Karandi Archives | 100 Word Anime

Become a Blog Sponsor – Help Support 100 Word Anime This Spring Season

Posted on March 9, 2022March 9, 2022 by Karandi

If you’ve been visiting 100 Word Anime for awhile you would have noted that some posts are sponsored by the amazing people below: they are my previous blog sponsors.

If you want to get right to business, click here.

The September 2021 Blog Sponsors

The April 2021 Blog Sponsors

These supporters are amazing and I’d love to be able to give them all a hug as they’ve helped me keep my WordPress Plan and domain name as well as access to anime. This year I’ve also been working on improving my understanding of SEO and trying to make my blog visuals and social media presence a little more planned rather than just whatever happens using Canva to try to coordinate things.

I also remove google ads from sponsored posts (may have missed one or two) and am hopeful that eventually I can turn off advertising altogether.

Now I am trying something different this season. Rather than sponsoring an anime and then having to contact me to discuss which show leading to back and forth emails or direct messages on twitter only to find the anime you wanted was already sponsored and so on, this time you select the anime you want to prior to sponsoring.

Hopefully this will simplify the process. You can still choose to simply donate without sponsoring a given series.

Goal?

We’re aiming for $100 during the Spring 2022 season with the next drive to occur in June.

Current total = $25

Please ensure I can contact you via the email address used for payment so that I can confirm what you want on your sponsor’s badge which will be displayed on the about page as well as on any posts you have sponsored. However, if you contact me before you sponsor we can discuss and organise all details before any is made payment.

To make a general donation you can use this link and select the amount.

You will receive a blog sponsor badge on the about page (if you want one). Please ensure I can contact you to get details for your badge (including the image and link you would like as well as a brief description of what you do – see examples above).

By sponsoring an anime your sponsor badge will appear on:

A maximum of 12 episode posts (min 600 words per post) during the Spring 2022 anime season.
1 review of the season + 1 article discussing an aspect of the anime.

Should your chosen anime be unavailable to me for any reason once the season begins a replacement series will be negotiated or a refund provided.

Use this link to access the spreadsheet for the Spring 2022 season. Please add the name you want for your badge and the link you would like beside the anime you are sponsoring and then make payment to ensure that two people do not try to sponsor the same series.

Anime sponsorship is AU$20 per series. The options for the Spring Season are below. If there is a different series you really want to sponsor instead, contact me to discuss.

Please ensure I can contact you to get details for your badge if you are a new sponsor (including the image and link you would like as well as a brief description of what you do – see examples above).

If you would like to choose a post topic contact me to discuss first.

If we agree on a topic, this option will cost $10 which can be paid to my PayPal.

The post will be a minimum of 1000 words in length and appear on the blog during the Spring Anime season (April – June 2022).

You will receive a blog sponsor badge on the about page (if you want one) as well as on the post written on the topic provided. Please ensure I can contact you to get details for your badge (including the image and link you would like as well as a brief description of what you do – see examples above).

Thank-you

Your ongoing support is appreciated as it helps keep the blog going.

Help Support 100 Word Anime This Spring Season 2000 × — _{Donate to the blog.}

Thank-you for reading 100 Word Anime.
Join the discussion in the comments.
Karandi James

A Huge Thank-You To 100 Word Anime Blog Sponsors

Posted on October 1, 2021September 30, 2021 by Karandi

The September blog sponsors drive has come to a close and I want to give a huge thanks to everyone who contributed. While I didn’t quite hit the target for September the contributions made will certainly help off-set the costs of the blog.

The amazing people who supported the blog in September and April are listed below and all of them are fantastic members of the ani-blogging community and I’m very thankful for them. Also a huge thanks to those who helped share the word on Twitter during September. I understand not everyone is in a position where they can contribute financially so I appreciate your help in getting the word out.

September 2021 Blog Sponsors

April 2021 Blog Sponsors

This Fall season I will have four anime that have been sponsored for review. Winter will have one anime of sponsored content.

If you would still like to sponsor or support 100 Word Anime (or would like to sponsor reviews of a winter anime) please contact me and we can discuss.

