“High School Boys and the Film Research Society” is the 78th chapter of the manga.
Cover Page[]
A still of the Chemistry Club President.
Detailed Summary[]
In the Film Research Society club room, the club seeker and the Film Research Society President (FRSP) are present, with the club seeker reading a script. The president asks him what he thinks of the script, adding that it’s the movie they’re producing. The seeker seems to like the plot - in which vegetables come alive and fight against humans. He tells the president, however, that spending half a year to get the sound effect for a vegetable biting someone in the groin seemed excessive.
The seeker takes another hit
Calling him an imbecile, the president kicks him to the floor, before whacking him with a stool. He tells him that it is because of easily contented fools like him that the world is such a shoddy place. The president then apologizes, conceding that the seeker was correct, which leaves the seeker lost for words. Now bleeding, he takes up the script again. He points out that in the ending, the protagonist sneezes, which grants him the ability to blow away the vegetables, and he doesn’t like the idea.
The president attacks him again, telling him that that’s the point, but the seeker dodges the blow. Suddenly, the now-ex-Chemistry Club President (CCP) enters and orders them to stop. The FRSP asks him who he is and the seeker tells him the CCP used to be the president of a club he was in. The FRSP wonders out loud if he wants to be the protagonist. The CCP confirms this, much to the seeker’s shock.
The FRSP notices the CCP's trap
The FRSP tells him he’d never consider him, but the CCP says he has no choice and asks him to look around. The FRSP correctly realizes that scattered all around the room is a mixture of iron oxide and aluminium powder, much to the seeker’s amazement. The CCP holds up a burning matchstick and threatens the others with the consequences. He suddenly sneezes and the matchstick flies out of his hand.
The FRSP is wonder-struck. He tells the CCP that his sneeze was exactly what he was looking for and offers him an acting role. The CCP is in disbelief at his luck. Just then, the matchstick hits the ground. The room is engulfed in an explosion.
Characters[]
In order of appearance:
Notes[]
- The Film Research Society President is introduced.
- No main characters are featured.
- The opening panels seem to suggest that the Film Research Society is using the same room that the Chemistry Club previously occupied, or is at least in the same corridor. The latter is more likely, since the sizes and windows of the two rooms are depicted to be different.
- The reaction that the CCP threatens to carry out is Fe2O3 + 2Al -> 2Fe + Al2O3 (known as the Thermite reaction), which is highly exothermic.