Monday 6 November 2017

Puella Magi Madoka Magica The Movie - Rebellion - Book 1

"We dream of a familiar smiling face... that we hope someday to meet again" - Homura

Puella Magi Madoka Magica is the critically acclaimed 2011 seinen anime series about five teenage girls and their dealings with a bunny-cat called Kyubey who offers to grant one single wish, in return he creates a soul gem which becomes the source of the newly created Magical Girl's powers and they have to commit to a lifetime of fighting monstrous beings called Witches who hide in labyrinths and feed off humans.  Unfortunately there are several things Kyubey isn't telling them, first that he creates the soul gem by literally ripping out the girls soul leaving the body an empty shell that can take huge amounts of physical injury in battle. Secondly that the Witches are actually magical girls who gave into despair and transformed, and finally that he is part of an alien hive mind called the Incubators who use the energy created from girls transforming into witches to battle entropy.  The girls are Mami Tomoe, the senior girl who gets her head bitten off by the witch Charlotte, Sayaka Miki the newbie who falls to despair and transforms into the witch Oktavia, Koyoko Sakura the cynical lone wolf who falls for Sayaka and dies in a suicide bomb attack against Oktavia and finally Madoka and Homura. Homura is a time traveller who has been repeating the same six week loop for over a subjective decade in an effort to stop Madoka, the girl she loves, becoming a Magical Girl.  Madoka however does make a wish in the end, the wish to erase all witches before they are born, past, present and future and all the karmic destiny Homura's time resetting built up around her gave her the power to do this.  This rewrote the laws of the universe, and resulted in Kyoko and Mami coming back to life as there were no Witches to die to now (they battle things called Wraiths instead), Sayaka still dying but being taken away after death to Magical Girl valhalla and finally Madoka ascending to Magical Girl Godhood as "The Law of Cycles" but the trade-off was being forgotten by everyone in the whole world but Homura, the girl who did everything out of love for her and who had lost her time manipulation powers too so no more do-overs.  It was obvious to anyone watching the closing moments of the series that Homura was not doing at all well mentally and so in 2013 a sequel movie focusing on her was released.  And like the original series, it has a three volume manga adaptation.  I'll say right now, the film basically split the fandom down the middle but I shall keep my opinions on it under my hat until I wrap up volume three.
Magical Girls.
This manga is unflipped so the pages read from right to left and as regards Kyubey's gender... I give up.  I'm calling it a "he".  90% of the proof reading corrections I made to the three posts I did on the series adaptation was erasing references to him as male.  Strange that a genderless being who is voiced by women should be gendered male by pretty much every viewer (including myself obviously), probably a gender studies essay to be written there.  But anyway, it's a he, and that's that. Oh and just a reminder, I'm a fanatical Kyoko/Sayaka 'shipper so if you want an idea on which side of the fence I'm on regarding this film, there's your clue.
Sayaka and Kyoko fight together not each other.
After a short intro vaguely summing up what it was like to be a Magical Girl, the story begins proper.  A stuffed cat wearing a teddy bear head goes flying through the streets causing cutesy havoc as it goes.  Then Madoka appears (huh?) and fires her bow at it.  It bounces through the streets and suddenly Sayaka (wha?) and Kyoko appear and work together to divert the teddy-cat into a house where a picnic is taking place.

 A song strikes up with the lyrics "no not yet", while Mami appears.  The four of them feed what is revealed to be a "Nightmare" with various foods as the song continues.  Then Mami unleashes Bebe on it, which is her best friend.  And also the witch form Charlotte who bit her head off in the series.  So that's dark.  With the Nightmare out cutesied it fades away, "your bad dream ends now".  And the four plus Bebe stand triumphant.
Kyoko, Mami, Sayaka, Madoka and Bebe up top.
Next day Madoka is woken my Kyubey.  But something is wrong with him, he only speaks the word "Kyu" like a Pokemon. Madoka gets dressed, wakes her hungover mother up and in the bathroom they chat, Madoka says that Hitomi is having a hard time dating Kamijou due to his constant violin practicing.  Madoka also metions her teacher Kazuko keeps going off about the end of the world.  And finally a new transfer student is arriving today.

