It’s formally EOY season, which is once we look again on our drama years, and determine which dramas have been worthy of our love, and which dramas we perhaps shouldn’t have spent as a lot time on, as we did. 😁
As earlier than, we’ll be seeing as much as 2 visitor posts per week, and this may unfold into January 2025, and my annual year-in-review will come out in early 2025, after all of the visitor posts have been revealed.
This manner, by placing all our experiences collectively, we get a extra wholistic view of Dramaland in 2024. Fairly nice, sure? 🤩
If you happen to missed our earlier posts, you may test it out right here: Sean, Deni+JJ, Natalia.
Immediately, I’m happy to announce that Ele’s sharing her drama yr!
The extra I get to know Ele, the extra I’m satisfied that she has a really inventive thoughts in addition to a really passionate coronary heart, and could be very gifted in expressing all of it.
If you happen to loved our current Dream Drama Darkish, on which Ele and j3ffc labored collectively, I believe you’d get an additional kick out of Ele’s submit this yr. 😁
If you happen to like Ele’s model and wish to know what she thought of dramas final yr, you may try her submit right here!
You may also like to go to Ele’s web site, the place she talks about artwork and writing.
I hope you guys take pleasure in!
~ KFG ❤️
Buffy the Vampire Slayer,
As soon as Extra with CDRAMA Feeling!
First revealed 28.12.2024
Hey from chilly England! It’s me, Ele, earlier blogger of the 2 Satisfaction and Prejudice mashups in each Kdrama (right here) and Cdrama (right here). Once I’m not on the mercy of a three-year-old, I’m additionally an artist and a author (right here).
I do take pleasure in a Korean drama however in recent times I’ve develop into fairly the fan of Chinese language drama. And a few of you could have gathered from @j3ffc’s epically wonderful Darkish (right here), that I’m a Buffy the Vampire Slayer fanatic too.
For these uninitiated on this planet of Buffy, it’s a movie, TV sequence, plus spin-off TV sequence referred to as Angel, and a myriad of novels and graphic novels the place a “chosen” lady referred to as Buffy should save the world from vampires and demons in an upbeat and perky trend.
Suffice to say, it is filled with participating humour and pathos and portrays with model and substance the emotional rollercoaster of rising up. However why am I harking on about it right here?
Effectively, owed primarily to @j3ffc’s Darkish, and with the arrival of this weblog’s entertaining finish of yr opinions, I had my very own mad concept, triggered by the opening of Chinese language drama, The Double. In it, poor buried-by-her-husband-for-an-affair-she-never-had Xue Fangfei’s hand shoots up from the contemporary soil of her grave.
You see, yoiks, it’s an echo of a scene from Buffy, the place our heroine too is useless and, hand breaking out of the graveyard soil, returns alive! Sure, sure, I believed, it’s completely meant to be!!
So right here I’m right here to deliver you a brand new mash-up: Buffy the Vampire Slayer, As soon as Extra with Cdrama Feeling!
Cdrama Reveals Watched
My Cdrama viewings this yr whole 13, in varied genres (predominantly interval, fantasy, historic – oops, I appear to have bypassed the current day). I selected to look at them based mostly on kfangurl (or somebody on Patreon) recommending them, or as a result of it stars (squeeeee 😍) Liu Yu Ning, or I similar to the trailer.
However how nicely do they match as much as the excessive bar set by Buffy the Vampire Slayer? Who is able to discover out? 5-by-five!
The Music: The Grrr-aaargh Award
“They received the mustard out!”
Talking of (squeeeee 😍) Liu Yu Ning – as a result of I typically do communicate of him, let’s be sincere – we’ll scissor kick issues off with a punchy OST. Buffy the Vampire Slayer has a crunching theme tune which units the tone for the significant anarchic motion the present’s about to ship, or no less than, it looks like music vampires would hearken to.
Cdrama just about all the time has OSTs price listening to. The intros and outros are a spotlight for me. Whether or not it’s the luxurious melody and gilded graphics of The Story of Pearl Lady, or the squealing name to motion within the opening of The Legend of ShenLi, or the amusing dance outros of Fangs of Fortune, I’m hooked.
However the Grrr-aaargh Award goes to the wonderous OST for Heroes (the 2024 sequence) right here. Just like the especial brilliance of an episode of Buffy referred to as As soon as Extra with Feeling, lots of the actors of Heroes sing on the OST.
