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Nov 21, 2025
A surprisingly masterful story that masquerades as an erotic Yuri story with rough and tumble elements, eventually unraveling the layers to unveil an interesting critique of work culture. Where love and hate, and power and dominance found in BDSM style relationships (in stories at least) is used as a rich metaphor and extension for the toxicity of work culture - stepping over others to reach success in the hierarchical workplace and holding power over your co-workers and subordinates. This was not only fun and interesting to read with exceptional art and interesting narrative twists - subverting your typical love-hate relationship between rivals that eventually morphs
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into love. The characterisation of the two leads, Junko and Kayo are done so nicely and they have such fantastic agency in the story that you can't help but be reeled into their tiny (and not so tiny) schemes.
And of course, that ending - I shan't spoil - really gives you that gut punch. Especially if you were expecting the story to settle into an easy romance like I had. I did wish that more was elaborated on the leads and how they came to be this way. Because of course, it's not just the workplace that deconstructs you into numbers and success stories. And it's not just in Japan. It's the schools, it's at home, it's the pressures of our society at large. And I also felt that more had to be done to show Kayo's character change. But all in all, this is such a great little manga. Short, concise and powerful. And it can even be read in one sitting!! So don't waddle, pick it up and give it a read!!
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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Sep 23, 2025
This is pretty much hentai... at first glance. It clearly appeals to a masochistic fetish and embraces it wholeheartedly. But I will say, once you get past the 20+ chapters or so, you'll find that there is actually surprising depth to the characters. The author may have gave this manga a rather rough start with its superficial depiction of bullying and the like, but the people and story slowly unfold with small but interesting revelations. Sexuality isn't only for reader gratification (I mean, it's clearly erotica so yeah, it also exists for that) but it also embodies a psychological liberation. Where a person is able
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to take off their mask and embrace a more authentic self.
You can see it in the main character as he tries to grapple with his masochistic fetish and desire to lead a more normal life. And also in the female leads, each of them hiding some socially repressed secret. I will say that I wish the writing was a tad more subtle and not so in your face. Like, the conversations the main character has with a buff lady he is training with just hits the reader on the head with the story's themes and concerns. And also, I wish we could get more glimpses on the main character's family and history to unveil maybe why he has such a desire to feel powerless sexually. But I think overall, the narrative developments are quite nicely thought out and well paced.
All in all, this was a nice read. It's actually quite fun to read (even if you're not reading for that gratification), and has surprising introspection that I welcome. The art is really quite good too. The mangaka clearly knows how to serve a decent helping of illustrated eroticism. Just know that the first few chapters have such a typical hentai-ish setting that it reads quite jarring in contrast to the rest of the story. That's where this manga really starts to get more interesting.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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Aug 30, 2025
Literally comedy gold. Though it may put on the cosplay of being a somewhat ecchi-style manga featuring a rather attractively designed, down in her luck 30 year old ex-idol, the eponymous Sumire-chan, this manga quickly reveals its true colours of being a hilarious comedy manga where its main protagonist throws herself and the people around her into absurd, but palpably real situations that you can't help but laugh and feel for.
Literally! Just when you think things are going great for her and her cousin, the story twists in such a charmingly entertaining and self-destructive way that I couldn't help but just fall in love
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with the story and characters! The manga does a great job in depicting the feelings of disenchantment that people feel when they've failed or feel like they've fallen short of their dreams. It's a theme that's wonderfully executed and especially nice to read about especially if you've ever felt disappointed in yourself for not being to achieve certain goals in life. It is this narrative motif that keeps the story grounded and the characters endearing.
There is older-younger infatuation thing going on - where older girls like a kid who is in highschool, but I think by how the author is handling this story thread, it will at the very least be executed acceptably (I hope).
