cat meme ever"    Bonus Owl:  Bonus Arai-san bullying:  Bonus ?????: 
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Feb 24, 2017 02:07
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Courtesy of a 4chan drawing/coloring team, here's a bunch of Friends with some nature/travel/science celebrities:  
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Feb 26, 2017 20:43
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Mordaedil posted:It probably has to do with cost of creating the whole cast of characters in 3D and the environments and then rendering those scenes in time is easier with the low-poly models they use in the show right now. In an article on the show in some CG magazine, the staff mentioned they opted to go for 3D because it was easier and more efficient to handle all the different animal patterns on the clothes.
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Feb 27, 2017 11:43
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Oh poo poo it finally happened http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x5d8i00_kemono-friends_animals
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Feb 27, 2017 12:30
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Cao Ni Ma posted:Yeah, Gankutsuou was my thought as well. But lets be serious here, Kemono is being made on a shoestring budget with very limited staff whose production started after the game had bombed and eventually shut down. No one in the committee was expecting it to catch on the way it did. From what I heard, the game and anime started production at the same time, it just took much longer for the anime to get put together, probably because of the small team and all of the meticulous planning and design that's clearly gone into the show. The director mentioned on twitter (when talking about his surprise at his popularity) that he had been pretty much working on it for the past 500 days and hadn't had time to notice that it had taken off.
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Feb 27, 2017 13:57
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Raenir Salazar posted:I hope this keeps the franchise going. http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/daily-briefs/2017-02-24/kemono-friends-concept-designer-project-to-continue-after-anime/.112632
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Feb 27, 2017 23:17
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There Bias Two posted:That's kind of vague. For all we know that might just mean they'll make a line of animal girl pachinko slots. I mean it is , but it's also the guy who came up with the setting and world in the first place (and also the author of Keroro Gunsou) I don't think he's going to let it go with just pachislots.
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Feb 28, 2017 01:36
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That was a pretty cute episode, and it was nice to get some more characterization for the penguins, plus Margay was pretty funny. I feel like Kaban and Serval didn't get as much to do as they did in other episodes but with that many characters it's probably a bit hard to fit everyone in.
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Mar 1, 2017 01:19
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I'm a fan of the theory that Arai-san may have originally claimed the hat as her own (because she's a god drat trash panda) and is now just really mad that it was lost and ended up with Bag-chan (who may not even have the same hat) and that's why she's chasing Bag-chan across the park. Anyway, let's meme:     Also some proper Arai/Fennec art:   
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Mar 1, 2017 02:05
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Japan's Kemofure memes have advanced far beyond ours. Apparently there's a thing where Jaguar gets depicted as a "sporty girl" with sports shirts and a gym towel (because Puma makes sporting goods and pumas are kind of like jaguars?!) and it's just been run through so many meme-cycles that it's become almost inscrutable. Also features her water taxi as a soba cart, and she's frequently depicted with "Savannah Striped Giant Slug" a.k.a. Zebra-chan as seen from behind in the first episode.      In short... わからん。  Anyway, here's some slightly more scrutable pics:       "Serval Hugpillow"  A previous pic expanded with more Friends:  "My nose is warm~ My ears are cold~"  A Friend Who's Good at Computers posted:I'd just like to interject for a moment. What you’re referring to as Friends, is in fact, Kemono/Friends, or as I’ve recently taken to calling it, Kemono as Friends. Friends is not a life unto itself, but rather another living component of a fully functioning Kemono Domain made humanoid by the Sandstar deposits, animal traits and vital bodily functions comprising a full living being as defined by JAPARI. 
cathead fucked around with this message at 03:48 on Mar 5, 2017 |
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Mar 5, 2017 03:07
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nielsm posted:futaba = 2chan I think he's just talking about how it's been awhile since 2chan has been so collectively focused on a series. When that happens you tend to get the most bizarre and creative memes/art/shitposts due to so many people contributing to it so quickly. But yeah, I can see why calling them futaba might be confusing for our resident poster. 
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Mar 5, 2017 12:40
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So Jaguar's meme-outfit may have been inspired by a shot of her where the angle makes it look like she's wearing a t-shirt with a print on it and her collar is a towel. I guess at this point this picture series is just her following in Bag/Serval and Arai/Fennec's footsteps and hanging out with all the other friends.  Anyway, have a Serval. 
