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{{quote|''Ragnarok... The Mahjong of the Gods!''|'''Koizumi'''}}
 
[[The Legend of Koizumi]] or ''Mudazumo Naki Kaikaku'' (''Reform With No Wasted Draws''), a manga by Hideki Oowada, is the story about how [[Real Person Fic|top country leaders]] battle it out with [[Mahjong]] [[Serious Business|to decide]] {{smallcaps|[[Hot -Blooded|THE FATE OF ENTIRE NATIONS]]}}. Got an anime adaptation which premiered in February 2010.
 
{{Needs More Info}}
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{{tropelist}}
=== This series contains examples of: ===
* [[Adaptation Dye Job]]: The Bushes are given blond hair in the anime, for whatever reason.
** How else would we know they were [[Eagle Land|American]]?
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* [[Authority Equals Asskicking]]: Apparently being a current or former Head of State means you're awesome at mahjong.
** Head of State is probably elected based on their mahjong power.
** The Pope is elected solely based on who wins the mahjong conclave.
* [[Badass Automaton]]: {{spoiler|Koizumi's partner for the final battle on the moon is ''[http[wikipedia://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ASIMO |ASIMO the robot]]''. MADE IN JAPAN FTW.}}
* [[Badass Grandpa]]: Junichiro Koizumi's grandfather, Japanese politician and cabinet minister Matajirō Koizumi, apparently taught his grandson how to play mahjong. [[Truth in Television]]: The real-life Matajirō Koizumi was known as the "tattoo minister" for the elaborate red dragon tattoo on his back -- a tattooing style more associated nowadays with [[Yakuza]] -- and the series plays up this fact.
** He's only been shown in a short cameo, but {{spoiler|based on his lineage (not to mention his epic beard), Grandpapa Bush likely qualifies.}}
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* [[Bishounen]]: Pietro, complete with [[Bishie Sparkle]]
** {{spoiler|It is ''very'' disturbing that Hitler gets a little [[Bishie Sparkle]] of his own, when we first see him at the end of manga volume 3. This turns out to be some sort of glamor that Hitler's magic gives him. Yes, Hitler is magical.}}
* [[Brain In Aa Jar]]: {{spoiler|Josef Mengele}} hopes to cheat death with one. {{spoiler|Yulia puts an end to that.}}
* [[Brown Note]]: It's noted by Nazi scientists that just looking at a person with a significantly higher mahjong power level can cause serious negative effects to your health.
* [[Butt Monkey]]: Taizo. George Jr. qualifies as well.
** {{spoiler|George Jr. is leaving this territory rapidly, as he seems to be taking around [[Took a Level Inin Badass|eighty-two levels in badass]]}}.
*** According to Colin Powell, {{spoiler|George Jr.}} is the ''real'' {{spoiler|Papa Bush}}, and the scoreboard even labeled him {{spoiler|"Real Papa Bush"}}.
** Yukio Hatoyama, Japanese prime minister September 2008-June 2009, gets picked on consistently in both the manga's omake scenes and the OVA.
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* [[Cold Sniper]]: Former Japanese prime minister Taro Aso, shown to be a crack shot with a high-powered rifle. Again, a hint of [[Truth in Television]], since the real-life Taro Aso was on Japan's shooting team during the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal.
* [[Collapsing Lair]]: After {{spoiler|Hitler}} dies, the entire {{spoiler|Nazi moon base}} collapses since it was only being kept up by his sheer power.
* [[Combat Byby Champion]]: The Fourth Reich asks for [[Five-Man Band|five]] of them to decide the fate of the Earth. They are:
** Junichiro Koizumi
** [[George HWH. W. Bush|Papa Bush]] (partnered with [[George W. Bush|his son]])
** Vladimir Putin (partnered with Dmitri Medvedev)
** Yulia Tymoshenko (partnered with Eleonora Pavlichenko)
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* [[Combat Clairvoyance]]: {{spoiler|Hitler is able to predict the outcome of his matches against Pope Benedict and declare victory ''as soon as the dice is rolled''.}}
* [[Combat Pragmatist]]: A fair few antagonists have crafty tricks up their sleeves, like signaling snipers if they use the advantage, or tiles that ''extend neurotoxin-tipped needles''.
