Shaft (company)

Template:Short description Template:Use mdy dates Template:Infobox company Shaft (stylized as SHAFT; Template:Langx, Hepburn: Template:Transliteration), also known as Shaft Animation Studio, is a Japanese animation studio headquartered in Suginami, Tokyo, and founded in 1975. Since 2004, the studio's productions and staff have been broadly influenced by director Akiyuki Shinbo, whose visual style and avant-garde cinematography are featured in works including Hidamari Sketch (2007), Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei (2007), the Monogatari series (2009–present), Puella Magi Madoka Magica (2011), Nisekoi (2014), and March Comes In Like a Lion (2016).

History

1975–1984: Early sub-contracting work

Shaft was founded as a yūgen-gaisha on September 1, 1975, by ex-Mushi Production employee Hiroshi Wakao. Much of the company's early work was sub-contracting work for larger animation studios, which includes credits to cel painting and color coordination work, such as with Brave Raideen (1975–76), and occasionally credits as an assistant production studio for projects including Pierrot's Urusei Yatsura: Only You (1983). A large portion of the company's early painting work was contracted under Sunrise productions.

1984–2004: Move to animation production

In 1984, Shaft was sub-contracted by studio Zuiyo to animate the Elves of the Forest television series, marking the company's first project as a primary animation studio.Template:Efn Not until 1987, however, with the release of the Yume kara, Samenai original video animation (OVA), did the studio release its first wholly-original production. In the same year, the studio produced the first episode of the Taiman Blues: Naoto Shimizu-hen OVA series.

For the next several years, the company returned to sub-contracting work based on animation production services rather than its painting services, such as with the Mushi Production film Ushiro no Shoumen Daare (1991). In 1995, the studio moved to producing full-length series, starting with Juuni Senshi Bakuretsu Eto Ranger. By this time, several directors and animators had joined the studio, such as Toshimasa Suzuki and Kenji Yasuda; however, one of the most important series in the company's early history was an outsourcing contract they took on in 1996: Legend of Crystania: The Chaos Ring, which began the studio's relationship with director Ryūtarō Nakamura and studio Triangle Staff. The second episode of the OVA series was outsourced to Shaft, and both Nakamura and Triangle Staff's president (Yoshimi Asari) visited Shaft while delivering the episode's storyboard. Mitsutoshi Kubota, a studio color designer turned production manager at the time, met with the two, and from then they would collaborate on several more projects together, such as Shaft producing an episode of Nakamura and Triangle Staff's Kino's Journey television series, and Nakamura later directing a television series and Kino's Journey film at the studio.

In 1998, Radix produced a 26-episode adaptation of Kia Asamiya's manga Silent Möbius; and although produced as a Radix production, Shaft was contracted as an outsourcing company for the entire series, and according to Kubota served as the production site for the series (rather than Radix). Shaft was also responsible for selecting the staff, and chief director Hideki Tonokatsu worked from the studio. Nobuyuki Takeuchi left Studio Giants in the early 90s, and Shaft offered him a seat at the studio as a freelancing animator; and for Silent Möbius, he took on the role of "animation director" (not referring to the correction of drawings). Kubota felt that Takeuchi would eventually play a central role in Shaft's works succeeding the series, and he eventually became an integral part of many of the productions made with Shinbo.

Shaft entered co-operations with studios Gainax and TNK around 2000. The first of the productions under these co-operations was Mahoromatic (2001) and its sequel Mahoromatic: Something More Beautiful (2002–03), both with Gainax and under the direction of Hiroyuki Yamaga. 2002 was also the release of the studio's production with TNK, G-On Riders. In 2003 and 2004, the studio produced an adaptation of the visual novel Popotan, and later This Ugly yet Beautiful World, an original series co-produced with Gainax and director Shouji Saeki. The development of This Ugly yet Beautiful World began when members of Mahoromatic said that they wanted to do another work with the team, which included both the voice actors and staff members. While searching for scriptwriting and directing staff to work on the project, Saeki and Gainax producer Hiroki Satou mentioned that it would involve much of the Mahoromatic staff to those they invited, such as director Shin Itagaki and writer Sumio Uetake.

2004–2017: Kubota and Team Shinbo era

In 2004, Wakao was succeeded as Shaft's representative director by Kubota, though he remained a chairman on the studio's board. After watching The SoulTaker (2001) and Le Portrait de Petit Cossette (2004), both works directed by Akiyuki Shinbo, Kubota decided that he wanted to work with Shinbo to create a uniquely identifiable brand for the studio. In October 2004, the studio animated its first production with Shinbo as director, Tsukuyomi: Moon Phase, and he began serving as an executive director and mentor to the studio's staff.

Shaft's final co-production with Gainax came in 2005 with He Is My Master. The same year saw the first animated production under the influence of "Team Shinbo", a director trio consisting of Shinbo, Shin Oonuma, and Tatsuya Oishi, who played a vital role in the studio's early stylistic decisions. Shinbo had invited both Oonuma and Oishi to direct episodes under him having seen their work under him on previous projects outside of Shaft. The next two years also saw the release of the REC (2006) and Kino's Journey: Country of Illness -For You- (2007), the aforementioned series directed by Ryūtarō Nakamura, which would be the last series produced by Shaft not to feature any involvement by Shinbo for more than a decade.

During the mid-to-late 2000s, the studio brought on a number of new directors and creators, including Ryouki Kamitsubo, Naoyuki Tatsuwa, Kenichi Ishikura, Yukihiro Miyamoto, Shinichi Omata, Tomoyuki Itamura, and Gekidan Inu Curry. Kamitsubo and Oonuma, however, left by the end of the decade, with the latter joining Silver Link where he established himself in a similar role to Shinbo's.

In 2009, Shinbo and Oishi directed Bakemonogatari, which was later characterized as a hallmark of the studio's unique aesthetics. It gained a cult-like following among fans in both Japan and the West for its narrative and "visually striking" animation and artistic qualities. Polygon named it as the series that "pushed studio Shaft into the spotlight", and the series was chosen as the "best anime series of 2009" by the Tokyo Anime Award Festival in 2017. Following Bakemonogatari, the studio produced yet another critical and financial hit two years later with Puella Magi Madoka Magica. Madoka Magica is regarded by several publications and critics as one of the greatest anime productions of all time, and the series' financial and critical success spawned a franchise consisting of several films, television series, and games produced in part or in whole by Shaft. Along with the Monogatari series, Madoka Magica is considered to be one of the most financially successful anime products in Japan, with both series maintaining the highest average sales of DVDs, Blu-Rays, and re-releases in Japan. In 2012, the studio returned to animating the Monogatari series with Nisemonogatari, albeit with director Tomoyuki Itamura in place of Oishi. Itamura and Shinbo produced a subsequent Monogatari season every year up until Zoku Owarimonogatari (2018), which is the only Monogatari season to feature Shinbo as the sole director.