There's really not more to say. This is just great fun to read. I highly, highly recommend it.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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Jul 27, 2025
I've been reading Vinland Saga for like a loooong time. I first started it when I was in secondary school. The first half is enthralling. Violent, exciting, tragic and also somewhat philosophical. Thorfinn's complex relationship with Askeladd is a big part of what makes this first arc so compelling and interesting. It gives Thorfinn internal contradictions that make him rich with complexity and also, humanity. Of course, all of the first half culminated into a heart wrenching end where Thorfinn has to confront all the bloodshed and lives he had played his part to end. It's truly compelling storytelling. It explores the effects and trauma
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of violence from a personal perspective while still being entertaining and not overly preachy.
The second half is where the story takes an interesting, but I think detrimental turn. I won't explicitly spoil things here, but Thorfinn overall becomes a less interesting character. Yes, he carries the trauma of violence and its burdens, but he also has achieved new clarity and purpose in his life. This removes the interesting contradictions of Thorfinn and severely limits the interesting decisions that he could make as a character. Once we have went past the farm setting (that opens the second half), readers would pretty much know what decisions Thorfinn would make to achieve his goals. To the author's credit, many times, this was done very well and drawn very beautifully. But it gets really quite monotonous past a certain point.
The philosophy underlying the story has always been quite simple. It deals with the effects of violence from a personal and individual perspective. Of suffering. Trauma. How it fuels hatred in individuals and begets more violence. This is an important insight. But I think the problem with Vinland Saga is that it doesn't translate this individualistic experience very well onto a systemic or societal point of view. This is partly because Thorfinn's historical narrative is limited and the perspective he lenses the story gives it a rather optimistic but simplistic worldview of preventing violence at all costs. Not saying there's anything wrong with this perspective, but from a storytelling point of view, it prevents the story from building into more interesting thoughts and ideas.
I think, overall, with the excitement and unpredictability of the first half gone, I did feel rather muted emotions when I somewhat knew what to expect from the series. This also flows to the inevitably simple ending that I think will disappoint readers wanting a bigger or more emotionally poignant conclusion.
Still, Vinland Saga is undoubtedly an amazing series. The story is beautiful and the art is incredible and detailed. It's not flawless and has an issue where the first half is a more interesting read, but I think in years to come it will definitely be known as a classic.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Apr 20, 2025
I guess it's about time we started getting more Fujimoto influence in contemporary manga. Drama Queen is a Shounen manga set on an Earth invaded by aliens, following two people who hate these aliens' guts so much that they'll do anything to get rid of them. Of course, with this premise you'll expect them to find a resistance of sorts to retaliate and then undergo training to start fighting them. But nope! Drama Queen isn't really a Shounen, Shounen manga. It's a subversive, absurdist dark comedy manga that has more in common with the freewheeling, dark, nihilistic and subversive Chainsaw Man than anything else in
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the current space of mainstream manga and anime.
One thing that I really enjoy about Drama Queen is that much like Chainsaw Man, it's highly unpredictable and off the wall bonkers. At the beginning, when the manga seemed to be succumbing to some typical Shounen tropes - with the characters finding some people with similar goals as them - the manga quickly subverts it with some rather strange plot developments and quick progressing character change. It's really refreshing and fun to read. Particularly in a magazine demographic where characters take 100+ chapters to have any form of character change or serious development. The downside however, is that the characters, particularly Nomamoto seems to be inconsistent to her characterisation in the first chapter, developing into an off-kilter Denji of sorts.
Ok, now to address the xenophobic element in the manga. Yeah, that was my first thought when I read through the first chapter and premise. There's really not much to it. This setting is fundamentally about xenophobia, racism, etc. But, I would say the intentions of the author (at this point at least), don't seem malicious. The characters who kill aliens are depicted as psychotic, and there's a great deal of un-glamorous depictions of characters that deal with conspiracy theories, xenophobic behaviour, etc. that it seems that the author is in on the notion that maybe the people who unconditionally perceive aliens as non living beings aren't exactly the people that you should be rooting for. The protagonists are really depicted in a terrible light, with the manga often depicting them as bonkers murderers and sociopaths doing things that are clearly 'not good'. That whatever they are doing is not valiant despite what they say.