* [[Deranged Animation]]: The manga's artwork is crazy enough, but the anime takes it [[Up to Eleven]].
* [[Died Standing Up]]: {{spoiler|George H.W. 'Papa' Bush}}
* [[Dies Wide Open]]: {{spoiler|Koizumi}}
* [[Disappeared Dad]]: Captain Sanada's father died before he was born, {{spoiler|or so he thinks}}.
* [[Doing It for Thethe Art]]: The manga alone is chock-full of real-life details about the politicians, such as Taro Aso's Roman Catholic faith, that are used to build the characters and story development -- more so than you'd ever expect from a [[Widget Series]].
* [[Eagle Land]]: The story kind of goes back and forth on this. At first the Bush family (and thus America) is portrayed as Type 2 straight up, almost to ridiculous degrees. Both Bush Sr. and Bush Jr. get more sympathetic as time goes on, however, to the point that Chapter 19 is absolute, pure Type 1 (straight down to {{spoiler|a baseball metaphor}}, no less), a massive [[Crowning Moment of Heartwarming]], {{spoiler|and quite possibly the only unauthorized yet ''tasteful'' use of [[Dead Little Sister|Robin Bush]] in history}}.
* [[Eiffel Tower Effect]]: How do you know that George W Bush is in America (as if you didn't already know)? You can see the Statue of Liberty from his bedroom window. His bedroom... in the White House. In Washington DC. 200 miles from Liberty Island.
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** And lying someplace between that and [[Fan Service]], panty shots. ''[[Squick|Nazi]]'' [[Squick|panty shots.]]
** Is this Mariel flashing her panties or it was Hitler and his goonies?
*** [https://web.archive.org/web/20100926141438/http://www.mangatoshokan.com/read/The-Legend-of-Koizumi/Derp-Scans/25/25 Isolde], [https://web.archive.org/web/20100613021504/http://www.mangatoshokan.com/read/The-Legend-of-Koizumi/Derp-Scans/26/19 thank god].
* [[A Fate Worse Than Death]]: After he is defeated, {{spoiler|Hitler's soul is banished from his body and he is forced to play mahjong against the Big Three again, possibly for all eternity.}}
* [[Fingore]]: {{spoiler|A tile modified by Mengele extends needles and pierces Tymoshenko through her index and middle fingers and thumb}}.
* [[Finishing Move]]: '''RISING SUN!!!'''
** Everyone has one of these. Everything from "SIBERIAN EXPRESS!" to "THE BEGINNING OF THE COSMOS!"
* [[Five-Man Band]]
** [[The Hero]]: Junichiro Koizumi
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** [[The Chick]]: Yulia Tymoshenko, though her personality is closer to [[The Dark Chick]]
** [[Tagalong Kid]]: Taizo Sugimura
* [[Fling a Light Into Thethe Future]]: Even though {{spoiler|Pope Benedict is defeated and killed by Hitler}}, he leaves behind a clue that proves critical in figuring out his weakness.
* [[Gonk]]: Kim Jong-il. Hatoyama also counts.
* {{spoiler|[[Go Out Withwith a Smile]]}}: {{spoiler|Koizumi, and also Papa Bush}}.
* [[Green Thumb]]: Mao Zedong, of all people. He causes Pol Pot to ''explode'' into grass by ''looking at him.''
* [[Heroic Sacrifice]]: there are many.
** {{spoiler|Medvedev sacrifices himself to give Putin the tiles he needs to win.}} Putin himself declares that no country knows the meaning of [[Heroic Sacrifice]] better than Russia.
** {{spoiler|Bush Sr. sacrifices himself to protect Bush Jr., rather than win the game by letting him die.}}
** {{spoiler|The three blind seers channel the spirits of Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin in order to train Koizumi to defeat Hitler. However, channeling such powerful spirits drains all of their life energy, killing them in the process.}}
* [[Hope Spot]]: ''His Holiness defeated {{spoiler|Hitler}}!'' And then suddenly {{spoiler|SUPER ARYAN appears and kills the Pope in one round. Ouch.}}
* [[Hot -Blooded]]: ''Everybody''. Except [[The Stoic|Putin]].