English logo used from 2010–⁠2017

The early-to-mid 2010s brought more changes to the studio's creative staff and the studio itself. For one, 2015 was the year Shaft reorganized from a yūgen-gaisha to a kabushiki-gaisha. Several directors also ended up leaving around this time, such as Kenichi Ishikura after serving as assistant director on Mahō Sensei Negima! Anime Final in 2011, Shinichi Omata around 2012, and Naoyuki Tatsuwa after he directed Gourmet Girl Graffiti in 2015. A number of other notable directors were brought into the studio around this time, however, such as directors Yuki Yase, Kenjirou Okada, Hajime Ootani, and Midori Yoshizawa. Tatsuya Oishi disappeared from the public spotlight in the early 2010s after he began production on the Kizumonogatari film trilogy, which was released in 2016 and 2017. Shaft's animation work on the trilogy has been praised as being uniquely experimental with 2D and CG effects, which some reviewers described as not always mixing well, but has nonetheless been called "gorgeous."

In the late 2010s, a number of other creative staff left the studio. Yuki Yase left after directing The Beheading Cycle: The Blue Savant and the Nonsense Bearer (2016–17), taking animation producer Kousuke Matsunaga with him to work on Fire Force at David Production (as well as CG director Shinya Takano and at-the-time production assistants Reo Honjouya and Hisashi Sugawara); Tomoyuki Itamura, who had directed the rest of the Monogatari series after Oishi's commitment to Kizumonogatari, left after the production of Owarimonogatari II (2017); Izumi Takizawa, a color designer with the studio since the late 90s, followed Itamura.

2017–present: Post-Team Shinbo

In 2017, directors Kenjirou Okada and Nobuyuki Takeuchi directed their debuts as series/film directors with March Comes In like a Lion (2016–18) and Fireworks (2017), but the following year experienced a hiatus from the animation industry. The film version of Zoku Owarimonogatari was the studio's only original, non-continuing release that year, and its televised release was the studio's only main project the following year. The studio was, however, outsourced to for an episode of Tezuka Productions' adaptation of The Quintessential Quintuplets (2019). The entirety of the episode was produced at Shaft, with Midori Yoshizawa as episode director and a majority of the Shaft production team working on the episode, including the studio's colorists, animators, and photographers (the episode is also the only episode to feature a separate photography director, that being Shaft's Rei Egami). One version of the story that led to Shaft's involvement with the work was that TBS producer Junichirou Tanaka met CEO Kubota at a dinner party once and had asked on his knees for Shaft's help in producing the first half of the series' 11th episode, but during conversation Kubota noted that he knew of the issues with the production and decided that Shaft would be capable of producing the entire episode. Alternatively, in another interview, Tanaka said that Tezuka Productions hadn't received enough time to produce the series, so he tried phoning a number of production companies and eventually landed on Shaft (who animated Hidamari Sketch, another TBS-produced anime) and Kubota accepted the offer to contribute key animation only for the A-part (first half) of the episode. Later, Tanaka asked Kubota if Shaft could produce the entire episode, and since the two companies had history, and Kubota was on friendly terms with producer Hiroshi Oosawa form Tezuka Productions, Shaft eventually agreed to produce the entire episode. Series director Satoshi Kuwabara drew the episode's storyboards but left the production of the episode entirely up to Yoshizawa and Shaft.

In 2020, Shaft returned to producing full-length series with Magia Record: Puella Magi Madoka Magica Side Story, an adaptation of a spin-off mobile game series based on the studio's Madoka Magica franchise. It was the first series since 2007 not to be directed in part by Akiyuki Shinbo (although he served as an animation supervisor), and was instead chief directed by Doroinu of Gekidan Inu Curry, one of the original series' alternate space designers. Shaft's second and final project of the year, Assault Lily Bouquet, was also the first time since 2007 that Shinbo had not been involved with one of the studio's main projects entirely. Bouquet was instead directed by former Gainax member Shouji Saeki and Shaft member Hajime Ootani.

Shinbo returned to the director's chair in 2021 with his adaptation of Pretty Boy Detective Club, which he co-directed alongside Ootani. The series served as the debut for Shaft's CGI animation division, as well as the Umegumi division. The second season of Magia record: Puella Magi Madoka Magica Side Story later that year also debuted the company's background art division, albeit listed under Digital@Shaft, before being given their own department name in the third season of the series in early 2022. The company opened a branch studio in Shizuoka (which is also the first animation studio in Shizuoka Prefecture), with a few of the staff members from the head office moving to the city in order to establish operations and train new staff. Veteran color designer Yasuko Watanabe, who joined the company in 2000, became the branch studio's chief. In 2021, a fourth Madoka Magica film titled Walpurgisnacht: Rising was announced to be in production.

At the end of 2021, and following into 2022, the studio produced a short series based on the Assault Lily franchise entitled Assault Lily Fruits; and in March of that year, completed the Magia Record series with a four-episode finale. In July of that year, the studio produced Luminous Witches and RWBY: Ice Queendom jointly. In 2023, a special based on The Quintessential Quintuplets was announced to be produced at the studio. Prior to the release of the 2022 film, the show's producers had no intention of making another anime based on the project; however, they changed their minds upon seeing the positive reception towards the film. The reason to produce the new project at Shaft was mainly due to the popularity of the first season's 11th episode, which Shaft produced as a gross outsource.

2023 saw no new releases from the studio aside from the Quintuplets special. However, while the studio did not produce its own works, it was busy assisting other companies with theirs. Of those, the most notable collaboration happened between Shaft and Bug Films. The studio was producing its first series, Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead, and Shaft was asked to assist with part of the production of the series at the start of the third episode (and ending with the fifth episode), according to Bug Films CEO Hiroaki Kojima.

