First Impressions – Free! Eternal Summer

It’s here! (○⌒∇⌒○)

Welcome to KyoAni’s second run of Freeeeeeee! aka Water porn and other types. (✿◠‿◠) This will be another series, which will be blogged by different writers on weekly basis on Metanorn because everyone wanted in the glory. Without further ado, let’s start with the opening by OLDCODEX (Makoto’s voice actor Suzuki Tatsuhisa’s group)ノ

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QWERTYUIOPASDFGHKLZXCVBNM I CAN’T ALL MY FEELINGS (ノ◕ヮ◕)ノ*:・゚✧ ヽ( ★ω★)ノ (ノ≧∀≦)ノ

 

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I had something semi-intelligent to say here at one point, but after THAT ENDING, I lost most of it. You know what I’m referring to.

 

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So it’s time for ReFree! I don’t know if I’ve been anticipating this show very much, but I’m interested to see how it’s going to go. I pretty much have a thought though.

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// Kyokai: Iwatobi Swie-bu // The Iwatobi guys are back and in full bloom I must add, even when there’s winter over there. There hasn’t been much of a change in their daily lives because Haru is still a fish, Makoto the protector, Nagisa the kawai shouta and Rei their annoyed but adorable aunt. Let’s not forget Gou, who has firmly grasped the fangirl heart of millions by commenting and doing everything we would do if we were in her situation. You go, girl! Keep flying the fangirl flag with sparkles and loads of screenshots.

Anyways, from where things left off last season, we are back with the boys after Winter break with the new mission of restarting the swimming club. Things are not so easy though because none of the young’uns want to join in because it’s cold and the swimming club promo looked more of a stripping show with complicated steps… I am surprised why most of the girls were not lining outside their club room after seeing those muscles. I guess, not everyone is as sharp as Gou. On the other side, at Samezuka, Rin is on a mission as the new Captain, to keep their swimming club in check with proper selection of swimmers for their club to continue their performance streak. The difference between these two is just slight emotion to ambition but I have a feeling that both will end up in the same path.

Now, let’s hear from the other author favourite characters and their theories surrounding them:

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// anaaga: Haru and Makoto // My OTP is back in this season and I’m so glad because this means more doujinshi – I mean, more boys being angsty about swimming. Though it seems that Haru and Makoto are going to be angsty about things other than swimming now. It seems that the two will undergo some personality and character changes, all thanks to Rin’s question about their future plans. My hunch tells me that the two will rediscover themselves and what they’re planning to do later on. Sounds like a simple thing, right? But not really, since rediscovering one’s self is always the hardest part of being a teenager. Now that they’re more adult-like, they have to think about things other about swimming and their bromance and swimming together and all that manly stuff. They have to think about their future, their examinations, their university choices, and so on. This is even hinted at that SO SEXY AND CUTE ending, which is titled Future Fish.

I can already imagine what Haru is going to be all angsty about: his changing personality, how he’s starting to be concerned about his swimming time and the feeling of not wanting to be defeated by anybody. And there’s that future self-stuff too. Not that there’s anything wrong with it, but this is so not Haru because all he thinks about is swimming. And now he has to think about things other than swimming, and I’m sure he will have a hard time adjusting to these changes. As for Makoto… I don’t know what he’s going to be angsty about, but I know it will be about Haru. My guess is that he is worried that he’s going to spend less time with Haru, how the future Haru will see him as, whether the future Haru will find him useful or not, yada yada yada about Haru because Makoto’s world is Haru… And the swimming club, let’s not forget that. OR he’s going to be worried about the swimming club and decide to work harder to gain new members? I don’t know man, Makoto is still one of the mysteries in Free! However it’s going to be though, I’m sure that Makoto will support Haru no matter what, and that is what Haru will need later on. No matter how hard it’s going to be, they have and will always have each other. All these Makoto x Haru hintsω)