The swagger of an opener is a Wild West drunks-singing-together-before-battle lament which, frankly, must be horrible however is in actual fact genius. It makes me smile and on the similar time sorrowful.
Chances are you’ll change it off or pay attention as you learn – there are much less raucous songs on it too, such because the outro track, The Universe by (squeeeee 😍) Liu Yu Ning – the best of high quality OST performers, naturally.
The Heroine
Buffy: The Mr Pointy Stake Award
“In each era, there’s a chosen one.”
Buffy by no means requested to be “chosen” however hey, the stakes are excessive and, hehem, her staking larger, dusting (nearly) each vampire who comes her method with aplomb.
She’s an optimistic trooper, the sort of feminine lead I like: resilient however susceptible, loyal and conscientious however not with out flaws, and with a powerful ethical compass whereas by no means seeming prissy.
For me, when Cdrama is nice, the feminine lead possesses these sorts of attributes. From Lui Shishi’s forthright combating expertise as Ren Ruyi within the wonderful A Journey to Love, to Ni Ni’s spirited Yi Liuxi in Parallel World, to the palpable vulnerabilities of Zhao Jin Mai’s Li Rong in The Princess Royal, Cdrama in recent times has actually shone when it comes to feminine characters.
And, after all, I did point out the entire hand rising out of her grave factor, proper? Even when all is misplaced and truly they’re useless, they nonetheless (nearly all the time) survive.
I may select Zhao Liying’s spectacular ShenLi in The Legend of ShenLi. Fierce, protecting, and with a robust sense of accountability, ShenLi is Buffy in God-form with a wardrobe Buffy would die for. Zhao Liying is magnificent in The Story of Minglan, in addition to Princess Brokers, and is stellar as ShenLi.
However the winner of the Buffy Mr Pointy Stake Award goes to Wu Jin Yan for each her not possible survival instincts because the aforementioned Jiang Li in The Double, in addition to Mei Lin in Kill Me, Love Me. This actress is aware of simply convey inside power regardless of an entire core of injuring.
Regardless of a mess of unforgivable crimes towards each characters, Mei Lin in Kill Me, Love Me and Jiang Li in The Double stay like Buffy: simply and true.
The Scoobies
Each robust feminine lead wants a crew of buddies round her. Buffy’s are affectionately referred to as the Scoobies, you understand, after Scooby Doo. If you happen to’ve by no means heard of Scooby Doo, it’s… I can’t assist you to.
Cdrama’s Scoobies typically contain subordinates who’re sort of buddies, sort of colleagues, sort of servants, sort of confidantes. Like in Buffy, they’re there to help the boss, each female and male leads, and may present nice gentle reduction and emotional coronary heart.
Willow: The Wicca E-book of Spells Award
“Panic is a factor folks can share in occasions of disaster.”
Scooby Willow transforms from a barely nerdy, shy excessive schooler right into a formidably highly effective witch. Sure, she delves a bit too deep into the magic field, however even then, she by no means loses that lovely connection to her buddies.
For me, Huang Yiring earns the Wicca E-book of Spells Award. Her Concubine Yan in Kill Me, Love Me, and Tong Sai’er in Comply with Your Coronary heart embody the heat, loyalty, and delicate eagerness of Willow.
It does assist that in her function as Tong Sai’er in Comply with Your Coronary heart she has a factor with beautiful Ryan Cheng’s Shang Bieli. Though he’s criminally under-used within the present, it’s all very candy till the unintentionally embarrassing, awkward kiss… Yikes!
Xander: The She-Mantis Award
“We’re proper behind you, solely additional again.”
Scooby Xander, all the time prepared with a humorous quip and a wonderfully affordable want to not die, additionally has probably the most braveness – no supernatural energy or coaching, he’s nonetheless there combating the nice combat and being there. Effectively, until he’s resulting from get married, however that’s one other story (see Anya beneath).
In Cdrama, the male lead’s pal is sort of all the time their subordinate. It makes the dynamic typically a bit… off. Nonetheless, when the lead is a completely first rate particular person attempting to rebalance an enormous injustice, it will probably present a beautiful camaraderie.