Noticeably, Shinbo's involvement at the studio lessened following the turn of the decade. Whereas he had previously been involved in every major production since 2004 (with the exception of their co-productions with Gainax and the two works directed by Ryūtarō Nakamura), various other affiliated directors began to take up the mantleTemplate:Emdashmost notably Miyamoto and Saeki. Animator Kazuya Shiotsuki, who joined just before Shinbo was invited to Shaft, noted that many of the staff from that time period became the Template:Nihongo in that his influence extended further than just to the directors, and that the team as a whole (including animators such as himself) were broadly influenced by the values he displayed. With the new generation of staff members joining in the early 2020s, as Shinbo had decreased his overall output, many of the staff at the studio were instead being influenced by Saeki and, according to Shiotsuki, Yasuomi Umetsu, who has been working on a project at the studio for several years.

In early 2024, a new adaptation of the Monogatari series, specifically the Off and Monster Season series of novels, was announced with much of the series core staff returning and a July release date. Pre-production of the series started in fall of 2022 following the end of Luminous Witches and RWBY: Ice Queendom when Aniplex producer Tatsuya Ishikawa approached the studio about continuing the adaptation. Agreeing, studio president Kubota selected Midori Yoshizawa, who had been directing at Shaft for nearly a decade by that point, as the new series director under Shinbo. The same year, Shaft was announced to be producing an adaptation of HundredBurger's Ninja to Koroshiya no Futarigurashi manga series.

Style

Visual style

Directors Akiyuki Shinbo, Shin Oonuma, and Tatsuya Oishi, who formed "Team Shinbo", are essentially responsible for defining Shaft's production culture and experimental stylistic visuals in the mid-to-late 2000s. They each brought separate stylistic strengths that contributed to the eventual "Shaft style" the studio embraced, despite the fact that neither Oonuma nor Oishi had much prior experience as directors. Oonuma and Oishi's success with the studio is in part due to the "mentorship" system created at Shaft, which was centered around Shinbo. The two former directors would work under Shinbo and the Shaft system as episode directors and storyboard artists until they were promoted to series directors with Shinbo maintaining a supervising role over them. In turn, they, too, could begin mentoring other directors; in particular, Oonuma mentored Yukihiro Miyamoto, Tomoyuki Itamura, and Naoyuki Tatsuwa, and Oishi's influence has been exerted across the Shaft studio as a whole (and most likely Itamura, who took over the Monogatari series from Oishi). Team Shinbo, Miyamoto, and Itamura's styles within Shaft as a whole tend to be more experimental in nature, whereas Tatsuwa was the sole director who took a more grounded approach to the series he was involved with (while still maintaining Shaft's style).

Several techniques that the studio's directors still employ were popularized by Team Shinbo, such as the usage of ostentatious or simple backgrounds and tones, unique editing cuts, flat color contrasts, the insertion of real-world objects into the animated medium, monochromatic color schemes, minimalistic and abstract backgrounds, extreme changes in background art, and sharp color contrasts. which are used to facilitate certain surrealistic narratives and imagery, but despite this, consistently exist through each of the studio's productions. Miyamoto brought to the studio sharp color contrasts and changing color palettes, which Itamura was stylistically influenced by; Itamura himself also created his own style defined by the usage of "chapter breaks" and paper cutouts. Tatsuwa, in contrast to the others, maintained series with less visual surrealism, albeit he continued to use several of the stylistic elements from the other directors. One of the studio's most well-known stylistic insertions, the so-called head-tilt, has also been acknowledged by Shinbo as one of the studio's staples.

Miyamoto brought to Shaft the art troupe Gekidan Inu Curry in 2008 during (Zoku) Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei, and the duo's style greatly influenced the studio's animation style as a whole, which later defined the Madoka Magica franchise that Miyamoto and Shinbo directed two years later.

Narrative style

Shaft's work culture has also influenced the narrative writings of the studio's productions, which have been described as existing "somewhere between comedy and despair", which can be best seen through the works of director Miyamoto, who has headed some of the studio's most depressive series, and also their most comedic. The studio's works oftentimes also include unconventional characters and experimentation within the genre of the series the studio produces, while also diverging from the expectations of the audience.

In-house departments

Following Wakao's retirement in 2004, Kubota decided to restructure the studio's system itself. While the arrival of Shinbo, Oonuma, and Oishi was a part of this restructuring, Kubota also founded Shaft's in-house photography, painting, and visual effects division, which would move the already-existing painting team, in 2004. The division, named Digital@Shaft, made its first appearance on Gakuen Alice episode 4, which was outsourced to Shaft. The new department reorganized certain staff members in the studio and hired new recruits interested in the newly formed photography team, the latter of which includes current chiefs of the department Rei Egami and Takayuki Aizu. Shinichirou Etou, who had been working at the company for three years as a production assistant, was asked to set up the department due to his experience in CG from when he attended Template:Ill.

Shaft opened a licensing division in 2017 which manages an online shop Template:EndashShaft TenTemplate:Endash selling Blu-Rays, production materials, and other merchandise for series the company produces, as well as for managing the licenses of these goods and works. According to division manager Kouji Tanoue, president Kubota and himself intend to grow the division's business capabilities in order to support the studio's ventures and human resource needs.

In August 2020, Shaft posted a recruitment notice for 3DCG animation staff, and the Shaft CGI Animation Room (a division spun-off from Digital@Shaft) debuted in the studio's Pretty Boy Detective Club series the following year. Etou had left the company in 2017, but when he heard that the studio was creating a 3DCG department, he rejoined the studio and intends to make the department a pillar of Shaft productions within 5 to 10 years. Pretty Boy Detective Club also used the name Shaft Umegumi for its opening animation production credit, a humorous title given to director Yasuomi Umetsu and part of his team at the studio who produced the opeing while working on their own project, the then-unannounced Virgin Punk.

In 2021, Digital@Shaft formed a background art team as well. Art director Hisaharu Iijima, a common collaborator of the studio's since 2007, and of Shinbo's since 2004, as well as the CEO and president of his own studio (Ryuubidou) was employed by the studio as a technical advisor for the art department.