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// Karakuri: Rei and Nagisa// Being a year younger than Haru, Makoto and Rin, Nagisa and Rei don’t really have to worry about futures quite as much. …Plus knowing Rei, he might have a five page essay already planned for his future that probably won’t work out the way he wants it to (and Nagisa would probably either wing everything, or surprise everyone with having the most logical and well-established plan of them all). I guess there’s always the concern about finding new team members so they can keep the club going, but the whole team can work together for that one. So what are the shota and megane characters doing now? Rei seemed to have integrated himself totally into the group, at least. There was still the part where he kind of seemed like an ‘outsider’ again since he didn’t bring his swimsuit like the rest of the team. But for the most part, he seems way more comfortable with everyone than what we saw before. …But we already knew that from the last season. Nagisa didn’t even really do much for the episode other than add some shota in there. So it will be interesting to see what the S2 does for these characters, since everyone else seems like they might have some planning for their futures and whatnot.

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// Highway: Samezuka Swie-bu // I certainly wasn’t expecting anything different for this first episode, and I sure didn’t get it.  Anyone who’s seen other KyoAni sequel shows knows that their sequels don’t exactly break the mold. Generally they seem exactly like the first series, but with more characters, and that’s what this first episode felt like, even though we never had an increase in net characters. Trading the previous Samezuka Academy extra character in the club president for a new Samezuka Academy extra character in the senior transfer student from Tokyo, it did feel like the outgoing president was gaslighting Rin a little bit (what, you couldn’t actually TELL him about pertinent things for the club?). I wonder how much Rin’s being the club president will actually affect things. Maybe he was made the president so he couldn’t pull any stunts like before and get disqualified again. But it’s possible that the position will tie him down too much to really interact with the Iwatobi guys. Nah, they wouldn’t do that.

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// anaaga: Rin and Sousuke // Or Rin x Sousuke? I’m shipping these two already. Anyhow, I expected Rin to find his own team members at the end of season 1, and it seems that I’m right. Well, at least that’s how it looked to me, with Sousuke being one of those team members. Whoever he is, he is definitely someone who seems to know Rin really well, judging from Rin’s expression. Though I’m not so sure whether that’s a happy expression or not. Is he one of Rin’s friend? Or is he one of Rin’s many unresolved rivals? But what’s bugging me is how in the world did Rin know this guy when he came from Tokyo? What, they communicated through smoke signal or something? Is that even possible with the distance between Japan and Australia?

Since not much is known about Sousuke, I can only give my theories about him. My theory is that he is Rin’s childhood friend from Australia who moved back to Tokyo for some unknown reason. It seems that I’m right though, based on the episode preview. I hope I am. Anyway, in the preview, Rin is seen all kira-kira talking about something to Sousuke, and I guess that something is swimming…. Or Rin’s Iwatobi friends. Yep, my money goes on the latter. That’s probably why Sousuke visited Iwatobi Swimming Club before his appearance at Samezuka. He wants to see Rin’s precious Iwatobi Swimming Club or something. I bet he’s going to have some conflict with the Iwatobi peeps about Rin. That’s how it’s usually done. Or maybe KyoAni wants to try something different by creating a rivalry between Rin and Sousuke? Maybe he wants to challenge Rin’s position as the captain of the swimming club. There are many mysteries about the relationship between the two, but I have this feeling that Sousuke will make a big impact on Rin and I’m so excited about it.

We did not forget, Shark-kun! <3

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Extra Giffyness

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Double the wiggle~

Click for more // Show ▼

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If you see my Tumblr/Twitter, you’ll see that I’m excited about Free!…’s ending. I’m all explosive about Free, but I’m actually excited because of the ending and Sousuke only. There was nothing to be excited about because the episode starts with third grade senior high school philosophy and all that, so I just went “meh.” I can see a good foundation to build up the story though, with Makoto and Haru’s anxiety + Rin’s new position as the captain. It seems that this season will focus more on finding one’s self and all that nonsense, but it’s OK as long as I get abs and some tight swimming suits until the last episode. Besides, I’m sure things will get more dramatic and gayer, and I’m totally cool with that. Also, THAT POLICE WIGGLE. WIGGLE WIGGLE WIGGLE. WIGGLE WIGGLE WIGGLE.

