On The Edge of a Thousand Blades: A Journey 8 Years In The Making
What began as the story of a scissor-wielding, hairdressing “quasi-assassin” searching for his lost memories has, over the past eight years, grown into something far greater. Beneath the absurdity, the chaos, and the unmistakable humour of Scissor Seven lies a story that has always been driven by heart — one built on Director He Xiaofeng’s creativity, curiosity, and passion for original storytelling.
Official artwork for Scissor Seven 8th Anniversary (2026)
As we celebrate the 8th anniversary of Scissor Seven, this new editorial series, On the Edge of a Thousand Blades, looks back on the journey that brought us here while also looking ahead to what’s still to come. Across this series, we’ll explore the many layers of the Scissor Seven universe, revisit behind-the-scenes moments, and share exclusive updates on what AHAVERSE and Sharefun Studio, the creators of Scissor Seven, have been building for 2026 and beyond.
With five seasons of animation already released, Scissor Seven has continued to grow alongside the fans who have followed it over the years. So let’s dive right into nostalgia, starting where it all began with some production highlights from Seasons 1 and 2.
The Staple: Contrast
Be it from afar or under scrutiny, the beauty of Scissor Seven is built on the concept of contrast. Nothing like a well-presented escalation of conflict to get an anime fan hyped. That feeling of being captivated in a split moment, where all of a sudden, your attention is undivided. You find your mouth wide-open because yes, you just witness what the internet calls "Peak" these days.
Scissor Seven Season 1 Episode 1 - How To Get Rich
On a visual level, the team at ShareFun studio led by Director Xiaofeng spent years perfecting the balance transitioning between art styles, while maintaining its fundamental Lingnan art style aesthetics. Throughout 5 seasons, a myriad of animation styles has been featured, from heavily contrasted manga-style shading to comedic chibi-fied looks and more. This stems from an open culture that strongly favours creative exploration.
That contrast also trickles down to the setting. Chicken Island is framed as an idyllic remote island, positioned in the very corner of the map, yet larger forces keep colliding there. It's cozy, wholesome and quirky… until it’s the center of a seemingly random plot storm. From silly slice-of-life moments to suddenly a showdown between Shadow Assassins, the team treated the contrast as a homecourt advantage to keep the plot alluring yet elastic, which is perfect for comedy.
Character Design
Impactful animation design generally includes an instantly recognizable color palette and silhouette, while maintaining flexibility in expression & posing. How this design approach comes through in Seven is best explained by Director He Xiaofeng and the team.
The best examples are Seven & Thirteen, with the contrast not only coming through in their personality, but also in their design. Seven's design appears to be irrational and comical while Thirteen is conservative and traditional, coming through in their costume design as well.
Scissor Seven Season 1 Episode 3 - Seven vs Thirteen
Another small but telling detail that director mentioned was also how that design approach came through for the side characters like Normal Assassin, Ichiro or Dachun. Let's take the most level-headed bodyguard ever as an example. A square mouth with straight lines, a pentagon-shaped head with straight lines, wearing a naturally stiff Zhongshan suit with a design associated with straight lines. We're starting to see a pattern here.
Scissor Seven Season 5 Episode 6 - Bravely Barging Into Plum Blossom Mountain Villa
There’re more characters that are definitely worth deep-diving but we’ll save that for another time. After all, we have a long journey ahead together.
Choreography & Storyboarding
In an interview with by Ma Xiaogua and Bi Fang (Animation Academic Group) on Zhihu, one of the most important things He Xiaofeng has said about action is that movement should be meaningful and be clearly discernable for viewers.
Scissor Seven Season 3 Episode 9-10 Storyboard (Colored)
This is to ensure that the audience understands what a character is trying to do before the hit lands. Often included in a showdown will be:
Strong key poses with recognizable silhouettes
Staging, often involving environment or background
Special effects whenever necessary
Snap timing that allows for inserting a gag without breaking comprehension or momentum
The goal is to escalate emotionally to make dramatic moments feel well built-up. This curated compilation of sakuga shots from Season 2 featuring Redtooth, Seven & Chairman Jiang really helps visualize the making of an action scene for all anime-heads out there!
To understand the entire anime production process in more detail, don't miss out on this interview done with the team at ShareFun Studio by Netflix! Director He Xiaofeng and key members on the team really went extremely detailed in this breakdown to help everyone understand the beautiful madness behind Scissor Seven, from storyboarding, background design, coloring, voice acting, music and more!
In the chapters ahead, we look forward to bringing you deeper dives, exclusive behind-the-scenes glimpses, exciting new content and the latest updates on the worlds and projects AHAVERSE is building. As a small thank-you to our fans around the world, director He Xiaofeng has personally prepared a special token of appreciation, which we’ll be giving away on our Discord server in the coming weeks. Join our Discord community here so you don’t miss what’s next!
What's To Come...
How can we end the blog without talking about where the story continues. To everyone who has been asking us about what comes after Season 5 — in the comments, in our DMs, and across every platform — yes, we hear you. We may not be revealing everything at once, but the journey is unfolding. Keep a close eye on the bonus chapters. Within them are some signs of a larger story taking shape; one that will come into clearer view this July.
If you’ve made it this far, thank you for reading. The team at AHAVERSE and ShareFun Studio have had the privilege of creating an animated franchise that brought together a community of people from around the world who share a wacky sense of humor and loads of heart. We are grateful for the support and love, and look forward to sharing what's next for Scissor Seven!