Production methods

Beyond the in-house culture the studio emphasizes in its works, Shaft has also emphasized using a common workflow from project to project to ease the transition from production to production. The purpose of such commonality between productions is to allow for consistency and the continuity of Shaft's style between productions. While this system allows for Shaft's style to manifest throughout each of their productions, it also allows for more creative freedoms across all individuals working with the studio, such as Shinbo's philosophy of "mix[ing] participating staffer’s feelings". Madoka Magica screenwriter Gen Urobuchi described the work environment as giving him a level of freedom he'd never had before, and that "I did not think I could have written this screenplay in any other place", and both original character designer Ume Aoki and alternate space designers Gekidan Inu Curry have expressed similar perspectives. Although anime is a collaborative process, the signature style of Shaft can best be attributed to the whole of the studio and its members rather than a single individual, and the artistic freedoms across the entire production line allow for the convergence of different staff members and their ideas to freely explore the medium which they work in. Director Midori Yoshizawa mentioned that during the production of Magia Record, the directors consulted with the animators in the company and expressed the idea that the animators themselves could change the storyboards for action scenes if they could come up with better ideas, and Yoshizawa said that this was because the animators would be able to come up with better fights and effects overall. Character designer and chief animation director Junichirou Taniguchi (from Doga Kobo) also said that he believed it was fine for the characters to appear more stylized (and off-model) during action scenes.

Visual effects chief Hisato Shima stated that other studios commonly have animators and operators specializing in 3D (or certain aspects of the 3D process), but that Shaft artists tend to work in a more broad area and perform several tasks during anime production. Shaft's production pipeline often utilizes materials created during the normal production pipine (that is: layouts, key animation, in-between animation, finishing (painting/coloring), photography, editing) that work as temporary reference points for both 2D and 3D animators, and assist with camera angles, reference points, and other processes. Later in the production, these temporary materials are removed, and the final CG work is added. In order to counteract the issues that come with productions that have a mix of traditional/CG animation in regards to paper and digital canvas sizes, the studio developed a format that would be convenient for both processes by standardizing a 2156 x 1526 pixel screen size for the 3D artists. According to Kenjirou Okada, most studios would process things like tableware through 2D animation; but at Shaft, to guarantee a certain quality as opposed to sometimes distorted shapes, such materials are normally processed with CG instead.

Although the Madoka Magica film trilogy was not Shaft's first work to be released in theaters, it's potentially their first work to be made in a "theatrical production." Animation producer Yasuhiro Okada said that in making the film trilogy, he was conscious of the fact that he had never been involved with a theatrical production and received advice from various people; however, he noted the uniqueness of Shaft's methods in production "Shaft animation", and found that the advice was not useful for Shaft works. For this reason, Okada set up the schedule so that the film was split into five units (A through E), and each one would be worked on in order rather than different parts moving forward at different times. This allowed for the work to prioritize a small, "elite" group of animators not just for the fact that it was a theatrical work, but so that director Yukihiro Miyamoto would ideally be able to see all of their cuts and supervise the work more closely.

Since the time Shinbo joined the studio, Shaft-produced series also had more cuts than the average anime series, as well as more corrections and retakes in Blu-ray and DVD releases than standard. According to Shinbo, the first storyboard drawn for the studio and his newfound collaboration, Tsukuyomi: Moon Phase episode 1, was 308 cuts. The standard anime is somewhere between 300-400 cuts; however, as he continued to work for Shaft, the number of cuts in their anime continued to increase. By the time of Hidamari Sketch, episodes generally were 400-500 cuts per episode, with other series like Monogatari and And Yet the Town Moves having an equivalent number. Considering the time and budget series like Hidamari Sketch had, Shinbo mentioned that he doesn't think any other studio would allow as many cuts and as many corrections to the home video release versions as Shaft.

According to both Kubota and Shinbo, Shaft's productions as a whole also desire the involvement of the original authors or creators of the source material which they adapt in their productions. Kubota has also emphasized a particular focus on putting full studio effort into each of their works, and not increasing the number of productions purely to satiate demand.

The uniqueness of Shaft's production system compared to other anime studios, with several directors and specialized roles per most series, has also introduced certain problems. Monogatari series character designer Akio Watanabe stated that Shaft's production system during the time of Bakemonogatari (2009) was "bad at the time." Although Watanabe did not specify in what way, he mentioned that the series' pre-production could be difficult due to designs and finalizations needing to be checked by visual director Nobuyuki Takeuchi, series director Tatsuya Oishi, and director Shinbo (as opposed to one director's check).