At the same time, the aliens are depicted rather 1 dimensional as well. They are drawn purposely to stand out, and most of them are seriously exaggerated depictions of bad people. Though this adds to the darkly comic and exaggerated elements of the story, it also contributes to their dehumanisation. In both the eyes of the characters, and also... us. But of course, I think the mangaka may be leading this into something. There's something sympathetic and human bubbling beneath the surface with aliens depicted to have children, and are depicted to have friends who care for them. Seems like there may be something more nuanced is being built up. But we won't know until the story really starts to unfold.
Right now, I don't think the manga is glamorising xenophobia and nationalism exactly. Despite the setting, there's a some narrative elements contrary to that ideology baked into the way the manga tells its story and depicts its characters. It's still early so let's not cry over milk that's not been spilled. There seems to be more mysteries and character development that are being built up so let's see where the story goes.
*Edit. With how fascist ideology permeates media these days, I think it's better safe than sorry. I still feel like this is a pretty good and intriguing manga that in its depiction of its protagonists as unhinged and rather monstrous, doesn't idealise this kind of xenophobic behaviour - but simply depicts its perspective (kinda like how we read the novel Lolita from the view of its complete scumbag of a main character, but we know as media literate readers that he's not meant to be liked or looked up at) but it's better to keep your eyes open.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Mar 29, 2025
First up, this is from the same author of Rent-A-Girlfriend. A manga (and anime) I had the displeasure of consuming. Had some interesting ideas about the transactional nature of relationships but tossed it all up for a protagonist that was frustratingly self-destructive, refusing to progress the story in any meaningful way. Luckily, this was not a painful read. It can be quite fun actually. The setting of having non-blood related siblings as love interests is quite novel for a mainstream manga. And it brings up an interesting question about how perspective affects our view of others romantically, and a very intriguing (and kinda bold) question
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about the difference between familial and romantic love. It's a bit of a shame that the manga focuses on a hopelessly optimistic 'we're family!' shtick to kinda brush aside these questions but this is a harem rom-com after all, so I'm more expecting fun scenarios and good art. I think the manga delivers this. The characters can be charming, and the situations are your typical, but nice escapist read so I can safely recommend this one for those looking to calm their romcom harem itch.
Rom-coms and harems are heavily reliant on their characters and I am happy to say that the protagonist, Arata is not as much a slap-able simp as the protagonist, Kazuya in Rent-A-Girlfriend. In fact, he seems to be the direct opposite of Kazuya. Arata is take-charge, reliable, mature, and super protective of his siblings/love interests (i cant believe i just wrote that). Seems like Reiji Miyajima took some feedback to heart... for the better. But I think he might have took the wrong lessons. I don't hate the protagonist of Rent-A-Girlfriend because he's a giant simp without a backbone. I hate the guy because he seems to have so little introspection about paying for rental girlfriend services and dedicating so much of himself to a girl that won't return his feelings when it feels like he should have so much more DEPTH as a character. Yet all we get from him is impulsive decisions, lies, and monologue reminders of how great Chizuru is. Arata is less irritating to read and look at for sure, and he can get things done with all his main character plot armor. It's also good that the setting is not as sociologically charged, but he's got the depth of a puddle so far.
It's a problem of focus. Much of the manga revolves around Arata and his siblings' relationships. We see them visiting each other in the house, talk about each other's relationships, and go on 'dates' and what not. The manga puts so much time and attention on the love plots that it doesn't develop its characters enough - and when they do, it seems to all be in service of making the girl fall in love with the guy even harder. It's like the characters' life solely revolves around the romance rather than being people who happen to fall in love. I wish the characters expanded beyond the stereotypes and romantic attractions. Let Arata be somebody with an actual life and not just someone who is a romance obsessed maniac and a brother. Give him some ambition! Give him a life philosophy! If Arata and his siblings are supposed to be the successors to a rich family, maybe you can give them some class conflict, or some struggle about living up to expectations. There's some mention and subplot of the characters going out to search for their real blood family and I so much wished that this had more focus.
