Anime Blog Online

Archive for January, 2010

TTGL: Lagann-hen is probably what the final episode of Gurren Lagaan should have been. And a bit more.

But still, doesn’t diminish it’s epicness. You guys can read my sidebar for my thoughts about it for the time being. I will post more later.

©2010 Kurogane's Anime Blog. All Rights Reserved.

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Togame is pretty entertaining. Well worth sitting through the show for 50 mins to see her mess up.

But otherwise, Katanagatari was pretty…. “balanced”; the good parts and the bad parts were pretty much equal for me.

For example the dialogue; while it was pretty witty at parts, the wooden voice acting cancelled it out a bit, especially from Shichika. Only Yukarin actually sounded proper, enthusiatic and all, but otherwise Shichika and Koumori were pretty wooden. Mai Nakahara didn’t really get to say much sadly.

Story-wise, pretty okay so far, no gripes on that yet since it’s purely just the introductionary episode.

Art-wise…. while the overall quality was pretty good, the bland directing didn’t do justice to how pretty everything is. I think it’s the problem of all the pans. Pretty much feels like a budget-saving technique more than anything. Rather unfortunate too that the action scenes were short since many (me included) expected a bit more from a show with the premise of collecting evil swords.

Still worth continuing, but I wouldn’t recommend it enthusiatically to anyone yet.

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This was a fun episode…

Epic retort there by Hino-kun.

Never let your guard down when under Mikan-sensei’s watch.

Haruka Tomatsu is pretty fucking hillarious as Hedyeh.

Daichi; confirmed as reverse trap.

Hot daymn, I’ve missed that face. Evil Face Tomomi = win.

Seriously… i think every freaking show this season is going to have some form of BL-hijack in them. Ookamikakushi, BakaTest, Vampire Bund (wait till they get to Yuki’s novels!) and even LvsB isn’t spared.

Oh wow, hottest cameo sex scene ever. Can we get more of them later?

And I am surprised to find out it’s Kana-chan as Ayse (Aishah?) at the end of the episode. I was thinking Ayse’s mute or something.

So far, I have to say that Ladies vs Butlers is turning out to be the show I am enjoying wholeheartedly this season. I guess it’s the unrestrained manner they go about with fanservice (nipples. everywhere! literally!) and how simple the story is so far. It doesn’t pretend to more than anything that it is at face-value and pretty much delivers on its market niche perfectly. People have no idea how I miss shows like that. Granted, rewatch value might be “meh” but hey, we ain’t watching GitS:SAC here, so who cares!

That aside, the story this week was based on a pretty fucking hillarious setup; walk in to foreign beauty changing -> suddenly forced in to marriage. I wonder how long has it been since I’ve seen that used, haha.

Star of the episode admittedly is Tomatsu Haruka’s rendition of the mental Hedyeh, followed closely by Flameheart’s extremely dirty mind. Hell, she’s the one who created that “child rape” scene last week, and she delivers again this week, ahaha.

And holy shit… the preview for next episode seems like they are going to kick that fanservice knob up a full notch or two. I shall be waiting.

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As expected from Maria. Even revived mythological monsters don’t faze her at all in the slightest.

On the other hand, we have a rare chapter where Yukiji actually acts like an elder sister for once! Even giving our dear Hinagiku some really pertinent advice at life!

I’m not going to post a fuckton of pages delve deeper in to her actions this chapter, but suffice to say it qualifies as a nice Moment of Heartwarming in the manga.

But for all intents and purposes, please go back to Hayate vs Athena. We stopped at quite a cliffhanger last chapter.

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Engines, weapons, navigation, communications: check. Systems all green. THAT is cleared for takeoff!

Dear Friends and Readers,

After much deliberation and hard work, THAT has now moved to our own domain! From now on, join us at www.THATanimeblog.com

We’re all looking forward to having our new site operational and having you join us there. Our own domain will allow us to have more control over the technical details of our site and better serve our readers. Please update any feeds or bookmarks you may have. This AB.net site will be staying up to redirect our readers to the new one, but all new content will be on the new site. We would like to thank the AB.net crew for the home they’ve given us since we started out and we wish them and the AB.net community the best.

