title: Xenosaga

text: The first game follows series protagonists Shion Uzuki and prototype battle android KOS-MOS escaping a Gnosis attack and traveling to Second Miltia aboard the passenger freighter "Elsa", where they meet a young man called chaos. Together with U.R.T.V. and Kukai co-founder Jr., the group thwart the plans of Albedo Piazzolla, Jr.'s insane biological brother. In "Episode II", Albedo uses information gathered during the events of "Episode I" to open the way to the original planet Miltia, which becomes the focus of a conflict between the Federation and Ormus. Ormus' leader Sergius gains control of a powerful mech called Proto Omega, destroying Miltia in the process. He is then killed by the Testaments, who give Albedo control of Proto Omega, forcing Jr. to kill him. In "Episode III", Shion, KOS-MOS, chaos and the rest of their group confront both the Testaments—which includes a resurrected Albedo—and Vector CEO Wilhelm. Wilhelm is revealed to be an immortal being stopping the universe's destruction through eternal recurrence. The group defeats him, then KOS-MOS and chaos help banish the Gnosis to the region of Lost Jerusalem. Shion and Jr. set off to find Lost Jerusalem and save the universe. "Pied Piper" follows the character Jan Sauer—later known as the cyborg Ziggurat 8 (Ziggy for short)—as he investigates the crimes of a cyberspace-based serial killer dubbed Voyager a century before the events of "Episode I". Voyager, revealed to be a member of Jan's team driven over the edge by U-DO's influence, is turned by Wilhelm into a Testament, then kills everyone close to Jan including his family before giving him a choice between being killed and becoming a Testament. Jan instead shoots himself, later being resurrected as a cyborg.


title: Xenosaga

text: The "Xenosaga" series incorporates multiple references to Biblical mythology, Jewish mysticism and Gnosticism; several character, object and place names (such as Nephilim, Zohar, Gnosis, Merkabah) are taken from sources within these belief systems. The universal structure incorporates elements of Zen, with the names of central characters KOS-MOS and chaos being deliberate homages to the universal concepts of order and chaos. It additionally draws on the philosophy and literature of Carl Jung and Nietzsche. Nietzsche in particular is heavily referenced throughout the "Xenosaga" trilogy, with each entry taking its subtitle from the native title of one of his famous works; for "Episode I" and "Episode II", the subtitles tied directly into the story themes and characters. The subtitle of "Pied Piper" likewise tied to the game's narrative.


title: Xenosaga

text: The creator of "Xenosaga" was Tetsuya Takahashi, who had previously worked at Square on multiple projects including entries in the "Final Fantasy" series. Together with his wife Soraya Saga, Takahashi created a proposal for "Final Fantasy VII"; while rejected, they were allowed to develop the proposal as its own project, titled "Xenogears". A sequel to "Xenogears" was allegedly in the planning stages, but it was never released. Wanting to create his own project, unable to get suitable funding from Square, and disagreeing with Square's focus on its major franchises such as "Final Fantasy", Takahashi left Square and founded Monolith Soft with a number of staff from "Xenogears". Creating the proposal for "Xenosaga" during 1999 as a six-part series, development began on the first game in 2000 under the codename "Project X", taking two years to develop with a staff of between 60 and 100 people, with around 20 of them being veterans of "Xenogears". The team were helped by Namco, who provided funding and acted as the publisher. The scenario was written by Takahashi and Saga. The "Xenosaga" series, while carrying over thematic and design elements from "Xenogears", is an unconnected spiritual successor to that game.


title: Xenosaga

text: Following the release of "Episode I", Takahashi and other Monolith Soft staff reassessed the series and the general structure of Monolith Soft. Takahashi, who had acted as the first game's director, stepped down to allow the "Xenosaga" series to grow. He gave the development of "Episode II" and future "Xenosaga" projects to a team of younger developers. The new team decided to shift the game's focus based on player feedback and expand the series into other media. Takahashi continued to act as a supervisor to ensure the series remained true to the original overall plan. The draft, created by Takahashi and Saga, was turned into a script by Norihiko Yonesaka, who needed to condense and even cut several events from the original draft to fit it into a single game. Saga later commented that these changes resulted in the planned scenario for "Episode III" also being changed. A portion of the intended narrative of "Episode II" was turned into the plot of "Pied Piper". "Pied Piper" was co-developed by Monolith Soft, Namco Mobile and Tom Create. Following the completion of "Episode II" and "Pied Piper", Saga left the series.


title: Xenosaga

text: When "Episode I" and "Episode II" were remade as "Xenosaga I & II", which was Monolith Soft's first portable title and co-developed with Tom Create. Takahashi worked with scenario writer Yuichiro Takeda on the scenario, which was to both include the original games' events and incorporate elements and scenarios cut from the original versions. While doing this, Takahashi and Takeda needed to keep the scenario consistent with the in-development "Episode III". The volume of the game's scenario and Takahashi's wish to cut as little story as possible resulted in the game being given a two-dimensional artstyle. "Episode III", which began development during the last development stages for "Episode II", was designed to be the last entry in the "Xenosaga" series. In addition to up the story of Shion while also leaving room for further entries if there was enough demand, further adjustments were made to both gameplay and graphics based on combined staff comments and fan feedback. Takahashi supervised the project and created the draft, with the script again being written by Yonesaka.


title: Xenosaga

text: The score for "Episode I" was composed by Yasunori Mitsuda, who had created the music for "Xenogears". Mitsuda worked with Takahashi to create tracks based upon specific locations and scenario elements rather than general recycled tracks for segments of the game. For "Episode II", the music was composed by two people: Yuki Kajiura, who had found fame as a composer for anime series; and Shinji Hosoe, who worked on "Street Fighter EX" and the "Ridge Racer" series. The two worked respectively on the cinematic and gameplay tracks; they did not collaborate on any tracks, or even meet during the game's production. Kajiura returned to create the entire score for "Episode III", drawing upon the game's concept art and scenario when creating the music. All three games have received album releases, although both "Episode II" and "Episode III" saw large portions of their scores go unreleased due to varying factors.


title: Xenosaga

text: In an article for 1UP.com about video game series that had ended prematurely, Scott Sharkey felt that no-one was surprised when the series ended with "Episode III" as he deemed the series far too ambitious. Jeremy Parish, writing for USGamer, felt that Takahashi managed to "[come] through" despite his planned six-part series being cut down by half, with "Episode III" being a satisfactory conclusion to the series' storyline. He also noted that "Xenosaga" showed a trend with Takakashi's work of being ambitious to the point of needing to compromise the original plan due to external limitations. Blake Peterson, in a feature on the "Xenosaga" series, felt that the success of later "Xeno" titles—which took a different approach and had met with critical and commercial success—meant that the "Xenosaga" series would not be continued.


title: Xenosaga

text: "Episode I" received positive reviews upon release. The narrative was generally praised for its complex structure and cinematic approach, while its gameplay was seen as enjoyable despite initially being complicated even by genre standards and the mech segments not feeling consequential. The graphics and music were generally praised, although the latter was felt to be too sparse. "Episode II", which had seen its gameplay and graphics reworked from "Episode I", received praise from critics for both these adjustments and the refocusing of its narrative despite the latter's short length. The replacement of some of the original English voice actors also came in for criticism.


title: Xenosaga

text: "Episode III" received praise for its narrative and the way it concluded the series' overarching plot, but many felt that there was too much need for knowledge of the original games for it to be enjoyable for newcomers. The battle system and character customization also saw praise, although other gameplay aspects such as side activities divided opinion. "Xenosaga I & II" was generally praised by critics; while some more technical elements of the story slowed the pace, the narrative was generally seen as the game's strongest feature, while the general gameplay and battle system were also praised for removing the more convoluted elements from the mainline titles. In import reviews, it was commented that the extensive amount of Japanese text would be the largest barrier for those who wished to import the game from Japan.


title: Xenosaga

text: "Episode I" managed a strong debut, selling over 240,000 units within three days of its release, and becoming the seventh best-selling game in Japan during 2002. It was also a commercial success internationally, going on to sell over one million copies. "Episode II" debuted at #2 in sales charts, going on to sell 280,000 in Japan during 2004. It also saw commercial success in North America, although no sales figures were revealed. Despite this, "Episode II" underperformed commercially, reaching just over 50% of Namco's projected sales target. "Xenosaga I & II" met with poor sales, with its debut being seen as disappointing for the still-popular series, and going on to sell over 38,000 units during 2006. "Episode III" debuted with sales approaching 124,000, noted as being the lowest debut for the main trilogy. Selling over 181,000 copies in Japan during 2006, it went on to sell 343,000 units across Japan, mainland Asia and North America by February 2007. Takahashi later stated that the series as a whole had underperformed.


title: Xenosaga

text: The initial success of "Xenosaga" turned Monolith Soft into a popular developer, with Namco placing the company alongside Namco Tales Studio as a valuable development partner. Following the release of "Episode III", and the mixed reception received by the series as a whole, the entire development team were in a state of low morale. Partly to boost team morale and create a game players would enjoy, the team developed a new RPG for the Wii; originally titled "Monado: Beginning of the World", its title was eventually changed to "Xenoblade Chronicles". During its development, the team moved away from the narrative and design techniques used for the "Xenosaga" games, which were considered old-fashioned. The success of "Xenoblade Chronicles" led to the development of further "Xeno" titles. In a later interview, Takahashi stated that he would be willing to develop further titles in the "Xenosaga" series if funding was provided.


title: Xenosaga

text: The character KOS-MOS was included as part of the playable cast of "Namco × Capcom" for the PlayStation 2, a crossover title developed by Monolith Soft featuring characters from both Namco and Capcom-owned game franchises. KOS-MOS and her rival from "Xenosaga Episode III" T-elos appeared in "". Supporting character MOMO was later introduced alongside KOS-MOS and T-elos in the game's sequel "". Both KOS-MOS and T-elos starred in "Project X Zone" for the Nintendo 3DS, a spiritual successor to "Namco × Capcom" from the same development team. KOS-MOS also appeared in its sequel "Project X Zone 2" alongside "Xenoblade Chronicles" heroine Fiora. KOS-MOS and T-elos made cameo appearances as titular blades in "Xenoblade Chronicles 2".


title: German chocolate cake

text: German chocolate cake, originally German's chocolate cake, is a layered chocolate cake filled and topped with a coconut-pecan frosting. Originating in the United States, it owes its name to an English-American chocolate maker named Samuel German, who developed a formulation of dark baking chocolate that came to be used in the cake recipe. It is not German by nationality. Sweet baking chocolate is traditionally used for the cake's flavor, but few recipes call for it today. The filling and/or topping is a custard made with egg yolks and evaporated milk; once the custard is cooked, coconut and pecans are stirred in. Occasionally, a chocolate frosting is spread on the sides of the cake and piped around the circumference of the layers to hold in the filling. Maraschino cherries are occasionally added as a garnish.


title: German chocolate cake

text: Its roots can be traced back to 1852 when American baker Samuel German developed a type of dark baking chocolate for the Baker's Chocolate Company. The brand name of the product, "Baker's German's Sweet Chocolate", was named in his honor.


