Manhua / School Shock

Chu Feng: B.E.E. (Simplified: 雏蜂; Traditional:雛蜂; Chinese:Chú Fēng ; Japanese: Hinabachi, translated as "young bee"), also known as School Shock, is a Chinese manhua written and drawn by Sun Heng, and completed at twenty-three volumes (with an ongoing Fan Translation), released in the early years of The New '10s.

The year is 2017^note 2020 in the first animated adaptation, 2027 in the Son of Eden adaptation. Sun Haoxuan, an Ordinary High-School Student, goes about his peaceful life, observing that everyone, including him, is doing the same thing everyday, and those who change merely replace others. Although he wants a girlfriend, he perceives himself to be inferior and having no redeeming features. Therefore, he contents himself with his normal, repetitive life and comes to the conclusion that life has nothing to look forward to.

That is about to change when his building is overtaken by heavily armed terrorists. They quickly take out police units sent in to get them and demand an artifact/person called the Child of Eden. If the police take their time, they will kill a hostage every ten minutes. Haoxuan turns out to be the first to be shot. Luckily for him, he is saved by a mysterious girl who wears a strange device that resembles a bee's posterior and allows flight, as well as an accessory that resembles a bee's antenna. She turns out to be a new human weapon called a Vanguard, made by putting nanomachines into a human, greatly enhancing his/her physical abilities and reflexes. The girl, Liu Li, quickly suppresses the terrorists and returns to her base.

That's not the end of the two protagonists' relationship. Liu Li turns out to be a Vanguard who's almost at her limit, and she has to take drugs every day to keep herself alive. These drugs are prohibitively expensive however, hence the military generals decide to "let her rest". Her instructor, Colonel Li, objects to this, and begs them to let her to live a normal life for another year like they had promised before. The generals are unwilling to keep their word, since they see her as a mere machine which has outlived its purpose. They're willing to compromise however, by letting her live if Colonel Li assigns her a new mission. The promised normal life is not possible, but Liu Li does not want it anyway; she has never had any conception of a normal life, and her "raison d'etre" has always been to finish a mission. Yet, Colonel Li still tries to give her a normal life, by assigning her to protect Haoxuan, who, like all ordinary high-school students we've seen in anime, turns out to be not as ordinary as he seems, as he appears to be the Child of Eden. Liu Li is hence transferred into Haoxuan's school and acts as a normal student, and so, the manhua's title is finally justified. Sadly for Liu Li however, her normal life turns out to be short-lived, as new enemies have appeared, and they also seem to believe that Haoxuan is the Child of Eden they are looking for.

An animated adaption began airing on July 23, 2015 for 6 episodes under its Chinese title. Full episodes are available on the U17.com official Youtube channel.

A Japanese dub premiered on August 15, 2015 starring Shinnosuke Tachibana, Kana Hanazawa, and Fumiko Orikasa as the main characters. The Japanese-dubbed episodes can also be found on U17.com's Youtube channel here. It is the first Chinese-made animated series to be broadcast simultaneously in China (in Mandarin) and Japan (in Japanese).

The animation was set to have a movie sequel in 2017 but this ended up not panning out. In 2019, a trailer was released for a second animated series titled 雏蜂伊甸之子 Chu Feng: Son of Eden. This new series began airing on November 18, 2020, and restarts the story from the beginning while aiming to be a more complete adaptation. Notably, Sun Heng himself was deeply involved with its production, and Son of Eden was a far more serious take on the story compared to both the 2015 series and the original manhua. Unfortunately, the series was apparently Cut Short after only airing 12 episodes and still remains far from a complete adaptation.

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The work provides examples of:

• Absurdly Sharp Blade : Bai Hua, the Mantis Vanguard, sports two of 'em, a large kukri and a arm-mounted one.
  • May also be a Vibroweapon, as it does buzz.

• Action Survivor: Haoxuan. Any other ordinary high school student would have died under a terrorist's gun.
• A Father To His Girls: Colonel Li to Liu Li, up to the point of her only opening up to him and getting jealous of A-Xuan for all the sudden attention he got. Not much of a shocker, since he is her dad, unbeknownst to her.
• Alliterative Name: Liu Li's name just rolls out of your mouth.