Madoka finishes breakfast and catches up with her two friends.  But this time Kyoko has taken to place of Hitomi, she's a student now with a uniform to match!  Not much has changed though as Kyoko says she totally blew off the homework and can she copy Madoka's? She and Sayaka then argue about how irresponsible Kyoko is and how when they went home together to do it, she just watched TV instead.

Kyoko: "Geez! I knew it would be impossible to do both school and Magical Girl stuff!  We don't get any time to relax!"

And Madoka rolls her eyes as Sayaka chases Kyoko round and round her, scolding her all the while.  Later in class, Miss Kazuko starts speculating that the world will end in many different ways and she would welcome it because she getting close to age forty and not married.
Homura joins the team.
She snaps out of her reverie and introduces the new transfer student.  It is one Homura Akemi, seen here in her bespectacled incarnation before the time reset angst turned her into the hardened warrior of most of the original series.  As Miss Kazuko introduces her, Homura lifts her hand and shows she has the ring of a Magical Girl much to the surprise of Sayaka, Madoka and Kyoko who are all in this class.

Later on top of the school roof, Mami says she should have introduced Homura sooner.  She had her on standby the previous night.  Mami says they'll be astounded by her magic, Homura shyly says she can only really operate in a support role. Sayaka says the Nightmares they have been having to take on recently have been a lot of trouble so her prescence is very welcome.  Kyoko agrees too.  Madoka runs up to Homura, grabs her hands and says "let's give this town our best.  Homura-chan".

We then jump forward a month.  Homura and Madoka are sitting in a park with Kyubey curled up next to them.  Homura is pondering something:

Homura: "It seems like we've always been together.  But it also seem like yesterday that we met".

Madoka just wishes people could have good nights sleep and no nightmares.  Then she says she has hoped for a long time that she and Homura might get a chance to talk. But she does't have anything special to say.  Homura say spending time with Madoka "is something I've been waiting for a long, long time, Madoka".
Homura and Madoka together again.
We then cut to Hitomi, she was the friend of Sayaka and Madoka who declared her love for Sayaka's crush Kyosuke and sent Sayaka spiralling into the depression and self-hate that saw her turn into a witch.  She ring Kyosuke and asks him out on a date, but as usual he is practicing his violin. She hang up and thinks that he is "so gallant... and wonderful... I do love him, but... why can't he work a little harder for my affections for a change!?"

She slumps down on the bed  saying she's "had it". She nods off to sleep thinking dark thoughts and a Nightmare forms around her.  Mami is getting ready for bed when Bebe flaps about speaking gibberish that tells Mami there is a Nightmare that need dealing with.

Outside watching the Nightmare are Kyoko and Sayaka.  Kyoko asks Sayaka if it's Hitomi's nightmare and Sayaka grins saying:

Sayaka: "Hitomi's sure got it rough... but it's her own fault for dating a guy who has the consideration of a brick".

Kyoko notes that it means a lot coming from her and Sayaka replies that she has some experience with these things.  The Nightmare is rampaging around turning the sky into patterned cloth.

Kyoko and Sayaka jump down to meet up with Mami and Bebe.  Then Homura and Madoka appear and the team is set to go.  We then get a few pages showcasing them transforming into their Magical Girl selves, which manages to be less ridiculous than the same transformation sequence in the film.  At the end they all stand in a line and declare themselves "Puella Magi Holy Quintet!"