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We’ll see how the new character is when he has a bigger role in the story (please please please don’t let him turn into another character like Rin’s annoying kouhai), but from this first episode, things are going… swimmingly. …Okay, that was terrible. I sincerely apologize. OTL Yeah, this felt like a continuation from the last season, but that it TOTALLY OKAY in my books. Watching the characters interact was a great part of the last season, so it’s fine that they’re not drastically changing the formula for this season. I’m sure that I’m not alone on this, but seeing Rin keep his character development was great too. Not that I ever thought he was ever in danger of losing it (the writing for this isn’t terrible), but it’s just such a great change from all of the angst of last season. I’m kind of scared that they might bring back more angst (with Haru or something), but hopefully all of the fanservice distracts away from that enough if it does come up.

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Yep, just as expected, which isn’t really a bad thing. Had a race, saw all the characters again, had some minor changes. Goro’s swim club is new but not out of the box. New character is not out of the box. I thought maybe they played up Gou’s ogling a little much, without the much more subtle Akamata-sensei’s ‘advising’ to balance it (she’s there to ogle boys, too, she just doesn’t get flustered and obvious about it). But Rin was definitely better this episode, although he’s being all “Think about your future!” stick in the mud with Makoto and Haru (who are totally going to be losers when they graduate). Hopefully he won’t go back to being moody and awful.

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A good reunion of the old with the hint of new in this first episode. I liked how even Goro-chan has got his act together by taking over the old Iwatobi Swimming Club rebuilding. He will go far as a business man because of the risks he has taken. Beside reunions, we also have the appearance of a new challenger! Well, him and an additional kouhai in Samezuka, who will give some tough time to Ai-chan. I see these three along with Rin, challenge the Iwatobi boys to a relay match soon enough. I hope the angst meter will go down this season as Rin has gotten over his hormones and competitive streak against Haru. Though, in turn it’s high time for Iwatobi boys to think about their future rather than being clueless high schoolers. We did receive some hints for their future professions in the ending theme but don’t take this Future Fish by the main voice cast so seriously. It is definitely way different than the first ending but definitely grows on you.

Preview:

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Time to see Souseke’s deal~

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We live, laugh, enjoy and strictly believe on "more the merrier". When together, we usually come up with very chatty, conversation-based episodics and interesting posts.
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71 Responses to “First Impressions – Free! Eternal Summer”

  1. anaaga says:

    I don’t even care if my comment doesn’t make sense, but

    Jesus fucking christ

    Those muscles

    Those abs

    Them wiggles

    (^་།^) (^་།^) (^་།^) (^་།^) (^་།^)

  2. belatkuro says:

    >that Rin in the ED.
    >them kin’nikus.
    >that Gou.

    The glorious swimming anime is back for more. As one of the few legit guys that are watching this, it was a nice first episode that picked up almost where the last season left off, albeit a time skip.
    I’ll say it again that I find the show more appealing when the characters are in the water, and no it’s not because I want to see them naked. The swimming aspect is where the characters show their true self and just being free. Outside of the water is a bit shaky, especially when they go full drama mode. Hopefully they tone that aspect down in this season, especially when there’s a new character(voiced by Hosoya Yoshimasa) and there are some decisions to be made in their lives.
    Looking forward to the show and the coverage in here.

    Can’t say I’m a fan of the new OP. I like OLDCODEX but sometimes they don’t work for me like in this OP. Can’t explain it properly.
    The ED is pretty catchy and I’ve been listening to it all this time. I always like seiyuus singing OPs and EDs. And that Rin in the ED. Yeah it needs another mention because it caught me offguard when it appeared.

    And yay Shark-kun!

    • Kyokai says:

      I haven’t been a crazy fangirl after Free! but oh man, just watching them again was like saying hi to old friends. From the nostalgic Makoto picking up Haru before school. Add Yoshimasa Hosoya in the mix of the old fine dudes and man, this should get interesting.

      KyoAni has gotten better at water porn (Dem cherry blossoms), and they win a creative award for this ending for sure. It was completely out of the box but still relevant for the boys rather than the arabian nights theme for S1. I hope the boys keep us busy the entire season.