I’m considering Yu Yong Hai’s Kang Ju in The Story of Pearl Lady, who’s each growly and tender towards boss Yan Zijing, performed by (squeeeee 😍) Liu Yu Ning. Or Alen Feng’s Yu Shisan in A Journey to Love, whose help function is just about equal to chief Ning Yaunzhou, performed by (squeeeee 😍) Liu Yu Ning. For a alternative not associated to (squeeeee 😍) Liu Yu Ning, Gao Han’s Cui Liang in Love of Nirvana can also be very good.
However I’ll give Xander’s She-Mantis Award to Tian Jia Rui’s Zhuo Yichen in Fangs of Fortune. Tian Jia Rui is sensible, isn’t he? Nice in My Journey to You and so very likeable in Fangs of Fortune.
I loved him way more than both of the opposite two leads (performed by Chen Du Ling and Neo Hou) – although his burgeoning bromance with the latter is an enormous spotlight of the present.
Daybreak: The Sulky Face No matter Award
“So Daybreak’s in bother. Have to be Tuesday.”
Scooby Daybreak was a key and never actual, however she additionally turns into Buffy’s sister after which she is actual. Confused? Don’t fear! Cdrama is rarely so summary. Basically, Daybreak is the mei mei attempting desperately to be a grown up. Concurrently needing to be seen and to show independence.
Characters like this may get annoying. Nonetheless, Lester Lin, ethereal and historic in My Journey to Love, and nervy (that scream!) and needy in Fangs of Fortune, manages to imbue a way of loneliness in each roles that belies his age.
The Sulky Face No matter Award can solely go to 1 teen, although: Ai Mi. She already caught my eye in My Journey to You (and was apparently additionally in Who Guidelines the World however I can’t fairly place her) and is barely bettering, first as Tong Er in The Double, after which in her function as Qing Geng in Fangs of Fortune.
Sixteen, folks. She’s sixteen!!
Doubtful Love Pursuits
Angel: The Angel Wings Award
“If nothing we do issues, then all that issues is what we do.”
A vampire cursed to have a soul, Angel is filled with self-loathing, desperately attempting to atone for his sins when he was (or no less than as soon as each season, is) a soulless vampire. Cripplingly unsociable but eager for connection. Dwelling within the shadows but prepared to save lots of strangers. He’s the sort of hero Cdrama is made for.
Liu Xue Yi’s Prince Murong in Kill Me, Love Me, appears dangerous initially of the sequence however is in actual fact fairly heroic and swoony – although I can’t forgive his “coaching” of Mei Lin.
However the Angel Wings Award goes to Qin Jun Jie’s super efficiency as Males Sendao in Heroes (2024 model). Tasked with one mission, his beliefs and loyalties are examined, but he’s all the time honourable and clever and simply magnificent. He by no means imposes himself an excessive amount of and he strikes with the occasions. He’s versatile.
I imply, I LOVE him! The implausible camaraderie he builds with the disparate males round him is dealt with so properly. All of the relationships are significant and really feel equal.
Angelus: The Angelus Lumpy Brow Award
“She made me really feel like a human being. That’s not the kinda factor you simply forgive.”
However wait, I can’t actually ignore a key facet of Angel: with no soul, he turns into Angelus, an out-and-out evil, cruel, unconscionable vampire. I imply, he’s Dangerous. Assume Wu Lei’s Basic Ling in Love Just like the Galaxy at that party. Or Luo Yunxi’s Satan God in Til the Finish of the Moon. In Cdrama, when male leads act out, issues can get as bloody as Angelus at a bare-neck conference.
My Angelus Lumpy Brow Award goes to Pang Hen Chen’s Wang Jialuo in Heroes (2024). The place Males Sendao was in a position to change, and for the higher, Wang Jialuo doesn’t. He’s on many events like The Terminator in his unstoppable pursuit of “proper”. The principles he follows are the one guidelines there are and it’s this single, bloody mindedness that makes him so deadly – and silly.
I loved his character greater than some. I like that he was relentlessly unchanged, even whether it is unhappy to look at. It’s an excellent lesson in how to not reside life.
Spike: The Bottle of Hair Bleach Award
“Who do you kill for enjoyable round right here?”
Ah, Spike. Now, I ought to say that after I first watched Buffy the Vampire Slayer, I used to be younger and thought his bleached blonde hair and killer cheekbones made him method cooler than brooding, morose, sometimes-very-evil, Angel. Now I’m older, wiser, heck, I nonetheless say the identical, however I mood my enthusiasm with a “he’s not everybody’s cup of tea”.