title: German chocolate cake

text: On June 3, 1957, a recipe for "German's Chocolate Cake" appeared as the "Recipe of the Day" in "The Dallas Morning News". It was created by Mrs. George Clay, a homemaker from 3831 Academy Drive, Dallas, Texas. This recipe used the baking chocolate introduced 105 years prior and became quite popular. General Foods, which owned the Baker's brand at the time, took notice and distributed the cake recipe to other newspapers in the country. Sales of Baker's Chocolate are said to have increased by as much as 73% and the cake would become a national staple. The possessive form (German's) was dropped in subsequent publications, forming the "German Chocolate Cake" identity and giving the false impression of a German origin. However, there are original recipes for chocolate cakes from Germany. e.g. there is a traditional recipe that won a local competition for a chocolate cake with cherries that dates back to 1909 in the Lake Constance area. This is a favorite German chocolate cake classic that is served throughout Southern Germany, Austria and Switzerland.


title: 2021 Wimbledon Championships

text: The 2021 Wimbledon Championships was a Grand Slam tennis tournament that took place at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in Wimbledon, London, United Kingdom. Novak Djokovic successfully defended his gentlemen's singles title to claim his record-equalling 20th major title, defeating Matteo Berrettini in the final. Simona Halep was the defending ladies' singles champion from 2019, but she withdrew from the competition due to a calf injury. The Ladies' Singles title was won by Ashleigh Barty, who defeated Karolína Plíšková in the final.


title: 2021 Wimbledon Championships

text: Following the cancellation of the 2020 tournament because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the main tournament began on Monday 28 June 2021 and finished on Sunday 11 July 2021. The 2021 Championships were the 134th edition, the 127th staging of the ladies' singles Championship event, the 53rd in the Open Era and the third Grand Slam tournament of the year. It was played on grass courts and is part of the ATP Tour, the WTA Tour, the ITF Junior Circuit and the ITF Wheelchair Tennis Tour. The tournament was organised by the All England Lawn Tennis Club and International Tennis Federation.


title: 2021 Wimbledon Championships

text: The 2021 Wimbledon Championships were the 134th edition of the tournament and were held at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in London. The Championships were initially held at 50% capacity, before increasing to full capacity in the second week. Spectators were required to have tested negative for COVID-19 within 48 hours prior to attendance or to be fully vaccinated.


title: 2021 Wimbledon Championships

text: The tournament was run by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) and is included in the 2021 ATP Tour and the 2021 WTA Tour calendars under the Grand Slam category. The tournament consisted of men's (singles and doubles), women's (singles and doubles), mixed doubles, boys (under 18 – singles and doubles) and girls (under 18 – singles and doubles), which were also a part of the Grade A category of tournaments for under 18, and singles & doubles events for men's and women's wheelchair tennis players as part of the Uniqlo Tour under the Grand Slam category, also hosting singles and doubles events for wheelchair quad tennis for the first time.


title: 2021 Wimbledon Championships

text: The tournament was played on grass courts; main draw matches were played at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, Wimbledon. Qualifying matches were played, from Monday 21 June to Friday 25 June 2021, at the Bank of England Sports Ground, Roehampton. The Tennis Sub-Committee met to decide wild card entries on 14 June.


title: 2021 Wimbledon Championships

text: The gentlemen's seedings formula used since 2002 was not used. Seedings used the standard system based on ATP rankings.


title: 2021 Wimbledon Championships

text: As a Grand Slam tournament, the points for Wimbledon are the highest of all ATP and WTA tournaments. These points determine the world ATP and WTA rankings for men's and women's competition, respectively. Because of the smaller draws and the pandemic, all men's and women's doubles players that made it past the first round received half the points of their singles counterparts, a change from previous years where singles and doubles players received the same number of points in all but the first two rounds. In both singles and doubles, women received slightly higher point totals compared to their male counterparts at each round of the tournament, except for the first and last. Points and rankings for the wheelchair events fall under the jurisdiction of the ITF Wheelchair Tennis Tour, which also places Grand Slams as the highest classification.


title: 2021 Wimbledon Championships

text: The ATP and WTA rankings were both altered in 2020, owing to the COVID-19 pandemic. Both rankings were frozen on 16 March 2020 upon the suspension of both tours, and as a result the traditional 52-week ranking system was extended to cover the period from March 2019 to March 2021 with a player's best 18 results in that time period factoring into their point totals.


title: 2021 Wimbledon Championships

text: The Wimbledon Championships total prize money for 2021 decreased by 7.85% to £35,016,000. However, the prize money figure does not include the substantial investment required to provide quality accommodation for the players, or to create a minimised risk environment and comprehensive testing programme.


title: Neutral powers during World War II

text: The neutral powers were countries that remained neutral during World War II. Some of these countries had large colonies abroad or had great economic power. Spain had just been through its civil war, which ended on 1 April 1939 (five months prior to the invasion of Poland)—a war that involved several countries that subsequently participated in World War II.


title: Neutral powers during World War II

text: During World War II, the neutral powers took no official side, hoping to avoid attack. However, Portugal, Sweden, and Switzerland all helped the Allies by supplying "voluntary" brigades to the United Kingdom, while Spain avoided the Allies in favor of the Axis, supplying them with its own voluntary brigade, the Blue Division. Ireland generally favoured the Allied side, as with the United States. The United States remained officially neutral until 8 December 1941, a day following the attack by Japan on Pearl Harbor.


title: Neutral powers during World War II

text: The Lateran Treaty between Italy and the Vatican, signed in 1929, required that the Pope maintain "perpetual neutrality in international relations"—making the Vatican City a neutral state.


title: Neutral powers during World War II

text: Several countries suffered invasions despite their efforts to be neutral. These included Nazi Germany's invasion of Denmark and Norway on 9 April 1940—then Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg on 10 May 1940. On the same day, 10 May 1940, the British, having already invaded the Faroe Islands in April, invaded Iceland and established an occupying force (subsequently replaced by the then-neutral United States). The Soviet Union invaded Lithuania on 15 June 1940 and Latvia and Estonia on 17 June. In the Balkans, the Italo-Greek War began on 28 October 1940 and Yugoslavia was invaded in April 1941. Iran was also attacked and occupied by Britain and the Soviet Union in August 1941 and later declared war on Nazi Germany.


title: Neutral powers during World War II

text: See also the histories of Afghanistan, Andorra, Guatemala, Liechtenstein, Saudi Arabia and Yemen during this period.


title: Neutral powers during World War II

text: Portugal, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland held to the concept of armed neutrality, and continuously amassed soldiers to defend their nation's sovereignty from potential invasion. Thus, they maintained the right to become belligerent if attacked while in a state of neutrality. The concept of "neutrality in war" is narrowly defined and puts specific constraints on the neutral party in return for the internationally recognized right to remain neutral. A wider concept is that of non-belligerence. The basic treaty covering Neutral states is Convention V of The Hague Respecting the Rights and Duties of Neutral Powers and Persons in Case of War on Land (1907). It is important to note that a "neutral country" takes no side in a war between other parties, and in return hopes to avoid being attacked by either of them. A "neutralist policy" aims at neutrality in case of an armed conflict that could involve the party in question. A "neutralist" is an advocate of neutrality in international affairs. The concept of "neutrality in conflicts" is distinct from non-alignment, i.e., the willful desistance from military alliances in order to preserve neutrality in case of war, and perhaps with the hope of preventing a war altogether.


title: Neutral powers during World War II

text: In a study of Spain, Switzerland, and Sweden during the Second World War, Eric Golson found that they engaged in economic realpolitik, as they traded with both the Axis and the Allied Powers.


title: Divinity: Original Sin

text: Divinity: Original Sin is a role-playing video game developed and published by Larian Studios. The fourth main entry in the "Divinity" game series, it is a prequel to the original game "Divine Divinity", and to the other main games in the series. It was first released on Microsoft Windows on 30 June 2014.


title: Divinity: Original Sin

text: Partially funded through Kickstarter, the game ships with the editor that created it, allowing players to create their own single player and multiplayer adventures and publish them online. A re-release titled Divinity: Original Sin - Enhanced Edition, featuring an expanded storyline and new gameplay options, was released on Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Linux, and OS X in 2015. The game received acclaim from critics, with many praising its ability to modernize the RPG genre. A sequel, "", was released in 2017.


title: Divinity: Original Sin

text: "Original Sin" is an RPG in the "Divinity" universe. "Divinity: Original Sin" concerns two heroes. The game touts turn-based action and adventure, cooperative multiplayer, an interactive world, and includes a modding tool used for creating new content.


title: Divinity: Original Sin

text: The customizable protagonists of the game are a pair of "Source Hunters": members of an organization dedicated to eradicating a dangerous type of magic known as "Source" and its adepts. In the single player mode, the player controls them both, while in the two-player co-op, each players takes control over one of them. At the start of the game, the Source Hunters receive orders to investigate the murder of a town councilor by a suspected Sourcerer in Cyseal, a port town in southern Rivellon. Upon arrival, they find Cyseal under siege by orcs and undead and soon discover that it was orchestrated by a Sourcerer conspiracy linked to the Immaculates, a cult based in the Luculla Forest further inland. They also find evidence implicating the White Witch, guardian of the Luculla Forest, in the murder. Their search for her takes them to the fairy realm of Hiberheim, where they find her trapped in a block of ice by the Immaculates' leader, the Conduit. Upon being freed, she introduces herself as Icara and pleads guilty of accidentally killing the councilor, but the Source Hunters, having uncovered evidence of Sourcery, mass murder, and human sacrifice carried out by the Immaculates, choose to ally themselves with her against the common foe. Icara reveals to them that the Conduit is actually her own estranged sister Leandra and directs them to infiltrate the Immaculates to learn of her plans. The Source Hunters discover that the cult has been mining a highly toxic metal named "tenebrium" in the Luculla Mines, where they also encounter "Death Knights", indestructible undead warriors created by Leandra using tenebrium and the Source to conquer Rivellon. Leandra destroys the mines in an attempt to kill the Source Hunters, but they manage to escape with her fail-safe that renders Death Knights vulnerable.


title: Divinity: Original Sin

text: Throughout the game, the Source Hunters occasionally encounter magical crystals known as "Star Stones" (some of them transformed into "blood stones" by the Immaculates' sacrifices). Upon finding the first one, they are transported to the "Homestead", a mysterious fortress outside of regular spacetime that is immediately familiar to both of them. As they recover more Star Stones, they learn from them that the Source had originally been a benevolent magic associated with Astarte, the goddess of life, before it was corrupted by the Void, an evil force from outside of the material world. The Source Hunters themselves are revealed to be reincarnations of two ancient generals, a man and a woman, who imprisoned the Source corruption inside an artifact known as "the God Box" and were granted godlike powers to guard it. However, when a demonic being named "the Trife" persuaded Astarte to open the Box, the corruption was released again and took on the form of a giant dragon, which Astarte went on to battle for eternity in the Void. As penance for their failure, the Guardians chose to be stripped of their powers and memories and were reborn in Rivellon as ordinary humans; the Stones are, in fact, crystallized fragments of their lost memories. Deducing that the Trife is now manipulating Leandra to weaken Astarte and to unleash the Void Dragon on the world, Icara urges the Source Hunters to stop her, either by restoring the "soulforge" between the sisters (a psychic link that Leandra had severed), or by killing her if necessary.