Productions

Anime television series

Year	Title	Director(s)	Animation producer(s)	Source	Eps.	Refs.
1995–1996	Juuni Senshi Bakuretsu Eto Ranger	Kunitoshi Okajima	Template:Small Hiroshi Wakao	Original work	39
2000–2001	Dotto! Koni-chan	Shinichi Watanabe Template:Small Kenji Yasuda Template:Small	Template:Small Mitsutoshi Kubota	Original work	26
2001	Mahoromatic: Automatic Maiden (co-animated with Gainax)	Hiroyuki Yamaga	Template:Small Mitsutoshi Kubota Hiroki Katou	Manga	12Template:Efn
2002	G-On Riders (co-animated with TNK)	Shinichiro Kimura		Original work	13Template:Efn
2002–2003	Mahoromatic: Something More Beautiful (co-animated with Gainax)	Hiroyuki Yamaga	Template:Small Mitsutoshi Kubota Hiroki Katou	Manga	14
2003	Popotan	Shinichiro Kimura	Template:Small Mitsutoshi Kubota	Eroge visual novel	12
2004	This Ugly yet Beautiful World (co-animated with Gainax)	Shouji Saeki	Mitsutoshi Kubota	Original work	12
2004–2005	Tsukuyomi: Moon Phase	Akiyuki ShinboTemplate:Efn-lr	Mitsutoshi Kubota	Manga	25
2005	He Is My Master (co-animated with Gainax)	Shouji Saeki	Mitsutoshi Kubota	Manga	12
	Pani Poni Dash!	Akiyuki Shinbo Shin OonumaTemplate:Efn-lr	Mitsutoshi Kubota	Manga	26
2006	Rec	Ryūtarō Nakamura	Template:Small Mitsutoshi Kubota	Manga	9Template:Efn
2006–2007	Negima!?	Akiyuki Shinbo Shin OonumaTemplate:Efn-lr	Mitsutoshi Kubota	Manga	26
2007	Hidamari Sketch	Akiyuki ShinboTemplate:Efn-lr Ryouki KamitsuboTemplate:Efn-lr		Manga	12Template:Efn
	Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei	Akiyuki Shinbo	Mitsutoshi Kubota	Manga	12
	Ef: A Tale of Memories	Shin Oonuma	Shigeyuki Amemiya	Visual novel	12
2008	(Zoku) Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei	Akiyuki Shinbo Yukihiro MiyamotoTemplate:Efn-lr	Mitsutoshi Kubota	Manga	13
	Hidamari Sketch × 365	Akiyuki Shinbo		Manga	13Template:Efn
	Ef: A Tale of Melodies	Shin Oonuma	Shigeyuki Amemiya	Visual novel	12
2009	Maria Holic	Akiyuki Shinbo Yukihiro MiyamotoTemplate:Efn-lr	Mitsutoshi Kubota	Manga	12
	Natsu no Arashi!	Akiyuki Shinbo Shin OonumaTemplate:Efn-lr	Mitsutoshi Kubota	Manga	13
	Bakemonogatari	Akiyuki Shinbo Tatsuya OishiTemplate:Efn-lr	Template:Small Mitsutoshi Kubota	Light novel	15Template:Efn
	(Zan) Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei	Akiyuki Shinbo Yukihiro MiyamotoTemplate:Efn-lr	Mitsutoshi Kubota	Manga	13
	Natsu no Arashi! Akinai-chū	Akiyuki Shinbo Shin Oonuma Template:SmallTemplate:Efn-lr Kenichi Ishikura Template:SmallTemplate:Efn-lr	Mitsutoshi Kubota	Manga	13
2010	Dance in the Vampire Bund	Akiyuki Shinbo Masahiro SonodaTemplate:Efn-lr	Mitsutoshi Kubota Template:Small Takeshi Baba	Manga	12
	Hidamari Sketch × Hoshimittsu	Akiyuki Shinbo Kenichi IshikuraTemplate:Efn-lr		Manga	12Template:Efn
	Arakawa Under the Bridge	Akiyuki Shinbo Yukihiro MiyamotoTemplate:Efn-lr	Mitsutoshi Kubota Template:Small Tadao Iwaki Makoto Kohara	Manga	13
	Arakawa Under the Bridge x Bridge	Akiyuki Shinbo Yukihiro MiyamotoTemplate:Efn-lr	Mitsutoshi Kubota Template:Small Tadao Iwaki	Manga	13
	And Yet the Town Moves	Akiyuki ShinboTemplate:Efn-lr	Template:Small Mitsutoshi Kubota	Manga	12
2011	Puella Magi Madoka Magica	Akiyuki Shinbo Yukihiro MiyamotoTemplate:Efn-lr	Tadao Iwaki	Original work	12
	Maria Holic Alive	Akiyuki ShinboTemplate:Efn-lr Tomokazu TokoroTemplate:Efn-lr	Mitsutoshi Kubota Yuuji Kanno	Manga	12
	Ground Control to Psychoelectric Girl	Akiyuki ShinboTemplate:Efn-lr Yukihiro MiyamotoTemplate:Efn-lr	Mitsutoshi Kubota	Light novel	12
	Hidamari Sketch × SP	Akiyuki Shinbo		Manga	2
2012	Nisemonogatari	Akiyuki Shinbo Tomoyuki ItamuraTemplate:Efn-lr	Template:Small Mitsutoshi Kubota	Light novel	11
	Hidamari Sketch × Honeycomb	Akiyuki Shinbo Yuki YaseTemplate:Efn-lr		Manga	12
	Nekomonogatari (Black)	Akiyuki ShinboTemplate:Efn-lr Tomoyuki Itamura	Template:Small Mitsutoshi Kubota	Manga	4
2013	Sasami-san@Ganbaranai	Akiyuki Shinbo	Kousuke Matsunaga	Manga	12
	Monogatari Series: Second Season	Akiyuki ShinboTemplate:Efn-lr Tomoyuki Itamura Naoyuki Tatsuwa Template:SmallTemplate:Efn-lr Yuki Yase Template:Small	Kousuke Matsunaga Takuo Yukinaga	Light novel	23Template:Efn
2014	Nisekoi	Akiyuki ShinboTemplate:Efn-lr Naoyuki Tatsuwa	Hitoshi Fujikawa	Manga	20
	Mekakucity Actors	Akiyuki ShinboTemplate:Efn-lr Yuki Yase	Kousuke Matsunaga	Media-mix project	12
	Hanamonogatari	Akiyuki ShinboTemplate:Efn-lr Tomoyuki Itamura	Takuo Yukinaga	Light novel	5
	Tsukimonogatari	Akiyuki ShinboTemplate:Efn-lr Tomoyuki Itamura	Kazuki Soumiya	Light novel	4
2015	Gourmet Girl Graffiti	Akiyuki ShinboTemplate:Efn-lr Naoyuki Tatsuwa		Manga	12
	Nisekoi:	Akiyuki ShinboTemplate:Efn-lr Yukihiro MiyamotoTemplate:Efn-lr	Kousuke Matsunaga	Manga	12
	Owarimonogatari I	Akiyuki ShinboTemplate:Efn-lr Tomoyuki Itamura	Kazuki Soumiya	Light novel	13
2016–2017	March Comes In Like a Lion	Akiyuki Shinbo Kenjirou OkadaTemplate:Efn-lr	Kousuke Matsunaga	Manga	22
2017	Owarimonogatari II	Akiyuki ShinboTemplate:Efn-lr Tomoyuki Itamura	Kazuki Soumiya	Light novel	7
2017–2018	March Comes In Like a Lion 2nd Season	Akiyuki Shinbo Kenjirou OkadaTemplate:Efn-lr	Kouichi Yasuda	Manga	22
2018	Fate/Extra Last Encore	Akiyuki ShinboTemplate:Efn-lr Yukihiro MiyamotoTemplate:Efn-lr	Kazumasa Amitani	Video game	13
2019	Zoku Owarimonogatari	Akiyuki Shinbo	Template:Small Kazuki Soumiya	Light novel	6
2020	Magia Record: Puella Magi Madoka Magica Side Story	DoroinuTemplate:EfnTemplate:Efn-lr Yukihiro Miyamoto Kenjirou Okada Midori YoshizawaTemplate:Efn	Template:Small Mitsutoshi Kubota	Mobile game	13
	Assault Lily Bouquet	Shouji Saeki Hajime OotaniTemplate:Efn-lr	Kouichi Yasuda	Media-mix project	12
2021	Pretty Boy Detective Club	Akiyuki ShinboTemplate:Efn-lr Hajime Ootani	Kouichi Yasuda	Light novel	12
	Magia Record: Puella Magi Madoka Magica Side Story - Eve of Awakening	DoroinuTemplate:EfnTemplate:Efn-lr Yukihiro Miyamoto	Yuuya Matsukawa	Mobile game	8
2022	Magia Record: Puella Magi Madoka Magica Side Story - Dawn of a Shallow Dream	DoroinuTemplate:EfnTemplate:Efn-lr Yukihiro Miyamoto	Yuuya Matsukawa	Mobile game	4
	Luminous Witches	Shouji Saeki	Kouichi Yasuda	Media-mix project	12Template:Efn
	RWBY: Ice Queendom	Toshimasa Suzuki Kenjirou OkadaTemplate:Efn-lr	Yuuya Matsukawa	Web series	12
2025	Ninja to Koroshiya no Futarigurashi	Yukihiro Miyamoto	Template:TBA	Manga	Template:TBA