  3. Irenesharda says:

    First, Haru is a merMAN, there is definitely nothing “maid” like about that specimen. ^_~

    Next, sorry anaaga, as much as I like Makoto, I’m totally Rin x Haru. There’s just a chemistry between them that I love, and that line about making Haru’s cold demeanor heat up? Just sizzled! 😀

    Makoto has always just been mother hen for me, taking care of the entire group. I like him, but I just can’t pair him with anybody. I just I don’t know about Sousuke, but until I get a feel for the character, I can’t place him with anybody either, especially since he’s sending some dark vibes right now.

    • Namika says:

      Except for the blue nail polish xDDDD

    • Kyokai says:

      Just call it a fangirl’s distraction on the mermaid pun 😉

      You are welcome to share your ships because there are many variations when you talk about Free. There was a moment for Old Captain and Rei and even Rei with Ai this episode. And that I WILL MAKE YOU HOT dialogue was so cliched but aaagh. The doujin artists must get real busy during Free! seasons.

      In terms of Sousuke, my theory is that he will definitely enflame the guys but hopefully not with angst similar to Rin in S1.

    • anaaga says:

      Don’t you seeeee Sousuke’s obsession with Rin? This will start a new era of Free! shipping muhuahahaha

      • Kyokai says:

        In the first episode at least, it seems Sousuke has a beef with Haru more than Rin. He has been stalking him for a while and did you see that cornering near a vending machine in the preview? Things are going to heat up. :3

        • Irenesharda says:

          I don’t think Rin will be very happy if he finds out Sousuke’s been messing with Haru. He can shove Haru around if he’s got a problem with him, but heaven help anybody else who does. And don’t let the rest of the gang find out, or all hell will break lose. Despite Haru’s status as MC, he’s actually still the slightly younger, introverted brother that everyone, especially Makoto and Rin, protects.

  4. Irenesharda says:

    Man, I so missed this…. I love all of those amazing, rippling, muscles….I mean boys! Yes, those amazing, amazing boys.

    All of our favorite swimmers are back and better than ever, and now all four of them as well as Rin, are now the best of friends. Their camaraderie is so easy now, and it’s nice to see their interactions and how they support one another. Rin and Haru still have their pseudo-BL thing going, but I love it. Makuto is still the easy-going mother hen figure.

    Haru, Rin, and Makato are in their third year and it’s time to begin making some plans for the future. I like that Rin has a thought out plan, and while I do like the fact that the other two are still flexible and unsure in their plans, however, saying as they don’t have much time until they graduate and go to college, I think it might be time to start thinking about it. Looking at the ED, it seems that they might all be thinking about their future careers as they get older.

    Haru seems to be a little blah this whole episode, and except for his race with Rin, seemed a little sad, I wonder why? I think Rin will be a good captain. He’s a little unsure of himself now, but he has what it takes.

    Now, for the new character, Sousuke. He seems to have taken Rin’s place in this sequel as the moody, emo swimmer with secrets and some hidden relationship with Rin and Haru. From what I’ve seen in the preview, it looks like Sousuke was there when Rin and Haru were kids, so they all met before Australia. However, while Sousuke seems friendly with Rin, he seems to have a lot of animosity towards Haru. I’m wondering if Sousuke was one of Rin’s older friends before he met Haru and Makoto, and he feels abandoned in favor of Haru? And that’s why he seems to be two sided in terms of how he treats Rin and how he treats Rin’s friends?

    We’ll see how he goes and I’m hoping he just won’t be Rin 2.0 and will actually have his own individual arc and character, but we’ll see. I love Rin’s character, but I only need one of him.

    I’m so excited about this sequel. I loved the first series, and I’m already loving the second.

    Also, the OP and ED were good, while the songs of last season were better, the images were awesome here. I mean, merman Haru and policeman Rin? Be still, my beating heart…

    • Kyokai says:

      We share your sentiments! Our favourite boys are back in full glory! 😀

      About Haru, I have a feeling he is in the musing mode right now. With his love for swimming, he should be following Rin’s footsteps in giving his all for professional competitions. But I think he’s still not sure about it and thus, his off mood.