title: Divinity: Original Sin

text: The Source Hunters follow the Conduit's trail to the town of Hunter's Edge near the Phantom Forest, now overrun by the Immaculates, orcs, and barbarian mercenaries. They find directions left behind by the wizard Zandalor, Icara's lover and Leandra's nemesis, that point them towards an ancient Source Temple hidden deeper in the woods. Inside the Temple, they find Zandalor and learn from him that Leandra's objective is the God Box in the First Garden, which they can enter from the Homestead. In the Garden, they confront Leandra and can restore her soulforge with Icara if they have unearthed the means to do so in the Phantom Forest earlier: in this case, she recognizes how evil she has become and leaves with Icara and Zandalor to repent; otherwise, they must fight and kill her. Reaching the God Box, the Source Hunters join forces with Astarte to destroy the Trife, but not before it summons the Void Dragon itself. In a titanic battle, they manage to banish the Dragon back into the Box, and Astarte stays to guard it again for all eternity, thanking the Source Hunters and revealing to them that other gods knowingly let the Source be corrupted. The Source Hunters then leave the First Garden to embark on a new adventure.


title: Divinity: Original Sin

text: A crowdfunding campaigning was launched on Kickstarter on 27 March 2013. By using the platform, Larian aimed to secure additional funds to expand the content of the game and the reactivity of the game world. The Kickstarter was successfully funded by 26 April, raising almost $950,000, with donations from other sources bringing the total to over $1,000,000 of the game's final budget of €4 million.


title: Divinity: Original Sin

text: The game was expected to be released in late 2013, but was delayed to 28 February 2014. The release date was subsequently delayed again until 30 June 2014. Originally Larian intended to release Windows and OS X versions of the game simultaneously, and stated that once the OS X version was completed a Linux port would not be difficult. However, they decided to delay the OS X and Linux versions to focus on gameplay. Support for Linux and Mac was delivered on 23 December 2015 in the form of the Enhanced Edition of the game.


title: Divinity: Original Sin

text: An enhanced edition version of the game, which includes new content, such as an expanded storyline and new gameplay options, was announced for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One consoles in May 2015. The re-issue was then released for Windows on 27 October 2015, followed by Linux and OS X versions on 23 December 2015. The console version of the game was published by Focus Home Interactive. The version was also free to all the players who have already purchased the PC version of the game.


title: Divinity: Original Sin

text: "Divinity: Original Sin" received generally favorable reception, according to review aggregator Metacritic, where it was Larian's highest-rated game until "Original Sin II" released in 2017. The game received highly positive reviews. "Eurogamer" described the game as "hands down the best classic-style RPG in years", and recommended the game to RPG fans, with the caveat that they should be up for a challenge. "GameSpot" praised the game for its complex systems, beautiful world, exciting turn-based combat, and its story. "IGN" wrote that the game was "one of the most rewarding RPGs to come along in years" and lauded its depth, personality, and combat challenges. "PC Gamer" appreciated the freedom, simulation, depth, and respect for player's choices evident in the traditional RPG. "Hardcore Gamer" stated that the lack of "hand holding" could discourage genre novices, and that the difficulty should be more consistent, but otherwise appreciated the game.


title: Divinity: Original Sin

text: "GameSpot" named it the PC Game of the Year, while "Rock, Paper, Shotgun" declared it "The Best Kickstarter Of 2014".


title: Divinity: Original Sin

text: Russian video game observer Tony Vilgotsky rated the game very high, saying in his review for Mir Fantastiki that Divinity: Original Sin isn't just another RPG about orcs and magic, but a really interesting world to live in.


title: Divinity: Original Sin

text: Within a week of the game's release, the game had sold over 160,000 copies, and became Larian Studios' fastest-selling game. By September 2014, the game had sold over 500,000 copies.


title: Juliet

text: Juliet Capulet () is the female protagonist in William Shakespeare's romantic tragedy "Romeo and Juliet". A 13-year-old girl, Juliet is the only daughter of the patriarch of the House of Capulet. She falls in love with the male protagonist Romeo, a member of the House of Montague, with which the Capulets have a blood feud. The story has a long history that precedes Shakespeare himself.


title: Juliet

text: As the story occurs, Juliet is approaching her fourteenth birthday. She was born on "Lammas Eve at night" (1 August), so Juliet's birthday is 31 July (1.3.19). Her birthday is "a fortnight hence", putting the action of the play in mid-July (1.3.17). Her father states that she "hath not seen the change of fourteen years" (1.2.9). In many cultures and time periods, women married and had children at a young age. Lady Capulet had given birth to her first child by the time she had reached Juliet's age: "By my count, I was your mother much upon these years that you are now a maid." (1.3.74–75).


title: Juliet

text: Even Capulet tries to encourage Paris to wait a little longer before even thinking of marrying his daughter, feeling that she is still too young; "She hath not seen the change of fourteen years, Let two more summers wither in their pride, Ere we may think her ripe to be a bride". However, in the English poem the story is based on ("Romeus and Juliet" by Arthur Brooke) Juliet is approaching her sixteenth birthday and Romeo is the same age whereas in the Bandello novella she is nearly eighteen with Romeo about twenty. The common English people of that age were very rarely in their teens when they married and even among the nobility and gentry of the age, brides 13 years of age were rare, at about one in 1,000 brides; in that era, the vast majority of English brides were at least 19 years of age when they first married, most commonly at about 23 years, and most English noblewomen were at least 16 when they married. That the parts of young women were played by pre-adolescent boys in Shakespeare's day also cannot be overlooked; it is possible that Shakespeare had the physique of a young boy in mind during composition, in addition to the fact that Romeo and Juliet are of wealthy families and would be more likely to marry earlier than commoners. At the time, English noblewomen married on average at 19–21 years (compared to 24–26 years for English noblemen) while the average marriage age in England was 25–26 years for women and 27–28 for men; Sir Thomas More wrote in his "Utopia" that, in Utopia, women must be at least 18 years of age when they marry and men at least 22 years.


title: Juliet

text: The common belief in Elizabethan England was that motherhood before 16 was dangerous; popular manuals of health, as well as observations of married life, led Elizabethans to believe that early marriage and its consummation permanently damaged a young woman's health, impaired a young man's physical and mental development, and produced sickly or stunted children. Therefore, 18 came to be considered the earliest reasonable age for motherhood and 20 and 30 the ideal ages for women and men, respectively, to marry. Shakespeare might also have reduced Juliet's age from 16 to 13 to demonstrate the dangers of marriage at too young an age; that Shakespeare himself married Anne Hathaway when he was 18 might hold some significance.


title: Juliet

text: In Verona, an early 14th-century house at Via Cappello no. 23, claiming to be the Capulets' has been turned into a tourist attraction but it is mostly empty. The real second name was in Italian Cappelletti, a noble family, and not Capuleti. Cappelletti were in the past members of the light cavalry of the Republic of Venice. They fought for it since the 13th century and they were originally from Dalmatia and Albania. It features the balcony, and in the small courtyard, a bronze statue of Juliet. It is one of the most visited sites in the city. The metal of its chest is worn bare due to a legend that if a person strokes the right breast of the statue, that person will have good fortune and luck in love.


title: Juliet

text: Many people write their names and the names of loved ones on the walls of the entrance, known as Juliet's wall. During 2019, after a restoration and cleaning of the building, it was intended that further writing should be on replaceable panels or white sheets placed outside the wall.


title: Juliet

text: It is also a tradition to put small love letters on the walls (which is done by the thousands each year), which are regularly taken down by employees to keep the courtyard clean.


title: Juliet

text: Another tradition that occurs in Juliet's courtyard is writing one's name and that of a loved one on a lock and attaching it to a large ornamental gate in the back left.


title: Juliet

text: Since the 1930s, letters addressed to Juliet have arrived in Verona. As of 2010, more than 5,000 letters were received annually, three-quarters of which were from women. The largest single group of senders was American teenagers. The letters are read and replied to by local volunteers, organised since the 1980s in the "Club di Giulietta" (Juliet Club), which is financed by the City of Verona. The club has been the subject of a book by Lise and Ceil Friedman and is the setting for a 2010 American film, "Letters to Juliet".


title: Hiroshi Tanahashi

text: Widely regarded as one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time, his accolades in NJPW include a record setting eight reigns as IWGP Heavyweight Champion, a record three reigns as IWGP United States Heavyweight Champion, two reigns as IWGP Intercontinental Champion, three reigns as IWGP Tag Team Champion, one reign as NEVER Openweight Champion and three reigns as NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Champion. All totaled, Tanahashi has won 22 championships in NJPW. He has also won NJPW's premier tournament, the G1 Climax, on three occasions (2007, 2015 and 2018) and won the New Japan Cup twice, in 2005 and 2008, and is recognised as the fourth wrestler to accomplish NJPW's Triple Crown and the second to accomplish its Grand Slam, making him one of the most decorated wrestlers in NJPW.


title: Hiroshi Tanahashi

text: Through NJPW's working agreements with Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL), Pro Wrestling Noah, Ring of Honour (ROH), All Elite Wrestling (AEW) and Revolution Pro Wrestling, Tanahashi has also held the CMLL World Tag Team Championship, the CMLL World Trios Championship, the CMLL Universal Championship, GHC Tag Team Championship, and the RevPro British Heavyweight Championship. Between NJPW, CMLL, Noah, ROH, AEW and RevPro, he has 27 championship reigns.


title: Hiroshi Tanahashi

text: When Tanahashi was inducted into the Wrestling Observer Hall of Fame in 2013, Dave Meltzer stated that "you could make a strong case for him as the best in-ring performer in the business today", adding that he was "the leading star in New Japan Pro-Wrestling's comeback from being in terrible shape a few years back to being the No. 2 pro wrestling company in the world".


title: Hiroshi Tanahashi

text: Before entering professional wrestling, Tanahashi was a baseball player in high school. He studied law at Ritsumeikan University in Kyoto, where he began practising freestyle wrestling. During this time, he was noticed by New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) talent scouts and was invited to try out for the NJPW Dojo. His February 1998 tryout was successful and he was accepted as a trainee. He enrolled in the NJPW dojo after graduating from Ritsumeikan University the following year. Tanahashi has cited Shawn Michaels as his favorite wrestler. He also admired Tatsumi Fujinami, and considered using the ring name "Dragon Hiroshi" in honor of him.