Anime films

Year	Title	Director(s)	Animation producer(s)	Source	Refs.
2007	Kino's Journey: Country of Illness -For You-	Ryūtarō Nakamura	Mitsutoshi Kubota	Manga
2011	Mahō Sensei Negima! Anime Final (co-animated with Studio Pastoral)	Akiyuki Shinbo	Mitsutoshi Kubota Yuuji Kanno	Manga
2012	Puella Magi Madoka Magica the Movie: Beginnings	Akiyuki ShinboTemplate:Efn-lr Yukihiro Miyamoto	Yasuhiro Okada	Original work
	Puella Magi Madoka Magica the Movie: Eternal	Akiyuki ShinboTemplate:Efn-lr Yukihiro Miyamoto	Yasuhiro Okada
2013	Puella Magi Madoka Magica the Movie: Rebellion	Akiyuki ShinboTemplate:Efn-lr Yukihiro Miyamoto	Yasuhiro Okada
2016	Kizumonogatari I: Tekketsu	Akiyuki ShinboTemplate:Efn-lr Tatsuya Oishi	Kousuke Matsunaga Takuo Yukinaga	Light novel
	Kizumonogatari II: Nekketsu	Akiyuki ShinboTemplate:Efn-lr Tatsuya Oishi	Kousuke Matsunaga Takuo Yukinaga
2017	Kizumonogatari III: Reiketsu	Akiyuki ShinboTemplate:Efn-lr Tatsuya Oishi	Kousuke Matsunaga Takuo Yukinaga
	Fireworks, Should We See It from the Side or the Bottom?	Akiyuki ShinboTemplate:Efn-lr Nobuyuki Takeuchi	Kazuki Soumiya	Live-action film
2023	The Quintessential Quintuplets~	Yukihiro Miyamoto	Yuuya Matsukawa	Manga
2024	Kizumonogatari: Koyomi Vamp	Tatsuya Oishi	Template:N/A	Light novel
2025	Virgin Punk: Clockwork Girl	Yasuomi Umetsu	Template:TBA	Original work
	Puella Magi Madoka Magica The Movie: Walpurgisnacht: Rising	Akiyuki ShinboTemplate:Efn-lr Yukihiro Miyamoto	Template:TBA	Original work

Original video animations

Year	Title	Director(s)	Animation producer(s)	Source	Eps.	Refs.
1987	Yume kara, Samenai	Osamu Inoue	Template:Small Takuya Minagawa	Manga	1
	Taiman Blues: Shimizu Naoto-hen	Takao Yotsuji	Template:N/A	Manga	1
1997	Sakura Diaries	Kunitoshi Okajima	Template:Small Hiroshi Wakao	Manga	12
2002–2003	Arcade Gamer Fubuki	Yūji Mutō	Mitsutoshi Kubota	Manga	4
2006	Mahō Sensei Negima!: Spring (Haru)	Akiyuki ShinboTemplate:Efn-lr Shin Oonuma	Mitsutoshi Kubota	Manga	1
	Mahō Sensei Negima!: Summer (Natsu)	Akiyuki ShinboTemplate:Efn-lr Shin Oonuma	Mitsutoshi Kubota		1
2008–2009	Mahō Sensei Negima!: Shiroki Tsubasa Ala Alba (co-animated with Studio Pastoral)	Akiyuki ShinboTemplate:Efn-lr Hiroaki Tomita Template:Small Yukihiro Miyamoto Template:Small Tomoyuki Itamura Template:Small	Mitsutoshi Kubota	Manga	3
	(Goku) Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei	Akiyuki Shinbo Yukihiro MiyamotoTemplate:Efn-lr	Mitsutoshi Kubota	Manga	3
2009–2010	Mahō Sensei Negima!: Mō Hitotsu no Sekai (co-animated with Studio Pastoral)	Akiyuki ShinboTemplate:Efn-lr Kōbun Shizuno Template:Small Tomokazu Tokoro Template:Small Tatsufumi Itō Template:Small	Mitsusohi Kubota	Manga	5
	(Zan) Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei Bangaichi	Akiyuki Shinbo Yukihiro MiyamotoTemplate:Efn-lr	Mitsutoshi Kubota	Manga	2
2011	Katteni Kaizō	Akiyuki ShinboTemplate:Efn-lr Naoyuki Tatsuwa	Mitsutoshi Kubota	Manga	6
2013	Hidamari Sketch: Sae & Hiro's Graduation Arc	Akiyuki ShinboTemplate:Efn-lr Yuki Yase	Template:Small Miku Ooshima	Manga	2
2014–2015	Nisekoi OVAs	Akiyuki ShinboTemplate:Efn-lr Naoyuki Tatsuwa	Hitoshi Fujikawa (1–2) Kousuke Matsunaga (3)	Manga	3
2015	Magical Suite Prism Nana	Yukihiro Miyamoto Template:Small Seiya Numata Template:Small Hajime Ōtani Template:Small	Yasuhiro Okada	Media-mix project	7
2016	Nisekoi: OVAs	Akiyuki ShinboTemplate:Efn-lr Yukihiro MiyamotoTemplate:Efn-lr	Kousuke Matsunaga	Manga	2
2016–2017	The Beheading Cycle: The Blue Savant and the Nonsense Bearer	Akiyuki ShinboTemplate:Efn-lr Yuki Yase	Kazuki Soumiya	Light novel	8