** Even he has his moments.
* [[In the Blood]]: Played straight with the Bushes and with Koizumi and his grandfather. Averted when {{spoiler|Koizumi's son Kotaro can't play well enough to be an effective substitute for his supposedly deceased father in the first battle against Putin -- Kotaro, like his [[Truth in Television|real-life counterpart]], is an actor and not a politician}}.
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* [[Manly Tears]]: Koizumi can be seen shedding these for {{spoiler|Papa Bush after his death}}.
** {{spoiler|Hitler also sheds some, along with Erwin Rommel, as the latter is about to die when he chose to face him in a mahjong duel.}}
* [[Moe Moe]]: Yulia Tymoshenko usually looks and rather acts like this; scarily enough this portrayal ''[http://en.[wikipedia.org/wiki/Yulia_Tymoshenko:Yulia Tymoshenko|is not that far off the mark]]'', which makes it even funnier. {{spoiler|She uses this to more or less hide her [[Dark Action Girl]] side, which ''also'' is not that far off the mark from real life, minus the mahjong craziness.}} If she doesn't do it for you, though, her assistant Eleonora (who is one of the few manga-original major characters) pretty much ''exists'' to fill this trope, complete with [[Meganekko|glasses]].
** Mariel is also this, in the [[Emotionless Girl|deliberately-creepy-Rei-Ayanami]] kind of way.
* [[Moscow Centre]]: The bonus chapter of the fourth manga volume features a younger Vladimir Putin, in his KGB days, visiting [[Berlin Wall|East Berlin in 1989]]....
* [[Multinational Team]]: In this case, Earth's defense force against [[Those Wacky Nazis]] represents Japan, Russia, Ukraine, the United States, and the Vatican. (The United Kingdom would've been on this list instead of Ukraine, but Baroness Thatcher's ill health prevented it.)
* [[My Greatest Failure]]: When he was younger, the Pope {{spoiler|snuck Hitler out of the country.}} He didn't realize what he was doing at the time, but it has haunted him ever since.
* [[My Kung Fu Is Stronger Than Yours|My Mahjong Is Stronger Than Yours]]: Koizumi needs to train to ensure that he's strong enough to {{spoiler|defeat Hitler}} and save the world. So who does he train against to acquire truly legendary mahjong powers and defeat [[Those Wacky Nazis]]? {{spoiler|Blind female shamans possessed by the ghosts of [[World War II|Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin]]}}, of course.
* [[Names to Know Inin Anime]]: Arguably the entire cast.
** [[Toshiyuki Morikawa]]: Junichiro Koizumi
** [[Joji Nakata]]: Vladimir Putin
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** [[Tessho Genda]]: George "Papa" Bush Sr.
** [[Keiji Fujiwara]]: Yukio Hatoyama. Set to appear in the later episodes.
** [[Wataru Takagi]]: Kim Jong-il's son Kim Jong-nam.
** [[Banjo Ginga]]: Hu Jintao.
** [[Rokuro Naya]]: Wen Jiabao.
* [[No Export for You]]: It will be a frigid day in Hell before any publisher outside of Japan even thinks of trying to license this thing. Can you even imagine the shitstorm that would result?
** Well, maybe not in America or Europe but here's the [https://web.archive.org/web/20110911184007/http://www.luckpim.com/product_detail.asp?pid=210 official licensed Thai version!]
* [[Not Cheating Unless You Get Caught]]: Invoked by Colin Powell during the match between Bush Jr. and Skorzeny, telling Skorzeny that he'll be shot by several snipers if he's caught cheating, but otherwise he can get away with it. {{spoiler|Skorzeny gets caught.}}
** A good deal of characters engage in various cheating techniques, from quickly drawing four tiles and replacing three to make it seem like one was drawn to rubbing the faces off of tiles.