      I think you are on to something with Sousuke and we surely will find out soon enough. The new ED is just oh so awesome!

      • Irenesharda says:

        I think that’s what Rin’s waiting for too. As shown by last season, he enjoys swimming, but only really feels whole if he’s swimming with his friends, and particularly Haru. He knows Haru and he are of a kindred spirit, and of all of them, Haru was born to swim. However, because of his non-competitive nature, I don’t know if he’ll survive out there doing swimming professionally. And Haru’s not a good teacher either, so I don’t know think swim instructor is good. Maybe for Makoto, but not Haru. Lifeguard maybe? Or if he can step up his game, he could do swimming professionally, and he probably could advance without really trying. He could swim all the time and not be caught in winter ruts.

  5. Irenesharda says:

    Well, Spammy has struck again. But I’m hoping my comment isn’t lost since they won’t let me post it again, saying it’s a duplicate error. So maybe there’s someway to rescue it?

    • Kyokai says:

      I think this time it got posted so one save. Phew!

      • Di Gi Kazune says:

        The site’s kinda sluggish or is it just me?

        • BlackBriar says:

          If it is, it must obviously be due to the spam accumulation.

          • Kyokai says:

            It is indeed due to spam. Imagine, thousands of spams per hour. We are really going crazy just cleaning it. I have a feeling some spammers are specifically targeting us, even after blocking the IPs on daily basis. ><

  6. JPNIgor says:

    Dat disappointed look of Makoto when helping Haruka get out of the bath almost made me believe he wanted to see him without the swimswit… God, why? D=

    And dat ending goddamit x.x’ I’ll have to hide my screen whenever watching it, that’s definitely NSFW material.

    • Kyokai says:

      Makoto will continue to be disappointed because I have a feeling that Haru wears his swimming trunks in bed even… There goes another idea for a doujin.

      If you think ending is NSFW, then what is the entire show?! :3

      • JPNIgor says:

        On the show, they swim, which sounds normal…

        On the ending, they wiggle. They double wiggle, which is worse. And it’s the only moment I feel guilty watching Free!.

        • Kyokai says:

          Ahahaa! Get on this bandwagon guilt free! Label it under awesome swag that you can’t skip. xD

  7. Hoshi says:

    ~New episodes of Free! feels almost unreal, BUT IT IS REAL AND I’M SO HAPPY. The first episode was a lot of fun, but I know that it won’t last long when we already have hints of more serious things to come. It was also great to see Rin looking mellow and talking more with the gang ;;

    Also, I didn’t know how badly I needed Fireman!Makoto until it happened. God bless KyoAni.

    • Kyokai says:

      Fireman Makoto ftw! It is so appropriate that it’s not even funny. <3 him!

  8. Namika says:

    YAAAAAAAY~
    I’m such a fangirl.
    Sorry I’m not sorry.
    But I just can’t stop squealing over that ending.
    I watched it a million times already and I’m not even close to getting tired of it.
    Fireman Makoto all the way! He’s so cute =w=

    The beginning of this episode made me feel so at home, in a weird way. All the characters are back, just like they were last year. Haru is still being weird and prepares food in an apron over his swimsuit. Makoto is still that brotherly, more ball of fluff…. I can’t believe it’s already out!

    I think there might be more angst in this season. Things get serious, after all. It’s not just the problem of competitiveness or loneliness, after all. Graduation, University… to be short – shit is getting real 😀

    • Kyokai says:

      No one should be sorry! This is awesome and that’s a fact! :3

      I just hope that even if shit is about to get real (happens at the worst time), I hope we keep getting our service weekly. xD

      • Namika says:

        I don’t think we’ll have a problem with that. That’s kind of a selling point of the show 😀 well, one of them. 😀

  9. zztop says:

    How in the world did Rin know Sousuke when he came from Tokyo?

