What a view | Scissor Seven: the Chinese animated series that artfully takes down superheroes
- Billed as a Netflix Original despite being made by Aha Entertainment in Beijing, the show offers a relentlessly funny satire on the superhero genre
- Largely hand drawn, it follows the hapless adventures of hopeless hit man Scissor Seven, 17,369 in the killer ranking
He may be an embarrassingly low 17,369th on the killer-ranking list, but watch out, because, well … he’s a killer.
He is Scissor Seven, a hit man, an assassin, a ferocious warrior with ambitions to propel himself up the league table of his profession, armed with a lethal weapon equal to any firearm or flashing blade: his shiny pair of scissors.
Scissor Seven is the first Chinese animated series to be streamed as a Netflix Original – which is a mite confusing considering it was made by, and bought from, Aha Entertainment of Beijing, but no matter.
Largely drawn by hand but with enough flashy graphics to counter symptoms of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, this is not just another cartoon for kids (of all ages) but an artfully witty, relentlessly funny takedown of the superhero genre in all its formats.
Wu Liuqi has failed his hit-man entrance test, yet remains determined to break into the world’s “second-oldest profession”. So now he needs a cover name and identity. Behold, Scissor Seven, proprietor of the Dai Bo J Hair Salon.
Forget Sweeney Todd: this is the demon barber of faraway Chicken Island, nemesis of all adversaries whose superhero vanity and poseur sensibility attract the attention of his flying shears, including those sporting punky spikes, gravity-defying flat-tops and whiplash ponytails plaited with knives.