* [[Nuclear Weapons Taboo]]: Averted several times, most notably with the depleted uranium tiles and {{spoiler|Yulia and Eleonora's final attack on Mengele}}.
** I suppose it's okay to make Chernobyl jokes if you're Ukrainian.
* [[Obfuscating Stupidity]]: Benedict XVI claimed this to be the case with {{spoiler|George Jr.}} (aka {{spoiler|"Real/True" Papa Bush}}) and that only {{spoiler|George H. W.}} saw through it... on the other hand, everything before that reveal suggests otherwise, or at least that {{spoiler|George Jr. never saw through his dad's own act, and regards his father as "Papa" still}}.
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* [[Ominous Latin Chanting]]: Hilariously enough, a boy's choir sings in Latin while the Pope plays against Koizumi.
* [[One Last Smoke]]: {{spoiler|Skorzeny}}, just before his [[Facing the Bullets One-Liner]]
* [[One -Way Trip]]: With Area 51 and Baikonur destroyed, which both contain the only spacecraft capable of traveling to the Moon, Koizumi instead opts to take one of Japan's rockets there. However, it only has enough life support capacity to get him to the Moon, making a return trip impossible.
* [[One-Winged Angel]]: ''' {{spoiler|SUPER ARYAN!}}'''
* [[Only Sane Man]]: Taizo, while being the [[Butt Monkey]], definitely qualifies. {{spoiler|1="A UFO??!! Are you kidding me?!}}
* [[Opposite SexGender Clone]]: Mariel for Mengele.
* [[Original Generation]]: The manga originally used only public figures, major or minor, as major characters (Taizo Sugimura is an actual Diet member in Japan, even today; "Yukari" isn't actually given a last name but is generally understood to be a generous portrayal of Yukari Sato, another minor Diet member). As the series went on, however, some of the world leaders didn't really have "seconds" most people would recognize (especially in the series' [[Widget Series|country of origin]]), so a few were invented expressly for the manga: Pietro for Pope Benedict, Eleonora Pavlichenko for Yulia Tymoshenko, and Mariel for {{spoiler|Josef Mengele}} and later {{spoiler|the Nazi side in general}}. The Nazi side also picks up Tristan and Isolde later on, who are ''named'' for the characters [[Tristan and Iseult (Literature)|in the legend]] (specifically Wagner's opera version) but are otherwise wholly original; they serve {{spoiler|as Hitler's seconds.}}
* [[Patriotic Fervor]]: to <s>rival</s> surpass [[Metal Wolf Chaos]]!
* [[Power Limiter]]: You thought that the pope was strong before? Wait 'til you see him without his "Shackles of Golgotha"!
** This is used in conventional mahjong rules so you don't get retarded scores off of one good hand. Guess what Putin proposes during his match with Koizumi? [[Over Nine Thousand|Over 900,000]] doesn't even begin to describe it.
* [[Psychic Nosebleed]]: Looking into one whose Mahjong Power is far greater than you can cause this.
* [[Puppeteer Parasite]]: OVA only: {{spoiler|Yukio Hatoyama and his wife are not-so-secretly being controlled by aliens. This unfortunately leads to an [[Chest Burster|unpleasant moment]] shortly after Hatoyama is shot....}} Yet another [[Truth in Television|slight exaggeration of the truth]], if [http://en.[wikipedia.org/wiki/Miyuki_Hatoyama:Miyuki Hatoyama|the Other Wiki]] is to be believed.
* [[Refuge in Audacity]]: The series is so over the top, it's hard to feel offended.
** Hell, even if you disagree with many of these people in real life, it's hard not to cheer our heroes on. {{spoiler|Especially during Bush's baseball flashback.}}
*** Double hell, {{spoiler|most of the time, you'd ''have'' to cry foul when using a real-life [[Dead Little Sister]] like [http[wikipedia://enGeorge H.wikipedia W.org/wiki/George_H._W._Bush Bush#Marriage_and_college_yearsMarriage and college years|Robin Bush]], but it's done so ''[[Crowning Moment of Heartwarming|tastefully]]'' here that it feels more like a tribute than anything else}}.