The grace of this manga is the character design and illustration. Just like Rent-A-Girlfriend, the art and designs are really nice for the genre. The love interests are for sure stereotypes of your usual Kuudere, Tsundere, etc. types that we've seen in anime/manga time and time again but even I have to admit that despite working within such surface restrictions, these designs hit a nice balance between modern and traditional. It helps that the mangaka seems to have a good sense of contemporary fashion.
I just wished that this was written a little better.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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Dec 22, 2024
Possibly the weakest work I've read from Shuzo Oshimi. While it incorporates the very timely and important themes of self loathing, bodily alienation, and the experiences of adolescents who are confined by societal expectations on how they should conduct themselves and express their sexuality based on our sex and established genders, the way Okaeri Alice tackles and subsequently 'resolves' these themes is too hastily paced, and just way too in your face that it almost reads like an authorial fantasy of how his adolescence should've went. While there is plenty of adolescent anguish, the manga generally lacks the thematic nuance and thoughtful narrative pacing that
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Shuzo Oshimi's works are known for.
Other than that, what is largely lacking from this conversation is the interaction between the characters' inner conflict with the world and structures of our society. Okaeri Alice really places a much greater emphasis on the love triangle and sexual toxicity between the leads that it neglects to make interesting commentary on how people's gender and sexual identities are confined and restricted by the structures and spaces around us. A point that is very important when dealing with such a theme. This absence makes for a rather hollow conclusion that feels insular, lacking the emotional impact that the author seems to want to impress on readers.
Still, the manga does provide good and interesting insight about adolescent gender and sexuality. It also very competently depicts bodily self-loathing and poses interesting questions such as how one may be able to attain liberation from one's birth sex and become a happier individual content with themselves.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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Dec 5, 2024
Deserves this arbitrary 10 rating score simply for the author's courage to confront the horrors and trauma of her youth. It certainly helps that mangaka Fumi Fumiko very deftly materialises her sexual trauma, alienation, self-loathing and misanthropy into a story that is not just honest and real, but also compelling to read. The depths in which we are lured into the protagonist's inner darkness is harrowing and gripping. I felt like I was looking deep into the kind of hatred the human condition is able to produce. The stylistic choice to have the art style replicate the 'self-consciousness' of the protagonist is visually stunning and
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narratively intelligent. The manga utilises soft strokes and a hazy-impressionist style to replicate the innocence and ignorance of the protagonist as a child who barely has the awareness to comprehend the world around her, and slowly hardening the line strokes and deepening the blacks in the illustrations as the protagonist grows older and begins to become more aware of not just the twisted nature of her circumstance, but also the material world around her.
If there was anything I could critique about the work, it would be that the final act felt like it needed more time for readers to really understand the depth of what the protagonist is going through. The story at the end moved a little too fast, with story beats (mercifully) moving competently enough for readers to comprehend what was happening, but too quickly to fathom just how bad of a situation the protagonist had put herself and the people she cared about in.
I definitely recommend this work for anybody who has a keen interest in psychological works that deal with trauma and mental health. Particularly for readers who appreciate the works of Inio Asano and Shuzo Oshimi (whom the mangaka actually consulted when she worked on the manga). A word of warning though, the subject matter may be hard for some to stomach.
Reviewer’s Rating: 10
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Sep 1, 2024
Creature Girls at first presents itself as a slight deconstruction of Isekai cliches by having a detailed emphasis on the biology and culture of the many familiar fantasy characters that we know and love today. It is slight as the manga still plays out like your typical harem-power fantasy with a ton of sexual gratification. Early on, the manga may feel lightly reminiscent of Heterogenia Linguistico which intertwines fantasy monsters with linguistics and qualitative interrogation, attempting a more 'academic' take on fantasy creatures. However...
