A KILLER SUCCESS

Homegrown Chinese animation, Killer Seven, has enjoyed overnight critical success and its producers hope it’s the start of an industry boom. reports.

In the past, Chinese animation films have rarely won rave reviews. So, it was a shock to see a homegrown series nominated for an award at the prestigious Annecy International Animated Film Festival in France recently.

However, for Killer Seven, a 15-episode animated series which was piloted on April 25 through online streaming media platforms like Youku and Bilibili, it’s very much a reality.

It has achieved an impressive 8.8 points out of 10 on film and TV review site, Douban, and is the only Chinese animation to be shortlisted at the French festival where no Chinese production has ever won before.

Among the previous winners in the TV film category are British productions Peppa Pig in 2005 and Shaun the Sheep in 2007.

The winners will be announced on June 16, the final day of this year’s festival.

In the offices of Aha Entertainment, a studio hidden among the hustle and bustle of Beijing’s Sanlitun area, its producer Zou Shasha, 34, better known in the industry through her English name Aiken, is the force behind this remarkable tale.

“We do have the chance to win, right?” says Zou.

In the comedy series, set in a fictional small city, a young man called Seven, who has lost his memory, is accidentally hired by a shadowy organization as an assassin. He chooses a job as a barber as his cover and, although Seven keeps failing in his assignments, he gradually shakes off the image of a loser and finds his true identity.

“We don’t deliberately put in nods to traditional Chinese culture, but everything that happens on the streets of the small city makes you feel like it’s a part of our daily life in China,” says Zou.

He Weifeng, 31, director of Killer Seven, who is based in Guangzhou, Guangdong province, is a good observer of his neighborhood.

“Not everything in the film is based on my own experiences,” he tells China Daily, “but they all come from what I observe and how I feel about life. They’re my true emotions.”

He adds that the assassin’s story is only a “shell”.

“I borrow his points of view to express inclusiveness and love,” he explains. “I always wonder why completely different types of people can get along with each other. Better understanding and love makes for harmony and peace.”

He, who grew up watching comedies starring Hong Kong actor, Stephen Chow, confesses that Killer Seven bears some resemblance to Chow’s iconic films of the 1990s, which were extremely popular in China.

“I didn’t deliberately use the style,” he says. “It just came naturally. Chow’s approach may have had its time, and will probably not reach those heights again, but while it continues to be a live comedy genres, I will keep following it.”

The biggest selling point of the series is probably the creative action scenes, the show’s fast pace and the characters’ amusing accents, mixing Mandarin and Cantonese.

To obtain the latter, He invited “amateurs” to contribute voices, and an even greater realism and proximity to ordinary people’s everyday life. As for He, he himself dubbed Seven’s voice.

The director was also surprised that Killer Seven, which started with a “zero fan base,” is now being lavished with praise.

TT Film, an influential cinema-centric WeChat public account, says: “If we can see an animation of such high quality each season, it will mark the rise of Chinese animation.”

The show also climbed into Bilibili’s Top 5 all-time list of Chinese animations and numerous online stores have began selling unlicensed, derivative souvenirs of Killer Seven — usually the sure sign of a cultural zeitgeist.

As a result of its success, Killer Seven may spark greater expectations for future animated productions from the director.

Speaking about the animation

We used to have ‘Chinese-style animation’...it’s time for the genre to rediscover its Chinese identity, ” Zou Shasha,