Bibliography

Links

SHAFT, home page [online] Available at: http://www.shaft-web.co.jp/home.html

[Accessed: 04 January 2012]

SHAFT, company information and history [online] Availableat: http://www.shaft-web.co.jp/company.html

[Accessed: 04 January 2012]

 [Studio] SHAFT – who are they? – Forums – MyAnimeLists.net, Veiws on SHAFT’s scedual slips [Online] Available at http://myanimelist.net/forum/?topicid=294232

Accessed: 08 January 2012]

SHAFT, company works till date [Online] Available at http://www.shaft-web.co.jp/works.html

[Accessed: 15 January 2012]

Studio Shaft – Television Tropes & idioms, shaft characteristics [online] Available at: http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/StudioShaft

[Accessed: 22 January 2012]

Event Contents | magical girl Madoka – Official Exhibition- Magika, the shows exhibition of art and merchendice event [online] Available at: http://www.mpsinc.co.jp/madoka-magica-event/event/index.html

[Accessed: 25 January 2012]

Story | Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica, plot information[Online] Available at: http://www.madoka-magica.com/story/index.html

[Accessed: 25 January 2012]

STAFF | Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica, staff/ cast information [Online] Available at http://www.madoka-magica.com/staff/index.html

[Accessed: 27 January 2012]

Characters – Puella Magi Wiki, information on character design [online] Available at: http://wiki.puella-magi.net/Characters

[Accessed: 27 January 2012]

Facts and Observations – Puella Magi Wiki, information on character designs [online] Available at: http://wiki.puella-magi.net/Facts_and_Observations#Soul_Gem_and_Grief_Seed

[Accessed: 27 January 2012]

Mitakihara Town – Puella Magi Wiki, information on back grounds [online] Available at: http://wiki.puella-magi.net/Mitakihara_Town#Architecture_in_the_Anime_versus_Real-Life_Architecture

[Accessed: 28 January 2012

Characters – Puella Magi Wiki, information on witches [online] Available at: http://wiki.puella-magi.net/Characters

[Accessed: 28 January 2012]

OP & ED | Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica, opening and ending song information [online] Available at: http://www.madoka-magica.com/oped/index.html

[Accessed: 28 January 2012]

Facts and Observations – Puella Magi Wiki, information on the logo/ title [online] Available at: http://wiki.puella-magi.net/Facts_and_Observations#About_the_logo

[Accessed: 28 January 2012]

/ a/ - / a/social netword >> Thread #44782290, lines of Goethe’s faust used in Puella Magi Madoka Magica [Online] Available at: http://archive.foolz.us/a/thread/44782290#p44786690

[Accessed: 28 January 2012]

Epidode Revisions – Puella Magi Madoka Magica, Blu-ray release changes [online] available at: http://wiki.puella-magi.net/Episode_revisions#Blu-ray_version

[Accessed: 28 January 2012]

Images

SHAFT logo [online] Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Shaft_company_logo.png

[Accessed: 04 January 2012]

tsukuyomi-moon-phase-4135.jpg, Tsukiyomi image [online] Available at: http://www.anime-kun.net/animes/screenshots/tsukuyomi-moon-phase-4135.jpg

[Accessed: 15 January 2012]

negima.jpg, Negima?! Refrence image [online] Available at: http://ftp.gameshot.net/gameshot/Screenshot/screenshot/2004_07/VIDEO/negima.jpg

[Accessed: 15 January 2012]

screenshots31225sj8.jpg, Hidamari Sketch image [online] Available at: http://img529.imageshack.us/img529/9158/screenshots31225sj8.jpg

[Accessed: 15 January 2012]

sayonarazetsubousensei.jpg, Sayonara, Zetsubo Sensei! Image [online] Available at: http://www.viewtoareview.com/images/sayonarazetsubousensei.jpg

[Accessed: 15 January 2012]

ef_Folge_8_07.49.jpg, ef – a tale of two image [online] Available at: http://img.aniwood.org/img/0347acc98aa1aed851df5c96e2074a04/ef_Folge_8_07.49.jpg

[Accessed: 15 January 2012]

weekly04348.jpg, Maria + Holic image [online] Available at: http://thenullset.files.wordpress.com/2009/02/weekly04348.jpg

[Accessed: 15 January 2012]

natsu-no-arashi-1.jpg, Natsu no Arashii image [online] Available at: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3KcCKaPtaeiAajbwlb1ULbSnt1eaXW7ToU5gexr3WNPoQHoU2dh_XUnierbTxm_nFE_pvAFcPYGLjLDwYvIDxIBS0oNul-1Pj1gWaTOAnzqMOWazpIC9Nbj8ERlv4_yV-gYKIvlRf0svw/s400/natsu-no-arashi-1.jpg

[Accessed: 15 January 2012]

bakemonogatari_ed.jpg, monogatari refrence [online] Available at: http://i.animecrazy.net/bakemonogatari_ed.jpg

[Accessed: 15 January 2012]

spring1019720.jpg, Arakawa Under the Bridge image refrence [online] Available at: http://thenullset.files.wordpress.com/2010/05/spring1019720.jpg

[Accessed: 15 January 2012]

Dance_In_The_Vampire_Bund.jpg, Dance in he Vampire Bund image [online] Available at: http://www.projectsaber.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/Dance_In_The_Vampire_Bund.jpg

[Accessed: 15 January 2012]

