(Click here to skip to the
interview)
Didn't expect it to come early, but hey, new year, new photobook, I guess?
Welcome to 2020, everyone. Though even I didn't expect it to happen this quick,
but after all the boobs (lol) we saw in previous photobooks, we are back to
appreciating beauty. (The others are also beauty but this has no chest) (lmao
sorry) Maybe cute, maybe sexy, maybe all of them. We only get to see it once
this time with this girl though, so I'll take it. And yes, this series is not
over yet, but we'll talk about her first, yes? Haha let's do it
Also, what a great way to end my work leave for last year hehe man am I going to
walk in blind on this photobook (okay not true she released a trailer) but Anzai
Chika please don't disappoint me my dear
THE ORIGIN
You may not know of her as am I too, but I think we can talk about this woman
more. Anzai Chika is an Anime voice actress, no surprise, but it's her 10th year
coming. I mean, I probably did not know of her a decade ago, but it was probably
also due to the people around her (thanks Mikakoshi) who introduced her to me,
say maybe Anime" Sakura Quest" which I did not watch lol. Okay there's that
"Alternative Girls" game and Anime "Araoto" but still, 3 years isn't a long time
to know someone. Anyways, as you will see below, she has potential, she has a
lively personality, she loves to drink (I'll pay the bills I guess, haha), and
above all, she deserves more popularity. And to celebrate this, she decided to
release a photobook, probably even a rarity for many at this stage of their
career, so I'm glad to even have seen it. So why not give it a look, I say, and
here it is. (Can't be worse than that small travel photobook, I say) (haha)
Anzai Chika, you're welcome. And after what I've seen... I'm truly impressed.
Hey, I walked in without much expectation and I got more than I asked for which
was from nothing, to be honest. Let's talk about what was actually in it.
THE "REVIEW"
In this photobook which I bought from CDJapan - my 7-year long time partner for
shipping stuff from Japan - it doesn't feature travel (although she probably
travelled to take the shots), it's not someone in 10 outfits (lol Ten-chan),
it's not literal gravure, but instead... it's about Anime. Hey, voice actresses
be talking about Anime, yes? It's not cosplay though. It's just in general,
Anzai Chika fitting in to the themes of the Anime she has acted in the past
decade, from cute girls to whatever girl with guns to sexy desperate slu- okay
maybe not that, but you get the idea. Still, a great premise for a photobook, I
would argue, since now the theme is determined on how... "
bad" the roles she acted were. *laughs* Let's go into it quick I can't wait
Niina-chan~~
But before that... UNBOXING!!! What, you think I'm going to miss this? Just a
short one though.
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I was only expecting this to appear next week but hey shipping over the
new year is efficient
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They gotta list down ALL her roles at the back? Kana-chan's list can be
written INTO a book haha sorry
(Don't need to zoom in here we will talk about them below)
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写真集
Anzai Chika Photobook "Ichigo Ichi'e"
So yeah, it might be a first for me, but a photobook based on Anime the person
in question voiced in, if you saw the pink highlights on her role list above. I
would say it's refreshing to say the least, but again this is not exactly Anime
cosplay, so don't be mistaken. The photobook strives to portray the mood and
feel of the characters she has acted in, according to the photographer's comment
at the end of the book. Still, it does trigger some anticipation once you know
the shows that she has been and realise what you're in for.
*silence*
You'll get it soon. *laughs*
Also, for the sake of this photobook I will talk about the Anime and
specifically the character she acts in in order to give all of us a better idea
of this "cosplay" maybe. Titles featured in this photobook are the shows she has
acted main in.
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Oh this is not Anime though this is just her and me, uh, I mean, a cat.
*laughs*
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If I get to choose what to reincarnate to, being a cat is ranking high
on my list now hehe
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"Once in a lifetime", huh.
(You no do another though? This is real good)
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Chapter 01: "Araburu Kisetsu no Otome domo yo."
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In the Anime "O Maidens in Your Savage Season", Anzai (I can't do "Chika-chan"
I'm sorry) voices Sugawara Niina, a girl who started the whole fiasco in the
Literature Club after talking about "sex" openly and asking for a good time in
her teenage life. Yeah, you can guess where this photobook will go haha nah we
getting clean shots for now
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How old is she to be doing
JK cosplay? Well then again look at Japanese drama she's well in the
age range haha
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This is the part where you do the Anime thing by-
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From this angle she looks like she has chest...?