The Nightmare has trashed a building, so Mami and Madoka attached themselves via ribbons to Homura who freezes time, they can still move and using Mami's ribbons attched to Madoka's arrows they wrap round the building and pull it tight, bringing it back to normal.
The Cake Song begins.
Kyoko and Sayaka are up next.  Sayaka hurls five swords at her and Kyoko creates a lattice barrier.  The swirds fly through attaching to the barrier and tie the Nightmare up.  They all land on a table and Bebe shrinks the Nightmare so it sits under a clear dome on the table.  Then we get the infamous cake song.  Rendered here in "chibi" style they chant a song about what kind of cake it is until it suddenly grows huge and Bebe turn into her clown worm self and eats it.

Back to normal, Bebe burps up Hitomi's floating head.  Sayaka grabs it and send it towards a sillouette of Kyosuke.  They hold hands and disappear and Hitomi gets a nice dream for the rest of the night.  Madoka says triumphantly, "we did it!"  Sayaka agrees it was easy with all of them there.  Mami cautions not to get over-confident, but Kyoko says she'll only listen to a lecture if they come "with a side of tea and cake".

Mami invites them all over, but while the four of them discuss what they want, Homura hangs back frowning.  Madoka turns and asks if she is alright, Homura says she is but is thinking:

Homura: "Is this... what our battles... were supposed to be about?"

Next day in school Homura notices that everyone bar her fellow Magical Girls, Hitomi and Kyosuke have blank faces and are speaking but with no words.  Only she seems to see this though, as far as the others are concerned everything is normal.  On the roof while the others eat she looks down and sees the rest of the city is like this.
Sinister world for Homura.
Madoka asks her if she wants to come shopping, but Homura says she has something she needs to do today.  Kyoko says she won't come either so Sayaka agrees to bring some food back for her.  And the gang split up.   Sitting under a tree a short time later, Kyoko ask Homura what she wants to talk about.

Homura: "...have you felt like something seems off lately?"

She has asked Kyoko first because to her, Kyoko is the one acting most strange. She says Kyoko is "different from the impression I have in my mind."  Reality is way off from how she pictures it and she has a feeling she wasn't always like this.

Kyoko is somewhat taken aback by this and asks if Homura is trying to pick a fight with her.  Homura asks where Kyoko is living right now and Kyoko says she is staying at Sayaka's place.  Homura then asks how long she's been going to Mitakihara Junior High.  Kyoko says she transferred in, but when pressed by Homura, can't recall exactly when.

Homura then asks where she lived before and Kyoko says it was the next town over, Kazamino.  But she cleaned the place out and Mami asked for help so she came over to Mitakihara.  Homura asks if she has been back to Kazamino recently and Kyoko says there was no need.  Homura asks Kyoko to come with her now to Kazamino and "if it is the town you knew from before you moved here, then I'll apologise".
Kyoko agrees to Homura's plan.
Kyoko realises she is serious about this so agrees saying there is a really great ramen place and she can treat her to dinner there.  So they board the bus headed for Downtown Kazamino.  Kyoko rings the bell as they approach, only to find they are back at Mitakihara District 3.  Kyoko freaks out saying it's supposed to have turned left.  They disembark wondering if they got on the wrong bus.

They get on the next bus and ring to get off at Kazamino North Entrance, but it just takes them to Mitakihara District 2.  Angrily Kyoko starts to yell at the faceless driver but Homura stops her and they get off.   They decide to try walking this time, but the road twists and turns before bringing them back to Mitakihara.  Kyoko starts to power up saying someone is trying to stop them leaving Mitakihara.  Homura stops her with a scary thought:

Homura: "It may not be as simple as that.  It may even be... that there is no world outside of Mitakihara".

She then asks Kyoko if she could keep this quiet for now, she has some other things she wants to investigate.  Kyoko starts to protest but Homura point out the shadowy blank-faced people who are watching them now.

