Now I feel that I'm ready. It's high time I show what I've been doing since the Beijing Olympics, and quite possibly introduce to you a well known character from an unknown place. Well, unknown unless deviantART can get past the Great Firewall without much b*tching from the Communist Party of China:

Here's something that would come from left field to some people, but right up my alley. You all know I'm looking out for shows that would show what Disney would look like if it was made like Adult Swim. We're talking the kind of show people would watch when they've outgrown Power Rangers and Jetix. I've found one in, of all places, China. If you liked Kung Fu Panda and knows the Chinese Language, then you'll love this series called "Hong Mao and Lan Tu," or translated "Red Cat and Blue Rabbit," from Hunan Greatdreams [link] . An animation company that can give Disney a run for its money [link] .

It's an odd hybrid, a friend of mine said when describing it, where cutesy looking animals star in a wuxia (Think "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon") plot, and while looking silly at first it's quite addictive. There are two of them, firstly, "Red Cat and Blue Rabbit's Seven Knights" where the titular characters fight the evil Tiger Blackheart, and "Red Cat's Adventures", where the Seven swords-animals find themselves up against the Rat Empire.

"Red Cat's Adventures" is a lot better done, more suspenseful, while "Red Cat and Blue Rabbit's Seven Knights" contains too much action for its own good at times and not enough suspense.

But still, worth a look, if you can understand the language.

Red Cat and Blue Rabbit's Seven Knights
[link]

Red Cat's Adventures
[link]

"The neatest thing is that the cutesy style underlies the fact that it's more violent than similar Western cartoons might be...characters die FOR REAL, the heroes can resort to some quite violent means to achieve their ends, and the villains aren't exaggeratedly silly as to be non-threatening upon close examination, they are quite dangerous. The Chinese child is exposed to quite a bit of harsh realities compared to the American child when one looks at it this way." And you don't have to hear it from that friend of mine, Check this link out that describes it.

In other words, when you see the series with the links below, you'll think of two things, in order. One: "[Insert your favorite cuss here] Kids in China watch THIS after school?! " And then Two: "[Insert your favorite cuss here] Daveykins would have a field day with this. He's probably loving this series five ways from Sunday."

And to answer your question, yes. Yes, I do love this cartoon five ways from Sunday. In fact, I can now announce my so-called Secret Project known as "Red Cat International" A project that I told Hunan GreatDreams about where I take China's (and Hong Mao's) Seven Swords legend and make it global, having the swords go all over the world and find Knights from many other countries. (Of course, I had Johnny Briz be the American Knight. Go slice your wrists, you Ediots, go on. Hah! I knew you'd do it wrong.) If I didn't catch wind that the idea wouldn't be interested by the company, I wouldn't even consider going any further on it.

You can see it at this address: [link]