Thank-you

As always I want to thank you, my readers. The content on the blog exists for you and I love hearing your voices in the comments.

Thank-you for reading 100 Word Anime.
Join the discussion in the comments.
Karandi James

A Huge Thank-You To April’s Blog Sponsors

Posted on August 31, 2021August 27, 2021 by Karandi

For those who missed the April blog sponsor drive, largely this was an idea that cam about because I didn’t really want to continue with Patreon’s model of ongoing payments but I also needed to find a way to help keep the blog going and hopefully in the future growing.

I set a target of $200 for April with the intention of running a second blog sponsor drive in September and was incredibly thankful when I actually hit that target with a huge thanks to the following blog sponsors (as well as those who ultimately chose not to have a badge).

April 2021 Blog Sponsors

The money raised in April went toward offsetting some of the cost of renewing my WordPress Plan mid-year and was a hugely appreciated help in keeping the blog running along. I’ll also say that for those who chose a series for me to review, it has been interesting given I’m committing to review something that might turn out amazing or not but either way I’m not walking away from it.

It actually made me feel like I was taking reviewing seriously rather than just watching whatever caught my fancy. More than that, I found myself actively looking for different aspects of the shows to write about each week and I think the last six months has seen my episode review writing get better. Less a reaction and more focused on trying to review or analyse particular parts of the shows.

This wasn’t an intended outcome of this process but I think I really liked it. None of my blog sponsors put any pressure on me but I found myself wanting to write a slightly longer episode review or have a closer look at a different part of the anime because I wanted to do better. And that can only be better for the blog in the long run.

Excited that blog sponsorship has improved writing.

That said, the April blog sponsor drive was only a first step and the September blog sponsor drive will open soon looking for sponsors for existing posts as well as for series coming out in the Fall 2021 and Winter 2022 seasons.

Thank-you

As always I want to thank you, my readers. The content on the blog exists for you and I love hearing your voices in the comments.

Thank-you for reading 100 Word Anime.
Join the discussion in the comments.
Karandi James

April Sponsorship Drive Wrap-Up and Thanks

Posted on May 1, 2021August 7, 2021 by Karandi

2021 April – Post Sponsor Drive

Target Achieved!

$205 raised toward the blog in April.

There’s going to be a lot of thanks expressed in this post because I am really thankful to my readers and to those who have offered support for the blog going forward.

I am so excited that this idea I had has kind of worked out. I was a little worried it seemed a bit odd but it felt a little fairer than my previous patron efforts. That said, this was the first attempt at doing this and I will be running another drive in September so for all my readers I’d love some feedback.

If you did sponsor a post, a series or made a donation:

Are you happy with the current structure using paypal?
Are you happy with the cost of post sponsorship and series sponsorship?
Is there more I can do to acknowledge you wonderful people in the future?

If you didn’t sponsor this time around for whatever reason I’d still like your feedback on whether you think this is a reasonable structure going forward and whether there are other options I should offer in future.

But who are the sponsors that I am so thankful for?

There are also a number of people who made a donation who either declined a badge or did not (yet) reply when I emailed them asking if they wished to have one made. That door is still open for those who donated as I would absolutely love to acknowledge your support (though I also respect those who wish to prefer anonymous).

If you don’t follow the amazing people above, I would absolutely recommend visiting their blogs – click on their badge. These guys are all active participants in our ani-blogging community and just great people to get to know.

A final huge thank-you to everyone who has chosen to support the blog this year.

Thank-you for reading 100 Word Anime.
Join the discussion in the comments.
Karandi James

Quadra-collab Fails to Form a Band: Reviews Given (movie)” – pt 4 (Final)

Posted on February 15, 2021September 20, 2021 by Karandi

Regular readers will know that I was a huge fan of the Given anime and once I found out about the movie I was super excited. And then Irina went and made it even better by suggesting this collaboration between Scott, Shoujo, Irina and myself after we viewed the movie. Hopefully you have already seen the first three parts of this collab but if not be sure to check them all out:

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Haikyu Kotaro Bokuto (Re-Run)

Meanwhile, here is the final part of the discussion with Scott 🚀, Irina🍸, Shoujo🌸 and Karandi🍣.

