There are less than two weeks left of 2021 and this year has seen the rise of a number of Chinese anime works, some of which were presented or created by Shanghai film studios.

The most famous of these is the Shanghai Animation Film Studio. Founded in 1949 it has produced plenty of well-known anime films like the Monkey King. In September 2021, to promote the 150-day countdown to the Beijing Winter Olympics 2022, it released an animated short starring classic Chinese cartoon characters including the Monkey King, Nezha, the Calabash Brothers and the Snow Child, bringing back many Chinese netizens’ childhood memories.

In November, the studio released the 4K restoration of “Legend of Sealed Book,” a classic animated film from 1983. A few days later, it announced it would be working with Bilibili on an eight-episode monster-themed cartoon collection titled “Yao - Chinese Folktales.” Directors have been invited to create the original animated short film collection that involves eight “yao”(meaning “monsters”) related stories originating from Chinese traditions and culture.

Co-presented by a Shanghai studio Light Chaser Animation,“White Snake 2: Green Snake” was one of the most anticipated animated movies this summer. It is an animated feature drawn from one of China's most iconic while traditional mythological legends—“Legend of the White Snake.” But different from the first installment “White Snake”(2019), the sequel innovatively focuses on an adventure of the green snake. What’s more, the green snake’s personality is closer to modern women, which makes the film appealing to today’s cinemagoers.

In May, 2021, a short cartoon film made by some graduates at the Shanghai Institute of Visual Arts wowed the Internet. Titled “Out of Darkness,” the film is a graduation project and tells the story of how people living in the eternal night endeavor to fly to the sky repeatedly, just to be able to break through the darkness and find the light. The high-quality designs of the scenes, atmosphere, and structure of the world in the film have amazed netizens, who have declared it the future of Chinese anime.

Apart from big screens, the cartoon TV series produced by studios in Shanghai have also been hits.

“Scissor Seven”, for instance, has launched its third season this year. Since 2018, it has been highly rated on the Chinese media review platform Douban. Back in 2019, it was the only Chinese TV film named at the Festival International du Film d'Animation d'Annecy.