Homura says the trap is set up so they'll attack them if they show they know what is going on.  So for now it would be better for her to work alone, "as long as we keep going along with it... there should be no danger".  Kyoko agrees but says she also feels something weird is going on with her memories. She should be surprised seeing Homura show backbone, but she isn't surprised, "it's just the opposite.  It seems like that attitude fits you best".
Creepier and creepier.
And she leaves.  Homura now alone begins to reflect on what she knows.  She recognises the isolated illusory space, trapping and confusing prey in a maze with no exit, she has no doubt that this is a Witch's labyrinth.  As she undoes her braids and removes her glasses she thinks about how Witches were the final form of a Magical Girl who had fallen into despair and how she travelled through time to "thwart a fate that was too heinous to imagine."  And how Madoka sacrificed herself to break the cycle and lead a new world order.

Homura: "That's what should have happened.  And yet we have forgotten.  Someone is altering our memories as a part of this trap... No. We have been made to forget. Within this fictious...version of Mitakihara!"
The glasses come off, the hair comes down and it's go time.
End of Book 1. First thing you might have noticed is this is a much shorter post than the ones on the series.  This is because this three volume series is based on a two hour movie, not a twelve episode series and there is much more action as well. Anyway this Witch's labyrinth has all the aspects of your typical Lotus Eater Machine.  Sayaka has made her peace over losing Kyosuke and has no overwhelming angst about being a Magical Girl.  Kyoko has Sayaka back and is close enough to her that they live together and this seems to have encouraged her to deal with her dark and troubled past and rejoin society.  Mami is not the fragile individual she was in the series, the support of Bebe has lead her to become a respected leader of the team and has helped her with her issues around being lonely.  Madoka is back and is no longer worried about being The Load, she's a capable Magical Girl and also has her family again.  And Homura has Madoka, which has seen her returned to her more "innocent" self rather than the battled hardened veteran of many timeline resets.  Battles are fun not frightening and the reward encourages fighting as a team.  So what kind of Witch would create a Labyrinth that brings happiness and contentment not despair and death?  Well Homura has finally seen through the sham, a gut feeling that things are not quite right and if there is anyone equipped to sort this out it's her.  Even if it means losing that which she cares about most dearly. And there is always Kyubey, just why is the evil bunny-cat acting like the cuddly Team Mascot not the complete bastard we all know he is? We shall see what he's up to never fear.  What's also noticable about this first part is the extreme pandering to the fanbase going, things like adding Charlotte as a character, putting Kyoko and Sayaka together, having all five fight together and call themselves "Puella Magi". It's like they were reading the fanfics.  But, like the series it's based on, the cutesy exterior is already falling away as Homura sets herself the task of figuring out just what sort of witch would create a labyrinth like this.  Find out yourselves in a few days time.

27 comments:

  1. - “But something is wrong with him, he only speaks the word "Kyu" like a Pokemon.”

    I consider this an improvement… even if it's not gonna last.

    - “Miss Kazuko starts speculating that the world will end in many different ways...”

    Well, given all the groundhoging that went on in this series she is very much right and...

    - “...and she would welcome it because she getting close to age forty and not married.”

    AND I want a precision meteorite to strike her.

    - “What's also noticable about this first part is the extreme pandering to the fanbase going”

    Given the “be careful what you wish for” nature of the property I think any “fanservice” should be instantly suspicious. :3

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  2. I must admit I enjoy being pandered to. But I'm not someone whose 'ship was Ruined Forever. Mwahahaaha!

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  3. Okay. Should I prepare for the end of the world, or what? I mean many things point in that direction, but today Bendis (apparently) signed an exclusive contract with DC. O.o

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  4. Well I rather like what I have read of Bendis's stuff, so I'm quite pleased to see that. I'm assuming they'll give him whatever property he expresses and interest in. Be good if it was something relatively obscure that he could bump up some interest in.

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  5. It was just strange and kinda came out of the blue.

    As long DC keeps him grounded and away from the more fantastical stuff this could be quite good.

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  6. Ugh. I should ignore X-fans completely.