• Aerith and Bob: Cyatheaceae, Cecilia, Malick and Alicia, as the story is set in China, or in the case of the latter 3: the friggin' military.
• And I Must Scream: The Spider Tank in the prologue is actually controlled by a human brain in immeasurable pain, desperately wishing for death. This is only revealed in the manhua; in the animated adaptation it gets unceremoniously blown up without a word.
• Animal Motif: A bee for Liu Li, a praying mantis for Bai Hua, a spider (Cyatheaceae) and three ants (Malick, Alicia, Shao Yu) and the Queen of the Moth, Cecilia.
• Anti Heroine: Liu Li… yeah, sometimes the Mantis Vanguard seems more morally upstanding than her.
• Apocalypse Maiden: Inverted. A-Xuan ain't a maiden. It is also more implied, for being a possible trigger of WW3 (on the other hand, many treat this as a given), and only if nuclear weapons like the ones in the background that are shown while all this is being explained to Liu Li are used.
• Applied Phlebotinum: Nanomachines make the Vanguards strong.
• Arm Cannon: Zhou Zhongrong had an ace up his sleeve.
• Artificial Limbs: Xiao Jiang has a foot prothesis, Zhongrong has an Arm Cannon.
• The Atoner: Since her return to the story, Bai Hua has more or less made it her mission to keep an amnesic A-Xuan safe.
• Author Avatar: White Cat (Sun Heng) and his boss and staff are drawn in the omake section, often making comments on Fan Art.

• Barehanded Blade Block: Liu Li can perform this against the Absurdly Sharp Blade of Bai Hua. Since she does it with only one hand, it results in bleeding.

• Berserk Button:
  • The Spider Vanguard is very displeased about the loss of her twice licked popsicle.
  • Liu Li kills Bai Hua in a completely enraged state crying, after she mortally wounded Sun Haoxuan. Interestingly enough, it didn't give her the usual powerup connected with this trope, but simply resulted in a headshot, which she could have and would have done anyway.
• Big Damn Heroes:
  • Liu Li saves Haoxuan's life during the hostage situation just before his lights get blown out.
  • A bit later, when Zhou is holding him hostage again, a military sniper uses an anti-materiel rifle to blow half of Zhou's body off right before Zhou puts a bullet in his head.
  • It is subverted with A-Xuan's saving Bai Hua, as both get fatally wounded, and played straight with the arrival of the Marching Ant Squad and the Queen of the Moth.
• Blessed with Suck: Liu Li's power source, the Nanomachines, have become more and more detrimental.
• Blood Knight: Liu Li enjoys a good fight.
• Brain in a Jar: The spider tank is controlled/powered by a human brain. Liu Li puts it out of its misery.
• Brains and Bondage: Wang He has the nick name Prodigy. He is also a masochist and would love to do BDSM with Liu Li.
• Breaking the Fourth Wall: Huai Te did this once, explaining and justifying himself directly into the camera.
  Huai Te: “Whaat? You think I´m an extremist? How did you reach the same conclusion as the psychologist I recently strangled?“
• The Brute: Ju Jiang, a giant with a equally huge siberian hat, who cracks Mecha like peanuts with his bear hands. And seemingly stops bullets in mid-air. Doesn't talk much.

• Chekhov's Gun: Played with. Huai Te first quotes Chekhov's trope naming line, then explains the bomb he apparently placed might as well blow up now following that line of thinking. It doesn`t do that yet. Unless he was speaking in metaphors.
• Chekhov's Gunman: Wang He. He is a Teen Genius and accquaintance of Commander Li and supervises A-Xuan's recovery. Also might be older than he appears.

• Close-Call Haircut: Zhongrong doesn't quite miss Liu Li, resulting in this trope.
• Companion Cube: B.E.E., Liu Li's propulsion and weapon system, that also provides covering fire, monitoring services and medical equipment. Due to operating mainly over voice command, it at least appears to be one.

• Cross-Popping Veins: Tells us how much Wang He just fucked up with Liu Li.

• Cyborg: There's the question if containing nanomachines makes you an actual cyborg, which then would include any vanguard. Moot point, since Liu Li and Bai Hua have their electronic sensory antennae implanted and Zhou Zhongrong has an Arm Cannon.

• Darker and Edgier: The 2020 series, Son of Eden, is a completely dead-serious and more realistic take on the story. It removes the slapstick comedy elements, the fanservicey scenes, and the exaggerated reactions that were found in both the 2015 series and the original manhua, and also tones down the more "Hollywood" aspects (such as removing Liu Li's Bond One-Liners during fights), the action scenes are more violent, and Sun Haoxuan is generally a more assertive character from the start as opposed to the somewhat clueless dope he was in the source material. It can be compared to Full Metal Panic!: The Second Raid in terms of grittiness.
• Eagleland: Flavor 2, America, the International Bully. Comes with war threats as default negotiation tactic.
• Expy: Liu Li, at the beginning, is an action version of Rei Ayanami. Then there's Alicia. Twin Pigtails. Creepy affection towards her senior whom she calls Onee-sama. Very open displayal of said affection. Being a complete bitch and drama queen about their relationship. This is Shirai Kuroko.
• Face–Heel Turn: Yin Hai used to be a good guy and saved his friend's daughter… and at one point turned into the mad, homicidal and megalomanical Huai Te.
• Faceless Goons: The terrorist in the first three chapters all were black skull masks.