title: Hiroshi Tanahashi

text: After graduating from the NJPW Dojo, Tanahashi made his debut in October 1999, in a match against Shinya Makabe. Alongside fellow rookies Katsuyori Shibata and Shinsuke Nakamura, Tanahashi became known as one of the "new Three Musketeers". He became viewed as a big prospect and was given big wins over "lucha libre" legend Negro Casas in July 2000 and American Scott Hall in September 2001. His star continued to rise and in the 2002 G1 Climax (one of NJPW's most important annual tournaments) Tanahashi pinned Kensuke Sasaki in under two minutes.


title: Hiroshi Tanahashi

text: After this, Tanahashi was paired with Kenzo Suzuki in a tag team named the Kings of the Hills. This pairing was popular, but came to an end after a real life incident in November 2002 in which Tanahashi was stabbed in the back by Hitomi Hara, a TV Asahi news reporter. Tanahashi and Hara had dated one another, but in a meeting at her Tokyo apartment he tried to break off the relationship as he had started dating another woman, which led to Hara stabbing him twice. Hara later confessed she tried to kill Tanahashi and planned to commit suicide afterwards. Hara was charged with attempted murder and sentenced to four years on probation. On February 16, 2003, Tanahashi returned as a singles wrestler to a sold out crowd in Tokyo in a match against Manabu Nakanishi.


title: Hiroshi Tanahashi

text: His career began to rapidly climb from this point. In the later half of 2003 Tanahashi captured the IWGP U-30 Openweight Championship and the IWGP Tag Team Championship, the latter on two separate occasions. In August 2004 he made it to the finals of the G1 Climax and on January 4, 2005, he headlined the show in Tokyo Dome in a match, where he dropped the U-30 Openweight Championship to Shinsuke Nakamura. In 2005, Tanahashi also made an appearance in the 15th Sasuke competition on July 20. He was eliminated in the first round. On June 18, Tanahashi defeated Toru Yano in a tournament final to regain the U-30 Openweight Championship. He would go on to defeat Masahiro Chono by Sling Blade in the first round of the New Japan Cup (determining a No. 1 contender against IWGP Heavyweight Champion Brock Lesnar) on April 16, 2006, in Korakuen Hall and Hiroyoshi Tenzan by Dragon suplex hold in the second round on April 25 in Omuta Citizen Gymnasium before falling to Yuji Nagata's wrist-clutch Exploder in the semifinal on April 29 in the Tottori Industrial Gymnasium. He also defeated Tiger Mask on May 13 in the first ever main event of the new Wrestle Land brand (a promotional experiment by New Japan with "sports entertainment"), debuting a modified side buster finish. On June 7, Tanahashi vacated the U-30 Openweight Championship in order to fully focus on his upcoming match against Brock Lesnar for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship.


title: Hiroshi Tanahashi

text: When Lesnar failed to show up for the match, he was stripped of the title and Tanahashi was placed in a tournament for the vacant title. On July 17, Tanahashi won his first IWGP Heavyweight Championship when he defeated Giant Bernard in the finals of the tournament for the vacant title. He showed the title belt on his second appearance on Sasuke during the 17th competition, where he was again eliminated in the first round. After holding the title belt for almost 9 months (270 days) and defending the title against the likes of Taiyō Kea, Shinsuke Nakamura and others, Tanahashi lost the title to Yuji Nagata, who had won the 2007 New Japan Cup to become the No. 1 contender. Tanahashi managed to come back from this by winning the 2007 G1 Climax, where he defeated Nagata in the finals and successfully challenged his rival to a rematch on October 8, 2007, where he pinned Nagata to regain the title. On January 4, 2008, at New Japan's annual Tokyo Dome show titled Wrestle Kingdom II in Tokyo Dome, Tanahashi was defeated by Shinsuke Nakamura for the IWGP Heavyweight title in the night's main event. In February's New Japan "Ism" tour, Tanahashi successfully defeated A.J. Styles in a highly anticipated rematch of their 2006 bout in Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA). Following this, Tanahashi was entered into the coveted New Japan Cup tournament in which the winner would face off against the then-IWGP Heavyweight Champion Shinsuke Nakamura as the number one contender. With a win over Giant Bernard, Tanahashi became the first two-time winner of the New Japan Cup.


title: Hiroshi Tanahashi

text: After New Japan Cup, competed in the in All Japan Pro Wrestling's Champion Carnival. He came in as a villain and was given the "Block from Hell" as he had to face nearly all of All Japan's top talent including Taiyō Kea, Satoshi Kojima, Toshiaki Kawada and his mentor Keiji Mutoh. He went undefeated and advanced to the finals where he was finally subdued by Suwama.


title: Hiroshi Tanahashi

text: On January 4 at Wrestle Kingdom III in Tokyo Dome, Tanahashi defeated his mentor Keiji Mutoh to become the 50th IWGP Heavyweight Champion, beginning his third reign. Following his victory, when asked who he would like his next challenger to be, Tanahashi called out generation rival Shinsuke Nakamura, who accepted. At New Japan's ISM tour on February 15, Tanahashi defeated Nakamura with the High Fly Flow in his first title defense. Tanahashi defeated Kurt Angle on April 5 at New Japan's "Resolution 09" with two High Fly Flows. His next opponent was Hirooki Goto, whom he defeated on May 3 at Wrestling Dontaku 2009 with a High Fly Flow. Just days later, Tanahashi was defeated by Manabu Nakanishi on May 6 at "Dissidence 2009". He regained the Title from Nakanishi on June 20 at Dominion 6.20 for his fourth reign. He successfully defended the title against Pro Wrestling Noah's Takashi Sugiura on July 20, the first ever NJPW vs. Noah match for the IWGP Heavyweight title. During a post-match interview, Tanahashi was interrupted by Tajiri, who then sprayed Tanahashi with Green Mist. Tanahashi would vacate the IWGP Heavyweight title on August 17, due to an eye fracture injury he suffered in a match with Shinsuke Nakamura, in the semi-finals of the 2009 G1 Climax Tournament. On November 8 at Destruction '09 Tanahashi returned to challenge for the belt he was forced to vacate, but came up short against the reigning champion Nakamura. On December 5 Tanahashi would avenge the loss he suffered during the G1 Climax Tournament and end his feud with Tajiri by pinning him in a singles match with the High Fly Flow. Afterwards, Tanahashi made a challenge to Pro Wrestling Noah and on January 4, 2010, at Wrestle Kingdom IV in Tokyo Dome he defeated Noah's Go Shiozaki in a match that was billed as "Ace vs. Ace". Since then, Tanahashi would begin a feud with Toru Yano, starting with Yano upsetting Tanahashi in a tag team match on January 30, where he teamed with Manabu Nakanishi and Yano with Shinsuke Nakamura. On February 14, Tanahashi avenged his loss in a singles match with Yano, but was jumped after the match by Masato Tanaka, after which Yano proceeded to cut off some of his hair. After Yano defeated Tanahashi in a singles match at Wrestling Dontaku 2010, New Japan booked the two men in a Hair vs. Hair match for June 19. On June 19 at Dominion 6.19, Tanahashi defeated Yano and was afterwards assisted by former rival Tajiri and Kushida in taking care of Yano's ally Takashi Iizuka and shave his opponent's hair. In August, Tanahashi entered the 2010 G1 Climax tournament and made it all the way to the finals, after four wins and a draw in the round robin stage of the tournament. However, in the finals Tanahashi was defeated by freelancer Satoshi Kojima. In October and November 2010, Tanahashi teamed with Tajiri in New Japan's 2010 G1 Tag League. After a strong start in the tournament, Tanahashi and Tajiri were defeated by the IWGP Tag Team Champions Bad Intentions (Giant Bernard and Karl Anderson) on November 6, the last day of group stages, and slipped to third place in their block, narrowly missing the semifinals of the tournament.


title: Hiroshi Tanahashi

text: After scoring back-to-back pinfall victories over top contender Hirooki Goto and Tetsuya Naito on December 11 and 12, Tanahashi was granted a shot at the IWGP Heavyweight Champion Satoshi Kojima at Wrestle Kingdom V in Tokyo Dome. At the event on January 4, 2011, Tanahashi defeated Kojima to win the IWGP Heavyweight Championship for the fifth time. On February 20 at The New Beginning, Tanahashi made his first successful defense of the title, defeating Kojima in a rematch. Tanahashi went on to successfully defended the title against New Japan Cup winner Yuji Nagata on April 3 and Shinsuke Nakamura on May 3. In May 2011, Tanahashi took part in the Invasion Tour 2011, New Japan's first ever tour of the United States, during which he successfully defended the IWGP Heavyweight Championship against Charlie Haas on May 14 in New York City.


title: Hiroshi Tanahashi

text: After another title defense on June 18 against rival Hirooki Goto, Tanahashi was challenged by IWGP Tag Team Champion Giant Bernard, but he answered this with a challenge of his own, suggesting a match for the IWGP Tag Team Championship between Bad Intentions and himself and Goto. On July 3, Tanahashi and Goto failed in their attempt to capture the IWGP Tag Team Championship from Bad Intentions. On July 18, Tanahashi made his sixth successful defense of the IWGP Heavyweight Championship against Giant Bernard. In the following month's 2011 G1 Climax, Tanahashi led his block for the majority of the tournament, but an upset loss on the final day of the tournament against Tetsuya Naito, caused him to narrowly miss advancing to the finals. On September 19, Tanahashi made his seventh successful IWGP Heavyweight Championship defense against G1 Climax winner Shinsuke Nakamura, despite losing a tooth during the match. On October 10 at Destruction '11, Tanahashi avenged his loss from the final day of the 2011 G1 Climax by defeating Tetsuya Naito to make his eighth successful IWGP Heavyweight Championship defense. With Tanahashi now edging closer to Yuji Nagata's record of ten successful defenses, Nagata came out after the match to challenge him for the title. However, after Tanahashi had accepted the challenge, he was attacked by Toru Yano, who proceeded to steal his championship belt. In the 2011 G1 Tag League, Tanahashi teamed with Hirooki Goto as "The Billion Powers". After picking up two wins and two losses in their first four matches in the group stage of the tournament, Tanahashi and Goto defeated the Beast Combination (Satoshi Kojima and Togi Makabe) on November 4 to advance to the semifinals of the tournament. On November 6, Tanahashi and Goto were eliminated from the tournament in the semifinals by Bad Intentions. On November 12 at Power Struggle, Tanahashi regained the IWGP Heavyweight Championship belt from Toru Yano by successfully defending the title against him, after which he was again challenged by Yuji Nagata. On December 4, Tanahashi defeated Nagata to make his tenth successful IWGP Heavyweight Championship defense, tying Nagata's record in the process. On January 4, 2012, at Wrestle Kingdom VI in Tokyo Dome, Tanahashi broke the record by successfully defending the title against Minoru Suzuki. On February 12 at The New Beginning, Tanahashi lost the IWGP Heavyweight Championship to Kazuchika Okada, ending his reign at 404 days.