Original net animations

Year	Title	Director(s)	Animation producer(s)	Source	Eps.	Refs.
2016	Koyomimonogatari	Akiyuki ShinboTemplate:Efn-lr Tomoyuki Itamura	Kazuki Soumiya	Light novel	12
2021–2022	Assault Lily Fruits	Shouji Saeki	Kouichi Yasuda	Media-mix project	13
2024	Monogatari Series Off & Monster Season	Akiyuki ShinboTemplate:Efn-lr Midori Yoshizawa	Yuuya Matsukawa Ryuusuke SuzukiTemplate:Efn	Light novel	14

Video game work

Year	Title	Developer	Animation producer(s)	Role(s)	Note(s)	Refs.
2013	Fate/Extra CCC	Type-Moon Imageepoch	Template:Small Ryuusuke Suzuki	Opening animation production	Directed by Akiyuki Shinbo.
2016	Fate/EXTELLA	Marvelous	Template:Small Kazumasa Amitani	Opening animation production	Directed by Yukihiro Miyamoto.
2017–2024	Magia Record	f4samurai	Ryuusuke Suzuki Yasuhiro Okada	Production assistance Opening and cutscene animation production	Various directors.Template:Efn
2018	Monogatari Series PucPuc	NHN PlayArt	Template:N/A	Illustration assistance
	Crystar	Gemdrops	Kousuke Matsunaga	Opening animation production	Directed by Tatsuya Oishi.
2021–present	Assault Lily Last Bullet	Pokelabo	Kouichi Yasuda	Planning and production Opening and cutscene animation production	Various directors.Template:Efn

Gross outsource

Episodes, series, and other projects in which Shaft was not the prime contractor for but subcontracted to for animation services either across the entire series or to produce an episode or part of the work. These do not include minor outsourcing credits such as key animation, in-between animation, or cel-painting. Gross outsourcing is also referred to as "full" outsourcing. The studio was active in gross outsourcing for companies and other studios from the time its animation department was formed in the early 80s up until 2004 when the company switched to almost exclusively contributing only to its own productions. Since 2019, the studio has occasionally worked as a gross outsource company for other studios once again.

List of gross outsources Year Title Primary contractor(s) Director(s) Episode(s) Note(s) Refs. 1980–1981 Time Bokan Series: Time Patrol Tai Otasukeman Tatsunoko Production Hiroshi Sasagawa
Nobuo Oonuki 11, 19, 21, 25, 36, 47, 53 1982–1983 Hitotsuboshi-ke no Ultra Baasan Knack Productions Masuji Harata 1–13 1983 Superbook 2 Tatsunoko Production Masakazu Higuchi 1–26 Serendipity the Pink Dragon Zuiyo Nobuo Oonuki 11–26 1984 Attacker You! Knack Productions Kazuyuki Okasako 1–15 1984–1985 Elves of the Forest Zuiyo Masakazu Higuchi 1–23 1987–1988 Hiatari Ryōkō! Group TAC Gisaburō Sugii
Hiroko Tokita 3, 8, 15, 21, 27, 38, 43, 48 1988 Hiatari Ryōkō! Kasumi: Yume no Naka ni Kimi ga Ita Group TAC Kimiharu Oguma TV film 1990–1991 Kyatto Ninden Teyandee Tatsunoko Production Kunitoshi Okajima 5, 9, 13, 16, 19, 22, 25, 27, 30, 32
34, 36, 38, 41, 44, 47, 50, 52 1991 Ushiro no Shoumen Daare Mushi Production Seiji Arihara Film Oh! My Konbu Kodansha, VAP Tetsuo Imazawa 4, 8, 12, 16, 20 Template:Efn Dark Genesis Tatsunoko Production Yoshihisa Matsumoto 1 OVA 1992–1993 Little Twins Toshio Hirata
Isamu Tsuchida Unknown OVA 1994 Goal Field Hunter Image Key Masakazu Higuchi
Kunitoshi Okajima Unknown 1994–1995 The Legend of Snow White Tatsunoko Production Kunitoshi Okajima 1995 Bonobono Group TAC Hitoshi Nanba 8, 23, 29, 46 1996–1997 Legend of the Galactic Heroes K-Factory Noboru Ishiguro et al. 87, 90, 93, 96, 99, 102, 105, 108 OVA Kiko-chan's Smile Magic Bus Setsuko Shibuichi 1, 4, 14, 17, 23, 38, 50 1997 Legend of Crystania: The Chaos Ring Triangle Staff Ryūtarō Nakamura 2 OVA Mach Go Go Go: Restart Tatsunoko Production Hiroshi Sasagawa et al. 5, 9, 14, 19, 25 Hareluya II Boy Triangle Staff Kiyoshi Egami 3 Revolutionary Girl Utena J.C.Staff Kunihiko Ikuhara 15, 20, 29, 37 1997–1998 Battle Athletes Victory AIC Katsuhito Akiyama 1–26 1998 A Hundred Billion Stars, a Hundred Billion Lights K-Factory Noboru Ishiguro et al. 5–8, 17 OVA Generator Gawl Tatsunoko Production Seiji Mizushima 4, 6, 10 Silent Möbius Radix Hideki Tonokatsu
Nobuyuki Takeuchi 1–26 (except 14, 19, 23) 1998–1999 Totsugeki! Pappara-tai Magic Bus Kenichi Maejima 5, 10, 16 1999 Space Pirate Mito Triangle Staff Takashi Watanabe 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12 Dual! Parallel Trouble Adventure AIC Katsuhito Akiyama 1–13 Power Stone Pierrot Takahiro Omori 9, 16 Magic User's Club Triangle Staff, Madhouse Junichi Sato 10 Dai-Guard Xebec Seiji Mizushima 11 Now and Then, Here and There AIC Akitaro Daichi 5, 10 A Pair of Queens Triangle Staff Takashi Watanabe 2, 4, 7, 9 1990–2000 Blue Gender AIC Masami Abe 4, 10, 16, 22 Excel Saga J.C.Staff Shinichi Watanabe 4, 9, 14, 19, 24 2000 Boogiepop Phantom Madhouse Takashi Watanabe 2, 5, 7, 11–12 NieA_7 Triangle Staff Tomokazu Tokoro
Takuya Satō 11 Sakura Wars Madhouse Ryūtarō Nakamura 1–25 Kita e.: Pure Session Studio D-Volt Mitsuko Kase OVA 2000–2001 Saiyuki Pierrot Hayato Date 3, 9, 15, 21, 27–50 2001 Initial D: Third Stage Studio Deen Fumitsugu Yamaguchi Film Sister Princess Zexcs Kiyotaka Ohata 4 The SoulTaker Tatsunoko Production/VCR Akiyuki Shinbo 10 Kikaider 01: The Animation Radix, Studio OX Keitarou Motonaga 2 OVA 2001–2002 Okojo's Happy Apartment Radix Yuusuke Yamamoto 2, 5, 8, 19, 24-25, 27
29, 33, 36, 39, 42, 45, 48 Android Kikaider: The Animation Radix, Studio OX Tensai Okamura 2, 7–8, 12 Cyborg 009: The Cyborg Soldier Japan Vistec Jun Kawagoe 3, 27-28, 31, 34, 44, 46 2002 Seven of Seven A.C.G.T Yasuhiro Imagawa 14 WXIII: Patlabor the Movie 3 Madhouse Fumihiko Takayama
Takuji Endou Film 2003 Heat Guy J Satelight Kazuki Akane 19 Dear Boys A.C.G.T Susumu Kudou 3, 7, 12, 18, 23 Kino's Journey A.C.G.T Ryūtarō Nakamura 7 Neon Genesis Evangelion: Girlfriend of Steel 2nd Gainax Video game 2004 Misaki Chronicles Radix Jun Takada
Hiroshi Negishi 2 Maburaho J.C.Staff Shinichiro Kimura 11 Gilgamesh Group TAC, Japan Vistec Masahiko Murata 16, 22 Tetsujin 28-go Palm Studio Yasuhiro Imagawa 3, 6, 9 Gakuen Alice Group TAC Takahiro Omori 4, 10 Uta Kata Hal Film Maker Keiji Gotoh 4 2019 The Quintessential Quintuplets Tezuka Productions Satoshi Kuwabara 11 2023 Mashle A-1 Pictures Tomoya Tanaka 7 The Café Terrace and Its Goddesses Tezuka Productions Satoshi Kuwabara 9 Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead Bug Films Kazuki Kawagoe 2–5 2024 Mashle 2nd Season A-1 Pictures Tomoya Tanaka 2

