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Demon Love Spell, Vol. 1 (Ayakashi Koi Emaki #1)

Mayu Shinjo

4.14 · Rating details · 2,299 Ratings · 142 Reviews

Miko is a shrine maiden who has never had much success at seeing or banishing spirits. Then she meets Kagura, a sexy demon who feeds off women’s feelings of passion and love. Kagura’s insatiable appetite has left many girls at school brokenhearted, so Miko casts a spell to seal his powers. Surprisingly the spell works—sort of—but now Kagura is after her!

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Paperback, 200 pages

Published December 4th 2012 by VIZ Media LLC (first published May 25th 2009)

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Aug 10, 2013 Selena rated it it was amazing

Shelves: cats, favorites, guilty-pleasures, magic, manga-manwha, my-must-reads, japan-stuff, first-in-series-manga

Dear God this thing was hysterical!

Played straight, this would have been boring, perhaps a little creepy, and certainly not worth reading. Done the way it was, everything was so over-the-top you couldn't help but start laughing. Shinjo definitely succeeded in making a manga you can't help but crack up at.

Besides just laughs, "Demon Love Spell" also has an entertaining starring duo. I can't help but love Miko, who accidentally gets it right when she tries to seal a demon. Miko's got strong opinio ...more

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Jul 06, 2016 Amber Hetchler (アンバーちゃん) rated it really liked it

Shelves: manga

I've got to admit, this was hilarious. xD

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Mar 02, 2018 Chelsea rated it liked it

I randomly decided to check this out and it's fine. To be honest, most books centered around a heterosexual romance bore me to tears. This one had an interesting premise but that was about where it stopped for me.

I like Kangura. I loved the parents bonding with him and making him cute little outfits and a house. A lot of it was surprisingly cute. However, I just... didn't really connect to the main character all that much. I didn't quite get the appeal of the constant "should I? I shouldn't" stu ...more

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Feb 21, 2018 Carrie (The Butterfly Reader) rated it really liked it

Shelves: february-2018

I am so excited to finally be reading this series! I have wanted to read it for years and for some reason just never did. Now I am changing that! So this volume is about Miko, she's the oddball in her family, all of them can sense/see demons but her. She tries so hard but she just can't. When her friend comes running saying this guy was cheating on her, she runs after him thinking he's demon... she's right and she gets him. Now he's pretty much the size of a little doll and is forced to do whate ...more

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Oct 13, 2012 Jessi (Novel Heartbeat) rated it really liked it

Shelves: 4-star, manga-and-graphic-novels

From my blog Auntie Spinelli Reads

Demon Love Spell was so cute! It's been awhile since I've read any manga, so I thoroughly enjoyed this one. (This is my first manga review, by the way ^.^) It actually reminded me a LOT of Mugen Spiral, which is one of my favorites.

I love romance stories that start off as hatred. LOVE them. As far as romance goes, that's my favorite kind. I know, I'm weird. :p But I think that's why I enjoyed this one so much, because they were stuck with each other against thei ...more

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Sep 15, 2012 Holly Letson rated it it was amazing

Shelves: manga-challenge, mangas, edelweiss

I quite loved this manga. But, being as I love pretty much all Shinjo Mayu's mangas, that comes as no surprise.

Why, hello there, Saku---um, Kagura. Ms. Shinjo's main bishies are starting to pretty much look alike, though. She needs to start making them look different.

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Miko's best friend's boyfriend is cheating on her. She comes to Miko about that, and joking makes the accusation that Kagura might be a demon incubus, since he is such a womanizer. Of course, Miko is a serious s ...more

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Feb 04, 2016 Leena rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: best-romantic-graphic-novels, plenty-of-humorous-moments, beatifully-drawn-novels

Okay this was wonderful!
Great story,funny characters and just great overall.
Even the ending had me laughing out loud, poor Miko!
And Kagura, God! This is why they say perfect boys only exist in books!
But I have to admit. I wish Miko would just realize that Kagura loved her, I mean it's obvious! But anyways great writing, beautiful art, a smexy hero and wonderful heroine, what more could you ask for! Definitely gonna read this series.

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Dec 01, 2017 Krissy Hamrick rated it really liked it

Shelves: graphic-novels

Cute manga.