• Gadgeteer Genius: Haoxuan, although he claims himself to be an Ordinary High-School Student.
• Gatling Good: The Spider Tank deployed by Zhou in the beginning uses a chin-mounted gatling gun as its main weapon.

• Genre Savvy: Liu Li never takes the elevator. In high school, she's not as efficient.
  • Also, Haoxuan. Naturally, if the school idol confesses to you after speaking with you once, something's quite possibly off.

• Government Agency of Fiction: The NPSA or National Preservation Special Assault.
• Goggles Do Nothing: What's the point of a foot prothesis when you're in a wheel chair?
• Groin Attack: With an improvised weapon, no less. Poor Wang He. Accompanied with a subtle Visual Pun.
• Guns Akimbo:
  • In Episode 2 of the animation, Liu Li goes to town on the terrorists in the main hall with dual P90s as opposed to a single P90 and a missile barrage from the manhua.
  • Liu Li's 1/8 scale PVC figure, as manufactured by Aspire and Revolve, has her dual wielding a Desert Eagle and a P90.

• Hand Cannon: Liu Li uses a Desert Eagle as her sidearm. A single shot from this at center mass is strong enough to kill even terrorists who are wearing heavy body armor.

• Headphones Equal Isolation: During the initial terrorist attack at the beginning, Shun is so absorbed in listening to a song in the mall's music store that he is completely oblivious to the carnage and panicking crowd around him. Somewhat justified in that he was also on a floor much higher than where the terrorist attack was taking place.
• Healing Factor: Comes with Nanotechnology. A-Xuan doesn't need those though, his healing abilities are better and faster than that.

• Hostage Situation: You haven't read the summary at the top yet, have you?
• House Wife: Shao Yu apparently wants to become one (or, to properly quote: "How To Become A Economic Housewife).
• Humongous Mecha: Present but not terribly effictive. Well, apart from being effectively Mooks. Moreover, they aren't that big. The army has quite a lot of them and sends them along with four vanguards to stop Huai Te and save Ah-Xuan and Liu Li. It makes him retreat.

• I Did What I Had to Do: Colonel Li gave his daughter to the Chineses military, knowing fully well that she'd become a Child Soldier and not be regarded as a person by her officers. But if he hadn't, she would have died at 4. Also, his superiors understand that sacrifice is a common thing and necessary in the life of a soldier.

• I Just Want to Be Normal: A-Xuan definitely would prefer a life with less fighting, explosions and murder around him. Liu Li zigzags this trope: first of all, her life belongs on the battlefield and in the barracks, which she's pretty much accustomed to by now, thus making that normal for her. She cannot live normal life, since she believes she is only suited to fight. She claims she has to fight but then admits A-Xuan is a possible escape route from her previous life.

• Important Haircut : Inverted, Liu Li's hair grows several inches after Xuan injects her with healing nano-machines, saving her life. Afterwards, she lives with him and their relationship improves slightly.
• In-Series Nickname: A-Xuan for Haoxuan. Prodigy for Wang He.

• The Klutz : Our capable Liu Li fails at almost anything non-military related. Ahem… Picasso bee embroidery. Injured fingers. Gadget repair frustration. Completely misunderstanding the situation.

• Leotard of Power: Liu Li's first military outfit.

• Living MacGuffin: Haoxuan is the Child of Eden.
• Love Triangle: Liu Li - A-Xuan - Bai Hua.

• Mind over Matter: Ju Jiang. If it isn't supermagnetism that stops the bullets.
• Mini-Mecha: The SWAT team deploys two of these against the terrorists in the opening. They are no match for the enemy's Spider Tank.

• Miss Swears-a-lot: Cyatheaceae. She likes to drop F-bombs.
• Mooks: Arab insurgents, terrorists, soldiers and policemen.
• Most Common Superpower: Huai Te's Vanguard Troops are stecked with muscles and tits. Even Liu Li post-OP.
• Murderous Thighs: In Episode 2, after fooling a group of the terrorists with a holographic illusion, she drops down from the roof, swiftly snaps one of their necks with her legs, and puts three bullets in the next guy. And then shoots the guy with the broken neck again for good measure.

• New Transfer Student: Liu Li; apparently, Bai Hua transferred as well, before the story begins
• No Celebrities Were Harmed: President Onima.

• Now, Let Me Carry You: "This time, let me protect you" Bai Hua to an amnesic Haoxuan.

• Of Course I Smoke: Haoxuan fails at smoking at first, but manages to keep it up. Liu Li snarks it'll make him even dumber.

• Opening Action Sequence: The first scene shows us Liu Li fighting mujahideen somewhere in the Middle East.
• Oral Fixation: The Spider Vanguard is fond of popsicles.
• Ordinary High-School Student: Haoxuan, or so he claims.