This manga's premise eventually unravels to reveal an explicitly ideological narrative, an attempt to discuss and endorse in my view, some
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rather distorted perceptions of male-female gender relations. Women, through the manga's study of feminine fantasy creatures is not only sexualised with the main character constantly bedding these women in the midst of his biological examinations, but they are also characterised into very gendered roles. Either as objects of sexual conquest, or domestic child-rearing mothers. While this at first appears to be a part of a very long lineage of very horny fan service in anime and manga, particularly in the ecchi/mature/hentai genre, this is not simply thoughtless usage of fan service imagery for reader gratification and enjoyment. Instead, the author appears to actively use its gendered depictions of women to preach what he thinks male-female relationships in society should ideally be like.
The author seems to persistently view women sexuality as a form of power over men, arguing that in contrast to conventional feminist lines of thinking where women are marginalised in society due to the prevalence of masculine societal structures, through feminine sexuality, gender equality is already present. He argues that women, with their female genitalia and charms are able to hold power over men by making them fall in love with them and subjugate them through their sexual wiles. Which, while yes, are possible relationship dynamics that may exist, this is not universal at all. This perception of feminine power completely restricts women to a romantic or sexualised role to men and does not consider the possibility that women may not want to be defined by their relationship to the other gender or to their sexuality. Also, why does this form of feminine power only apply to attractive women?
And while yes, I know its a fantasy world and fantasy cultures and all that... but the way this manga explicitly calls out modern day feminism in both the story and bonus pages, it begs comparison to our real world. And when you go into that... this depiction of a women's being as irrevocably tied to relationships with men also falls apart when you consider how people are relating to more open and non-binary forms of gender identities and sexuality. These funnily enough, do not exist in this manga.
In hindsight of all this preaching from chapter 20 onwards or so, the whole premise of looking at fantasy characters through a biological lens seems to take on an ideological premise - of defining women within domestic and sexual roles. The biological exploration is varied and interesting, but there is a consistent emphasis on genitalia characteristics and these creature women's role in procreation with the author imagining strange sexual characteristics like having more than 1 genital... that can be used solely for sexual pleasure with no risk of impregnation. This is further emphasised in the character writing which depicts these women characters as being especially horny. They not only desire to be bred by men and have their children, but also, as we can seen the B protagonist's plot around chapter 29, desire to be sexually subjugated by powerful men. While it is true the male and female sex are tied to the act of procreation, this over emphasis on sexuality and breeding and procreation seems to suggest that gendered bodies and relationships solely exist for sex. Which, is just... deeply restrictive.
I really enjoy the manga's attempts at depicting differing cultural developments for fantasy creature societies due to their vastly different biology and ways of living. This manga is at its best when it tries to decipher cultural elements of its fantasy world and characters in relation to biology like imagining how evolution of these creatures would have taken place, or the vast kinds of cultural artifacts that might exist in relation to these creature's physical bodies and societal norms such as armour or even towels. But this really takes on a whole different view once the author's perspectives on gendered relations come into play. Look, this is a fantasy world and I am willing to accept ideological and cultural developments that differ from our present day. But why does so much of this fantasy world culture seem to be predominantly about male-female relations and sexuality? It seems to suggest that there is a 'nature' to how we should behave and act toward each gender...
In the context of all the fantasy world shenanigans, I'm willing to accept an exceptionally sexist centaur society where members of the species doubtlessly embrace their gendered roles in the name of practicality and child rearing, or even how these creatures perceive rape as a 'dangerous' form of marriage. But in the author's assertion through a certain female centaur's voice that this is a 'rational,' and therefore positive portrayal of male-female relationships, and a superior form to whatever the author perceives as feminism and failed gender equality.... this is not even an interesting world building exercise anymore, but just an attempt at shoehorning the author's views on gendered relations to the reader. Look, if you critique one ideology, the opposite should be present so that its not just a one-sided exchange on the matter. But when such ideologies are put out there so explicitly and is portrayed as positive, ideal, good, etc. with all the other characters, including the MC agreeing that there is merit to this way of thinking, this just goes into rather propaganda-esque territory.