Spike is punk, savage, speaks earlier than considering, has a streak of kindness not even being a vampire can diminish and loves Buffy till it makes them each sick. It’s every kind of tousled. However within the closing sequence and with a soul he sought himself, he says this to a beleaguered, battle-worn Buffy:
“Once I say I like you, it’s not as a result of I need you, or as a result of I can’t have you ever – it has nothing to do with me. I like what you might be, what you do, the way you strive.”
Now inform me, who wouldn’t wish to hear that? Even it’s from a 200-year-old vampire.
A lead character who begins out attempting to homicide their potential love curiosity… Certainly that must be uncommon? Surprisingly, erm, no. A Journey to Love, My Journey to You, Kill Me, Love Me all begin out with would-be assassins of their final soulmate. It appears to be A Factor in Cdrama.
However the Bottle of Hair Bleach Award goes to Ren Jia Lun’s Wei Jiao in Love of Nirvana. I child you not, he tries murdering Landy Li’s Jiang Ci a number of occasions with out even blinking. How may they probably go from that set as much as falling in love?
Effectively, whereas I used to be by no means satisfied that she may, or ever ought to, put these homicide makes an attempt behind her, I used to be persuaded Wei Jiao did fall for her. And in true Spike kind, it’s fairly pitiful.
Riley: The Finest Beige Sweater Award
“However she doesn’t love me.”
You understand, Riley isn’t probably the most liked character within the Buffyverse. Too beige. Too strange for somebody as extraordinary as Buffy. And, nicely, she simply didn’t love him.
There may be all the time That Man in Cdrama too, the close-but-not-quite second fiddle. There to sacrifice and save the day and generously want his honest woman nicely, however by no means to take centre stage. They’re not dangerous characters (and perhaps that’s the issue). They’re simply too good.
Bi Wen Jun’s Yue Qin in Kill Me, Love Me is OK. You understand, he’s a prince, he’s devoted. He ought to make the proper love curiosity. However not like his sharper, (actually) hotter character in Heat on a Chilly Night time, he’s caught with being unnoticed within the chilly.
Nonetheless, Riley’s Finest Beige Sweater Award goes to Jeremy Tsui’s Pei Yan in Love of Nirvana. I hold considering, darn it, if he wasn’t so overprotective-in-a-suffocating-possessive-way (actually the pink flags we must always all run away from) he’d have been beautiful*.
*Notice, pricey reader, as a result of he’s overprotective-in-a-suffocating-possessive-way, she was proper to steer clear – although working into the murder-y arms of Ren Jia Lun’s Wei Jiao in my humble opinion, was not the reply…
The Relationships: The Tara Award
“I’m below your spell.”
As mentioned, Buffy’s relationships with males aren’t probably the most useful, and most of the time, neither are they in Cdrama. Nonetheless, in Buffy, there’s Willow and Tara who stand up to (principally intact till considered one of them isn’t) the trials and tribulations that residing on the Hellmouth brings.
My high wholesome relationship picks embrace Luo Yunxi’s Jiang Xinbai in Comply with Your Coronary heart the place it doesn’t matter what kind Music Yi’s Yan Nanxing takes, and regardless of having facial blindness, he begins to recognise and love her. Sure, the premise is daft, however I just like the sentiment that appearances are secondary to connection.
However the Tara Award goes to Wang Xing Yue’s stern however dashing Duke Su and Wi Jin Yan’s Jiang Li in The Double. From the beginning, he notices her, understands her, trusts her.
Their relationship and heady dynamic jogs my memory of Chen Xiao’s Gu Qianfan and Liu Yifei’s Zhao Pan’er in A Dream of Splendour. They each stay clever and unbiased, supporting one another of their quests to proper wrongs, and with out as soon as attempting to kill one another – hooray!
Duke Su is the sort of man Buffy actually wants. Jiang Li says all of it when, drunk, she tells him “You might be so good-looking.” Sure. She shouldn’t be incorrect.
The Kiss: The The place Do We Go from Right here Award
“However I simply wanna really feel.”