title: Hiroshi Tanahashi

text: On June 16 at Dominion 6.16, Tanahashi defeated Okada in a rematch to win the IWGP Heavyweight Championship for the sixth time, tying Tatsumi Fujinami's record for most reigns with the title. Tanahashi made his first title defense on July 1, defeating Togi Makabe at an event co-promoted by New Japan and All Japan. All reigns combined, this was Tanahashi's twenty-first successful defense of the IWGP Heavyweight Championship, which was another New Japan record. Tanahashi made his second successful title defense on July 22 against Masato Tanaka. The following month, Tanahashi took part in the 2012 G1 Climax tournament, where he won five out of his first seven matches, but a loss to Karl Anderson on the final day of the tournament caused him to narrowly miss advancing to the finals. On September 23 at Destruction, Tanahashi successfully defended the IWGP Heavyweight Championship against Pro Wrestling Noah's Naomichi Marufuji, avenging a loss suffered during the 2012 G1 Climax. On October 8 at King of Pro-Wrestling, Tanahashi defeated Minoru Suzuki for the fourth successful defense of his sixth IWGP Heavyweight Championship reign. The match received rave reviews, including a five-star rating from "Wrestling Observer Newsletter"'s Dave Meltzer. On November 11 at Power Struggle, Tanahashi made his fifth successful title defense against Yujiro Takahashi. Later in the month, Tanahashi took part in the 2012 World Tag League, teaming with Captain New Japan under the team name "Captain Ace". The team lost all six of their matches with Captain New Japan being pinned in each match. On January 4, 2013, at Wrestle Kingdom 7 in Tokyo Dome, Tanahashi made his sixth successful defense of the IWGP Heavyweight Championship against the previous year's G1 Climax winner, Kazuchika Okada. At the following pay-per-view, The New Beginning on February 10, Tanahashi made another successful title defense against Karl Anderson, avenging his loss from the 2012 G1 Climax. On March 3 at New Japan's 41st anniversary event, Tanahashi defeated IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion Prince Devitt in a special non-title main event. On April 7 at Invasion Attack, Tanahashi lost the IWGP Heavyweight Championship back to Kazuchika Okada. On June 22 at Dominion 6.22, Tanahashi attempted to earn another shot at the title, but was defeated in a number one contender's match by Prince Devitt, following interference from Devitt's new Bullet Club stable. On July 5, Tanahashi teamed with Jushin Thunder Liger to defeat Bullet Club member Tama Tonga and El Terrible for the CMLL World Tag Team Championship. From August 1 to 11, Tanahashi took part in the 2013 G1 Climax, where he opened by losing three of his first four matches. However, Tanahashi bounced back to wrestle IWGP Heavyweight Champion Kazuchika Okada to a time limit draw and winning his other four matches to win his block and advance to the finals of the tournament. In the finals on August 11, Tanahashi was defeated by Tetsuya Naito. After returning from a tour of CMLL, Tanahashi and Liger lost the CMLL World Tag Team Championship on September 14 to Bullet Club members Rey Bucanero and Tama Tonga, following outside interference from the rest of the group. Tanahashi's rivalry with Bullet Club leader Prince Devitt built to a Lumberjack Deathmatch on September 29 at Destruction, where Tanahashi was victorious. With the Devitt rivalry behind him, Tanahashi once again set his sights on the IWGP Heavyweight Championship, challenging Kazuchika Okada at the end of the event. Tanahashi failed in his title challenge on October 14 at King of Pro-Wrestling. In a post-match interview, Tanahashi bid farewell to the IWGP Heavyweight Championship as he had proclaimed that he would not challenge for the title again, should he lose to Okada. Tanahashi then entered the IWGP Intercontinental Championship picture, after being nominated as the next challenger by champion Shinsuke Nakamura, setting up the first title match between the two longtime rivals in over two years. In November, Captain Ace reunited for the 2013 World Tag League. Much like the previous year, the team lost their first five matches, but on the final day they finally picked up a win over Bad Luck Fale and Prince Devitt, costing the Bullet Club team a spot in the semifinals.


title: Hiroshi Tanahashi

text: On January 4, 2014, Tanahashi defeated Nakamura in the main event of Wrestle Kingdom 8 in Tokyo Dome to win the IWGP Intercontinental Championship for the first time. A rematch between the two took place on February 9 at The New Beginning in Hiroshima and saw Tanahashi make his first successful title defense. After Nakamura had won the 2014 New Japan Cup, another title match was booked between him and Tanahashi for the April 6 Invasion Attack 2014 event, where Tanahashi was defeated in his second title defense. Afterwards, Tanahashi formed a tag team named "Ace to King" (Japanese for "Ace and King") with Togi Makabe to after the IWGP Tag Team Championship. In May, Tanahashi took part in NJPW's North American tour, defeating Ring of Honor's Michael Bennett in an interpromotional match at War of the Worlds on May 17. On May 25 at Back to the Yokohama Arena, Tanahashi and Makabe defeated Hirooki Goto and Katsuyori Shibata to earn a shot at the IWGP Tag Team Championship. Tanahashi and Makabe received their title shot on June 21 at Dominion 6.21, but were defeated by Bullet Club's Doc Gallows and Karl Anderson. In the 2014 G1 Climax, Tanahashi finished with a record of seven wins and three losses, with a loss against Davey Boy Smith Jr. on the final day costing him a spot in the finals. After defeating Katsuyori Shibata on September 21 at Destruction in Kobe, Tanahashi announced he was re-entering the IWGP Heavyweight Championship picture and looking to challenge the reigning champion, Bullet Club's A.J. Styles. He received his title shot on October 13 at King of Pro-Wrestling, where he defeated Styles to win the IWGP Heavyweight Championship for the record-breaking seventh time. On November 14, Tanahashi and Yoshitatsu announced they were forming a new tag team named "The World". The World was scheduled to take part in the 2014 World Tag League, but after their opening match on November 22, Yoshitatsu was forced to pull out of the tournament with a neck injury. On January 4, 2015, at Wrestle Kingdom 9 in Tokyo Dome, Tanahashi made his first successful defense of the IWGP Heavyweight Championship against Kazuchika Okada. On February 11 at The New Beginning in Osaka, Tanahashi lost the title back to A.J. Styles, ending his latest reign at 121 days.


title: Hiroshi Tanahashi

text: In March, Tanahashi was eliminated from the 2015 New Japan Cup by Toru Yano in less than three minutes, re-igniting the old feud between the two. The rivalry culminated on July 5 at Dominion 7.5 in Osaka-jo Hall, where Tanahashi defeated Yano. From July 20 to August 14, Tanahashi took part in the round-robin stage of the 2015 G1 Climax. He won his block with a record of seven wins and two losses, advancing to the finals. On August 16, Tanahashi defeated Shinsuke Nakamura in the finals to win his second G1 Climax. Tanahashi was handed a contract, which gave him the right to challenge for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship at Wrestle Kingdom 10 in Tokyo Dome, that he would have to defend for the rest of the year. During September and October, Tanahashi successfully defended the contract against Bad Luck Fale and Tetsuya Naito, avenging his two losses suffered during the 2015 G1 Climax. On January 4, 2016, at Wrestle Kingdom 10 in Tokyo Dome, Tanahashi unsuccessfully challenged Kazuchika Okada for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship. The loss ended his Tokyo Dome main event win streak at five. On February 14 at The New Beginning in Niigata, Tanahashi was defeated by Kenny Omega in a match to determine the new IWGP Intercontinental Champion. On March 20, Tanahashi teamed with Juice Robinson and Michael Elgin to unsuccessfully challenge The Elite (Omega and The Young Bucks (Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson)) for the NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championship.


title: Hiroshi Tanahashi

text: On April 10 at Invasion Attack 2016, Tanahashi, Elgin and Yoshitatsu defeated The Elite to become the new NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Champions. They made their first successful defense on April 23 against Omega, Bad Luck Fale and Yujiro Takahashi. On May 3 at Wrestling Dontaku 2016, they lost the title back to The Elite. Tanahashi was set to challenge Omega for the IWGP Intercontinental Championship in NJPW's first ladder match at Dominion 6.19 in Osaka-jo Hall, but was forced to pull out of the match due to a shoulder injury. From July 18 to August 12, Tanahashi took part in the 2016 G1 Climax, where he finished tied second in his block with a record of five wins, one draw and three losses. A 30-minute time limit draw against Kazuchika Okada on the final day eliminated both men from advancing to the finals. On January 4, 2017, at Wrestle Kingdom 11, Tanahashi unsuccessfully challenged Tetsuya Naito for the IWGP Intercontinental Championship.


title: Hiroshi Tanahashi

text: The next day at "New Year Dash!!", Tanahashi, Manabu Nakanishi and Ryusuke Taguchi defeated "Los Ingobernables de Japón" (Bushi, Evil and Sanada) for the NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championship. They lost the title back to L.I.J. on February 11 at The New Beginning in Osaka. Tanahashi and Taguchi regained the title from L.I.J. with new partner Ricochet on April 4. After defeating L.I.J. member Evil on April 29, Tanahashi confronted the stable's leader Tetsuya Naito and challenged him to a match for the IWGP Intercontinental Championship. On May 3 at Wrestling Dontaku 2017, Tanahashi, Ricochet and Taguchi lost the NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championship back to L.I.J. members Bushi, Evil and Sanada. Shortly afterwards, Tanahashi was sidelined with a ruptured biceps tendon. Though he later admitted that a surgery would have been the best option for him, Tanahashi stated that he could not take time off.


title: Hiroshi Tanahashi

text: Tanahashi returned to the ring on June 11 at Dominion 6.11 in Osaka-jo Hall, where he defeated Tetsuya Naito to win the IWGP Intercontinental Championship for the second time. Tanahashi then entered the 2017 G1 Climax, where he finished with a record of six wins and three losses, failing to make it to the finals due to losing to Naito in their final round-robin match on August 11. Tanahashi then successfully defended the Intercontinental Championship against Zack Sabre Jr. on September 16 at Destruction in Hiroshima and Kota Ibushi on November 5 at Power Struggle, avenging two losses he had suffered during the 2017 G1 Climax. Following the Ibushi match, Tanahashi was attacked by the returning Jay White, who challenged him to a title match on January 4, 2018, at Wrestle Kingdom 12 in Tokyo Dome. After being sidelined with a legitimate knee injury, Tanahashi returned on December 18 to assure he would be wrestling at Wrestle Kingdom 12, at which point he was again attacked by White. On January 4, 2018, Tanahashi defeated White to retain his title. The next day, at New Year's Dash, he was attacked by Minoru Suzuki. On January 27, 2018, at The New Beginning in Sapporo, Tanahashi dropped the title to Suzuki, ending his reign at 230 days.


title: Hiroshi Tanahashi

text: After a brief hiatus, Tanahashi returned during the New Japan Cup, reaching the finals only to be defeated by Zack Sabre Jr. At Sakura Genesis 2018, Tanahashi teamed with fellow Taguchi Japan members Juice Robinson and David Finlay to defeat Chaos members Hirooki Goto, Jay White and Yoshi-Hashi. Later in the night, Tanahashi would confront IWGP Heavyweight Champion Kazuchika Okada after Okada defeated Sabre to tie Tanahashi's record for most successful title defenses with eleven, indicating a potential title match in the near future. Their match took place on night two of Wrestling Dontaku 2018, where Tanahashi was unsuccessful in winning the championship, and in the process having his record of most successful title defences in one reign broken, as Okada defended the championship successfully for the twelfth time.