    Sousuke was introduced back in High Speed light novel 1 as another one of Rin’s childhood friends from Sano SC, Rin’s previous swim club.Both of them were close friends before Rin’s move to Australia.
    http://fencer-x.tumblr.com/post/57389840911/high-speed-chapter-7b-summary-race

    Sousuke also appears in the new High Speed! LN vol 2.
    This LN instalment will cover Haruka’s middle school years.
    http://sunyshore.tumblr.com/post/90532872132/all-high-speed-2-illustrations-in-order-of

    Sousuke makes an appearance there, together with new characters Kirishima Ikuya(black hair), Shiina Asahi(red hair), and Serizawa Nao(gray hair,also Iwatobi Middle’s swim manager).

    Hopefully the novel gets web-translated soon.

    • anaaga says:

      Ahhhhh ok now I get why he’s so obsessed with Rin and how he’s not liking Iwatobi Swimming Club. I guess he’s… Possessive of Rin?

      SHIPSHIPSHIPSHIP

      • Kyokai says:

        It seems like Sousuke’s angst will be about Rin getting pulled into Haru’s group and their history in Iwatobi club. I hope it doesn’t become another shouting match though. >>;

  10. zztop says:

     I think no one joined the Swim Club because all the muscles made them insecure in exposing their own bodies. (。-ω-) 

    Also,Officer Rin > Magic Mike.

    • Kyokai says:

      But on screen there were mostly girls so confused audience? Who knows…

      Also,Officer Rin > Magic Mike.

      Totally agree! Rin is giving all them boys in it a run for their money.

  11. zztop says:

    Just put out some LN info on Sousuke and High Speed! LN vol 2.Can anyone check if the spam filter has captured it?

  12. BlackBriar says:

    So marks the return of Free and the return of Shark-kun.

    Once again, Haruka enjoys water more than air, I suggest dissection because this guy must be half fish.

    The new season looks to be good. Some of my fun is going to be watching Gou’s fawning. Finally some justice for all the anime guys labeled as perverts for staring at scantily clad girls. Equality has finally arrived!!

  13. tankamaster says:

    “Hi officer. I’m under arrest.” ヽ(^ω^)ノ

  14. akagami says:

    I must admit, that is one sexy wiggle. That and the mermaid, ahhhhh, haha~~~

    This isn’t my type of show, but I support KyoAni for doing this show. It’s loads better than Tamako Market and that really annoying talking bird imo (I couldn’t last two episodes to see if that bird would get any more tolerable).

    I watched the ED for fun, and wow, it’s like someone’s imagination went wild – creative and I like it~ ^_^

    • Kyokai says:

      I think this ED is one of the most creative for KyoAni; though, I have to admit the K-On! ones were pretty catchy but they were more oriented around the songs, while in case of Free! it’s all about the characters.

      Stick around, this is going to be a ball of funnn. :3

  15. Irenesharda says:

    Someone also brought up the interesting fact that, in the first season, one thing they emphasized was that all the boys have female names. It sort of brought them together as a group, even when they recruited Rei. Yet, Sousuke is the obvious man out, since his name is obviously pretty masculine.
    I wonder how that will play into the story?

    • Kyokai says:

      Well, you can always try calling him Suo, another girlie name but I blame this on the original author for being unable to find a girlie name for him. Though, it all boils down to Sousuke’s character interaction with the rest of the boys as Nagisa and Makoto at least have knows each other since their childhood days.

  16. Cassandra says:

    I thought this was a great start to Free! Eternal Summer what with the nostalgic effect and peak at more to come.

    I want more now!

  17. skylion says:

    I just watched the second episode, cause someone said it had LOLis. Disappoint. It had boy jealousy.

    • Irenesharda says:

      LOL, I’m guessing they were talking about Makoto’s little sister, as well as all the little girls at the swim meet. Sorry, you got conned. Nope, this is all about the bromance. 😛

  18. […] and another rightful episode of Free! ~Eternal Summer~ with muscled bishies. As I mentioned in our first impressions, different episodes will be reviewed by different Metanorn writers so look forward to the colourful […]

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