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Feb 17, 2013 Nina {ᴡᴏʀᴅs ᴀɴᴅ ᴡᴀᴛᴇʀ} rated it really liked it

Shelves: manga

So far this is one of Mayu Shinjo's more pure stories. It's not quite as smutty yet I think, the last volume will be quite a bit. This is also more along the lines of Love Celeb and Midnight Children both of which I loved, if you can't tell (haha)

Plot
Miko can't see spirits despite the fact that she's a shrine maiden, next in line to inherit her father's shrine. Because of that she's pretty damn lively when it comes a hint or whisper of spiritual activity. Then she meets the lust demon, Kagura a ...more

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Jan 02, 2018 Daisy D. Jung rated it really liked it

This was a fun read, I ended up enjoying it more than I initially thought I would.

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Sep 18, 2012 Chibineko rated it really liked it

Shelves: manga, smut

I've liked Shinjo's work in the past, although I'll admit that after a while some of her work just seemed to be a little bland, too much of a copy of Sensual Phrase. This was partially due to a publisher Shinjo had been working with, but for a while afterwards I just couldn't seem to get into the stuff she'd released even after she broke off with her old publisher. I'm officially digging her work with Demon Love Spell, though.

If you're wondering, the smut level in this actually isn't that bad wh I've liked Shinjo's work in the past, although I'll admit that after a while some of her work just seemed to be a little bland, too much of a copy of Sensual Phrase. This was partially due to a publisher Shinjo had been working with, but for a while afterwards I just couldn't seem to get into the stuff she'd released even after she broke off with her old publisher. I'm officially digging her work with Demon Love Spell, though.

If you're wondering, the smut level in this actually isn't that bad when you consider how mature some of her other works are. It's relatively tame at this point in time, with sex being referred to and there being sexually charged moments but no actual depictions of sex to the degree that you see in some of her other works. This doesn't mean that this won't change as the relationship between our two main characters changes, so if you're someone who doesn't like seeing smut in your manga then I'd approach this with a degree of caution.

The story here is rather straight forward. It's your typical "boy meets girl, enter the supernatural creatures and romantic entanglements" stuff that you've come to expect from manga and Shinjo, but it's just so incredibly cute that you won't really mind that you've seen a lot of this before in various incarnations. The chibified version of Kagura is fairly cute and it's one of the first things that drew me into the volume so quickly. It hits a lot of my manga quirks pretty hard (chibi versions of things, romance, a little light smut, etc), and I have a feeling that this will do the same for a lot of other readers. My only true complaint is that this does seem to suffer from "first volume-itis" because there's one or two tedious parts where the action slows down so we can have some groundwork laid for future story lines and plot arcs. It doesn't ruin the overall fun of the volume, but it is slightly noticeable.

Now when it comes to the artwork, I'll warn you: it's your typical Shinjo. By this I mean that the artwork is well done and the guys are all suitably hunky bishies, but that they also all look like various incarnations of male characters from her other works. Shinjo's style is fairly distinctive and her habit of making the main romantic lead resemble the main romantic lead from other works still applies here. As the series pretty obviously makes a point to show that Miko will eventually end up with Kagura at some point, I can overlook this for the most part. I would like some variety, but I do love the way she draws her men.

I have to say that I'll undoubtedly collect this series and store it next to my Sensual Phrase books. It's fairly well done and I couldn't help but love the setup. It's fun, it's cute, but most of all, it's something that I want to read the next volume of.

4 out of 5 stars

(ARC provided through Edelweiss) ...more

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Apr 30, 2013 Laura (ローラ) rated it liked it

Shelves: manga, re-read-2013, read-2013, from-my-personal-library, manga-shoujo, read-2015, re-read-2015, read-2016, 3-star, readathons-2017

Demon Love Spell is a short 6 volume series by Mayu Shinjo.

The story follows Miko (a miko) and daughter to a famous Shinto priest who has abundant powers but no abilities to sense or see spirits... and Kagura (an incubus) the strongest demon from the demon world who gains his powers from the directed love and passion of women. Miko is surprised when she accidentally seals his powers, and they are both surprised when they begin falling in love with each other.

This story is so a-typical of Mayu S Demon Love Spell is a short 6 volume series by Mayu Shinjo.

The story follows Miko (a miko) and daughter to a famous Shinto priest who has abundant powers but no abilities to sense or see spirits... and Kagura (an incubus) the strongest demon from the demon world who gains his powers from the directed love and passion of women. Miko is surprised when she accidentally seals his powers, and they are both surprised when they begin falling in love with each other.