title: Hiroshi Tanahashi

text: Tanahashi then took part in the 2018 G1 Climax, where he finished with a record of seven wins, one draw, and one loss, thus setting a new record for the most points in the current 20-man G1 format with 15 and advancing to the finals, where he defeated Kota Ibushi to win his third G1 Climax tournament. This earned him the right to challenge for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship at Wrestle Kingdom 13 that he would have to defend for the remainder of the year and marked the tenth time he would main event the show. As the only men he failed to defeat in his block, Tanahashi nominated Okada and White to be his challengers for the contract. On September 23, at Destruction in Kobe, Tanahashi defeated Okada to retain the contract and was promptly assaulted by White. On October 8, at King of Pro-Wrestling, he retained the contract against White.


title: Hiroshi Tanahashi

text: On January 4, 2019, at Wrestle Kingdom 13, Tanahashi defeated Kenny Omega to become IWGP Heavyweight Champion for the eighth time, breaking his own record for most reigns in the process, and becoming the first Tokyo Dome IWGP Heavyweight Championship challenge rights certificate holder to successfully become champion at Wrestle Kingdom. On February 11 at The New Beginning in Osaka, Tanahashi lost the IWGP Heavyweight Championship to Jay White, ending his reign at 38 days. At the G1 Supercard in April, Tanahashi unsuccessfully faced Zack Sabre Jr. for the British Heavyweight Championship. At Dominion 6.9 on June 9, Tanahashi teamed with Juice Robinson and Ryusuke Taguchi to defeat the Bullet Club (Jay White, Chase Owens and Taiji Ishimori). On August 31 at Royal Quest, Tanahashi defeated Sabre for the British Heavyweight Championship, but lost it back in a rematch at Destruction in Beppu on September 15.


title: Hiroshi Tanahashi

text: At Power Struggle in November, Tanahashi was called out by Chris Jericho for a match at Wrestle Kingdom 14, which Tanahashi accepted. On the second night of the event, Jericho defeated Tanahashi. Following this, Tanahashi started a tag team with Kota Ibushi. On February 21, 2020, and on night three of New Japan Road, Tanahashi and Ibushi, dubbing themselves Golden☆Ace, defeated the Guerrillas of Destiny (Tama Tonga and Tanga Loa) to win the IWGP Tag Team Championship. Following the win, they were attacked by Dangerous Tekkers (Taichi and Zack Sabre Jr.) On July 12, at Dominion, Tanahashi and Ibushi were defeated by Dangerous Tekkers, ending their reign at 142 days. From September 19 to October 18, Tanahashi took part in the G1 Climax, where he finished in his block with a record of four wins and five losses. One of his victories was over Kenta, meaning Tanahashi could challenge Kenta for his shot at the IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship, which was confirmed on the night of the final. On November 7, at Power Struggle, Kenta defeated Tanahashi.


title: Hiroshi Tanahashi

text: After this, Tanahashi began feuding with the newly formed United Empire. At Wrestle Kingdom 15 Night 1, he defeated Great-O-Khan. At The New Beginning in Nagoya, Tanahashi defeated Shingo Takagi to win the NEVER Openweight Championship for the first time, becoming NJPW's fourth Triple Crown champion in the process. At Castle Attack, Tanahashi retained the title in a rematch with Khan, which was his only successful title defense. After being eliminated in the New Japan Cup tournament by Jay White, he started challenging Tanahashi for a title match. At Sakura Genesis, Tanahashi teamed up with Satoshi Kojima to defeat White and Bad Luck Fale in a tag team match. On the first night Wrestling Dontaku, Tanahashi lost the title to Jay White in the main event, ending his reign at 93 days. On July 25, it was announced that Tanahashi would face Shingo Takagi at Wrestle Grand Slam in Tokyo Dome for the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship after Kota Ibushi was unable to compete. At the event, Tanahashi lost to Takagi.


title: Hiroshi Tanahashi

text: On August 14, at Resurgence, Tanahashi defeated Lance Archer for the IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship, winning the title for the first time, becoming the first Japanese wrestler to win the title, and becoming the second Grand Slam champion in NJPW history. Following his win, Tanahashi challenged Kota Ibushi to a match at Wrestle Grand Slam in MetLife Dome for his first title defense, which Ibushi accepted. On Night 1 of the event, Tanahashi defeated Ibushi to retain the title. Tanahashi then took part in the G1 Climax from September 18 to October 21 and finished with four wins and five losses and failing to advance to the finals. At Power Struggle on November 6, Tanahashi lost the title to Kenta, ending his reign at 84 days. On the second night of Wrestle Kingdom 16, Tanahashi defeated Kenta to regain the title and won the title for a second time. At New Years Golden Series on February 19, Tanahashi lost the title to Sanada, ending his second reign at 45 days.


title: Hiroshi Tanahashi

text: At Wrestling Dontaku on May 1, Tanahashi was originally supposed to face Will Ospreay for the vacant IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship, but Ospreay was pulled from the match after testing positive for COVID-19, and was replaced by Tomohiro Ishii. At the event, Tanahashi defeated Ishii to win the title for a record-setting third time. Shortly after, Tanahashi was confronted by Chase Owens, which turned out to be a distraction for the returning Juice Robinson, who had joined Bullet Club, to attack him and stake his claim for the championship. At Capital Collision, Tanahashi lost the title to Robinson in a Four-way match also involving Ospreay and Jon Moxley, and ended his third reign at 13 days. Before this, on May 5, New Japan announced an event along with All Elite Wrestling, called , to take place on June 26. On the June 1 episode of AEW Dynamite, Tanahashi made an surprise appearance to reveal himself as the opponent of AEW World Champion CM Punk, where the match was scheduled for Forbidden Door. However, Punk was announced to be injured, although not vacating the championship. Therefore, at Dominion, Tanahashi defeated Hirooki Goto to earn a match against Jon Moxley for the interim championship at the event. At the event, Tanahashi was defeated by Moxley.


title: Hiroshi Tanahashi

text: On June 12th also during Dominion, Tanahashi was announced as a participant in the G1 Climax 32 tournament starting in July, as apart of the C block. He finished with 6 points, failing to advance to the semi-finals.


title: Hiroshi Tanahashi

text: Tanahashi made his North American debut in September 2005 when he and Nakamura went to Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL) in Mexico. There, they feuded with Los Guerreros del Infierno and successfully defended their IWGP Tag Team Championship against Rey Bucanero and Olímpico. Tanahashi returned to Mexico and CMLL in May 2010 to join "La Ola Amarilla" (Spanish for "the Yellow Wave") with fellow Japanese wrestlers Okumura, and Taichi. On May 7, 2010 "La Ola Amarilla" defeated El Hijo del Fantasma, La Máscara and Héctor Garza to win the CMLL World Trios Championship in the main event of the weekly Friday night Super Viernes show. "Ola Amarilla's" reign as Trios champions only lasted two weeks as they were defeated by La Máscara, La Sombra and Máscara Dorada on May 21, 2010. Following the show Tanahashi returned to Japan for the next tour of NJPW, but intended to return to CMLL between tours of NJPW. In August 2011, Tanahashi returned to CMLL and, as the reigning IWGP Heavyweight Champion, was allowed to enter the promotion's annual tournament of champions to crown the Universal Champion. Tanahashi entered the tournament on September 9; after eliminating CMLL World Welterweight Champion Máscara Dorada in his first round match, Tanahashi himself was eliminated from the tournament in the second round by CMLL World Tag Team Champion Último Guerrero. Tanahashi returned to CMLL on August 24, 2012, again taking part in the Universal Championship tournament, winning his block to advance to the finals. On August 31, Tanahashi was defeated in the finals of the tournament by CMLL World Heavyweight Champion El Terrible. Tanahashi finished his CMLL tour on September 7, when he teamed with Namajague, Okumura and Taichi in a Japan vs. Mexico "torneo cibernetico", where they faced Black Warrior, La Máscara, Negro Casas and Valiente. In the end, Tanahashi pinned La Máscara, following interference from Taichi, to win the match for the Japanese. Tanahashi returned to CMLL a year later on August 23, 2013, when he teamed with Namajague and Puma in a six-man tag team match, where they were defeated by Marco Corleone, Máximo and Shocker. Tanahashi worked the tour as "rudo", opposing Atlantis. On August 30, Tanahashi entered the 2013 Universal Championship tournament, where he won his block by defeating La Sombra in the finals, with help from Volador Jr., to advance to his second Universal Championship final in a row. On September 6, Tanahashi defeated Rush to win the tournament and become the 2013 Universal Champion.


title: Hiroshi Tanahashi

text: He debuted in the United States with TNA on January 14, 2006, at Final Resolution, where he was defeated by A.J. Styles. He was also featured in a match against Roderick Strong that was taped for "Xplosion" a few days later.


title: Hiroshi Tanahashi

text: Tanahashi returned to TNA in 2008 for an excursion and on the October 30 episode of "Impact!" lost in a tag team match with Volador Jr. against The Motor City Machine Guns (Alex Shelley and Chris Sabin). After the match, they were berated by Sheik Abdul Bashir. On the November 6 episode of "Impact!", Tanahashi teamed with Volador again in a four-way ladder match for number one contendership for Beer Money's TNA World Tag Team Championship against Team 3D (Brother Devon and Brother Ray), Matt Morgan and Abyss and The Latin American Xchange (Hernandez and Homicide), which Morgan and Abyss won. At Turning Point, Tanahashi participated in a 10-man X Division seeding match where he came fourth. Following the announcement of his IWGP Heavyweight title match against Mutoh, Tanahashi cancelled the rest of his TNA dates to return to NJPW full-time.


title: Hiroshi Tanahashi

text: Being trained by the NJPW Dojo, Tanahashi learned shoot techniques, catch and boxing moves to include in his moveset. During his career, he has used several moves as finishing holds, like the "High Fly Flow" (a frog splash), the sling blade, the dragon suplex and the Texas clover hold.


title: Hiroshi Tanahashi

text: After his first title defense against Shinsuke Nakamura, Tanahashi dubbed himself as "the ace of the universe", a nickname that used during his career. When he debuted, he was seen as an innovator because he said "I love you" to his fans after the match and played an air-guitar, something very unusual in NJPW.


title: Hiroshi Tanahashi

text: Tanahashi married his wife in 2003 and has two children, a son named Shiryu and a daughter named Koharu.


title: Hiroshi Tanahashi

text: In 2016, Tanahashi, along with fellow wrestler Togi Makabe, appeared in "Garo: Ashura", the 10th anniversary special of the Japanese "tokusatsu" series "Garo", with Tanahashi starring as the eponymous Golden Knight. The Garo Project production team collaborated with New Japan Pro-Wrestling for the special. Both Tanahashi and Makabe also appeared in the 2016 Doraemon movie, "".