Kissing in Buffy isn’t a daily occasion however when it occurs, it’s, nicely, one thing to sit down up and take discover. Or perhaps that’s simply me… Anyho, no finish of yr ramble could be full with no little goggle-eyed look at the most effective kiss in Cdrama!
There are a pair that I believe are fairly good. Gu Zi Cheng’s Liu Ruoqian and Sebrina Chen’s Jiang Suoluo in Comply with Your Coronary heart – whereas the tertiary pairing within the drama – placed on by a mile the most effective kiss. Led by her, I discover it one of many highlights of the entire present. However once more, perhaps that’s simply me 😳😅
And, inevitably given simply how good-looking he’s, when it lastly comes Wang Xing Yue’s Duke Su and Wi Jin Yan’s Jiang Li’s kiss in The Double could be very melty 🫠
Nonetheless, I might need talked about I like (squeeeee 😍) Liu Yu Ning, so right here, take it, beautiful man and the all the time beautiful Zhao Lusi as Duanwu: The The place Do We Go From Right here Award for his or her kiss in The Story of Pearl Lady. In an in any other case tepid romance, it had whole feeling (sure, be at liberty to do it as soon as extra).
What’s that? Speak you thru it? If you happen to insist…
Actually, head to the endings of this weblog if you’d like a spoiler…
The Large Dangerous (see additionally “Doubtful Love Pursuits” above): The Large Dangerous Award
“I’m the one who will deliver concerning the finish of days.”
Antagonistic forces could make or break a sequence. Buffy has some fantastic adversaries (The Grasp, Glory, and my private favourites, Mayor Richard Wilkins, and Druisilla). There are additionally weak ones (Adam, Warren… blah, blah, blah). Anyway, Cdramas can also fall foul of the weak antagonist…
And I’ve struggled to decide on this one. There’s Li Meng’s Princess Wanning in The Double – fairly probably probably the most unhinged. I used to be fairly taken with Yan An’s Li Lun in Fangs of Fortune. He has a glitteringly darkish look about him that I admire. However perhaps the soured friendship with Neo Hou’s Zhou Yuanzhou made me sympathise with him an excessive amount of. He doesn’t appear all that dangerous to be the Large Dangerous.
So I’ve opted for an out-and-out villain. The Large Dangerous Award goes to Baron Chen’s shockingly evil Murong Xuanli in Kill Me, Love Me. If he’d had a smidge of humour to him, I believe he would have been wonderful. As it’s, he’s totally OTT – I swear there’s gnashing of enamel at one stage – and his disregard of life is jaw-dropping.
By no means have I seen a human character fairly so reprehensibly dangerous, made all of the extra startling after I’d additionally simply seen Baron Chen in Heroes (the 2022 model, confusingly additionally starring – squeeeee 😍 – Liu Yu Ning) the place he’s the honest and heroic Su Mengzhen.
Enjoyable truth: Baron Chen’s real-life father was the Taiwanese gangster Chen Qi Li, nicknamed “Dry Duck”.
The Mentor: The Library Card Award
Giles
“I consider the subtext right here is quickly changing into textual content.”
All dramas want a trainer to information the best way, set some boundaries, be the voice of purpose. I’ve seen in Cdramas that these roles are few and much between – the leads typically appear sensible sufficient to not require a sage’s steering.
Yue Yao Li’s chief eunuch in Kill Me, Love Me, although, has a gently reassuring fatherly-grandfatherly method – and, boy, does that Emperor want it.
However the Library Card Award goes to Zhang Linghe’s Pei Wenxuan in The Princess Royal. He’s the proper instance of how a lead character is the trainer – and, sure, he has the benefit, what with having lived the identical life already. However not like the feminine lead, Zhao Jin Mai’s Li Rong, who has additionally lived the life earlier than, he’s insightful and smart.
I actually appreciated his usually calm, tender method of talking on this drama – fairly a distinction to his extra unstable flip in The Story of Kunning Palace.
The Outsiders
In Buffy, there are characters who exist on the periphery. Not fairly accepted as Scoobies, however all the time readily available to inform the primary characters and hangers-on that they’re being silly. Buffy (and Angel) have extremely memorable Outsiders – a few of whom are so sensible (good day Cordelia and Concord!) that they develop into acceptable sufficient to affix the staff.
Anya: It Should Be Bunnies (or Shrimp) Award
“I used to be being affected person. However it took too lengthy.”