This story is so a-typical of Mayu Shinjo. And, if you were familiar with her work, you would know exactly what I mean. From the love/hate relationship of the main couple, the continual passionate declarations of love followed by complete denial and forgetfulness, and of course the classic art style with bizarrely over-proportioned features (particularly hands and torsos) - it is her work from start to finish.

Compared to some of her other works, this story tends to be lighter and fluffier. And, is nearly void of the rape, torture, and drug abuse that you would expect from her. Probably the most dynamic of Miko and Kagura fights lead to no more than a bit of pouting on Miko's side. So unusual, but personally, also nice and refreshing.

I often have a hard time deciding whether the situations Shinjo writes belong in a shoujo or josei subgenre - this one I believe fits neatly as shoujo. Apart from the constant sexual references from a being whose entire life is supported by sex, this is no more than a silly high school fantasy of a romance. A handsome virile man who is suppressing his immoral nature because he is desperately in love with the plain, boring, moral, and slightly disconnected school girl... what girl can win against that combination??

The end for me was a failure. It ends, yes, and the solution is what you've been waiting for the entire time. But, with a story so focused on the "getting together" of the main characters (from page 1), you'd think there'd be a bit more romance at the end. Instead it just fizzles out, because well, it had to happen. Oh well.

Despite the ending, I actually enjoy this series. And, of Shinjo's works it is probably my favourite. The best scene for me falls in the beginning of volume 4. Miko finds a baby/demon in a peach while bathing in a hotsprings (think Momotaro), and she and Kagura raise it as their own child. But, of course, as you read and as the source of the baby is determined, you realize that Mayu Shinjo has thrown together some of Japan's most famous fairy tales and weaved them into one very strange outcome to the point that even the characters are left scratching their heads. It was a nice fun diversion.

For the most part it was a fun romantic series. And, I'll probably read it over many times. ...more

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Katelyn rated it liked it
Jul 14, 2013

Sep 04, 2012 VampireNovelFan rated it liked it

Shelves: arc, edelweiss, fantasy, manga, demons

Shoujo manga lovers can look no further

These days I’m hard pressed to read a lot of manga as opposed to written novels, so Mayu Shinjo’s new series, Demon Love Spell, was a welcomed reprieve. Miko is a budding shrine maiden who is still developing her abilities to banish spirits, a skill and duty that has passed down from generation to generation in her family for centuries. She strives to keep her family’s tradition alive, but she has to get better. She sees one opportunity to do so when she ...more

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Oct 03, 2014 Gabrielle rated it really liked it

Shelves: manga

This is the story of Miko, a girl trying to live up to her family's long tradition of ability of banishing demons. However, she's had very little luck sensing or vanquishing demons--at all. That is until one day, when she has an actual encounter with a demon, a really hot, smoldering demon, but that's not the point. According to her family, she must banish him. That is until Miko realizes she just took away all his powers and he is transformed into a cute chibi version of his former self. Now wi ...more

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Dec 31, 2014 Cheyenne rated it really liked it

Shelves: manga, manga-reviews

Warning! Contains content not meant for young children.

Note: Found under "Ayakashi Koi Emaki"

A fun read with humor and romance and demons oh my! I love it when I read something that makes me laugh, so extra points for this one.

Miko, our leading female role, comes from a long line of priests and priestess' who can see and feel evil spirits and banish them. But Miko can't do either of those. Well... When her friend bursts in and starts complaining about her "boyfriend" Kagura kissing another girl ...more

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May 19, 2015 Auggie rated it liked it

Cute and quirky. Your average gratuitous romance manga with absolutely no substance beyond its sensual/"But...I love you" elements. So what the heck is up with the 3 stars? I'm giving it a whole 3 star because this manga isn't trying to pretend to be deep, significant, or driven by plot. It's proudly steamy and overly adorable. It doesn't want readers to be enlightened it wants them to be entertained! It's shoujo manga for crying out loud. I actually giggled a few times which took it up a notch. ...more

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Apr 07, 2016 Chrysa Scofield rated it liked it

This was my first time reading a manga and even though it was quite interesting and funny at some parts, it wasn't as good i expected it to be. It wasn't bad, it was okay. But i think that i will give it a secong chance and read the second volume.
My favorite character in "Demon Love Spell" was...... KANGURA. The hot guy who also appears to be a demon, and let me tell you that he's a very powerfull demon. There were plenty of funny scenes between Kangura and Miko, but the most laughable and funn ...more

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Apr 06, 2013 Amber rated it it was ok

Shelves: manga

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Dec 15, 2015 Kanna rated it liked it

At first I thought I would dislike it because some of the cover art seems over the top in romance, but instead I found a funny and well-written story. Kagura actually reminds me a lot of Miroku from Inuyasha in how he treated all women and then Sango, so this was quite easy to relate and have a laugh to.