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Mar 5, 2017 15:23
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Davincie posted:this episode was an absolute gamechanger, nothing will be the same ever again Yeah it was a fun ep. The foxes were cute and I was wondering if they were ever going to do a joke about the Friends' clothes. Also the loving EPIC cerulean avalanche, I was on the edge of my seat.  *ceruleans slowly slide down mountain without actually rolling* *music buildup except they forgot the drop and it's just awawawawa instead* I love this silly show so much. edit: So someone pointed out that Aya Uchida is both Mirai and Kaban's VA. If Sandstar is able to change something "that was once an animal" into a Friend, that might make it possible for Kaban to be a reborn Mirai as a Human Friend. The obvious (and rather morbid) possibility aside, since Arai-san mentions the hat was "stolen" when the eruption happened, it's possible that might have been the catalyst. Anyway, here's some silly pictures:   Arai-san washes a sodium tablet:  Jaguar Saga continues:  
cathead fucked around with this message at 02:08 on Mar 8, 2017 |
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Mar 8, 2017 01:20
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Araki posted:This episode starred ???? as Lucky Beast, Mirai, and ????. I guess the last one is the mysterious silhouette in the window? Nah, it's probably the other voice on Mirai's recording. Current theory for that is that because it sounds like the VA for Serval from the game, it might be a different Serval (which would sort of hint that Kaban and Serval's meeting was somewhat fated), but Game Serval's VA is also Giraffe next week so it's possible it could be her and she has more info about Mirai. Guess we'll see! Also Mirai and Lucky Beast are both Aya Uchida (also Kaban's VA as I mentioned a few posts back). (edited for a bit more clarity) cathead fucked around with this message at 19:00 on Mar 8, 2017 |
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Mar 8, 2017 18:18
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blastron posted:Man, I wish this show was better. This last episode really showed every single weakness the show has, from the literally three songs in its soundtrack to the awkward timing between both comedic and dramatic beats to the lack of any real animation. The avalanche scene had literally zero tension in it since any motion that could have shown the characters actually hurrying to save themselves happened entirely offscreen, leaving awkward pauses where action should have been, and their escape managed to feel like a huge rear end-pull because neither that run nor the skis were even shown on-screen before the instant they were needed. I bet that 80% of the entire animation budget went into those dancing penguins last episode, leaving just scraps for the actual life-threatening peril that they didn't actually convey. I'm not convinced that they were intending to convey life-threatening peril in the first place. I could definitely see them looking at the scene and being like "man, there's no way we can make actually this look cool and actiony without a ton of extra work" and decided to just ham it up instead. I think they pulled it off in a way that probably only this show specifically could get away with at this point. The rest of the episode was pretty great too, so it's like whatever man. Mordaedil posted:Knowing how trends on the Internet and the way it always, without fail, goes I worry a little about this show post-airing. Considering what Japan has been able to do with fandoms like Touhou and Kancolle that don't have a huge depth of source material and pretty infrequent updates, I think it'll be fine. Yoshizaki mentioned they want to keep the project going anyway so I expect we'll get a dripfeed of new stuff enough for the meme/doujin wheels to continue to turn. Since I'm postin I'll post some art too!         That wasn't very Kashikoi of you   gently caress tha police comin straight from Japari Park  And finally... NEXT TIME, ON DENSETSU NO WAKARAN  
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Mar 9, 2017 11:51
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Gloomy Rube posted:So I've been wondering about that. Is she wearing a hoodie with her ears on the inside so it pokes up or is that her hair? It's just her hair, it's very long.
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Mar 9, 2017 23:55
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I think it's just a joke about how Friends have no idea how their clothes work since they didn't even know they could be removed.
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Mar 10, 2017 11:30
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Kemono Friends Gets Original Content on TV Tokyo's Streaming Service Interesting, I wonder what it will be. There's also supposed to be an anthology manga with like 20 contributors coming out soon as well.
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Mar 13, 2017 20:04
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I got the impression with that shot that they were trying to bait you into thinking something was going to pop up or jump out behind them, and then it didn't. Anyway, a great episode, I really liked the bigger plot stuff and the episode's own smaller plot about the mystery was great. The wolf being the "Boy Who Cried Wolf" was an amusing reference. Serval tearing up at seeing her ancestor(?) tugged at the heartstrings quite a bit, and I'm sort of curious as to what really triggered it. I've seen some theories that if she's a reincarnation (due to the Sandstar) she may have repressed memories of the past Serval, but maybe it's just that she instinctively sees her as an older sister or mother-like figure. I'm a little worried that we're veering into some rather dark territory with regard to what may have happened to Mirai and how Kaban is related to that, but we'll have to see how this all resolves in the end. I hope we get something happy/positive. Also probably worth noting that Caracal is Manga/Game Serval's best friend, so I think they're making somewhat of a connection there. Man, they really nailed the pacing and plot development with this show. cathead fucked around with this message at 02:30 on Mar 15, 2017 |
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Mar 15, 2017 02:27
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Phimose Knight posted:I mean yeah the plot dumps were pretty intriguing and it ended on a very gently caress-you note (on the same level as the ending of Twin Peaks), BUT there's something I wanna discuss. Someone figured it out. Turn up your volume during that shot. There's footsteps.
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Mar 15, 2017 12:11
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Kaban does sound a little bit less silly than Bag.
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Mar 15, 2017 19:44
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I thought about both of those actually but at the time I wasn't sure if people would even get it or pay attention to the thread so I played it safe.
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Mar 15, 2017 23:29
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Mentat Radnor posted:I'm from the northeast so I can't say for sure. Do these tacos look janky and taste mediocre for the first few bites, and then before you know it you've eaten ten of them and you're staring into the bag wondering why you didn't order more? If so, then yes. I'd also add that on closer inspection, it turns out whoever made the tacos really knew what they were doing and despite its looks, pretty much nailed the right ratio and amount of ingredients to make it taste good.
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Mar 17, 2017 09:37
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Mar 18, 2017 20:58
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Man, this show. That was legitimately a suspenseful episode, I really enjoyed it. Not quite the lead-in to the final episode I was expecting either, I'm REALLY interested to see how this ends. Spiritus Nox posted:...so, did I miss a reason why Kaban let the black Cerulean step on her at the end? Wasn't the plan to lure it to the boat and sink it? She was luring it away from the unconscious Serval so it would not notice her (since it's nighttime) so she could wake up and get away. There was no way she could run that fast so she just did what she could. She was putting the safety of her Friends before herself.
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Mar 22, 2017 00:14
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| # ¿ May 2, 2024 12:36 |
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Jokes aside, some people are theorizing that the OP may actually be all the friends trying to save Kaban.
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Mar 22, 2017 09:51
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