Outsider Anya was launched as a vengeance demon. Then she turned an ex-demon who nonetheless completely behaved like a demon attempting to be human till, actually and really painfully following Xander’s horrendous dumping earlier than their wedding ceremony, she turns into a vengeance demon once more.
Telling it like it’s, she is nice worth viewing. For instance, following the dying of Buffy’s mum, she says this:
“I don’t perceive how this all occurs. How we undergo this. I imply, I knew her, after which she’s… there’s only a physique, and I don’t perceive why she simply can’t get again in it and never be useless anymore! It’s silly! It’s mortal and silly! And, and Xander’s crying and never speaking, and, and I used to be having fruit punch, and I believed, nicely Joyce won’t ever have any extra fruit punch, ever, and she or he’ll by no means have eggs, or yawn or brush her hair, not ever, and nobody will clarify to me why.”
I dare anybody to not be bawling. Individuals who say issues as they’re may be unsettling, however they make nice TV characters.
The It Should Be Bunnies (or Shrimp) Award goes to Wen Zheng Rong as scheming-funny Princess of Jiang in Comply with Your Coronary heart, and as scheming-scary Rong Yudie in Love of Nirvana.
I discovered her a bit too subdued in My Journey to You, however in each of those reveals she makes her presence felt. I particularly like her in impatient mode with daggers for eyes. I wouldn’t argue together with her – however I wouldn’t need her on my staff both!
Religion: The 5-by-5 Award
“If I’d had buddies such as you in Excessive College, I’d have nonetheless dropped out, however I mighta been unhappy about it.”
Outsider Religion can also be a vampire slayer, chosen as a result of Buffy died. However then Buffy is alive once more making two slayers, ying and yang. Filled with insecurities, Religion’s all the time on the skin wanting in on the healthful Scoobies. She’s combating the nice(ish) combat, simply not the goody-two-shoes one. I like her for it.
Good, fearless, tough and tangled, Religion is the kind of character who normally suffers a destiny worse than dying. However I’m joyful to report, Religion doesn’t die and Cdrama leaves just a few like her intact as nicely.
Step up Chloe Xie and take a bow when you obtain Religion’s eyeroll – I imply, the 5-by-5 Award. Xie takes the initially super-annoying Cui Shijui in The Story of Pearl Lady and makes her refreshingly blunt, genuine, and (in the end) honourable.
Very similar to our Religion, she’s an edgier enemy-turned-frenemy-turned-friend to our purer feminine lead. I actually needed her to do nicely and was way more invested in her character than Zhao Lusi’s Duanwu.
The Ending
“The toughest factor on this world is to reside in it.”
Regardless of dying twice, Buffy does handle to outlive all seven sequence, together with the Scoobies. Alas, not fairly so true for a lot of others, principally demons or ex-demons or demons with souls.
And additionally it is true in Cdrama, the place many an excellent, beloved, redeemed character finds themselves useless by the finale. I do know now to organize myself that if a personality has killed one too many occasions, they’re unlikely to see the present out.
*SPOILER ALERT* For the reason that joyful shining ending for Haodu in The Lengthy Ballad, it appears it’s in (squeeeee 😍) Liu Yu Ning’s contract that his character should die… If A Journey to Love wasn’t gut-wrenching sufficient, Heroes (2022 and 2024 variations) holds a equally painful demise, and The Story of Pearl Lady is much more merciless. I can’t take it anymore!! Somebody forged him in one thing the place he lives to see the credit roll, please! *SPOILER ENDETH*
The finale of Buffy (and later Angel) is filled with survival towards the chances and hope in that survival, the promise of a greater future or one the place evil now not exists. Doesn’t that sound good?
Did any Cdramas handle this sort of sentiment of their finale…?
Erm…
Effectively…
There was… wasn’t there?
Someplace…?
OK, some do end with a good ending. So like the most effective episode of Buffy, As soon as Extra With Feeling, I’ll end this on a kiss too within the hope extra Cdramas in 2025 finish a tad extra fortunately. You’re welcome 🙂
Effectively gosh, that brings an finish to this unlikely weblog mash-up! Thanks, as all the time, kfangurl, for permitting us all unfastened on right here, and particularly for permitting this fangirl to segue a sequence wholly unconnected to Asian drama into an finish of yr submit!!
~Ele
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