    In my defence I was just reading a general "this week's geek news" on a local site. Then someone mentioned that there will be a Hungarian edition of the "Marvel Masterworks - The Uncanny X-Men vol. 1" trade... and this led to someone honest to goodness totally unironically writing "the politically correct X-Men" (because Iceman came out apparently). *facepalming-forever*

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  7. Didn't Iceman come like years ago? In my defence I have a very tenuous grasp on the passage of time. Also haven't they missed the entire point behind the X-Men? I'll join you in an epic facepalm.

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  8. Yes. On both!

    What's better is that later I checked: This guy had (he failed to write anything in years) an X-Men history column on that site. How could anybody become the site X-pert while missing the point this badly? O.o

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  9. I'm not surprised when people miss the point like that any more. It's like all the huffing that goes on when anything remotely gay happens in Doctor Who.

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  10. I had to read this a few times to remember who everyone was (especially after the sort of reset button and the consequential changes to their personalities). But I think I've got it sussed now.

    I'm never sure about follow ups. On the one hand you're invested in the characters so it's nice to know what happened to them. But there's also, for me, a slight element of negating the impact of the previous narrative. Yey you've won. Oh, no you haven't, back to square one.

    This does seem like a natural progression though. And I suppose being a magical girl is a lifelong thing.

    As to the story itself, it has piqued my interest. I like lotus eater scenarios and that unable to get out of the locale thing is a trope I like. It's very sinister. That's probably flashbacks to Children of the Stones and the Prisoner. And the ghost face thing reminds me of Spirited Away.

    So all in all I think I'll enjoy this. Probably not enough to get a waifu pillow of the girls, but maybe start adding desu at the end of sentences.

    (I was going to go with something about kawaii(?) but I couldn't remember how to spell it)

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  11. "Yey you've won. Oh, no you haven't, back to square one."

    ... you're oddly prophetic today.

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  12. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ThM-N6xKGoo

    That's the bus ride scene, nice and sinister don't yah think? Really the animation of the film is incredible, I'd loved to have seen it at the cinema as well.

    This film as I mentioned was pretty controversial with the fanbase, I'll discuss it when I look at book 3 because it's a last second plot twist that really enraged half the audience when it came out in 2013.

    I know you're a fan of bunny-cat, so never fear, he's biding his eeeeeeevil time. :D

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  13. "I'll discuss it when I look at book 3 because it's a last second plot twist that really enraged half the audience when it came out in 2013."

    To tell you where I'm standing on that twist: It's a very well executed and generally cool twist. But one that should be at the end of the second movie in a trilogy. So now the series feels somewhat incomplete to me.

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  14. OK let's try that post again:

    It's like the end of The Empire Strikes Back! I love the Empire Strikes Back! Would I love it less if there was no Return Of The Jedi? No. I say that because I saw Empire at the cinema when it first came out and didn't know there would be a sequel. That said I hope we do get more Madoka Magica, hopefully with no Ewoks in it.

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  15. To be fair Madoka Magica Ewoks would probably eat people openly not just implied like in the Star Wars movies. :D

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  16. I liked the bus ride. I really like the imagery of an almost real world but you just can't interact with it. I used to be able to put myself in that state of mind for real when I lived in London. I'd walk around the city or docklands at night when there was no one around but look at all the lights in the big buildings. It did feel a bit like being a 'ghost'.

    Yeah what's up with catbunny? Is he broken? Guessing it's something to do with the fake reality; like he's trying to break through from outside.

    Whilst I'd miss Leia strangling Jabba, I'd have been happy for Empire to be the last one. Although then the vibe does become a bit 'authorities destroy terrorist training camp'. Hmm Ewoks. Where did they get that dress?!

    I've been getting a bit more Shonen minded as I've been listening to Babymetal. They've got a song called Karate, where by accident or design they're doing the moves from the Tokyo team in Rollerball. Which is one of the coolest little scenes in cinema.