• People Puppet: Liu Li get turned into one (literally by getting attached to wires) for a chapter and remains conscious through out.
• Police Are Useless: The terrorists at the beginning repel the cops and their SWAT team real easily, prompting the military to call in Liu Li. Averted later as Inspector Chen, who leads the police unit surrounding the mall, barges in and shoots Zhongrong dead.
• Pretty Freeloader: Liu Li crashes in at A-Xuan's place.

• Punch a Wall: After a discussion with his superiors gone bad, Colonel Li does that. Can be easily mistaken for Rage Against the Reflection, since he actually hits a window.

• Red Eyes, Take Warning: Bai Hua's ultimate technique. Also make the suit plugs change to red in an otherwise black and white medium.
• Revenge: One of Huai Te's motivations. As an apparent developer of nanotechnology, he seems to have been mistreated and robbed of his creation.
• Rogue Agent: Zhou Zhongrong and his men are all Vietnam veterans striking back at the PLA. No, not THAT Vietnam War; we mean the war that China & Vietnam fought in the 1970s.
• Sarcastic Clapping: Huai Te's arrival on the battle between Liu Li and Bai Hua after the latter stabs A-Xuan and is shot by the former for that.
• Save the Villain: A-Xuan stops Liu Li from killing Bai Hua. Resulting in impressive backstabbing.
  • Also, Zhou Zhongrong inverts this as he grabs Haoxuan's hand to prevent him from falling to a very messy death. And subverts the saving by using him as hostage. This was only in the manhua, though.
• Sensor Character : Apparently, Vanguards can sense each other through bio-electrical fluctuations, probably referring to side-effects of the nanomachines.

• Shout-Out: A lot.
  • Manhua only: The logo Liu Li uploads into the screens of the mall as she takes over the system with B.E.E. is an allusion to Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex and the “laughing man“ symbol.
  • Huai Te's eyelid holders are taken from A Clockwork Orange.
  • Neon Genesis Evangelion: IF HE ORDERED YOU TO DIE, WOULD YOU DO IT?
  • Liu Li mentions an "interrogation method in a spy film I saw recently" while holding a weighted cloth before a naked male tied to a chair.
  • Didn't you see Salem and Rios working with the terrorists in the first chapter?
  • You'd probably see some Full Metal Panic! references in the first few chapters. A Child Soldier learning to fit in at school. That should give anything away.
  • President Omina's a Trigun fan by the look of things.
  • The United Federation logo seems to be like the ESF's from Mobile Suit Gundam 00.
  • An omake in chapter 14 is based on Lucky Star's Lucky Channel.
  • Kamen Rider Decade's henshin belt can be spotted on Andrew King's waist in chapter 16.
  • As well as his K-On! shirt.
• Show Within a Show: Kamen Rider 555, along with what looks like RL pictures on the tv screen.

• Spider Tank: Cause nothing screams overkill like taking hostages with heavy armor.

• Sugar-and-Ice Personality: Liu Li towards Instructor Li, to the point where she gets enthusiastically hyperactive. She gradually opens up to Haoxuan as well.
• Super-Soldier : What the Vanguards basically are, if you're willing to consider them human and not just a mere weapon. Deconstructed, since they aren't long-lived (Liu Li has to face her death in about a year) and very expensive to maintain, thus a liability, though the earlier models still have it better.
• Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: So there's this injured girl lying on the street and due to spoileriffic circumstances you have to carry her home. Good thing that all girls are light... not, with this one filled up with lil' buddies called nanomachines, no wonder she's heavy.
  • A Hostage Situation will always call for sniper support.
  • Most people don't look cool with their first cig.
  • And major fights downtown attract attention.
  • Spraying bullets at a target in a narrow corridor when your team is on both sides will result in you killing your own men with friendly fire.

• Truth in Television: At the end of the prologue, Liu Li kills the terrorists holding Xuan hostage with her P90 submachinegun. The P90's bullets go right through the terrorists' body armor as if it is tissue paper. The military-grade SS190 load of the 5.7x28mm round the P90 uses is capable of doing this.
• 20 Minutes into the Future: Although it's 2017, the only new thing seems to be only related to the military. The cartoon moves the date a little further back to 2020.
• Ungrateful Bastard: Bai Hua stabs A-Xuan after he saved her friggin' life. The "sorry" may have been sarcastic (or not).
  • Though what is said after that heavily indicates that it was thought of as a favor.
    • Averted later on, however, as something broke inside Bai Hua soon after she did this, leading to her becoming The Atoner after her revival.
• Unsound Effect: Heal, heal.

• Waif-Fu: Liu Li; to a lesser degree, Bai Hua, since she's older than Liu Li and prefers to dice enemies rather than kicking their asses.
• Wingding Eyes: Liu Li sports this, surprisingly, as well as her superior officer.

• Wrong Genre Savvy: Somebody should have told Liu Li that school boys who stalk you are interested in your body, not your organization.

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