This director is vindictive.

Chapter 377 Second Battalion Commander, where the hell is your Italian cannon?

I stayed up late last night eating melons, mainly because these melons were really interesting.

At first, a group of netizens were in perfect unison, recommending it to everyone around them.

This shows that Chen Mo's recommendation was truly heartfelt and incredibly heartwarming.

Meanwhile, the others, thinking that since I was depressed, no one else should have an easy time either, actually started playing along.

However, after the hashtag #ChenMoHealingAnimeRecommendation# trended on social media, his true colors were finally revealed.

After all, there are so many netizens, it's impossible for them all to have the same thoughts.

"Run! These two anime are far more depressing than 'Heartbreaker'! Chen Laozei's overnight Weibo post is definitely up to no good!" The accompanying image was a screenshot of a screen full of "High energy ahead" comments.

@AnimeVeteranDriver: "Trust me! In the last episode of 'Mantou's Diary,' when Huajuan got hit by a car, I cried until I was dehydrated. Chen Mo's move was a precise finishing blow!"

@YangMiIsSheGoingBaldToday: "This cosplay of Big Secret is hilarious! But ladies, you're focusing on the wrong thing, aren't you? After Director Chen recommends it, are you going to buy a standing ticket and escape from Earth overnight?"

"Just got back from watching 'Binchotan,' and now I'm typing with a box of tissues in my hand. Chen Mo, you have no heart!"

"Thank you for the recommendation, Director Chen! Little Charcoal and Steamed Bun are so heartwarming, I've already recommended them to my best friend (smile)."

"Chen Mo, you really deserve to die! I was at least somewhat comforted by the end of 'The Heartbroken,' but then you recommended this kind of show to us in the middle of the night, and I didn't sleep well all night. Now I have dark circles under my eyes and my eyes are swollen from crying!"

"It is indeed quite healing, but I inexplicably started crying. That bastard Chen Mo knows how to manipulate everyone's emotions!"

"It's a great anime, no problem, but it's ridiculous to use the name 'healing' as an excuse. Where did my forty-meter-long sword go?"

"Second Battalion Commander, where's my Italian cannon? Bomb it to hell!"

A content creator on the anime forum posted a set of comparison images: the left image shows the most popular movie review terms for "The Heartbroken" as "blades" and "unresolved feelings," while the right image shows newly captured comments for "Binchotan" as "scam" and "give me back my tears," with the caption: "Chen's healing style deceives everyone, young and old."

Although "Binchotan" and "Mantou Diary" have some fame online, they are not actually any truly popular anime.

Simply put, those who like this type of anime have naturally seen it, but those who don't follow anime or aren't particularly interested in it have never even heard of it.

At this moment, Chen Mo's influence exploded completely.

These two anime, which were originally considered niche, became wildly popular online after Chen Mo's public recommendation and Yang Mi's cosplay.

The next day, almost the entire internet was criticizing Chen Mo, and the criticism even trended on social media.

As the sun rose, the hashtag #ChenMoHealingScam# shot up to the top of the trending topics list at lightning speed, followed by the wildly popular hashtag "boiling".

As if by prior arrangement, major social media platforms collectively launched a "condemnation mode" against Chen Mo.

Popular anime blogger @DimensionalWallCrusher posted a nine-grid long image with a shocking title: "Chen Mo's 'Healing' Trap - A Detailed Explanation of the 100 Swords in the Original Binchotan Manga".

The image contrasts the dark scenes cut from the animation: in the original ending, she freezes to death in the middle of the night... In "Mantou's Diary," Mantou's dog, Huajuan, tries to follow Mantou but is hit by a car and dies. The last image is a screenshot from Chen Mo's Weibo, captioned "You call this healing?", which instantly garnered over 20 reposts.

"I suggest Director Chen switch careers and sell razor blades; it'll definitely be more profitable than making movies!"

"Damn it, they fed me a knife in the middle of the night, making people think something happened at home when I went to work the next day!"

"Chen Mo, you deserve to die! This kind of treasure is best kept to yourself, why did you have to push it around like that!"

On the other hand, in popular videos on short video platforms like Douyin:
A girl with dark circles under her eyes cried into the camera: "I finished watching 'Mantou Diary' at 3 a.m., and now I get PTSD whenever I hear the word 'healing'!"

The background music is the mournful melody of "Yi Jian Mei" (A Spray of Plum Blossoms), and the scene switches to the classic shot of Hua Juan being hit by a car. The barrage of comments is filled with "Chen Mo, come out and take your beating."

This video sparked the #HealingChallenge#, where participants are required to record a comparison of their facial expressions before and after watching an anime!
A netizen posted two sets of comparison pictures: "Before seeing this, I looked like this" in the picture with a smile on his face, and "After seeing this, I looked like this" in the picture with my eyes red and swollen from crying.

This compilation of memes—showing expressions ranging from expectant smiles to breakdowns and tears—has surpassed 5 million views.

How would you evaluate Chen Mo's recommendation of depressing anime? (Part 2)

A highly-rated answer posted box office data for "The Heartbroken" and view count curves for two anime series: "Let's have a conspiracy theory: Chen Mo first used the movie to make the audience depressed, and then relied on recommending 'healing anime' to attract traffic, thus completing a precise harvest of the audience's emotions."

Even though he has no direct financial interest in face animation, this behavior is even more perverted!

This is blatant manipulation of the audience's emotions! Chen Mo, you're seriously insane!