Given Movie 8 — *^{This movie really does take the characters and the audience on an incredible emotional journey despite the short run time.}*

S🚀: I enjoyed this film quite a bit because of how much of a ride it was. I mentioned listening to Nana music afterwards on Twitter because this made me feel like I was watching Nana again. All of that was because of how messy the relationships were, how everything was made by characters making the wrong choices, and how wrong and yet right relationships felt.

It kind of stunned me in a good way. I think that Haruki and Kaji meeting up with each other felt a bit rushed in some ways, but it feels natural too. Just a lot of good writing I think. Very natural sort of character drama. I do think that adding maybe 30 minutes to put in some breathing room with Mafuyu and Ueno dating would have helped to make it feel complete, but this was good.

It is a sequel movie, so it only makes sense to have the context from other sources to know more. If I would be a new viewer, I think it would work to get the viewer interested in watching the series. I wouldn’t mind more sequels too. More of this softness, please? Thank you.

SJ🌸 : I didn’t mind the pace of the movie; I agree that it added something that all their emotions were so breakneck, so jarring. Still, an hour-long movie wasn’t enough to scratch my Given itch, and I agree that if one were to go into the movie without having seen the series, one wouldn’t have the experience necessary to form as deep of a connection to the events as they would having watched events prior. I, like Scott, would have liked to see the movie be longer. I think that something closer to feature length (75 to 210 minutes) would have given the adaptation more room to explore without taking away from the jarring twists and turns.

Personally, I felt so much anger—so much indignation and sorrow and frustration. Without getting into spoilers, I can’t say much, but I can say that events that occur earlier in the movie colour my viewing experience for the rest of the film, leaving me conflicted at every turn as I watch Haruki and Kaji’s relationship unfold. A second season taking place after the events of the movie is greatly needed. Given (haha, oops) the amount of content available, I think we actually have a pretty good chance of seeing these characters on screen again. Given is nothing if not good at evoking emotion. I would like more of that, whether that’s in the form of movies/OVAs or a series. (But series, please!)

Given Movie 10 — ^{So much pain here for all of the characters.}

I🍸: Even with all this criticism, at the end of the day, it was great seeing Given again. It made me happy and reminded me just how much I loved the series. I might actually rewatch it. And if they ever announce another season, I will be watching it as it airs!

SJ🌸 : Me, too!! I sure hope that our wishes come to fruition!

S🚀: Nod, nod!

I🍸: Random thoughts – the orchestral piece at the beginning was gorgeous. Just amazing. Also, I think the character designs may have gotten a subtle boost. Maybe it was just me projecting my happiness.

K🍣: The music was brilliant.

I’m not sure if the character designs got any better but I know that one of the most heartbreaking moments had nothing to do with the emotional story being told and everything to do with me being devastated that one of the characters underwent a hairstyle change mid-movie. I totally get what was driving him at that point but it still nearly made me cry.

Given Movie 7 — *^{This expression kind of shows my horror at Haruki’s decision to cut his hair}*

S🚀: I think it looked about the same honestly because Lerche isn’t that much of a power house studio, but their style and direction is always good. They still hid the hands when everyone played music instruments and there was some obvious cg with Mafuyu, but the writing was still great and the music was on point so it all worked in the end.

SJ🌸 : I actually really like the art of both the movie and the series. There was a bit of a distracting CG work I noticed here or there, but overall, I was very impressed! Further, Karandi, I KNOW!!! THE HAIRCUT. I was… so angry on his behalf.

K🍣: On the other-hand Shoujo, they do this all the time to female characters who are undergoing a transition or dealing with something. I guess it is a nice symbolic ending of one thing and the start of something else. That said, poor hair.

I🍸: Just so you know, in the manga there’s a flashback where Haruki decides that until he starts dating Kaji, he will let his hair grow out. As such, the long hair represented his one sided attachment and devotion to Kaji and him cutting it off was a visual way to tell the audience that he was ready to move on from Kaji specifically. Which was absolutely necessary if they were to ever have a healthy relationship.

