"Who's the studio that baits otaku dick
By adding sex appeal to all the underage chicks?
SHAFT!"
Animation studio best known for adding an almost constant stream of references and
shouts out to other series in the backgrounds of their shows. This usually manifests itself as writing on blackboards and posters which change with every cut. Also known for having a somewhat minimalist yet oddly stylish bent to their own productions. One of the more divisive anime studios. People either love the style or hate it. Middle ground is rare. Oh, and keep one thing in mind: whether the adapted work was originally a
Widget Series or not, the Shaft anime will most likely be one. They were also one of the animation studios behind
Jayce And The Wheeled Warriors.
Akiyuki Shinbo has been their primary director since 2004, and is responsible for much of their present image.
Note that some fans refer to this just as "Shaft". Do not confuse this with
a badass mother— (
SHUT YO' MOUTH!), or a minor character of the same name in two
Castlevania games.
Studio SHAFT solo productions:
Shows for DiC:
Other projects as support include:
Tropes associated with Shaft:
- Anime First: Puella Magi Madoka Magica is their first ever original work (read: not based on any pre-existing material).
- Deconstruction
- Deranged Animation
- To quote a random blogger: Whenever I watch a SHAFT anime, I feel like I’m on acid. Not just a little bit of acid, a tanker truck filled with it.
- Design Student's Orgasm
- Enhanced on DVD: Their by-now infamous scrambling to meet deadlines during a show's original airing season generally means improved animation for the eventual DVD release. They've become so notorious for it that this practice of revising art and animation has come to be known as "Shafting", as in "Bakemonogatari was Shafted".
- Harem Genre: Most of their series have at most The One Guy.
- Hey, It's That Guy!: Akiyuki Shinbo has directed a good number of Shaft's productions.
- Hey, It's That Voice!: Hiroshi Kamiya and Chiwa Saitou are often present in many of their shows, and sometimes even share the same show. Other Shaft regulars include Ai Nonaka, Aoi Yuki, Asami Sanada, Chiaki Omigawa, Emiri Katou, Eri Kitamura, Kana Hanazawa, Marina Inoue, Miyu Matsuki, Miyuki Sawashiro, Ryoko Shintani, Ryoko Shiraishi, Takahiro Sakurai, Tomokazu Sugita, Yui Horie, Yuko Goto, Yuu Kobayashi and Yuuichi Nakamura, among others.
- Makes Just as Much Sense in Context: Whenever they stop trying to get some point across... It is as glorious as orthopedic squid panties to behold.
- Medium Blending
- Mind Screw: Meanwhile at SHAFT...
- Nightmare Fuel: Their Deranged Animation can get really deranged at times.
- Off Model: Both intentionally and as a side effect of their trademark Schedule Slip.
- Retraux: They'll often add old-timey film effects or use old-timey orthography.
- Schedule Slip: They're becoming increasingly infamous for this, due to a company policy of not rejecting work. Though they're generally relied upon to fix any error on their TV release come the DVD/BD release.
- Justified in the case of Puella Magi Madoka Magica. Due to certain real life events, the final two episodes airing was delayed for over a month. Gen Urobuchi, who wrote for the series, explained that the slip came as a bit of a relief because they'd been having trouble animating them. When they finally did air on April 21st, fans could see why. Shaft loves its surreal art, after all.
- This was also true for Hulk Hogans Rock N Wrestling, but it was more DiC's fault in that case.
- Shout Out
- Signature Style: Part from the studio, part from Akiyuki Shinbo, but there are a lot of those:
- Surreal Theme Tune: All of them Madoka Magica's makes complete sense, you just don't get context until the end
- Widget Series: Everything that they are a part of turns into this.
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