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Short-haired beauty is a trend, and she does it better
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Didn't know this Anime had an athlete thing too lol
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Chapter 02: "Anyamal Tantei Kiruminzoo"
(Well hello, my future girlfriend)
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In the Anime "Animal Detective Kiruminzoo" she is one of three main girls
(FYI along with Yuuki Aoi and Satou Satomi which I both know) who can transform
into animals to solve mysteries. Considering this is her first starring role
back in 2009, I may not know anything of it, the theme songs are sung in Thai
(yep), but I'm glad she didn't go into the animal cosplay route haha that would
be awesome though lol
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This one is good, this one.
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Tomatsu Haruka, is that you? lol
(Also, they giving out these plushies to the
fans kids, right?)
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Chapter 03: "Sakura Quest"
(The weather be hot she taking her coat off *ahem* let me take it for
you, dear)
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In the Anime "Sakura Quest", she acts as one of five main characters with a
cooler personality amongst a variety of traits, to complement the Queen mascot
of an amusement stemmed from misunderstanding, and the days to achieve success
and revitalise the town with the help of everyone around her. Not really main
main role, but this is one of those shows where she acts a cooler side of her,
as we would think from her image. Well, at least, I did.
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Oh so you want to do the crammed places thing? Okay haha
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She is making that jacket real redundant, by the way. *laughs*
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Help me check but is she posing for the Anime? I need to find the exact
shot now (not gonna, haha)
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Bottom left for her coolness, top right for the opposite haha why
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This is her definition of cool, and I like it.
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This might be a good time to mention that Anzai Chika might be pretty, but we're
not comparing her to like, Baba Fumika, by the way. (this one's got two moles
lol) She has her own charm, and I'm trying to show off here as much as I can so
that she can get more fans so the... the not-so-nice shots I'm leaving it inside
the book hehe
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Gotta stretch that... chest... out... amirite?? (>_<)
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Chapter 04: "Hitsugi no Chaika"
(wtf is that a gun??)
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In the Anime "Chaika -The Coffin Princess-", she voices main girl Trabant
Chaika, a former war soldier and surprisingly later in the story (spoilers),
maiden of the previous emperor, she searches for remnants of her father to give
him a proper burial. (I copied a lot of this from online lol) I've seen this
before but I don't think it's great, but yes, Anzai Chika as a cute girl. You
get where this is going already. Cute cosplay GO!!
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Yep, sure is a gun. Pointed right up her crotch by the way haha
(Okay we can't see it but)
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So white, so pure...
(It's literally beaming out of the book when I saw it)
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If there are ads for firearms she's going to be an ambassador haha okay
forget about it
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You can't see it but I'm right below her-
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These curtain plays are making me happy for some reason
(Childhood flashbacks maybe lol
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This can be her new profile pic, where coolness and cuteness combine
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Halftime! It's her playing with the cat haha
(Top left btw)
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Chapter 05: "Kuzu no Honkai"
(Oooh boy...)
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In the Anime "Scum's Wish" where I did actually sit down and give an episode and
disliked it, she voices main girl Yasuraoka Hanabi, who goes out with her male
classmate because they both can't be in love with the ones they like. And if you
need to know how far this went the couple is literally venting off their
jealousy or whatever feelings on each other. Yes, to the extent of sexually. You
can imagine what happened just an episode into this lol. Yes, this is the middle
of the photobook, by the way. Cream of the crop content starts now, baby!
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In case you didn't have enough of Anzai Chika JK cosplay earlier...
You can imagine whatever you like from her btw haha
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This is borderline illegal already, lying down on the table.
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Oh what, changing clothes scene? Wait, what??
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What she'll look like after both of us kissed continuously for 5 minutes
in the toilet lmao
(French kissed, by the way)
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Oh, we getting bed scenes now too?? Already worth the purchase haha
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I'm afraid to be on top of her now lol (>_<)
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| BATH SCENE TOO?? |
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Me walking in to my sis bathing be like
(I never did this before don't point fingers at me)
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If "once in a lifetime" shots meant this, I just saved you 3k yen haha
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Peeping tom angle because we all know we want it hehe
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Chapter 06: "Kokkoku"
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In the Anime "Kokkoku", she voices the main girl who has been kidnapped by a
secret organisation because... she can pause time, and being unaware to it, she
must now learn the power and discover the secret her grandfather has been
keeping from her for years. I think I've heard of the Anime before, but back
then I'm not a fan of sci-fi (not now too I guess) but if you don't use this
power to **** **** then... *laughs* Okay let's see Anzai Chika's coolness from
here on, shall we?