Given Movie 11 — *^{You’re breaking my heart, Haruki.}*

I also like Haruki better with his long hair. He’s my phone’s lock screen.

SJ🌸 : I love the symbolism! Yes, he cut his hair when he was originally growing it for Kaji, and yes, it represents an end to his pining (in a great, visual way), but his poor heart!!

S🚀: I wasn’t expecting haircut discourse, but I am kind of inbetween. He looked great with it, but I think his hair being cut is also pretty attractive. It gives him such a different edge that I kind of like. I am apparently the outsider though.

And so the collaboration ends. A huge thanks to Shoujo, Scott and Irina for this as watching a movie by yourself can be a great experience, but watching a movie and then being able to discuss it with people who were also very attached to these characters and anticipating it and how we felt about it just made it an overall wonderful experience.

I will post an individual review of the movie later and may even do a rewatch first, but for now that’s our thoughts on the Given Movie. And seriously, if you didn’t check out the other 3 parts of this discussion, I totally recommend you do as it was great fun to write and we’d all love to know your thoughts on the movie.

Images used for review from: Given (movie). Dir. H. Yamaguchi. Lerche. 2020.

Thank-you for reading 100 Word Anime.
Join the discussion in the comments.
Karandi James

Travel Announcement

Posted on March 24, 2019March 23, 2019 by Karandi

This is going to be a super quick post and mostly is just an announcement that in two weeks I am going to be heading off to Tokyo!

As you can guess, I’m super excited about this.

Now mostly I’m getting to go to Japan because someone I know has been over there the last few months for work and I’m visiting (not that it would take much to convince me to go to Japan). As a result I’ll pretty much be staying in Tokyo for the couple of weeks I am there other than the occasional day trip elsewhere.

Still, I absolutely love Tokyo and I’m really determined to spend some time exploring it this visit and maybe visit some of the less touristy places when I’ve got the time to wander about.

What does it mean for the blog?

Well, I don’t really know. With the Winter season ending right before I leave I don’t know if I’ll start reviewing the Spring anime until I get back (unless the internet connection I end up with over there is better than I’m expecting in which case business as usual).

I’ll have some prepared posts that will go out but given how behind I’ve been in my normal posting, unlike previous trips away, I haven’t prepared daily posts in my absence.

I am hoping to update with some very cool photos of my trip while I’m away. Though that will depend on the internet again.

That said, I’m not letting it stress me. I’m really going to have fun on this trip and if I can’t maintain reviews while I’m away then I will catch up when I get back. Hopefully readers will understand and hopefully I’ll still be able to read blogs and post updates.

So that’s all from me and I’ve got two weeks to brush up on some basic Japanese, pack my bags, and then I’m off.

By the way, did I mention I’m super excited?!!!! (Yes, multiple exclamation points excited.)

Thank-you for reading 100 Word Anime.
Join the discussion in the comments.
Karandi James

Inquiring Minds Want To Know 2019 #10

Posted on March 16, 2019March 9, 2019 by Karandi

Well this question kind of comes about in response to a previous one. Hopefully you enjoy it and share your thoughts on it in the comments below. And a always, if you have something to ask me you can complete the survey below or by clicking here. I’d love to hear your question.

I’ve been rewatching Yama no Susume over the weekend and then I saw the Inquiring Minds question about OTP’s… And it occurs to me, why do we always talk about romantic partners? Let’s talk about true friends! The pairs or groups that will always be there together and for each other.
Derek

So I guess there are two parts to this question. Firstly why we’re all fixated on romantic partners and shipping characters rather than friendship, and secondly looking at characters that are true friends.

I’m not really sure why, but maybe it is the whole fairy tale upbringing but the whole romantic falling in love and being with the one you love is kind of a standard of stories. As such, having characters fall in and out of love is kind of fascinating. That and it is always so adorable to watch. I’m just not sure I could see the same discussions about two characters becoming good friends and ‘will they – won’t they’ be friends forever debates raging. Okay, maybe as viewers we all just like speculating about a fictional character’s romantic prospects.