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  17. @Malitia: Hmm yes, considering what the "cute" Kyubey's get up to Madoka Magica Ewoks could be pretty hardcore.

    @Alan: Sir! Madoka Magica is Seinen not Shonen. Dragonball is shonen, and if I feel like it there will be some Dragonball at the end of this month. Depends on how wrapped up I get in the XBone I am getting for my 43rd birthday next week.

    I shan't spoil what bunny-cat is up to, but I think you'll be impressed and/or horrified. Mwahahahahaha!

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  18. And I did really like Return of the Jedi when I was a kid and I just can't remove my nostalgia filter when I watch it. I know all its flaws and yet when I watch I'm nine years old again renacting bits in the garden with my AT-AT and AT-ST's and various figures. OK so my canon was a bit jumbled, still fun.

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  19. @Alan

    "Yeah what's up with catbunny? Is he broken? Guessing it's something to do with the fake reality; like he's trying to break through from outside."

    This might be already saying too much but:
    1) Read the end the last volume (or the post about it) again.
    2) Keep in mind that nothing got retconed (except the "together in heaven" bit that the manga added).
    3) Ask yourself where a Witch could come from.
    4) PROFIT!

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  20. Hey, stop teasing Alan like that! I'll be bunging book 2 up in a couple of days. I gotta keep somethings up my giant sleeves. :P

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  21. AT-ATs are brilliant. Such an iconic vehicle. You don't even notice that they're an inherently flawed design. Mind you at least the rebels are sporting about it. "They can only shoot in one direction; fly right towards their guns"

    Eep, I'll have to do better on my Japanese homework. Don't worry about spoilers. I keep thinking I've sussed it, but then I'm "No, that can't be right".

    I'll have to watch the Dragonball film again. Don't care how rubbish it is, I like it. And maybe Tekken if I can find it.

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  22. Well, in 2 volumes you can tell us if you called it or not. XD

    I didn't call it when I first watched the movie despite the whole thing being obvious in hindsight (as good twists and such should).

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  23. I still have my AT-AT and one of my AT-STs (the other broke a leg during a house move). They sit next to my fireplace in the living room and my three year old nephew plays with them now. I did want to enjoy introducing him to the original trilogy but apparently his dad has bagsied that honour. Phooey. Be interesting to see what he thinks of the prequel trilogy. I watched them for the first time last year and reported to my online friends that I enjoyed The Phantom Menace the most.

    As for the twist at the end of PMMM Rebellion, I called it for reasons I had come to believe regarding the end of the series. We shall discuss it more when I post up Book 3.

    As for the Dragonball film. Tsk tsk tsk. Apparently though it started out as a pretty faithful adaptation of the first Dragonball Z arc (we're not that far yet with my sporadic coverage of the series manga), then Executive Meddling happened and well...

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  24. And it shall be law that all Loki appearances should include at least a panel of Cat Thor!

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/8dd3368bfe3a405caeed696425a8defb46eb15c2213b99e1bde473c65b6aa1db.jpg

    (From the current Squirrel Girl issue which is a "zine" illustrated by several guest artists for some reason... the Loki part is a spiral comic which read from the outside in is basically "I'm not evil, beleive me!" from the inside out "I'm evil, believe me!" and you're instructed to do BOTH. :3)

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  25. Yes, Cat Thor!

    Oh I look forward to reading that Squirrel Girl comic, I like it when people mess with the formats. Like the Adventure Time Choose Your Own Adventure issue, or Alan Moore's experimental Promethea ones.

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  26. It's pretty much an anthology with 2-3 pagers. (The (absolutely positively) true story of Spider-Man by Kraven the Hunter... and it gets weirder from there.)

    Also there should be a Chose Your Own Adventure issue (volume 2. #7) in the next Squirrel Girl trade you'll do. :)

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  27. Suh-weet, I put that trade on my birthday/Xmas list and am planning another ladies month for February so I shall do it then.

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