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I normally don't say people will out-cool their Anime characters but she
has done it
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She's got the looks for a cop drama series, not gonna lie. She looks
like an undercover cop here
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When my girl is drunk and doesn't know the way home lol
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This is as close as we will get EVER hehe
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Someone tell me this is just a photoshop instead of real shot haha I
mean seriously
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More cool Anzai Chika shots right there
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| And right there |
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Creating that time stopping effect, I see.
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And yeah if we can see through her this is what you get lol
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| *speechless* |
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Chapter 07: "Hibike! Euphonium"
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In the Anime "Sound! Euphonium" in which she is still known for today, she is
one of four main girls who are known for voicing one of the few brass band
music-focused Anime groups till date. It's like Idolmaster but of girls in the
brass club, if you need a summary. With two seasons and three movies (Jesus),
this show is still going strong, keeping her image strong as being one with
music. Music experience not included lol
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誰？
(Sorry, I have to do this haha)
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Oh okay it's her you can see from this shot lol
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Long-haired Anzai Chika actually looks real good, reminds me of (again)
Tomacchan
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Us on our first date but we know something happened on top left
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Now she looks like Tainaka Sachi haha what
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No really, this seriously looks like it
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She be like "me if I went for music class as a kid" haha kawaii
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Yeah I saw this in the trailer so this was what it was about (from
above)
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And the formal afterword lol "description of works"
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And some normal shots because they have some leftover budget lol
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"Somehow she likes her feet without any footwear on" is a trend I saw
here
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She's cute, isn't she?
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Just one more shot to end the book where we started
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So as you can see, quite a lot of fanservice considering this is her first ever
photobook (not going to compare to those who don't have one or those who got it
out of a monthly serialisation), surprised by the themes here, real cool, plenty
of close-ups which I like (hehe) (and I don't care if you don't), and overall a
good one to show the many faces of her, as seen from the eyes of the roles she
acted in Anime. Someday I want everyone to do this too especially the "K-ON!"
ones haha those people are old already though
THE INTERVIEW
In the "long" interview (it's written on the book, man...) spanning three pages
long, Anzai Chika talks about her years as an Anime voice actresses, and the
process and thoughts about this photobook and its shooting,
To summarise, here are the points we should know, coming from herself:
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As a kid, she was loved by her mom. (That's... a good mom haha) "I was born
because of my mom so I'm never leaving her alone!" (lol) In elementary
school she spent most of her time going around with her mother, probably
based on this ideal. She remembers the days which she cannot sleep if not
with her mother (Aw...), specifically (not going to emote her telling the
story, but) on the days where she has to wait for her mother to come home
from work to sleep with her on the first floor and to realise waking up
alone in the second floor room of her own, she "learnt the feeling of
despair at the moment". (lmao) Her feelings for her mother was so strong
even the father couldn't compete. ("I don't want daddy, I want mommy!" lol
poor dad)
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With regards to her inspiration to become a voice actress, she was in a
choir as a kid, and the teacher taught her to "convey feelings to the
audience" through harmonius singing. And outside of performances they get to
do a yearly concert in the form of a musical, and to the group it felt like
something of a big stage every year. Initially it was from "Sound of Music",
and then she got her own solo role as the wolf from "Little Red Riding Hood"
which got her excited for the role as she thought real hard how to convey
the role to the audience. It was these performances which she treasured that
spawned her thoughts into turning acting into a career.
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(cont'd) (goddamn her stories are long lol) A day when she got to watch
Anime on TV, her mother told her about the wonders of the voices behind
animation which gave her a shock of such a reality, and shaped her thought
to aiming for such a career.
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With regards to her parent's reactions as she decided to go to the city (ie.
Tokyo) at 15, her desires for wanting to be one powered her to go out of her
box after middle school, and seeing auditions for voice actors during her
late middle school days, she decided to go for it and thanks to her mother,
she went for auditions. And she made it, which made her real happy that
"such a miracle" has happened. As a side note, they had to take photos of
their full body for the audition (yep) and so she got her mother to help her
take it... in front of the altar. (lol) She recalls how awkward and somewhat
surreal that might be considering she just barely dressed up for the shot
(if I had to guess just a tight outfit eg. jeans, to show figure), but maybe
it's also thanks to the ancestors' powers that she made it, is what she
thought.