So while I’m not sure why we are fixated on OTP’s and falling in love, I do know there are some fantastic examples of friendship that come through in anime. Recently, Run With The Wind has done an excellent job bringing ten guys together and making them feel like genuine friends over the course of its series and it has been nothing but pure joy watching them celebrate each other’s successes and supporting those who might be having a harder time.

Still, the pair that immediately came to mind when I read this question was Chito and Yuuri from Girls’ Last Tour. While I have read some posts that ship these two, I found their friendship to be an utterly believable one and one that really helped carry the anime (given these two were largely the only characters in it). Both were charming in their own way but the way their personalities bounced off the other really sold the show.

You could completely believe that Yuuri would do whatever it took to defend Chito and she would work to get them out of any tight spots (even if her own lack of forward planning was what had gotten them into that spot in the first place). Where Chito would hesitate to act, Yuuri would take the plunge, leading to the pair making discoveries that might otherwise have passed them by. On the other hand you could count on Chito to keep Yuuri from diving into too much trouble and have the longer view of how they would survive and bring knowledge into the discussion. While the two might have had their share of disagreements, such as when Yuuri burnt one of Chito’s books, the two never stayed put out for long because they needed the other one.

The other anime that immediately sprang to mind was School Live. For obvious reasons the girls had to rely on one another but I believe their friendship grew and was really genuinely portrayed throughout the anime. Yuki would not be alive without the support and love of those around her and I believe she knows that very well and each girl contributes something that is needed emotionally for their survival as well as their more practical skills.

Hopefully that kind of answers the question and I’d love to know what you all think so throw us a comment and let us all know.

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GIRLS UND PANZER: DREAM TANK MATCH DX (MULTI-LANGUAGE)

Inquiring Minds Want To Know 2019 #9

Posted on March 9, 2019March 5, 2019 by Karandi

Inquiring Minds Want To Know Feature Image

A rather intriguing question this week and one I am keen to get into. I’m also excited to know what other people think of this one. As always though, if you have a question you’d like me to tackle please feel free to complete the survey below or follow this link.

If you could reset your memory of two particular anime series — one that you don’t mind forgetting about forever and one that you want to re-watch again without prior knowledge — what would those two series be?
From Mei

Okay, let’s start with the one that I wouldn’t mind forgetting about forever… the thing here is I actually don’t mind having watched most things even if they are bad. That is because it gives me something against which to compare stuff that is only kind of okay and stuff that is actually good. So forgetting something terrible would just make me more critical of stuff that is actually kind of competent.

Still there’s a definite temptation to throw Hand Shakers into this one. I just couldn’t find anything to recommend about that anime and it was an incredible time suck that gave very little back. Diabolik Lovers would be another anime I’d like to just pretend I hadn’t given in to temptation and watched it.

However, anime I’d like to rewatch again without prior knowledge is actually a harder question. There’s quite a few that I’d love to experience again for the first time.

The one that immediately springs to mind is Natsume Yuujinchou. I love that anime and I’ve rewatched the earlier seasons a lot of times and it certainly doesn’t have diminishing returns as that lovely relaxing and calm feeling as well as the general cathartic nature of the anime really hits home each and every time. But the first watch was something special. Watching it was genuinely like experiencing falling in love and while the anime remains amazing after repeated viewings having that initial rush of emotions and that unexpected blossoming love would be amazing to re-experience.

The other anime I’d like to throw in here (though there are plenty of others) would be March Comes in Like a Lion. Meeting Rei for the first time and seeing his growth all over again and how he struggles, moves forward, falls back, is lifted up and helped by the sisters, finds his own feet and moves forward, to continue to struggle… there was just something really incredible about his character journey and while rewatching March Comes In Like a Lion was a great experience, seeing it the first time was almost overwhelming emotionally.

So those are my two picks for the second part of the question. But again, I’d love to know what my readers would choose so be sure to leave us a comment and if you have a question for me it is as simple as completing the survey below.