Additionally, the excellent and difficult work done by those who helped set up our new site must be acknowledged. Many thanks to Crusader for securing the new address, to Kabitzin from Sea Slugs Team and our own Mabdese for their work in setting up the layout and importing files, and to mercenary computer security engineer extraordinaire Agruktos for getting down into the messy, buggy depths of such a complicated undertaking and managing to resolve our most persistent issues. The journey was long and arduous, and much more technically infuriating complicated than we first suspected, but now finally it is done. In the next few days some minor tweaks will be done to the new site, but these do not relate to the main functioning or appearance of the site. Starting tomorrow I (EO) will be remaking all the ‘premium subscriber’ logins for our friends who use them, so please be patient if you regularly use one. And please let us know if you encounter any technical problems, we’ve had so many it’s hard to believe that there isn’t one last gremlin lurking somewhere. Thank you for reading THAT, and we look forward to seeing you at our new home.

The THAT team moves our precious squid plushy and other materials over to the new site.

We are Oscar Mike! Stay frosty.

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Someone, please tell me how “Hanamaru” translates to “Gold Star”?!

That. Is extremely a profound thing to hear from a 4/5 year old girl. Precocious much?

YAMAMATO-SENSEIIIIIIIIII!!!!!

ヽ(o￣∇￣o)/ (*＾▽＾)人(＾▽＾*)　 BEST. PART. OF. THE. FIRST. HALF.

Oh god what is that I don’t even

I should make a .gif out of this. Hii-chan has great potential in the future.

Biggest lie of the Year. Is Yamamoto really that clueless? But that said I still want her to be my WAIFU.

Good job, Gainax. Glad to see you guys haven’t lost your touch after so long. This is now my Favourite Show™ of the season.

©2010 Kurogane's Anime Blog. All Rights Reserved.

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Bring it down Biribiri.

It’s been a while since my last Railgun post, most of it was because I was trying to over come my disappointment with Kuroko over her un-lady like behavior in 13 and dismay that Mii was in love with a dude… The BIG FIGHT with the hyper ugly baby thing was satisfying enough though through the course of these episodes Biribiri’s limited understanding of others and her unwavering sense of justice has come out in full force. The fight it self was pretty good with Biribiri’s close combat skills shining through, heavily reliant on her powers though it may be. With the arrival of the candy lady I guess we are getting hints of something bigger at work once again. I am more sympathetic to Biribiri’s never give up attitude, but having been enlisted for over five years now I don’t think kicking quitters to the curb is the proper solution. For every broken person there is always a way to rebuild them though scrapping them for spares is not yet ethical…

The obligatory swimsuit episode was well…rather disappointing. In my humble opinion swimsuits ought to be stylish and fit for a lady sadly Mii’s was rather small, which they made much effort to point it out. Still Kuroko was the worst offender of them all, thankfully after a while the initial nausea wore off. It seems that Kuroko had yet to learn the importance of style form Alphard and Liang Qi who must have been greatly disappointed at how Kuroko showed more than she needed to and lacked the fashion sense to go with something more appropriate. I for one think Kuroko should have gone with the one her onee-sama had her eyes on. Maybe then Biribiri would have given Kuroko a bit more notice… I suppose the lesson is that you don’t have to show that much skin to look good. The only highlight was how Kongo-san dug herself a deep hole while Kuroko was gleefully grinning in the background. Judging by the sound advice they were trying to give on swimwear I guess the Railgun team has had first hand experience with swim suit FAIL.

Saten’s special lesson actually brought a better conclusion to the level upper arc, and it was rather fun to see the collection of level upper offenders in one place though I thought that the dark haired invisible girl didn’t listen to bad music. I wonder if Ane-go is going to be a recurring character, she was fairly amusing even if she got owned by Anti-skill CQC. I was hoping that Saten’s yuri stalker friend would make bold decisive moves but I suppose not. I guess Saten only has Uiharu in her heart when it comes to this and that… Yomikawa’s push it to the limit trick was pretty much ripped out of every Drill Instructor routine I have seen though with a lot less yelling and fake cursing. Hopefully one day Saten’s hard work will pay off, but I can sympathize with hitting a wall well sort of. The only thing that gets me frustrated long term is video games though after having yelled at many a system I have learned to put it down for the day instead of trying to fight my way through it and getting more frustrated. I don’t agree with giving up but do advocate a disengage and reassess approach.

