Hello and welcome to Anime Fan Helper. When you think of China, what comes to mind? Maybe you’re thinking the Coronavirus or how their leader is nicknamed “Whinny the Poo” or how all Google Maps of China are all wrong (Look it up). What you are probably not thinking about is Chinese animation. Why would you? For the past few decades, Chinese animation has not really traveled west. The animations we do have from China are either a low-grade copy cat animation since China's copyright laws are a lot looser than those of the USA or it is not at all popular with limited theater releases. This could all be changing with Netflix getting the licensing to Killer Seven also known on Netflix as Scissor Seven. You might think this is a brand spanking new animation created by Netflix since Netflix claims it is their original animation, but seasons 1 and 2 actually came out in China in 2018 and 2019. It did not get English dubbing until 2019 and was released on Netflix at the beginning of 2020. The studios behind are Sharefun Studio and AHA Entertainment. If Killer Seven is what Chinese animation can produce then China could be a huge player in the animation market some day.

Scissor Seven is also known as Killer Seven in China. I think they changed the name on Netflix to target a younger audience, but whatever. Scissor Seven is about Seven, an assassin/ hair cutter with a mysterious past. Literally, the guy does not remember his past. It is one of the keystone plots of the story. They don’t reveal any information about it until the end of season 1. Seven is a highly skilled goof. His weapon of choice is scissors. He has the power to control the scissors and he makes them spin around. He also uses a GaiBa Egg that allows him to transform into anything. He is highly skilled in using his abilities, but a total goofball and kind of dumb, more like a newbie at being an assassin.

Seven is joined by Dai Bo, the King of Chicks. Yep, he is a Chicken. There are furies in this story. Dai Bo is Seven’s boss/ friend. He gives Seven the GaiBa Egg. Dai Bo’s back story is revealed in 3 OVA episodes. That happens after season 1 and is also available on Netflix. Rounding out this trio is a small chicken named Xiao Fei that can fly and has awesome power, but I’m not going to spoil it. Just know, he is often found in Seven’s pocket.

Anyway, Dai Bo and Seven need money so Dai Bo gives Seven special balls that permit Seven to transform into anything which allows him to carry out his assassinations. They are used to create comedy as well as putting Seven in very strange situations and moving the story forward. They tend to make the story more interesting. Although Seven has a really cool and powerful ability where he can control spinning scissors, he tends to be a pretty terrible assassin. He is only an assassin because he thinks it can make him a lot of money.

The story is set up as stand-alone episodes with an over-arching plot that develops throughout seasons 1 and 2. Each of the individual episodes is enjoyable with the animation blowing my mind because of how good it is. The story takes place on an island. So each episode involves the various residents living on the island. The residents can be seen in multiple episodes. To give a little more detail about the episodes of season 1, there are stories involving dogs and cats, a masked female assassin, middle-aged women, an old lady, a fun-loving girl with a bucket list, and a coast guard officer who just loves his island. Well, I can’t spoil too much because by the time you’re at that point, you’ll be hooked. Besides the well crafted story and characters, I think it really shines in the fight sequences. They are on par with the best fighting animations out there.

The show is heavy influenced by anime and cartoons with multiple anime Easter eggs throughout the season. Some obvious ones include a Son Goku’s kamehameha from DBZ and Luffy’s straw hat from One Piece. I highly recommend checking out this anime. If you already have, please tell us what your thoughts are on the show in the comments below. Did you enjoy it? Why? Why not?