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Inquiring Minds Want To Know – Send Me Your Questions

Posted on March 2, 2019March 1, 2019 by Karandi

Well, we’ve gotten to that time again where the backlog of questions have been answered. If you would like to ask me something and have it answered on my blog, please send me your question by completing the survey. Thanks to the couple of people who sent me through questions last week, I will start writing answers again next week.

Questions can be on any topic, though I am primarily an anime blogger so questions about anime are kind of appreciated.

If you don’t want to do the survey you can DM me on Twitter and just let me know it is a question for Inquiring Minds.

Thanks to everyone who has contributed a question to this blog series. I’ve had a lot of fun trying to answer your questions and hopefully you enjoy reading my responses. Hopefully we’ll have some more questions for next week.

Inquiring Minds Want To Know 2019 #4

Posted on January 26, 2019January 21, 2019 by Karandi

Rise is back with another Netflix related question. I’m sure there are some mixed opinions out there on this one so I’d love to know your answer if you would like to leave a comment below. As always if you have something to ask you can send the question my way by filling in the simple survey at the end of the post or you can use this link to the inquiring minds survey.

How do you feel about Netflix producing their own anime verses a traditional ‘Japanese studio’ producing them?
Rise

seven deadly sins netflix 1024x683 pagespeed ce 6hiut kck

I’m actually pretty indifferent about who produces anime or any kind of media really. My only real concern is whether it is entertaining and accessible. I was previously asked how I felt about Chinese co-productions and mostly again, while some of these have been terrible, I don’t dislike them just because they were co-produced. And some have actually been pretty good.

When it comes to Netflix, they definitely are making things accessible (even if they don’t stream weekly for the seasonal anime they get the rights to at this point in all countries – and they really, really should). But, when it comes to being entertaining, I’m guessing someone is entertained given how well Netflix is doing, but so far their anime has been, well, not to my taste.

Basically, of the Netflix anime (or one’s I think are Netflix) I’ve watched I really enjoyed Ajin and Kuromukuro. I found A.I.C.O disappointing but watchable and had a similar experience with Knights of Sidonia. However this year ID-0, B the Beginning, and a number of other titles just haven’t hit their mark for me. While they aren’t necessarily bad, they just aren’t what I’m interested in.

But, that doesn’t mean I want Netflix out of the industry. They are making anime more accessible to a wider western audience. What they are producing is entertaining some people. They are generally working with Japanese studios (as far as I am aware) in producing these anime which means there is money going back to the industry that might end up going towards other projects that I do enjoy. And that’s a fairly good thing.

I know some people don’t want to see anime go mainstream, but I think with the number of genres within anime, some being quite niche even within an already niche market, even if some anime ends up being mainstream, there will always be those smaller projects that hit the spot for those who want something a little bit different.

But, that’s just my opinion. As I said at the start, I’d love to know how the rest of you feel about this so please give us a comment below.

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NENDOROID NO. 528B HAIKYU!!: SHOYO HINATA JERSEY VER

Karandi

A Huge Thank-You To 100 Word Anime Blog Sponsors

September 2021 Blog Sponsors

April 2021 Blog Sponsors

Thank-you

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A Huge Thank-You To April’s Blog Sponsors

April 2021 Blog Sponsors

Thank-you

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April Sponsorship Drive Wrap-Up and Thanks

2021 April – Post Sponsor Drive

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Quadra-collab Fails to Form a Band: Reviews Given (movie)” – pt 4 (Final)

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Travel Announcement

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Inquiring Minds Want To Know 2019 #10

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Inquiring Minds Want To Know 2019 #9

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Inquiring Minds Want To Know – Send Me Your Questions

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Inquiring Minds Want To Know 2019 #4

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Karandi

The September 2021 Blog Sponsors

The April 2021 Blog Sponsors

2022 Spring Season – Blog Sponsor Drive

Blog Sponsor Option 1 – Donation to the Blog

Blog Sponsor Option 2 – Pick One of the Spring Anime Shows To Sponsor

Blog Sponsor Option 3 – Custom Post

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September 2021 Blog Sponsors

April 2021 Blog Sponsors

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April 2021 Blog Sponsors

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2021 April – Post Sponsor Drive

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