The next serious arc after the level upper incident was a minor foray into Mii territory about her gangsta days, I have to say it was as inoffensive as can be though most biker gangs or rather biker clubs I have seen are made up of older folks that don’t fit the popular stereotype as hard drinking troublemakers. I could not help but laugh a little that Kurozuma had almost he same haircut as Zartan from the old GI Joe cartoons who incidentally also rode around with a biker gang. It was nice to see a little history on Mii though I don’t really approve of how they make a point to mention how well endowed she is. My respect for a slipped a bit when she lost her sense of duty and reverted back to her old loyalties though I guess love makes an idiot out of her as well. Iwas looking forward to seeing Biribiri and Kuroko trash those thugs but I guess guess Kurozuma and Mii deserved to have a fight as a couple though I did enjoy watching fists fly and faces getting smashed in interesting ways. Mii’s CQC may not be as powerful as Kuroko’s but it is reassuring that she has some combat capability since her first outing when Kuroko was a little loli was unimpressive. As for promoting a Certain Brand of Milk I wish they would have gone wild promoting fake products. The Capacity Down should have had more bass but I guess it couldn’t be ghetto FABULOUS and be a ECM device at the same time. I guess with the increase in illegal weapons and common thugs having uncommon weapons that we’ll be going into another arc that goes into the dark side of Academy City. At any rate Mii’s roommate totally needs jump Mii and bring her back to the yuri side doing this and that.

Mama…

Just making sure you’re not from Black Water or Executive Outcomes…

Judge her by her size do you…?

She sucks with kids…

That is a weird camo pattern…

IN A NURSE OUTFIT RIGHT?!

We missed that you.

Feelings…

Just like an overgrown kid, not that there is anything wrong with that.

We have no need for Spiky-kun to induce blushing.

Well I think Kuroko earned it.

If only…

So you did get Liang Qi’s guile.

All you had to do was agree in the first place.

Victory.

We must see this and that animated at some point…

FUCK YEAH PHOTOSHOP.

One day Kuroko will grow into full womanhood like Liang Qi and Alphard…hopefully there will be a time skip to see the results.

…

Some people just never grow up.

Well don’t be in hurry to grow up now, your not there yet…

Well that is Stylish Saten for you.

Kuroko, Kuroko, Kuroko, it’s not how much you who but how you show it…

Good looking our Uiharu we must not let this Yuri Party be ruined by a male presence…

I trust that it is at least SPF 30.

Pretty much captures the spirit of the series.

Some how I don;t get the sense that Kuroko is really resisting.

Look who’s talking…

The Droid invasion has begun, Google equipped and only on Verizon…

I see we have three adherents to the cult of Mac.

Now go bash something.

Seems Kuroko has a good grasp on her would be rival.

Rich bastards…

Think of it this way you are by far the best looking microwave to come a long in a long time…

I see some one likes their soup CAMPBELL’S CHUNKY.

I suppose Biribiri’s problem is one of concentration and not of power…

The feeling isn’t exactly mutual…

To memories.

Well that is one way of broadcasting your weakness.

If only Kuroko could see this…

Your thoughts betray you onee-sama…

So long as you give Kuroko something in return…

Yeah your crew looks shitty.

Good to know that these girls don’t like boys.

Lolis are evil…

By the way does she get a happy ending when the massage is done?

Ah it’s Saten’s yuri stalker.

Your logic is impeccable.

Well it’s not legally torture…

He runs on Energizer.

This is some dance class…

Do you plan on doing this and that to Saten-san by chance?

Motherfuckers hating on yuri again.

Indeed…

Having been raised by Alphard and Liang Qi, Kuroko knows a thing or too about villainy.

Kuroko’s happiest day yet.

You didn’t have to milk the bull you know…

Ah yes shameless product placement.

I share Kuroko’s dismay.

Because LOVE WILL NEVER DIE!