* [[Rule of Cool]]
* {{spoiler|[[Save the Villain]]}}: How can you tell that the Pope is the [[Big Good]]? {{spoiler|He's trying to save ''HITLER''. Even Hitler himself is shocked.}}
* [[Serial Escalation]]: How high stakes can the games of mahjong get? How utterly ridiculous can the situation get?
** In the words of Koizumi himself:
{{quote| Taizo. All of mankind's greatest endeavors and achievements started off as impossible from the ground. If you don't do the impossible, you're less likely to succeed!}}
* [[Serious Business]]: Mahjong is used for everything from negotiation to deciding the next pope to {{spoiler|saving the world from NAZIS IN SPACE!}}
** It should be. [[The Bible|It's THE Genesis.]]
* [[Sequel Hook]]: Even though the Nazis are defeated in the end, some of manage to escape into deep space.
* [[Special Guest]]: [[Saki (Mangamanga)|Kobayashi Ritz]] appears in the second bonus chapter
* [[Shout -Out]]:
** It can hardly be coincidental that Putin's [http://www.mangafox.com/manga/mudazumo_naki_kaikaku/v02/c013/22.html SIBERIAN EXPRESS] ends with [[Galaxy Express 999|three nines]]. It's an actual yakuman hand called Nine Gates (or, if you like, Nine Lanterns)<ref> 2-8, three 1s, three 9s, and any other tile, all from the same suit</ref>, but the train motif makes you wonder...
** Mengele also mentions the [[Raiders of the Lost Ark (Film)|Ark of the Covenant]] before he dies.
** [[Darius|Now rushing to A zone!]]
*** [[Darius|A huge battleship]] {{spoiler|[[Darius|Heisenberg Strike]]}} [[Darius|is approaching fast!]]
** Two words : {{spoiler|[[Dragonball Z|SUPER ARYAN]]!!!}}
*** On the DBZ note, Mariel's power scanner looks suspiciously familiar...
**** To push the [[Shout -Out]] home, one of the Nazis even asked if it was broken, and it also went [[Memetic Mutation|OVER 9000]].
** On the more literary side, {{spoiler|Hitler's two 'monderkind', Tristan and Isolde, named for the famous Wagner opera [[Tristan and Iseult (Literature)|Tristan]] [[Exactly What It Says Onon the Tin|and Isolde]].}}
** [[EarthboundEarthBound|You cannot grasp the true form of]] {{spoiler|Hitler's}} [[EarthboundEarthBound|attack!]]
** George Bush Jr.'s premonition scene from the OVA is almost a straight transcription of a similar scene from AKIRA. "Many, many people die, then we get to meet Akira/Mao again. . ."
** The author is a huge [[Mobile Suit Gundam|Gundam]] fan who previously worked on Gundam parodies, so there's no surprise for some Gundam [[Shout -Out|ShoutOuts]].
*** Margaret Thatcher predicted the outcome of the match between Koizumi (dressed in all white) vs. Putin (in black suits) with a Lalah Sune quote: "The white one will win."
*** Skorzeny debuted with a Char quote: "As you can see, I'm a soldier."
** [[Pulp Fiction|"Honey Bunny"]] and [[Pulp Fiction|"Pumpkin"]] make an appearance in a car outside Area 51.
** The pirate king in chapter 49 is wearing [[One Piece|a very recognizable straw hat.]]
* [[Strawman Political]]: Yukio Hatoyama, the insane puppet of Chinese interests. It's a safe bet that Oowada votes LDP.
** {{spoiler|Even more obvious in the manga, where he appears to be the new [[Big Bad]] in his first appearance, and he's still controlled by aliens.}}
* [[Sympathy for Thethe Devil]]: Even though he rebelled against Hitler, after {{spoiler|Rommel}} is killed, Hitler and his followers can clearly be seen crying over his death.
* [[Thanatos Gambit]]: {{spoiler|Pope Benedict XVI}}
* [[The Chew Toy]]: Taizo wavers between this and [[Butt Monkey|Butt Monkeydom]].
