Studio SHAFT
, founded by ex-Mushi Productions animator Hiroshi Wakao on September 1, 1975, is a Tokyo-based animation studio best known for adding an almost constant stream of references and shout-outs 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. (Some people think their style is more suited to quirky Tim Burton/Wes Anderson-esque comedies like Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei or Arakawa Under the Bridge and edgy supernatural drama like Bakemonogatari and Madoka Magica, and less to more traditional fare like Nisekoi and Gourmet Girl Graffiti.) Oh, and keep one thing in mind: whether the adapted work was originally a Quirky Work or not, the SHAFT anime will most likely be one. They were 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 them as just "Shaft". Do not confuse this with a bad mother—(SHUT YO' MOUTH!), or a minor character in two Castlevania games.
Studio SHAFT solo productions:
- And Yet the Town Moves
- Arakawa Under the Bridge
- Arcade Gamer Fubuki
- Assault Lily: Bouquet
- Bakemonogatari
- Nisemonogatari
- Monogatari Series Second Season
- Hanamonogatari
- Tsukimonogatari
- Owarimonogatari
- Owarimonogatari 2nd Season
- Koyomimonogatari
- Kizumonogatari
- Dance in the Vampire Bund
- Ground Control to Psychoelectric Girl
- Dotto! Koni-chan
- Dual! Parallel Trouble Adventure (with AIC)
- ef - a fairy tale of the two.
- Fate/EXTRA CCC and Fate/Extella: The Umbral Star (opening movie) and an animated adaptation of Fate/EXTRA, Fate/Extra Last Encore. They'd also done a trailer for the CCC collaboration event with Fate/Grand Order.
- Fireworks Should We See It From The Side Or The Bottom 2017
- G-On Riders
- Gourmet Girl Graffiti
- Hidamari Sketch
- Hungry Days (Season 2)
- Initial D (The Extra Stage OVAs)
- Juuni Senshi Bakuretsu Eto Ranger
- Katteni Kaizo
- Kid Icarus: Uprising short "Palutena's Revolting Dinner", with ex-Po10tial staff note stationed at SHAFT doing the animation for Palutena's introductory trailer for her appearance in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U
- Luminous Witches
- March Comes in Like a Lion
- Maria†Holic
- Mekakucity Actors
- Natsu no Arashi!
- Negima!? (second season)
- Nisekoi
- Pani Poni Dash!
- Popotan
- Pretty Boy Detective Club
- Puella Magi Madoka Magica (the studio's first original series in a decade.)
- Rec - Not to be confused with the Spanish zombie movie [REC].
- RWBY: Ice Queendom (co-production with Rooster Teeth)
- Sasami-san@Ganbaranai
- Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei
- Tsukuyomi: Moon Phase
In cooperation with Studio Gainax:
- GunBuster (three shorts—"Cosmic Space Battle", "Good Morning" and "Sizzler Project")
- He Is My Master
- Mahoromatic
- This Ugly Yet Beautiful World
Shows for DiC:
- Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors (With Sunrise, KK C&D Asia, Studio Giants and others)
- Hulk Hogan's Rock 'n' Wrestling (With Hanho Heung-Up and Wang Film Productions)
- The Legend of Sarmoti: Siegfried & Roy (uncredited)
- Popples (With KK C&D Asia, Madhouse, Studio Junio and Studio Korumi)
- Dennis the Menace (Color Styling)
- ALF Tales (With Mook DLE and KK C&D Asia)
Other projects as support include:
Sunrise- The Big O (Finish Animation)
- City Hunter (Finish Animation)
- Code Geass (In-Between Animation; first season)
- Dirty Pair (Animation, OVAs and Flash. Finish Animation for the latter)
- Future GPX Cyber Formula (Key & In-Between Animation, Paint & Paint Check, Zero)
- Mobile Suit Gundam 00 (In-Between Animation)
- Gundam 00: A Wakening of the Trailblazer (In-Between Animation)
- Mobile Suit Gundam 0080: War in the Pocket (In-Between Animation)
- Mobile Suit Gundam (Finish Animation)
- Mobile Suit Gundam AGE (Finish Animation)
- Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans (In-Between Animation)
- Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury (In-Between Animation)
- Robot Romance Trilogy
- Combattler V (Finish Animation)
- Voltes V (Finish Animation)
- The Ultraman (Finish Animation)
- Zambot 3 (Finish Animation)
Other
- 86 EIGHTY-SIX (Finish Animation)
- Ai Yori Aoshi (Digital Paint)
- Akahori Gedou Hour Lovege (Finish Animation)
- Angel Sanctuary (In-Between Animation)
- Arc the Lad (Animation)
- ARIA (2nd Key & In-Between Animation)
- Asura Cryin' (In-Between Animation)
- Attacker You! (Production Cooperation, episodes 1-16)
- BECK (Finish Animation)
- Black Butler (In-Between Animation, OVA)
- Bleach (Animation)
- Blood+ (In-Between Animation)
- Blue Gender (Finish Animation; Animation; Production Assistance)note
- Bodacious Space Pirates (In-Between Animation)
- Boogiepop Phantom (Key & In-Between Animation; Animation; Ink & Paint; Color)
- Bucchigiri?! (Line Test)
- Burn Up! Excess (Animation; Production Cooperation)
- The Castle of Cagliostro (Ink & Paint)
- Le Chevalier d'Eon (In-Between Animation)
- Darker than Black (In-Between Animation; Gemini of the Meteor season)
- Delicious in Dungeon (In-Between Animation)
- Divergence Eve (Finish Animation on episode 3)
- Doraemon (Finish Animation, 1979 series)
- Eden of the East (In-Between Animation)
- Eureka Seven (In-Between Animation; Digital Paint)
- Excel♡Saga (Production Cooperation on episodes 4, 9, 14, 19, and 24)