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Jan 04, 2014 Kristen rated it liked it

I'm giving this a three because insta-love is extremely childish. However, I did find this story to be extremely entertaining. The art is well done, the characters are adorable (and sexy at the same time) and the storyline itself is interesting. Definitely doesn't stand out from the large amount of Shojo Beat romance mangas out there.... But it's enjoyable nonetheless!

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Nov 14, 2012 Anna (Curiosity comes before Kay) rated it really liked it

This was a fun, and well-drawn manga. I get the feeling that there will be romance involved further into the story in later volumes, but right now the love-hate relationship between Miko and Kagura is plenty to keep the story going. There is plenty of comic relief, but the mature content of him feeding off sexual energy would have me say this isn't for those under 14 or 15 years old.

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Jan 21, 2016 Kathleen rated it liked it

A mini-incubus and shrine maiden team up to fight demons! A cute story, not overly raunchy, mostly concentrating on the demon fights. One nitpick: why would you use the same sealing spell to UNseal a demon? Wouldn't you need an unsealing spell instead, or he'd wind up doubly sealed?

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Aug 02, 2013 doctor rated it liked it

Shelves: manga, guilty-pleasures

This was fucking weird, and cute, and... well, I think I'm going to continue it only for the sake of the cute fox guy introduced at the end. Also the comedic relief gags are enjoyable, but the plot runs dry right away...

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Jan 15, 2014 Wafa Fauzia added it

i love it

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Dec 27, 2013 Jenni rated it it was amazing

Shelves: 5-stars, demon, manhwa-manga-graphic-art, succubus-succubi-incubi, favorites

A new favorite of mine! Little chibi Kagura is so cute!

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Apr 15, 2018 Kimberly Caceci rated it really liked it

Demon Love Spell by Mayu Shinjo

We find the unlikeliest of duos in Demon Love Spell by Mayu Shinjo. Miko is a shrine maiden who wants nothing more than to live up to her family’s name and work of banishing demons. There’s one slight problem: she can’t sense ghosts and demons. Kagura is a powerful demon, an incubus more specifically, who needs women’s pleasure to survive.

During the first encounter, Miko binds Kagura and his powers, thus shrinking him to mini-Kagura. And because Miko was able to s Demon Love Spell by Mayu Shinjo

We find the unlikeliest of duos in Demon Love Spell by Mayu Shinjo. Miko is a shrine maiden who wants nothing more than to live up to her family’s name and work of banishing demons. There’s one slight problem: she can’t sense ghosts and demons. Kagura is a powerful demon, an incubus more specifically, who needs women’s pleasure to survive.

During the first encounter, Miko binds Kagura and his powers, thus shrinking him to mini-Kagura. And because Miko was able to seal Kagura’s powers, other demons now want to fight and kill Kagura. This is where the interesting development occurs: Miko realizes that when she touches Kagura, she is able to see and banish other demons. And so their story continues.

I feel like I should mention now that this book is not what I traditionally read: it’s a manga series. What?! Manga? When my other books have been purely fiction and/or romance books. Well, this manga series is a supernatural romance so at least that aspect hasn’t changed. But ‘why manga?’ you’re probably thinking.

It all started when I watched a manga series on Netflix: Vampire Knight (which I would also like to report I will be reading this series over the summer). I thought the storyline was so cool and I enjoyed that the language and art was different than other cartoons or animated series I’ve watched before. When the series ended, I wanted more. I looked the series up and saw that it was a manga series with even more books than what the Netflix series showed. So when I went to Barnes and Nobles, I picked up the first volume of the Vampire Knight series as well as a bunch of other manga books. I’ve always considered my taste in books to be limited because I mainly read romance books; I never gave myself the chance to branch out. So I decided I would give it a shot and so far I’m liking my decision.

Now that you know why I read my first manga ever, let’s get into the book. I’m glad I chose Demon Love Spell as the first manga book I’ve read. I was a bit nervous before I even started reading because I knew you had to read the books from left to right instead of right to left. So off the bat I was worried I would mess up, read it in the wrong way, and not know what to look at first: the dialogue to the action. However, the last page (first page the American way) gave a guide as to how to read manga. Even with the help of the guide, reading and getting into the flow of the book took me a couple of pages. But once I got the hang of it, I read this book in a span of twelve hours (not all at once, I took periodic hour breaks).