I suggest renaming your home…

You know surprise does hinge on the minimum of people knowing about it…

So let Kuroko protect the feeling of love in onee-sama’s heart.

Biribiri can get quite frisky when she is in the mood.

Unlike her parents Kuroko actually gives people a chance to surrender.

Also your purple van was ugly.

Big Spider meet the new Snakes…

Why can’t TSA agents be that pretty…

Sure what ever you say.

Silly suicide bomber your trigger is most lacking…

Damn you heterosexuality!

Let’s share this special milk that Kuroko bought…

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An episode where a lot of things happen but nothing really happens at all.

I’m feeling quite torn with my impressions of this episode. I was bored with the first half of it with all the minor things that happen that do not seem to have much relevance to anything. But, the second half was a thrill ride all the way through. But despite all of that, we just keep getting more questions and no answers. Well, I guess it IS only episode 3.

Izaya and Shizuo really do seem to steal the show whenever they appear. If it wasn’t for characters like them, I wouldn’t know what the fate of this show would be in the hands of the weak Mikado. Masaomi is great, but him alone just isn’t enough.

So after Mikado is assigned as class representative along with Anri, him and Masaomi go out to flirt with girls (well more Masaomi than Mikado of course). After a while they find Anri who is being bullied by a group of girls and one “thug-life” guy and with the help of Izaya, they chase away the bullies (again more Izaya than Mikado). After introductions were through, a trash can comes flying in and pegs Izaya right in the head. This, of course, is the work of Shizuo who apparently knows Izaya from before. The two are about to fight when they are interrupted by Thug-life and his G-unit. The fight then turns into Shizuo vs G-unit and when Izaya starts to run away, Simon jumps in and stops Shizuo from throwing a vending machine at him.

Creepy teacher returns.

It seems like Anri has already noticed how creepy he is and is already beginning to avoid him. Good job Anri, good job.

A bit of self-promotion?

Japanese cell phones are quite durable aren’t they. I bet if that was an iPhone it would be in pieces by now.

Thug life fo’ sho.

It seems kind of interesting to see how Masaomi’s personality changes when he’s talking to Izaya. Maybe it’s the whole “don’t make an enemy out of him” deal or maybe something else is going on between them. They seem to have an obvious past since they know each other, but I wonder what went on to make Masaomi talk so differently around Izaya… or maybe he just talks like that to all his elders, who knows.

Greatest scene of the episode. Even better than Izaya getting a trash can thrown at him.

Looks like Simon has a bit of supernatural strength in him too. Of course not as much as Shizuo who seems to have rearranged Simon’s face by the end of the episode.

Way to be the main character Mikado.

I really dislike weak main characters like Mikado. They just annoy me to death. I can only hope he mans up by the time this series is over. But at least he’s trying right? …Right?

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Glad to see Yoshinoya-sensei is hawt as usual.

Even… uh… *coughcough*… at that part.

I so LOL’ed when she stripped after getting cockblocked by the annnouncer.

Meanwhile, Yuno totally defines “waking up on the wrong side of the bed”.

I HNNNNNNNNNNNNGGGGGGGGGGH’ed. I LOL’ed.

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SENSITIVE INTELLIGENCE REPORT – RESTRICTED DISSEMINATION

SUBJECT: 1. COMPLETE REJECTION OF FINAL KURUMI ATTEMPT ON KAZEHAYA.

……………2. TOTAL COLLAPSE OF ORGANIZED KURUMI RESISTANCE, FORMAL END TO CONFLICT DESPITE POSTURING.

DATE: LATE JANUARY 2010

1. CEASEFIRE WAS FOLLOWED BY CONTINUED NEGOTIATIONS WHERE KURUMI ADMITTED DEFEAT TO SAWAKO AND ALLIED FORCES. OUTSIDE OF FORMAL PEACE TREATY RATIFICATION, KURUMI APPROACHED KAZEHAYA, WHO FIRMLY REJECTED HER LAST DITCH ATTEMPT ON HIM. AS A CONCESSION, HE DID AGREE TO HER DEMAND TO CALL HER UME ONCE.

