sovbooks Chapter 22 is too short! Too short!
Chapter 22 is too short! Too short!
Just one shot, one line of dialogue.
The mysterious, languid, powerful "masked genius" Saki Saku, who seemed to have a slightly different attitude towards the protagonist, entered the audience's field of vision in such a highly expressive way.
The scene then cuts to the shadowy area of the school building's corridor.
In a dimly lit corner, a figure stood quietly.
The camera slowly zooms in, giving Liuli a close-up shot as it moves from afar.
She is the first female character to officially appear in this anime series.
Her long, misty purple hair cascaded smoothly over her shoulders, and her white school uniform accentuated her slender yet curvaceous figure.
She exudes a cool, aloof, and fragile aura.
Thanks to its stunning character model, Liuli caught the audience's attention almost immediately.
The barrage of comments that were frantically criticizing the protagonist's incompetence and the frustrating plot suddenly paused for a second or two, as if a pause button had been pressed.
Immediately, the topic shifted:
"Holy crap!!! That face! That charisma! It's so captivating!"
"Why didn't you bring out such a top-tier female character sooner?! Why were you hiding her away?!"
"He's the perfect guy! He's absolutely my dream guy!"
"Just for this modeling alone, no matter how terrible the plot gets later, I'll still hold my nose and watch at least an episode or two!"
Amidst a barrage of comments, the plot continues—
Liuli took off her glasses and unleashed her inner echo.
The brief interludes, coupled with Liuli's inner monologue, finally made the audience realize:
It turns out that the bullying in the classroom was being fueled by someone behind the scenes.
The culprit was this seemingly weak and harmless girl!
The comments section at this point perfectly illustrated what it means to have "values dictated by appearance":
"Ruri, we support you in taking down Hiki! We've nominated you as the new leader!"
"A stunningly beautiful bad woman? I'm totally into that!"
"Miss Ruri, stop controlling the fire and wood, try controlling me instead! Hehehe..."
Firewood, influenced by the glass, rushed up to the rooftop.
Just when the audience thought this frustrating first episode was really going to feature the shockingly bad trope of the protagonist jumping off a building right at the start—
The masked boy who had just made a deep impression on them reappeared in the scene.
This guy has been lying on the rooftop sleeping since just now...
At this moment, as if his afternoon nap had been disturbed, the masked boy's tone was rather impatient.
But judging from what he said and did, the audience could tell that this guy was clearly "saying one thing but doing another" while trying to persuade Huomu.
In the scene, Saki's voice slowly rises:
"But that's just a rumor. To attack someone without even verifying its truth is incredibly stupid! Do you think I'm one of those idiots in the classroom?"
"This isn't a matter of belief or disbelief. To hurt someone based solely on speculation and one-sided statements is something only an idiot would do."
These two sentences stand in stark contrast to the vicious words Huomu had suffered when he was bullied earlier.
The comments section started scrolling rapidly:
"Wow! These values are so admirable!"
"Absolute strength! The rationality that arises from it! The one who lives in the Church of Firewood is..."
If the rooftop conversation reveals Saki's extremely upright values and his tsundere personality, then...
The following plot then focuses on highlighting his terrifying strength that crushes his peers.
Under Liuli's secondary manipulation, Huomu walked to the edge of the rooftop in a daze and jumped off!
At the critical moment, Qi Ji moved.
Reach out, grasp, and pull back.
Flowing like clouds and flowing like water, effortlessly handling heavy tasks!
It was so fast that even with their eyes wide open, the audience couldn't see it clearly.
Subsequently, in order to stand up for Huomu, Qiji found the mastermind behind it all.
He faced Liuli head-on.
With just a flick of the finger, the glass mirror shattered into pieces.
At the same time, the scene appropriately inserts Liuli's shocked inner thoughts—
"This lens is specially made of echoing crystal. Its hardness is high enough to easily withstand a full-force attack from a second-tier transcendent..."
"It actually shattered by a single finger?"
"Are you kidding me...?"
After indirectly highlighting the power of the miracle, Saki finally uttered his famous line in this episode—
"I'll beat you so badly you wet your pants in front of everyone."
"Peeing...wetting your pants???"
"Haki, you bastard, do you want to listen to what you're saying?!"
"Hilarious! Using this to threaten a pretty girl? What pretty girl could withstand such a threat!"
"Is this person a devil?"
"Who's the villain?! I can't tell! I really can't tell!"
Amidst the numerous hilarious and meme-filled comments, there were also some... rather peculiar ones.
such as--
"Aaaaaah! Lord Saki! Please! Beat me until I wet my pants too!!!"
This comment perfectly demonstrates what the diversity of the human species truly means...
While watching the anime series, Saki also made sure not to miss the premiere.
In the cramped rented room, Saki was having dinner with her younger sister when she suddenly saw this outrageous comment.
"puff--!!!"
He nearly choked on a mouthful of noodle soup, which immediately triggered a violent cough.
My sister even laughed at me for it.
"My brother actually ate noodles with his nose!"
……
The first episode ends with a flashback to Liuli's childhood memories.
Indifferent parents, a curse etched into the soul, a little girl's silent tears and eyes that have died completely...
One second the comments were playing the "wetting your pants" joke and shouting "bad women are the best," and the next second they felt sorry for her.
"Ruri... (crying)"
"The Kamishiro family are scum of the earth! They deserve to die!"
"No wonder she turned out this way!"
"Suddenly, I can't bring myself to hate him anymore..."
Just as the audience was completely absorbed in the amazing performance, the screen suddenly went black.
The gentle, ethereal, and melancholic ending theme song, "Cocoon of Emptiness," suddenly began to play.
The production credits have started rolling.
The comment section was filled with "???"
"What the hell?! That's it?!"
"You cut me off right when I was getting emotional?!"
"Too short! Not nearly enough!"
"What about the next episode? Why isn't it served yet! Even the donkeys in the production team dare not rest like this!"
"What do you mean 'eight episodes'? Who do you think you are! Give me two more episodes! (slams his fist on the ground)"
"Holy crap, they actually released two more episodes—"
Viewers were simply venting their frustration at the sudden cut-off of a show they were really into.
After all, given the production standards that "Echo" has shown so far, they are already grateful that they can maintain weekly updates and keep the quality up; no one expects to actually update more often.
however--
Just as the end credits were about to finish and most viewers were preparing to exit the page.
The screen lit up again!
The title "Episode 2" appeared prominently!
Furthermore, below the "Episode 2" option, there is even a "Episode 3" button!
After a brief moment of stunned silence, the comments section was instantly flooded with unparalleled ecstasy:
"Holy crap?! Holy crap!!!"
"Three episodes in a row?!"
"Production team, I'm your own father!!!"
"Awesome!!!"
……
……