Notable staff

Representative staff

• Hiroshi Wakao (founder, first president (1975~2004), and chairman (2004~))
• Mitsutoshi Kubota (Second president (2004~), managing director (1995~2004), and color designer (1981~1995))
• Kouji Tanoue (board member, licensing division manager, former production manager)
• Tamiko Nishimaki (board member, former color designer)
• Miku Ooshima (board member, producer, and screenplay writer)
• Nobuki Maki (board member, former production manager)
• Natsuko Kubota (board member, former color designer)
• Kayoko Mizusawa (board member)

Animation producers

• Shigeyuki Amemiya (2006~present)
• Kazumasa Amitani (2007~present)
• Tadao Iwaki (2010~2011, 2014~2017)
• Kousuke Matsunaga (2010~2018)
• Kazuki Soumiya (2010~2019)
• Kouichi Yasuda (2010~2022)
• Ryuusuke Suzuki (2010~present)
• Yasuhiro Okada (2010~present)
• Hitoshi Fujikawa (2012~2015)
• Takuo Yukinaga (2012~2019)
• Yuuya Matsukawa (2012~present)

Production staff

• Template:Ill (animator, 1982~1987)
• Hiroyuki Morita (animator, 1987)
• Yutaka Nagaushi (production assistant, 1987~1995; founder of Template:Ill)
• Toshimasa Suzuki (animator, 1987~2000; currently freelances as a director)
• Yoshiaki Itou (character designer and animator, 1987~present)
• Template:Ill (animator, 1990~1995)
• Makoto Kohara (animator, 1996~2001; founder of Diomedéa)
• Template:Ill (animator, 1998~2003)
• Template:Ill (production assistant, 2000~2002; later founded Millepensee)
• Template:Ill (character designer and animator, 2001~present)
• Kazuya Shiotsuki (character designer and animator, 2002~present)
• Yasuko Watanabe (color designer, 2000~present)
• Template:Ill (character designer and animator, 2004~2009)
• Shin Oonuma (director, 2004~2009)
• Naoyuki Tatsuwa (director, 2004~2015)
• Tatsuya Oishi (director, 2004~2018)
• Akiyuki Shinbo (director, 2004~present)
• Tomoyuki Itamura (director, 2007~2017)
• Yukihiro Miyamoto (director, 2007~present)Template:Efn
• Yuki Yase (director, 2010~2017)
• Hiroki Yamamura (character designer and animator, 2012~present)Template:Efn

Notable associated freelancers

• Akio Watanabe (character designer and animator)
• Hajime Ueda (illustrator)
• Ume Aoki (illustrator)
• Gekidan Inu Curry (directors and animators)
• Ryouki Kamitsubo (director)
• Kenichi Ishikura (director)
• Shinichi Omata (director)
• Nobuyuki Takeuchi (director and animator)
• Shouji Saeki (director)
• Yasuomi Umetsu (director)
• Hajime Ootani (director)
• Kenjirou Okada (director)

See also

• Mushi Production—founder Hiroshi Wakao was a part of Mushi Production prior to Shaft's foundation
• Gainax—worked closely with Shaft in the early-to-mid 2000s
• Millepensee—founded by ex-Shaft production manager Naoko Shiraishi
• Diomedéa—founded by ex-Shaft animator Makoto Kohara
• Silver Link—ex-Shaft director Shin Oonuma works with Silver Link in a similar position to Shinbo's at Shaft

Notes

Works cited

• Template:Cite book
• Template:Cite web
• Template:Cite book
• Template:Cite book
• Template:Cite book
• Template:Cite thesis
• Template:Cite book
• Template:Cite book
• Template:Cite book

External links

• Template:Official website Template:In lang
• Template:Anime News Network