(Data attached: Daily viewership of two anime surged by 3000%)

The title of a popular post on Hupu (a Chinese sports forum) is even more direct: "Brothers, is Chen Mo's move considered entrapment?" The poster shared his private message records—after he recommended Chen Mo to his girlfriend, she cried and got angry, and he ended up sleeping on the sofa for the next week.

However, the comments below were quite distorted.

"Sleeping on the sofa for a week? Dude, is that even possible?" "Too bad I'm too late. My girlfriend already saw it and begged for comfort that very night. My kidneys!"

"Hehe, I'm different. My girlfriend is super well-behaved. She watched two anime with me without any emotional fluctuation, but she seemed a little deflated the next day."

In fact, the 3000% increase in daily views for the two anime series after Chen Mo's recommendation is simply an underestimate.

As more and more people condemned Chen Mo, it even became a phenomenon on the internet, suddenly making the old anime "Binchotan" and the relatively obscure domestic anime "Mantou Diary" popular.

Its speed of increase on several platforms' playback charts is unparalleled.

Even financial media outlets joined in the fun, with CBN (China Business Network) putting its headline in quotation marks: "The Emotional Economics Behind the 'Chen Mo Effect': Why Do Audiences Criticize While Paying?"

The article begins by presenting data: "The daily viewership of 'Binchotan' and 'Mantou Diary' surged by 3000%, sales of related merchandise soared by 500%, and searches for the 'depressing' tag exceeded 100 million."

A psychologist interviewed analyzed: "The 'emotional rollercoaster' that the audience experiences in Chen Mo's works is essentially a release of emotions within a safe range. Just like screaming on a rollercoaster but still buying a ticket, this 'painful yet pleasurable' experience can actually relieve the pressure of reality."

But the comments section went completely off track:

"Wake up, experts! Chen Mo's 'empathic experience' is like stabbing you in the back, rubbing salt in the wound, and then asking you if you want to buy a Band-Aid!"

"I suggest experts watch the finale of 'Mantou's Diary' themselves. If they can still talk about 'latent needs' after watching it, I'll eat my hat!" (Attached is an animated screenshot of Mantou being hit by a car)
"Stop talking about economics! Chen Mo's operation can be summarized simply: fraudulent marketing, using sob stories to monetize!" (The accompanying image is a photo of Yang Mi in cosplay with the words "gang crime" photoshopped on it.)
"Got it. Next time the movie theater shows 'The Heartbroken,' they should sell tissues along with it. One tissue for every cry, one pack sold, and the GDP will increase, right?"

"I checked the merchandise for those two anime series, and it's all pirated. According to financial experts, is Chen Mo selling pirated goods? Seriously, Chen Mo is just stirring up trouble, okay?"

However, sometimes things are just that magical.

A financial blogger posted a candlestick chart: "Based on the stock price fluctuations following Chen Mo's recommendation, I suggest that CEOs of listed companies collectively take a course on 'How to Use Depressing Content to Boost Market Value.'" (The chart shows the animation company's stock price soaring.)

Many stock market investors exclaimed that he was an expert!

"Holy crap, so this is how Chen Mo recommends stocks?"

"This is absolutely outrageous! How is this even allowed?"

Chen Mo himself never expected the outcome to be so surreal.

In fact, many netizens have already posted pictures of razor blades online, saying they would send them to him.

Many people, seeing how effective Chen Mo's recommendation was, even started recommending healing anime to him, such as "Anohana: The Flower We Saw That Day" and "Your Lie in April."

Chen Mo said he would never look at it, what a joke, do you think he, Chen Mo, is so easily fooled?

The next day, while Chen Mo was trembling with fear from being "cyberbullied," he decisively betrayed Yang Mi and the others.

He directly replied to a netizen's comment that said, "Yang Mi and the others forced me to recommend anime": "Shh—don't say it (doge) @YangMi @ZhangYuqi @GaoYuanyuan @ZhaoLiying @LiuYifei @FanBinbin, right?"

As a result, Yang Mi quickly reposted the photo and added a new picture – she had three charcoal sticks in her hair on a crooked head, and was holding a handwritten sign that read "I am a healing type" while gritting her teeth.

The other women also joined in the game.

Liu Yifei: "???"

Zhang Yuqi: "You bastard, your eyes are all swollen from crying! And you're still trying to shift the blame!"

Gao Yuanyuan: She didn't say anything, but directly posted a photo of herself wiping away tears.

Fan Binbin: "Is this related to me?"

Zhao Liying: Expression: Knife, knife, knife!
The netizens immediately burst into laughter.

"Haha, your family has gone too far! So the question is, who should I believe?"

"Our fairy sister is so pure and kind, she would never force Chen Mo to do business!"

"Our Yuanyuan is so easygoing and gentle. We could believe you when you tried to shift the blame to Yang Mi, but you actually tried to shift it to our Yuanyuan. That's too much!"

"Binbin looked completely bewildered. Chen Mo, what's wrong with you? Did you tag the wrong person?"

"Okay, okay, so this is how you play it? Got it, let's go get Chen Mo right now. Sister Mi and the others are allies! Chen Mo has gone too far!"

Chen Mo was completely dumbfounded when he saw the women's replies and the netizens' reactions.

Wait, what's wrong with this generation of netizens?

Am I, Chen Mo, really that untrustworthy?
Honestly, he was wronged more than Dou E in this whole affair.

(End of this chapter)