* [[The Final Temptation]]: {{spoiler|Hitler}} tries to pull this on the Pope, only to get blasted by '''[[Finishing Move|SAINTE TRINITE!!!]]''' and [[Incredibly Lame Pun|an incredibly lame pon.]]
** And then the Pope turns around and does some sort of reverse-temptation to him. Wait, huh?
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** To sum it up, the Nazis have perfected human cloning, DNA-based resurrection, functional immortality, orbital bombardment, short-range space travel and antigravity. No occult-based powers... YET. (At least, not until Hitler's {{spoiler|ability to read the future comes into play...}})
* [[Token Evil Teammate]]: ''Yulia''. Putin calls her "a gas witch" FOR A REASON.
{{quote| '''Skorzeny:''' Even though you made a promise, you didn't hesitate for a moment...you've certainly surpassed Mengele in villainy.}}
* [[Took a Level Inin Badass]]: Taizo gets one of these when he's trying to re-awaken {{spoiler|the nearly comatose Koizumi}}, and Bush Jr. practically goes Super-Saiyan when {{spoiler|Papa Bush is killed}}
** Chapter 20 has confirmed it - {{spoiler|Bush Jr. is half-Saiyan and his <s> power</s> ''mahjong'' levels are '''[[Over Nine Thousand|OVER EIGHT THOUSANNNND]]!'''}}
*** {{spoiler|Even more hilarious when you consider the original "[[Over Nine Thousand]]" line actually says 8000 in the japanese dub. [[Memetic Mutation]] much?}}
* [[Villainous Valour]]: Despite being a Nazi, Rommel proves to be a very pragmatic and honorable man. He {{spoiler|rebels against Hitler because he believes the Fourth Reich cannot afford to fight the entire world.}}
* [[Wave Motion Gun]]: The [http://en.[wikipedia.org/wiki/Schwerer_Gustav:Schwerer Gustav|Schwerer Gustav]] is [http://www.mangafox.com/manga/mudazumo_naki_kaikaku/v02/c011/13.html turned into one] by the Fourth Reich.
* [[Wearing a Flag Onon Your Head]]: George W. Bush sleeps in Confederate flag pajamas under an American flag blanket.
* [[We Can Rebuild Him]]: {{spoiler|Kim Jong-Il}}
* [[What Do You Mean It's Not Awesome?]]: Everyone seems to play Mahjong in an unnecessarily epic way.
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** "[[Incredibly Lame Pun|GOD MOUPAI!]]"
* [[Widget Series]]: This could only exist in Japan.
* [[Winged Humanoid]]: {{spoiler|Koizumi}} temporarily becomes one in an [[Eleventh -Hour Superpower]].
* [[Worf Effect]]: Pope Benedict XVI, so far the only man who has been able to beat Koizumi, {{spoiler|is getting ''creamed'' by Hitler, in spite of his new-found power-up.}}
* [[Worthy Opponent]]: Hitler holds Pope Benedict in such high esteem that he {{spoiler|kills Speidel for insulting him.}}
* [[X Japan]]: During {{spoiler|Koizumi's attempted [[Heroic Sacrifice]] to stop the Tae Po Dong missile from hitting Japan}}, the lyrics to X Japan's hit song "Forever Love" are written in as background music. This is especially [[Crowning Moment of Funny|hilarious]] and/or [[Crowning Moment of Heartwarming|heartwarming]] if you know that [[Truth in Television|real-life Junichiro Koizumi]] is a huge fan of X Japan, and used "Forever Love" as background music for several political campaign ads for the Liberal Democratic Party during the 2001 elections.
* [[X Meets Y]]: Politics meets mahjong meets ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh!]]''-styled duels on [[This Is Your Premise Onon Drugs|whatever cocktail of drugs gave us]] [[Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann]].
* [[Zettai Ryouiki]]: Isolde wears thigh boots (ZR type A).
 
{{reflist}}
[[Category:{{PAGENAME}}]]
[[Category:Seinen]]
[[Category:Manga]]
[[Category:TheNeeds Legenda OfBetter KoizumiDescription]]
[[Category:The Full Name Adventures]]
{{DEFAULTSORT:Legend of Koizumi, The}}
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