- Eyeshield 21 (Animation; Finish Animation)
- FLCL (In-Between Animation)
- Generator Gawl (Finish Animation)
- Ghost Hound (2nd Key & In-Between Animation)
- Ghost Hunt (In-Between Animation)
- Golden Kamuy (Finish & In-Between Animation)
- Government Crime Investigation Agent Zaizen Jotaro (Finish Animation)
- Gowappa 5 Godam (Finish Animation)
- Grave of the Fireflies (Finish Animation)
- Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash (Finish Animation)
- The Grimm Variations (Finish Animation)
- Hard Corps: Uprising (Animation Support for Studio 4°C)
- Heat Guy J (Digital Paint; Production Cooperation)
- Jujutsu Kaisen (Finish & In-Between Animation for Season 2)
- Kaitou Saint Tail (Ink & Paint)
- Kiddy GiRL-AND (In-Between Animation)
- Kikaider (In-Between Animation; Paint; Production Assistance)
- Kirby: Right Back at Ya! (Digital Paint)
- Magical Angel Sweet Mint (Cel Painting)
- Mashle: Magic and Muscles (2nd Key & In-Between Animation; Production Cooperation)
- Moonlight Mile (In-Between Animation)
- Neon Genesis Evangelion (Cel Painting)
- Noein (In-Between Animation)
- Ouran High School Host Club (In-Between Animation)
- Patlabor 2: The Movie (Sweetening Cooperation)
- WXIII: Patlabor The Movie 3 (Animation Assistance)
- The Quintessential Quintuplets (Animation for the TV Special episodes)
- Robot Carnival (Production Cooperation)
- Samurai Pizza Cats (Animation)
- Sand Land (In-Between Animation for the anime)
- Scott Pilgrim Takes Off (In-Between Animation)
- Serendipity the Pink Dragon (Production Cooperation)
- Silent Möbius (Animation, series)
- Skip Beat! (In-Between Animation)
- Skull Man (Key & Finish Animation)
- Spirited Away (Supporting Animation)
- Spy X Family (In-Between Animation; Paint)
- Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie (Finish Animation; Associate Animation Production)
- Superbook Series 2 (1983) (Production Cooperation)
- Tenchi Muyo! GXP (Paint)
- Tenchi in Love (Key Animation; Paint)
- Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann (In-Between Animation)
- Tetsujin 28th (In-Between Animation; Digital Paint; Production Cooperation, three episodes)
- Time Patrol Otasukeman (Animation)
- Tokimeki Tonight (Finish Animation)
- Tomorrow's Joe (Finish Animation; Second series)
- Touch (1981) (Finish Animation)
- Train to the End of the World (In-Between Animation)
- Urusei Yatsura: Only You (Production Assistance)
- You're Under Arrest! (Event Animation for the Visual Novel)
- Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL (Key Animation)
- Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead (Production Cooperation; Composite; Background Art)
Tropes associated with SHAFT:
- Anime First: Puella Magi Madoka Magica is their first-ever original work (read: not based on any preexisting material).
- Creator Thumbprint:
- Unreadably Fast Text
- Unmoving Plaid
- Shout-Out
- The infamous head-tilt (Now compiled for your convenience◊)
- They also seem to have a thing for huge, mostly empty rooms that are, in fact, totally impractical but look artistic.
- SHAFT likes using stained glass or stained glass patterns a lot.
- Deconstruction
- Denser and Wackier: Their anime series which are based on preexisting works will often be sillier, stranger, and/or more prone to Deranged Animation than their source material.
- Early-Installment Weirdness: Eto Rangers contains little to none of the tropes that defines SHAFT.
- 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".
- GIS Syndrome: SHAFT has developed a reputation for this.
- Harem Genre: Most of their series have at most The One Guy.
-
Quirky Work: Many of their shows are considered to be rather quirky in nature, particularly with their fondness for Deranged Animation. Even if the source material isn't particularly weird, SHAFT's extra layer of weirdness will inevitably turn it into one. - Retraux: They'll often add old-time-y film effects or use old-time-y orthography.
- Schedule Slip: They're becoming increasingly infamous for this, due to a company policy of not rejecting work. Though they're generally good at fixing any errors on their TV release come the DVD/BD release.
- Justified in the case of Puella Magi Madoka Magica. Due to the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami, 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 Hogan's Rock 'n' Wrestling, but it was more DiC's fault in that case.
- Signature Style: Part from the studio, part from Akiyuki Shinbo, but there are a lot of those:
- 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
- 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
- Pictures of real-life objects
- Mind Screw: "Meanwhile at SHAFT..."
- Camera showing whatever instead of the characters that are talking at the moment
- Art Shift: Frequently for asides or flashbacks, the art style will be drastically different from the show's usual style. Just watch almost any five-minute segment of a Bakemonogatari episode and you'll probably get an example.
- Mundane Made Awesome: SHAFT will often, and for no reason, up the framerate and animation quality immensely, and can focus on incredibly mundane things.
- Surreal Theme Tune: All of them. Madoka Magica's makes complete sense, you just don't get context until the end.