2. INTELLIGENCE HAS INTERCEPTED SEVERAL MIXED SIGNALS FROM KURUMI HIGH COMMAND, ON ONE HAND ADHERING TO THE TERMS OF THE PEACE TREATY, ON THE OTHER POSTURING AS IF SHE HAS NOT BEEN DEFEATED. THIS COULD INDICATE AN INTERNAL (TO THE BRAIN) POWER STRUGGLE, OR PERHAPS SIMPLY POSTURING FOR THE SAKE OF PRIDE WHILE THE WOUNDS OF HER RECENT DEFEAT ARE HEALING. THE WAR MAY BE OVER, BUT WE MUST REMAIN VIGILANTE UNTIL THE SITUATION STABILIZES. THE PROSPECT OF A FANATICAL ELEMENT SEIZING CONTROL AND RENEWING AGGRESSION CAN NOT YET BE RULED OUT.

The war is over! Kurumi has admitted to Sawako openly that Kazehaya does not like her, and that she has no chance against Sawako. Furthermore we have a thorough rejection of Kurumi by Kazehaya, as well as the addition of his statement of love for Sawako. And the finishing move is made, the definitive ‘thank you’ reply to Kurumi’s confession, the words that signal defeat to all who hear them. However Sawako is most merciful, and offers Kurumi the hand of friendship and continues her decision not to let Kazehaya know of the extent of her foe’s transgressions. Kurumi tries to throw a pity party and talk about how others have used her due to her popularity, while conveniently never mentioning how she used others to destroy True Love and Friendship as far back as middle school. I can have no sympathy for one who gets burned by the very fire that she starts! In the end, all she got from Kazehaya was his acknowledgement that the rumors of her and Pin are false, and for him to call her Ume once, which is more than she deserved.

Day two of the sports festival ends badly on the sports front, but this is of minor consequence given the great victory for True Love and Friendship. Kurumi tries to hide her shame and embarassment behind a pair of sunglasses, but the goggles do nothing. Seemingly oscillating between admitting her loss and wanting to menace and threated Sawako, Kurumi claims that they’re rivals, though Sawako and the rest of us respond with puzzled looks since to be a rival one must have a prospect of being able to compete. Her defeat must have shaken her to her core, because it seems like she’s developed some sort of multiple personality disorder, or at least a severe case of indecisiveness. Even Pin’s teasing seemed to have given her ideas. Therefore, we must be on our guard until she completely accepts her defeat. What she can do now is beyond me, after admitting defeat and being turned down by Kazehaya. But at least for that evening the members of the Sawayakyaa Alliance have time to relax, singing karaoke and having a fun night out together. Kazehaya even gets a cute moment when he finds Sawako asleep on the stairs, blushing but proving his worthiness by not entertaining ecchi fantasies or trying to steal a kiss or worse, something that unworthy male protagonists often try to get away with in similar situations. Double standard, I know, but such things are only ok in cases such as those of KimiKiss’s Mao stealing a kiss on Koichi or Nyan Koi’s Kanako making an attack on a sleeping Junpei.

Crusader’s Record of Kazehaya War

The story of your life…

Following Kurumi’s glorious defeat it was inevitable that she put out some propaganda to try and justify her war on true love. Suffice to say she cried a river, a pity she did not drown in it… Fortunately for Ume, Sawako was not about to institute a Carthaginian Peace upon her. At any rate while Ume’s story was plausible in that she manufactured popularity for herself to be the perfect match. However her popularity was but a sham as those girls around her were just as vile and treacherous, though I still put blame on Ume for handing out notes individually instead of in groups to avoid unnecessary complications. Funny how Ume’s own cowardice and slavery to public opinion had killed her attempt at true love before it even began, I scoff at her plans for she disregarded Sun Tzu who had advised against long campaigns and advocated swift aggressive action. After all what is the worth of public opinion compared to True Love? Ume finally does confess but the ugly fail that she is now started seeping out and despite her assertions that Kazehaya will not find a cuter girl than her, it is a proven fact that Sawako is superior. I confess I relished every second of Ume weeping for her lost cause and the rumors regarding Pin, I hoped Kazehaya’s words on the matter of Pin were SUGOI hurtful in the extreme for though it may seem cruel it is fitting punishment for Ume who knew what it was like to be at the center of a rumor and yet did not hesitate to do the same to Sawako who had never demonstrated hostile intent. After the the confession FAIL Ume was prancing around in a Quattro cosplay. It seems that despite her defeat Pin’s lies have given Ume new hope (a fool’s hope but who ever said Zekes were smart…) and now she leads an Neo-Ume effort to claim Kazehaya. Our worst fears have been realized as Ume was a goddamn Zeke all along (though the rumor mongering and unrepentant evil were indicators that she was Zeke) and must already be planning colony drops to further her madness…