The manga's anti-anthropocentric perspective is interesting and very relevant in the face of our present day climate crisis, and especially so when we consider our relation to animals and the natural world. I think there is merit when the manga looks at embracing the differences between culture, biology, etc. between the different races and not just sees them as inferior or bad because they are different from human values and perceptions. But the resolution of the whole red cap religion conflict does not at all follow this idea. This conflict brings up a very interesting problem that brings up the question of what happens if another culture from a sentient group threatens your own. Do you still embrace the difference? Is it then immoral from the perspective of the other side that is being antagonised? Instead, these questions are pretty much sidelined so that the MC can have more sex. The MC later contradicts this ideology when he is made into a messiah figure in their religion and alters and manipulates the antagonistic aspect of this religious culture into co-existence with other species and beings.
At the same time, the manga asserts human anthropocentric ideology (people as the most important basically), as delusional and deeply misguided. But it appears that the manga's portrayal of this ideology does not derive within its universe but from real world perspectives. It is deeply reminiscent of colonialisation and racism and all that. But here's the thing... you can't just toss this into a fantasy world and call it a day. The context is completely different. Why do humans think themselves so morally superior when there are so many other physically superior and equally intelligent lifeforms everywhere? How does adventuring and monster curbing operate to begin with and how did certain creatures become dictated as inferior to humanity and therefore fine to exterminate? These underdeveloped pieces of world building really makes it like the author put up a straw man to criticise perspectives in the real world.
I mean... I think this is still an interesting read. It provides insight into the rationale of rather misogynistic gender ideologies and how they are conceived of operating in (a) world. I especially enjoyed the more 'academic' based take of the genre as seen in its deconstruction of fantasy characters biology and culture. I have been powering through this manga mostly for this aspect. While I kind of admire the attempt at openly weaving the author's ideology into this story, this perspective is way too biased. The author suggests that human nature is irrevocably intertwined with sexuality and cannot be helped (especially the desire for sex), explicit power is the indisputable king, and relations between men and women are transactional plays of power and control. While certainly aspects of this are true, it's not the way things are today thanks to accepted ideas about women rights, gender vs sex, etc. And the way it presents this conclusion as the only logical end, is deeply biased. I clearly have a contempt for the author's preferred ideology and the fact that it remains entirely unchallenged despite the large amounts of criticism it throws onto the other side, reads too much like bad faith preaching to me. This makes it hard for me to recommend.
If you want a look into a fantasy world and monsters through a scientific lens, Heterogenia Linguistico is your read instead. It's done with... less explicit ideological bias and way more nuance.
Reviewer’s Rating: 4
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Apr 19, 2024
Despite the ethical concerns that comes with student-teacher relationships (that are strangely normalised and highly employed in Japanese media) I quite enjoyed this manga's premise: the central mystery of what the main character's sister was doing in the concept maid cafe store and whether she was 'happy' despite sacrificing much of her youth for her younger brother's education. I especially think the interactions between the two main leads and their misunderstandings are quite fun to read and quite funny as well. I also really like the main character and his more melancholic backstory and how it ties in with the premise.
Still... the problem for
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me is that the manga actively does not seem to want to progress its own story! The main character keeps going back to the store, eating there, interacting with the characters there... and while the shenanigans of the female lead is fun to read, it is no excuse to not exert any agency to find out about his sister. I feel like this just drags the premise out way too long for its own good. While we are teased from time to time about developments in the central mystery of the premise, it really isn't enough to sustain my interest in the mystery that the manga was teasing in the beginning.
Look, I get that mainstream shounen mangas need to throw in story filter for the author to settle into their work flow and writing role, as well as to try to capture some longevity, but for some premises, you have to progress the story to a point of comfort first. For some reason, this manga is way to comfortable not going beyond that first step. Overall, I like the manga, I just want story progress.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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