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With regards to her life before officially debuting as a voice actress, it
was full of lessons (for voice acting), part-time work and studying in high
school. The days were hard but it was fun and without regret. As the
difficulty went up in training, she thought of giving up, but she knows she
wouldn't get another chance at this, so she did her best. From talent
trainings to tests throughout the years before debut specifically on solo
music, she was tried on with different music genres and so on, but still
couldn't find ground on her singing, which reminded herself never to accept
the offer of a solo artist debut. (Ah, no wonder) (But this also means she
will still sing in Anime, and will explain her... sub-par singing in Anisama
as Euphonium's group) At the start it was self-motivation, but slowly
towards debut it was for the people around her, from family to the best
manager she had (probably still the current one, the "bancho" as in her Twitter account), and eventually to the fans supporting her.
Becuase of all this, she knows not to quit and treasure the people around
her, doing it for the sake of the people around her.
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With regards to downs in life so far, she described earlier in March 2019
where one of her three cats passed away, and without proper burial with her
existence, she was depressed for about 4 days. Since it has been family for
16 years (man, the family didn't care?), she was saddened to even continue
to work as her heart was (literally) dead from the manager breeaking the
news to her, and the manager got her leave to go back to see it, despite it
being "a cold body without life". (*sob* She gotta say it like this? *sob*)
It affected her recording that day greatly, and she would like to apologise
for not doing her best in the prescence of sad news. It felt unprofessional,
and thoughts of quitting surfaced in her again.
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With regards to her comments on the acting of roles from the Anime she was
in on the photobook, to play in the viewpoint of the Anime some time ago and
re-enacting the feels of it was interesting to her. It was an easy concept
on paper, but it took a lot of thinking to come up with that would represent
each Anime and its image correctly. The production helped her to create this
"once in a lifetime" photobook, which she is thankful for. She then goes on
to say how much she treasured every single role given to her, from Anime to
games and so on, and how they play a role in her life in return.
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With regards to the approach she takes on voice acting, she still says till
this date she is searching for it, and hopes to be in sync with the feelings
the audience feel when they watch it. She then goes on to talk about the
positive and negative feelings of the characters she plays and how she
potrayed them, but she did talk about the positive sides with regards to her
private life on radio often (well too bad then I don't listen to that)
(haha), but in this interview she got to talk about the negative parts of
her life too. "It'll be the first and last time" (lol) (See, she's a very
positive person, I tell you)
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With regards to what has changed in her for the past decade, it feels like
the same when she started so she may not have felt any change herself. She
did notice the change a lot when she got to eat with fellow voice actors in
recent years though, where people get to talk to her and be by her side when
she was down. It was also easy to connect with them since her "private life"
now also ties in to actual work, which she felt might be the biggest change
so far, with the colleagues around her.
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With regards to last words for those who read the photobook (that means me)
(you didn't buy this so it doesn't count lol), she said (and I swear it's
not just words it's a paragraph) she thanks all who have bought technically
her first image material in her life, and tells us not to read on this
(interview, I assume) too much because this is not what she wants us to
think of her as. She likes her roles in Anime, wishes us to continue to like
the shows she stars in, and move forward with her even for the next 10 or
even, 11 years ahead. She also thanks us for the time to even read through
this photobook for it will only be to look back and laugh at in years to
come.
I mean, if you can't feel how enthusiastic and yet humble she is in person, I
don't know what will make you like this woman. This is also half the reason why
I'm here. The other half? I'll let you look through this photobook again, I
guess. *laughs*
Oh, and here's the full thing in Japanese if you can read it:
Oh man, that was a long interview. I need to stop doing this haha. Hey, it was
mostly her with her grandmother stories too, and- Okay I better not sh*t on her
now haha. Again, still a treasure in the Anime industry, and as much as I didn't
support her in her roles (sorry but I say that to all the girls I follow
anyways), I think this is a good chance to get to know her better. Thanks, Anzai
Chika, never picked a better opportunity to know you more. Cya guys next time
then, and until then... remember the next will be the last, because as like
Chika-chan (haha I said it) this photobook thing will be only "once in a
lifetime". Yes, 10 books, and I'll be done. Hope your happy, future self. You
did it. You wasted a bunch of money on images of girls lol haha see you all this
weekend
P.S. Legit thought of publishing this in 15:18 because of the title but uh...
you guys can't see the publish time anyways so whatever haha