Speaking on finishing this book in twelve hours, the fact that I finished the book in so little time worries me a bit as I move forward. I don’t know how regular manga readers do it. In a normal two or three hundred page book, it will take me a whole day, sometimes two. And that’s with my sitting down and not moving at all. Usually a book will take me around four or five days to read if I break my reading time up more. When I have a load of word to do, then the book will take me a week or so. But I finished this book in twelve hours. My fear now (I guess) is that I’m reading almost too fast and not internalizing the books and events, though I understand everything that’s happening and remember the plot. I’m not sure how to feel about this speed but that matter won’t stop me from continuing to read manga.

Though I know I’m in no place to talk about the art of this book, I still have to talk about it. I was talking with a friend about my new obsession with manga. When I mentioned Vampire Knight, they talked about how good the art was. I thought that comment was weird. At first I thought that there was no way a manga art could be good or bad, better or worse than other books. But I stand corrected.

After I finished Demon Love Spell, I went back to Barnes and Noble to buy the rest of the series (duh) and naturally I went looking into other series to buy and read. I came across one—I don’t remember the title—book and was looking through the first couple of pages. The art looked really messy! I found it hard to follow and I couldn’t distinguish between the different drawings; it didn’t look nice all in all. The one thing I like about Demon Love Spell is that the art is clear, each section is broken up but still flows together, and the drawings and details is crisp and well done in general. These features really helped me in reading manga for the first time. Plus, the little added drawings in the background just enhanced the story altogether.

Now onto the general story: I liked the plot and characters as well. But I think it’s also safe to say that I’ve had a positive reading experience with this manga series, so naturally I will think the characters and plot are good. My favorite part of the book has to be the back-and-forth between Miko and Kagura. They can’t get any more different than each other but they make a great team. Even when Kagura is mini-Kagura, I can’t stop laughing; his character is swoon-worthy, bold, devilious—everything different from Miko’s innocence. You will definitely see my forever rooting for Migura (I just want to point out that I didn’t mean for that name to be spelled out; it just happened and I’m keeping it that way...but the name works, right?)

Overall, though I have a fear of reading the book too fast (a quality of manga I will have to get over), I enjoyed this book like every other book I’ve read, more so compared to books in some cases. I plan to keep reading this series as well as the other five (no joke) volume one manga books I’ve bought. If you have never tried manga before, I would recommend your trying at least once and I think Demon Love Spell would be a good book to start on.

⭐⭐⭐⭐ ...more

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Oct 28, 2017 Katie Greenwood rated it liked it

**Actual review 3.5**
So I remember writing in a post a while ago that my favourite kind of Manga are the dark and twisted ones. Whilst I stand by this I find myself gravitating more towards the fun and a little tongue in cheek series now. That's exactly how I'd describe Demon Love Spell, it's cheeky but an awful lot of fun.

It follows Miko, a shrine maiden that has never had much luck banishing spirits. Until she meets Kagura, a demon that feeds off women's passion and love. In a twist of events ...more

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Sep 24, 2017 Teresa rated it really liked it

This story is about a shrine maiden named Miko who just can't seem to do her job. Both of her parents and even her grandparents expelled demons from the world. While she tries to expel demons from her shrine, she can't see the demons, so she doesn't even know if the spell went in the right direction or not! When her friend rushes to her telling Miko about this boy who must be possessed by a demon, since he is such a womanizer, Miko runs to the call of her friend and classmates. Of course, her fr ...more

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Jun 09, 2017 Heather Harvey rated it it was amazing

Shelves: manga

This was...great!

I love the two main characters! I just love how the main girl's name is Miko and she is a shrine maiden. I like the perverted, flirty incubus Kagura also. The interactions between the two of them is just genuine entertainment.

It has clever dialogue and of course some "cheeky innuendos" like the School Library Journal said, but it was tasteful and not creepy.

The 'rival' was pretty hilarious and just added more to the story.

I love chibi Kagura!

This first volume just makes me wan ...more

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About Mayu Shinjo

Mayu Shinjo

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新條まゆ in Japanese
Mayu Shinjo debuted in 1994 in Shogakukan's Shōjo Comic with "Anata no Iro ni Somaritai". She continued writing for Shogakukan until 2007, with her works appearing in both Shōjo Comic and their other magazine Cheese!. She left the company to go freelance citing a dispute over working conditions and abusive treatment by her editor.

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