The woman slid an envelope across the counter. Inside: a single, translucent coin. Ghost money.
Underneath the gag-of-the-week format, the 2018 season carefully planted seeds of a much larger narrative. While the show is hilarious—featuring characters like a blue tactical pigeon and a muscular cat—it isn't afraid to get dark. Hints of Seven’s past as a legendary "Killer Seven" from the land of Xuanwu provide a grounded, emotional weight to the slapstick. It explores themes of identity, the value of life, and the idea that one's past does not have to dictate their future.
By the end of its inaugural run in 2018, Scissor Seven had proven that donghua could compete on a global scale. It offered a perfect balance of heart, humor, and choreography, leaving fans desperate to see if Seven would ever truly remember who he was. Scissor Seven -2018-2018
The story follows , a 21-year-old bumbling barber on Chicken Island who suffers from amnesia. Under the guidance of his manager—a blue, cigar-smoking chicken named Dai Bo —Seven attempts to become a professional assassin to pay off medical debts. Armed with telekinetically controlled hairdressing scissors, Seven is famously bad at his job, often helping his targets instead of killing them.
The opening theme, "The Number One Killer" (最强刺客), is a Cantonese-style rap over lo-fi beats. Unlike the polished J-pop openings of later seasons, the 2018 opening was recorded in a closet studio. You can hear background noise. The mixing is imperfect. And that’s why fans adore it. The woman slid an envelope across the counter
This indie aesthetic allows for incredible fluidity in animation. During fight scenes, the art style often shifts to mimic different genres—from watercolor brush strokes to sharp, geometric shapes—depending on the emotion of the moment. This visual elasticity is not just a stylistic choice; it is a narrative tool. When the action ramps up, the animation becomes frenetic and chaotic. When the story pauses for emotional beats, the palette softens, and the frames become more poetic.
The show's director, He Xiaofeng, once said in a 2018 interview: "I just wanted to make something that made people laugh, then cry, then laugh again in the same minute." That goal was achieved perfectly in 2018. It explores themes of identity, the value of
By June 2018, Chinese netizens were creating fan art of Seven’s scissors. The phrase “Ah, this… this is the way to kill” (啊，这…这才是刺杀) became a viral quote. More importantly, the show addressed themes rarely discussed in mainstream Chinese animation at the time: poverty, medical debt, and the futility of revenge.