Ume being a treacherous Spacenoid aside, Sawako already has won Kazehaya without much effort as her genuine heroism and stoicism in the face of adversity proved more mighty than the shallow looks that Zekes pride themselves on. Zeus showed Kazehaya great favor as Kazehaya was allowed to spend a few minutes chastely with a sleeping Sawako. That made me DAAWWWWWW. Next time it seems we have a recap ep, though I would be more than happy to be proven wrong.

I am glad they’re all bunched up…time to pass a firing solution to Big Tray.

The lesson of the story is to never start and introduction with a lie…

We sunk her battleship yo!

Funny I thought Ume was always thinking about what was best for Ume….

He already did dumbass!

Only now at the end do you realize…

:3

Let the Zeke scum cling to their false hope, reality will always have its revenge…

Her name is Quattro and she is looking for a girl named Ume have you seen her?

That assumes that you are somewhat equal, it doesn’t work when you are vastly inferior…

Just wait until your first Yuri Tea Party…

ExecutiveOtaku’s Unadulterated Adoration of Sawako and Current Intelligence Report

Sawako is so compassionate! Where one would be justified in finishing off her opponent, she sympathizes with her and takes pity! How noble *clenches fist to chest and cries many tears of admiration.*

Mmmm, delicious imagery to accompany delicious victory.

Not only does she commit her crimes in pursuit of her own interests, she actively sabotaged the love of others just for kicks.

I was very happy to get a heavy dose of scenery porn this episode. Ah, beautiful.

Kazehaya was nice to her all along. One has to wonder why one so devious and superficial would be interested in such a caring and honest person as he.

WAAH WAAH! CRY SOME MORE!

More devastating than a Colony Drop. How appropriate that an attack similar to Operation British beats the French harlot.

Only now, when it is too late, can you speak without deception.

Not even a moment of shock or hesitation from Kazehaya. Good man.

Not so much.

Confession + (response = thanks) = romance FAIL. Taking a cue from Mayama, Kazehaya lets her down gently, not really having any other appropriate words to say. When it happened to Yamada it was the end of her chances (though she would still hold out hope), and Kurumi is no Yamada.

The lovely scenery and shot framing compliments the rejection of Kurumi perfectly, like a fine wine perfectly matched to a scrumptious meal. Mmmm, satisfying.

Because it’s more fun that way.

GO TO DMC! GO TO DMC! GO TO DMC!

With the defeat of Kurumi, one has to wonder if there will be peace and the development of Sawako and Kazehaya’s relationship, renewed Kurumi aggression, or a new enemy. I’m hoping for the first option.

Wait for it…

Kurumi decides to take the dictator fashion route and hide her shame behind some opaque sunglasses. In doing so she follows a long line of oppressive dictators, terrorist leaders cum political figures, and war criminals.

Or perhaps she was trying to rip off Sheryl Nome? How dare she! This is no Zaku, boy, no Zaku you’re no Sheryl, girl, no Sheryl!

Yeah, I don’t know why Kurumi is acting like she still has a chance either.

Continuing down the petty dictator road, she now has her underlings follow her around for her to complain to and abuse.

Sports may not have gone her way, but Chizu can’t carry the entire team.

Kazehaya rallying the troops.

I for one welcome the return of ‘hair-down’ Sawako :3

Such refreshing honesty, both with herself and with others.

Once again Ayane makes the subtle moves to get everyone where they should be.

Why didn’t they show this on screen?!

Pursuing True Love and Friendship take a lot out of you.

EO’s DAAAWWWW of the Week: it made me crush my scouter it was so cute.

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