title: Hiroshi Tanahashi

text: Tanahashi, along with fellow NJPW wrestlers Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Kazuchika Okada, Satoshi Kojima, Tetsuya Naito and Toru Yano, appears as a member of the gang Justis in the 2016 video game "". He is also a fan of the "Kamen Rider" series, working poses from "Kamen Rider Kabuto" and "Kamen Rider W" into his ring entrance as well as appearing in the music video for "Kamen Rider Wizard"'s opening theme, and in 2016 got promoted to portray one of the main villains, Sōji Kuruse/Robol Bugster, in "Kamen Rider Heisei Generations: Dr. Pac-Man vs. Ex-Aid & Ghost with Legend Rider". He also appears as a character in the anime series "Tiger Mask W", voiced by Kenichi Suzumura, along with other NJPW wrestlers and plays a prominent role in the story as well as an occasional opponent for Tiger Mask. As part of a collaboration with Namco's 2017 fighting game "Tekken 7", the video game character Lars Alexandersson was given many traits from Tanahashi, including his outfit, a theme song and a wrestling technique. Tanahashi made his acting debut in the film "My Dad Is a Heel Wrestler", which was released in September 2018.


title: Matthew Holness

text: Matthew James Holness (born 1975) is an English comedian, writer, director, and actor. He is best known for creating and playing the fictional horror author Garth Marenghi.


title: Matthew Holness

text: Born in Whitstable, Kent, Holness became a fan of Hammer horror films at a young age, to the extent that when, at the age of six, he asked Hammer star and fellow Whitstable resident Peter Cushing for his autograph, Cushing expressed concern that the child knew so much about the films.


title: Matthew Holness

text: Holness attended Chaucer Technology School in Canterbury and went on to read English at Trinity Hall, Cambridge. As a member of the Cambridge Footlights, he appeared in a number of shows at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in the mid-1990s. He also served as vice-president when David Mitchell was president. Other contemporaries included Robert Webb, Richard Ayoade and John Oliver. Holness received the Master of Arts from Cambridge, graduating "in absentia" due to his comedy work.


title: Matthew Holness

text: In 2000, Holness first appeared on television as a cast-member of the short-lived BBC Two comedy series "Bruiser". In the same year, "Garth Marenghi's Fright Knight", a stage show written by Holness and Ayoade and starring the pair along with Alice Lowe, was nominated for the Perrier Award at the Edinburgh Fringe. The show was built around a spoof horror writer named Garth Marenghi. The sequel, "Garth Marenghi's Netherhead", won the Perrier Award the following year.


title: Matthew Holness

text: In 2002, Holness played the role of Simon, an arrogant and sarcastic computer technician in series two of "The Office". About the same time, he appeared in the comedy stage play "The Mighty Boosh", filling the role of Bob Fossil while regular cast member Rich Fulcher was overseas.


title: Matthew Holness

text: In 2004, the character of Garth Marenghi transferred to television in the Channel 4 horror comedy "Garth Marenghi's Darkplace". Despite critical acclaim and a later cult following, the series suffered from relatively low ratings when first broadcast.


title: Matthew Holness

text: From 2004 to 2006, Holness played the character of Keith Bilk in the BBC Radio 4 series "The Department".


title: Matthew Holness

text: In 2006, the parody chat show "Man to Man with Dean Learner" appeared on Channel 4, with Holness playing a series of bizarre celebrity guests interviewed by a sleazy host, played by Ayoade. One of the guests was folk singer Merriman Weir, in which guise Holness also appeared in comedy clubs around Britain playing a guitar.


title: Matthew Holness

text: In 2006, Holness appeared in the BBC Two comedy series "Time Trumpet", a mock retrospective documentary set in the future.


title: Matthew Holness

text: In 2010, he played the part of a bandleader in "Cemetery Junction", a comedy-drama film by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant.


title: Matthew Holness

text: In 2011, he played a minor role in the first episode of the Channel 4 sitcom "Friday Night Dinner". The same year, "A Gun for George" was released, a short film written and directed by Holness in which he plays an angry loner who writes pulp-fiction crime novels about a vigilante called The Reprisalizer, and he played the part of a smug lawyer in "Life's Too Short", a sitcom starring Warwick Davis.


title: Matthew Holness

text: In 2012, he wrote and directed a short film for Sky Arts' Playhouse Presents series entitled "The Snipist", which depicted a dystopic alternative 1970s Britain stricken by rabies. Douglas Henshall starred, with John Hurt providing the voice of The Ministry.


title: Matthew Holness

text: In 2014, Holness played the part of egotistical movie star Max Gland in an episode of the Channel 4 sitcom "Toast of London".


title: Matthew Holness

text: In 2016, he wrote and directed "Smutch", a Halloween Comedy Short shown on Sky Arts, in which he played an embittered author haunted by a ghost writer.


title: Matthew Holness

text: In 2017, he appeared in the Channel 4 sitcom "Back" as a recently deceased father who appears in flashback scenes.


title: Matthew Holness

text: In 2018, he played the part of brooding Swedish detective Knut Ångström in the BBC Radio 4 Nordic noir parody "Angstrom".


title: Matthew Holness

text: In 2019, he played Prince Hector of Bulgaria in an episode of the Channel 4 sitcom "Year of the Rabbit". The same year, Holness made his debut as a feature director with "Possum", a psychological horror film set in Norfolk. He described the film as "not remotely funny". In interviews to promote "Possum", Holness said he had written a script for another horror film which he was also hoping to get made.


title: Matthew Holness

text: Holness has written several short stories, such as 'Possum', 'The Toad and I', and 'The Mastiff: A story of The Diggers', which have been published in horror anthologies and as e-book downloads. He has also done voiceover work for audiobooks.


title: Matthew Holness

text: His agents' website lists several projects as being in development with Holness as writer/director: "Cometh the Fiend", "The Reprisalizer", and "The Mast".


title: Matthew Holness

text: In 2022, Holness announced an anthology novel entitled "Garth Marenghi's TerrorTome," which is written in-character as Marenghi and presented as one of the character's own works, which Marenghi began working on in the 1980s. It will also be released as an audiobook narrated by Holness in-character, and was released in November 2022. Release was followed by a book tour, where Holness in-character read extracts from the book and conducts a Q&A with the audience.


title: State of the Union (British TV series)

text: State of the Union is a British comedy television series that premiered on 6 May 2019 on Sundance TV. It is written by Nick Hornby and directed by Stephen Frears.


title: State of the Union (British TV series)

text: Season 1 of "State of the Union" follows "Louise and Tom, played by Pike and O’Dowd, who meet in a pub immediately before their weekly marital therapy session. Each episode pieces together how their lives were, what drew them together, and what has started to pull them apart."


title: State of the Union (British TV series)

text: On 13 July 2018, it was announced that Sundance TV had given the production a series order consisting of ten episodes running around ten minutes each. The series was expected to be written by Nick Hornby and directed by Stephen Frears, both of whom were set to be executive producers. Production companies involved with the series included See-Saw Films.


title: State of the Union (British TV series)

text: Alongside the series order announcement, it was confirmed that Rosamund Pike and Chris O'Dowd had been cast in the series' lead roles for season 1.


title: State of the Union (British TV series)

text: Principal photography for the series was scheduled to begin in the summer of 2018 in London, England. The pub used for the series was the Thatched House in Hammersmith, London W6.


title: State of the Union (British TV series)

text: Roger Eno scored the soundtrack, which was performed by jazz musicians Jack Pinter, Sebastian Rochford (drums) and Steve Watts on saxophone and recorded at AIR Studios in London, according to the trailer.


title: State of the Union (British TV series)

text: On 25 January 2021 the series was renewed for a second season, starring Brendan Gleeson, Patricia Clarkson and Esco Jouléy.


title: State of the Union (British TV series)

text: In a positive review, "Variety"s Daniel D'Addario praised the series saying, ""State of the Union" pulls off a neat trick; given both its short running time and its fleetness of dialogue, we never get tired of hearing this couple's arguments, which could in other contexts be tiresome and circular." In another encouraging criticism, "The Hollywood Reporter"s Daniel Fienberg described the series as a "clever and beautifully acted piece" and declared that "Stephen Frears and Nick Hornby's perceptive two-hander is still well worth seeing."


title: Epic Rap Battles of History

text: Epic Rap Battles of History (ERB) is a YouTube web series and music project created by Peter "Nice Peter" Shukoff and Lloyd "EpicLLOYD" Ahlquist. The series pits historical and pop culture figures against one another in a rap battle format. The characters portrayed are often determined by suggestions from viewers in the comments sections of the channel's videos. Shukoff and Ahlquist write each song themselves, researching the subject in order to find obscure details to use as references in the lyrics, although certain Patreon subscribers have also contributed to the writing process. As of September 9, 2022, the channel has 14.8 million subscribers and approximately 3.9 billion total video views. Following an extended hiatus, the channel returned with a bonus battle in December 2018, and the sixth season debuted on April 20, 2019.


title: Epic Rap Battles of History

text: The popularity of the music videos has led to mainstream partnerships, such as the one with Ubisoft, using the "Blackbeard vs Al Capone" episode to promote "". Additionally, "Terminator vs Robocop" in the fourth season was used to promote the upcoming release of the film "Terminator Genisys" and featured an appearance by Arnold Schwarzenegger. ERB's popularity has also led to collaboration with mainstream artists. Shukoff and Ahlquist also created a two-minute rap battle scene used in "."


title: Epic Rap Battles of History

text: Although early episodes of the series featured only Shukoff and Ahlquist, later episodes have regularly featured guest appearances, and other internet celebrities such as Dan Bull, Lisa Donovan, Timothy DeLaGhetto, George Watsky, DeStorm Power, Jesse Wellens, PewDiePie, Jenna Marbles, Lilly Singh, Ray William Johnson, Rhett and Link, and Smosh. Media celebrities like rappers Snoop Dogg, Chali 2na, and T-Pain, singers Jackie Tohn and "Weird Al" Yankovic, actors J.B. Smoove and Gary Anthony Williams, and the comedy duo Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele have also appeared in the series.


title: Epic Rap Battles of History

text: On July 3, 2013, "Barack Obama vs. Mitt Romney" became the first of its singles to be certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) in the United States. 10 other singles, "Adolf Hitler vs. Darth Vader", "Albert Einstein vs. Stephen Hawking", "Dr. Seuss vs. William Shakespeare", "Master Chief vs. Leonidas", "Steve Jobs vs. Bill Gates", "Justin Bieber vs. Ludwig van Beethoven", "Mario Brothers vs. Wright Brothers", "Mr. T vs. Mr. Rogers", "Abe Lincoln vs. Chuck Norris", and "Adolf Hitler vs. Darth Vader 2", were subsequently certified Gold as well.


title: Epic Rap Battles of History

text: The idea for historical figures rapping against each other was conceived by Ahlquist, who pitched the idea to Shukoff as an improvised show titled ""Check OneTwo""; both were working in improv at the time along with Zach Sherwin, who would later become a regular guest on the series. They were met with high levels of difficulty at first and decided that the concept would fare much better as a YouTube series than an improv show. The first three rap battles were each shot on a $50 budget.


title: Epic Rap Battles of History

text: Before the web series existed on YouTube, Shukoff and Ahlquist recorded their first song, which was a battle between "Child's Play" antagonist Chucky and actor Michael J. Fox. The song was freestyle and poorly made; as a result, it was not released to the public.


title: Epic Rap Battles of History

text: On September 26, 2010, the first rap battle was uploaded to YouTube, featuring Shukoff as John Lennon and Ahlquist as Bill O'Reilly. The 15th episode, "Nice Peter vs EpicLLOYD", marked the end of the first season. This battle pitted Ahlquist and Shukoff against each other with cameos from all of the characters they had played over the 14 prior episodes. At the end of the battle, KassemG arrives and convinces Peter and Lloyd to continue the battles on their own channel. "Epic Rap Battles of History" later returned on December 8, 2011, hosted on their new channel (moving from Shukoff's personal channel), "ERB", with behind-the-scenes videos on their second channel, "ERB2". Shukoff and Maker Studios also created the official website for the series, where fans could vote on winners for each video, and read short comical autobiographies by each character.


title: Epic Rap Battles of History

text: On September 27, 2012, following a four-month pause after the "Steve Jobs vs. Bill Gates" episode, a video was released on the series' YouTube channel where Ahlquist (voicing to an animation of Theodore Roosevelt) announced that new episodes would be released every two weeks until the Christmas holidays, starting with the 22nd episode "Frank Sinatra vs. Freddie Mercury" (aired on October 1, 2012). "Moses vs. Santa Claus", aired on December 10, 2012, was the last battle before taking a break for the holidays.


title: Epic Rap Battles of History

text: On February 17, 2013, "Epic Rap Battles of History" was nominated for five Streamy Awards, winning four of them. Shukoff and Ahlquist also performed part of the "Steve Jobs vs. Bill Gates" battle live.


title: Epic Rap Battles of History

text: On September 9, 2013, "ERB" uploaded a trailer video on their channel announcing that "Epic Rap Battles of History" would return on October 7, 2013 for a third season. On October 14, "ERB" released a second video with Ahlquist voicing Theodore Roosevelt, who announced the upcoming season's schedule. The third season went on hiatus after the release of "Donald Trump vs. Ebenezer Scrooge" on December 19, 2013. In March 2014, an episode of Shukoff's weekly show "The Monday Show", published on March 11, and a third announcement video of "Epic Rap Battles of History News", published on March 18, confirmed that Season 3 would continue on May 5, 2014. "Weird" Al Yankovic, Smosh, and Rhett and Link were also confirmed as guest appearances. The third season concluded with the release of "Artists vs. TMNT" on July 14, 2014, where the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles battled their European renaissance artist namesakes.


title: Epic Rap Battles of History

text: On September 30, 2014, a teaser video for the fourth season of "Epic Rap Battles of History", featuring the "Ghostbusters" and "MythBusters", was released; the series returned on November 10, 2014 with its 46th episode, "Ghostbusters vs. Mythbusters". This season also marked the first animated battle: "Zeus vs Thor", which was animated entirely with Lego bricks and minifigures; Forrest Whaley served as animation director. On December 15, 2014, when "Steven Spielberg vs. Alfred Hitchcock" was released, the fourth season went on hiatus. The season continued on May 25, 2015 and concluded with the release of the season finale, "Jim Henson vs. Stan Lee", on August 3, 2015.


title: Epic Rap Battles of History

text: It was confirmed in a podcast by Shukoff that there would be a fifth season, with pre-production starting in November 2015 once they came back from the world tour.


title: Epic Rap Battles of History

text: On February 26, 2016, it was announced that Season 5 would begin on May 2, 2016, and on March 22 it was announced that production had begun.


title: Epic Rap Battles of History

text: Season 5 officially began on May 2, 2016, with the release of the first battle of the season, "George R. R. Martin vs. J. R. R. Tolkien". "ERB" released battles every other Monday as of the first half of Season 5. On July 12, 2016, "Alexander the Great vs. Ivan the Terrible" was released. This marked the midseason break. Ahlquist later confirmed they were planning to return mid to late October. Filming began for the second half of Season 5 on September 23. On October 26, Season 5 resumed with "Donald Trump vs. Hillary Clinton". The final episode of Season 5, "Nice Peter vs EpicLLOYD 2" was released on January 9, 2017, where Ahlquist and Shukoff battle against each other once again, as it is a sequel to the Season 1 finale. Following the fifth season, "ERB" went on an extended hiatus.


title: Epic Rap Battles of History

text: In 2016, "Epic Rap Battles of History" was nominated for an Emmy Award in the newly initiated category Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Short Form Variety Series at the 68th Primetime Emmy Awards.


title: Epic Rap Battles of History

text: In 2018, Shukoff announced there would be a sixth season during a performance at Anime Midwest. On November 30, 2018, a video was posted on the official ERB YouTube channel, confirming that Season 6 would premiere in 2019. A "bonus battle" between Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg was released on December 7, 2018. In December 2018, Ahlquist said that they had gone "fully independent" of their production company.


title: Epic Rap Battles of History

text: On April 20, 2019, the Season 6 premiere ("Freddy Krueger vs Wolverine") was released. ERB once again went on hiatus in December, after "Thanos vs J. Robert Oppenheimer".


title: Epic Rap Battles of History

text: After a 10 month hiatus, ERB returned, with their third election rap battle, "Donald Trump vs Joe Biden". On December 5, 2020, Ahlquist stated in a Behind The Scenes video for their next battle, "Harry Potter vs Luke Skywalker" (their second Lego-animated collaboration with Forrest Whaley), that as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, ERB would be transitioning from Season 6 to Season 7 earlier than expected, rather than further postpone Season 6. Several planned battles and concepts would be holdovers from Season 6. On May 28, 2021, the ERB Twitter account announced a new episode to be released on June 14, featuring EpicLLOYD as legendary Viking hero Ragnar Lodbrok and NicePeter as English King Richard the Lionheart. The episode was sponsored by the video game "Rise of Kingdoms".


title: Epic Rap Battles of History

text: On November 27, 2021, ERB released a new rap battle episode, titled Jeff Bezos vs Mansa Musa on their YouTube channel. This was followed by the first “three-way” battle in the show’s history (“John Wick vs John Rambo vs John McClane”) on December 18, 2021. The next episode, “Lara Croft vs Indiana Jones”, released on October 26, 2022.


title: Robben Island

text: Robben Island () is an island in Table Bay, 6.9 kilometres (4.3 mi) west of the coast of Bloubergstrand, north of Cape Town, South Africa. It takes its name from the Dutch word for seals ("robben"), hence the Dutch/Afrikaans name "Robbeneiland", which translates to "Seal(s) Island".


title: Robben Island

text: Robben Island is roughly oval in shape, long north–south, and wide, with an area of . It is flat and only a few metres above sea level, as a result of an ancient erosion event. It was fortified and used as a prison from the late-seventeenth century until 1996, after the end of apartheid.


title: Robben Island

text: Political activist and lawyer Nelson Mandela was imprisoned on the island for 18 of the 27 years of his imprisonment before the fall of apartheid and introduction of full, multi-racial democracy. He was later awarded the Nobel Peace Prize and was elected in 1994 as President of South Africa, becoming the country's first black president and serving one term from 1994–1999. In addition, the majority of prisoners were detained here for political reasons. Two other former inmates of Robben Island, in addition to Mandela, have been elected to the presidency since the late-1990s: Kgalema Motlanthe (2008–2009) and Jacob Zuma (2009–2018).


title: Robben Island

text: Located at the entrance to Table Bay, 11 km from Cape Town, this island, was discovered by Bartolomeu Dias in 1488 and, for many years, it was used by Portuguese navigators, later by English and Dutch as a refueling station. Its current name means “seal island”, in Dutch.


title: Robben Island

text: In 1654, the settlers of the Dutch Cape Colony placed all of their ewes and a few rams on Robben Island, and the men built a large shed and a shelter. The isolation offered better protection against wild animals than on the mainland. The settlers also collected seal skins and boiled oil to supply the needs of the settlement.


title: Robben Island

text: Since the end of the 17th century, Robben Island has been used for the incarceration of chiefly political prisoners. The Dutch settlers were the first to use Robben Island as a prison. The island's first prisoner was probably Autshumato in the mid-17th century. Among its early permanent inhabitants were political leaders imprisoned from other Dutch colonies, including the Dutch East Indies, and the leader of the mutiny on the slave ship "Meermin".


title: Robben Island

text: After the British Royal Navy captured several Dutch East Indiamen at the battle of Saldanha Bay in the Fourth Anglo-Dutch War in 1781, a boat rowed out to meet the British warships. On board were the "kings of Ternate and Tidore, and the princes of the respective families". The Dutch had long held them on "Isle Robin", but then had moved them to Saldanha Bay.


title: Robben Island

text: In 1806, the Scottish whaler John Murray opened a whaling station at a sheltered bay on the north-eastern shore of the island, which became known as Murray's Bay. It was adjacent to the site of the present-day harbour named Murray's Bay Harbour, which was constructed in 1939–40.


title: Robben Island

text: After a failed uprising at Grahamstown in 1819, the fifth of the Xhosa Wars, the British colonial government sentenced African leader Makanda Nxele to life imprisonment on the island. He drowned on the shores of Table Bay after escaping the prison.


title: Robben Island

text: The island was also used as a leper colony and animal quarantine station. Starting in 1845, lepers from the "Hemel-en-Aarde" (heaven and earth) leper colony near Caledon were moved to Robben Island when "Hemel-en-Aarde" was found unsuitable as a leper colony. Initially, this was done on a voluntary basis, and the lepers were free to leave the island if they so wished. In April 1891, the cornerstones for 11 new buildings to house lepers were laid. After passage of the Leprosy Repression Act in May 1892, admission was no longer voluntary, and the movement of the lepers was restricted. Doctors and scientists did not understand the disease and thought that isolation was the only way to prevent other people from contracting it. Prior to 1892, an average of about 25 lepers a year were admitted to Robben Island, but in 1892 that number rose to 338, and a further 250 were admitted in 1893.


title: Robben Island

text: During the Second World War, the island was fortified. BL 9.2-inch guns and 6-inch guns were installed as part of the defences for Cape Town.


title: Robben Island

text: From 1961, Robben Island was used by the South African government as a prison for political prisoners and convicted criminals. In 1969, the "Moturu Kramat," now a sacred site for Muslim pilgrimage on Robben Island, was built to commemorate Sayed Abdurahman Moturu, the Prince of Madura. Moturu, one of Cape Town's first imams, had been exiled in the mid-1740s to the island. He died there in 1754. Muslim political prisoners would pay homage at the shrine before leaving the island.


title: Robben Island

text: In 1982, former inmate Indres Naidoo's book "Island in Chains" became the first published account of prison life on the island.


title: Robben Island

text: The maximum security prison for political prisoners closed in 1991. The medium security prison for criminal prisoners was closed five years later.