Soredemo+Machi+wa+Mawatteiru+-+02+-+Large+38.jpg, Soredemo Machi Wa Mawatteiru image [online] Available at: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWBnq6fwPG3P4lmT93QvZ5QevOaALxHaADAG7ZriV7Z1M_XFJ8Vtjha0ZDcNiwqhJnduR_zKKimPXTb6-3bP5z4Nv03bPVNoId3qOGPEOCIBGl8d7MxtFlCADx5zgmHG6A4T8gg38byyA/s1600/Soredemo+Machi+wa+Mawatteiru+-+02+-+Large+38.jpg

[Accessed: 15 January 2012]

screen-shot-2011-04-22-at-1-07-08-pm.png, Puella Magi Madoka Magica image[online] Available at: http://catchercatch.files.wordpress.com/2011/04/screen-shot-2011-04-22-at-1-07-08-pm.png

[Accessed: 15 January 2012]

Denpa-Onna-to-Seishun-Otoko-2.jpg, Denpa Onna to Seishun Otoko image [online] Available at: http://chiakiproject.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/Denpa-Onna-to-Seishun-Otoko-2.jpg

[Accessed: 15 January 2012]

vlcsnap-2011-06-07-20h14m35s67.png, Madoka Deranged [online] Available at: https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-cTYiriThFZU/Te7BZgZqU0I/AAAAAAAAUOc/hxKuzU8FBrg/s400/vlcsnap-2011-06-07-20h14m35s67.png

[Accessed: 22 January 2012]

Bakemonogatari – Nyahahaa! – YouTube, screencaptures of deranged [online] Available at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h01AIZPFJXs

[Accessed: 22 January 2012]

mahou-shoujo-madoka-witch-world.jpg, Puella Magi Madoka Magica different style image [online] Available at: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUDkWht3i5_YWeJ3C5ukI7eUH4rSAjuSx8f3LwOLlHYRgCmmbyN8yAJSM2XTppI46icpJp0aNcQjNqTzN33bXEuahQzkjqXyfX6DajLRPcP6zFw4STeGnTZPUCfgelA_56_Fa4NRZC7ZA/s640/mahou-shoujo-madoka-witch-world.jpg

[Accessed: 22 January 2012]

4dqAX.jpg, SHAFT’s famous head tilt images [online] Available at: http://i.imgur.com/4dqAX.jpg

[Accessed: 22 January 2012]

zan-sayonara-zetsubou-sensei.png, unmoving pattern example [online] Available at: http://www.animepalm.com/images/zan-sayonara-zetsubou-sensei.png

[Accessed: 22January 2012]

Watch Donpa Onna to Seishun Otoko Episode 1Online Sub| Donpa Onna to Seishun Otoko Episode One, Screenshot of throwing scene [online] Available at: http://www.animefushigi.com/denpa-onna-to-seishun-otoko-episode-1

[Accessed: 22 January 2012]

Denpa Onna to Seishun Otoko 1 – Read Denpa Onna to Seishun Otoko 1Online – Page 42, original scene example [online] Available at: http://www.mangareader.net/denpa-onna-to-seishun-otoko/1/42

[Accessed: 22 January 2012]

madoka-magica.jpg, Madoka Character Designs[online] Available at: http://cjblackwing.files.wordpress.com/2010/12/madoka-magica.jpg

[Accessed: 27 January 2012]

SWFC100.jpg, Madoka background shanghai [online] Available at: http://images.puella-magi.net/5/54/SWFC100.jpg

[Accessed: 28 January 2012]

File:Weltstadthaus_Compare.png, Madoka Background Germany [online] Available at: http://wiki.puella-magi.net/File:Weltstadthaus_Compare.png

[Accessed: 28 January 2012]

vlcsnap-2011-06-07-20h22m45s39.png, Witch example image [online] Available at: https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-hJnMz_HrUh0/Te7BbeHCqtI/AAAAAAAAUOs/Hu3jvEGzsLE/s400/vlcsnap-2011-06-07-20h22m45s39.png

[Accessed: 28 January 2012]

Madoka_logo.png, Madoka logo [online] Available at: http://images.puella-magi.net/5/58/Madoka_logo.png

[Accessed: 28 January 2012]

Madoka_BD_5.jpg, TV & Blu-ray cmparison [online] Available at: http://images.puella-magi.net/f/f0/Madoka_BD_5.jpg

[Accessed: 28 January 2012]

Videos

Zan Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei OVA2 OP 3min FULL – Youtube [online] available at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4FDrjgbKayo&feature=player_embedded

[Accessed: 28 January 2012

Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica OP – Connect – Youtube, Madoka Opening song [online] Available at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5l0fZKw6LQs&feature=player_embedded

[Accessed: 28 January 2012]

Kalafina – Magia (Slow Version) – YouTube, ending song [online] Available at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7HIoCUgyCaE&feature=player_embedded

[Accessed: 28 January 2012]

SHAFT, Puella Magi Madoka Magica, an Original!

This sections will be Puella Magi Madoka Magica, the first show created by shaft that was completely original, from no pre-existing works. It displays shafts originality, helping bring together everything that they’ve learnt thus far into one of the best things to hit the industry in 2011 which is only further justified by the amount of attention it received. This show gained the highest Blu-ray 1st week sales of any TV anime beating SHAFTS own Bakemonogatari by a few thousand and pushing it down to 2^nd, while coming away with over 12 animation awards. They also had a museum type exhibit for fans in December 2011 to show case many of the 'art' from the show.

Plot

The story revolves around a girl named Madoka who gets approached by an extra-terrestrial by the name of Kyubey who will grant any teenage girl a wish that she desires no matter how small or big in the condition that she will become a magical girl and protect the world from evil beings knows as witches. The story follows Madoka and various other magical girls as Kyubey leads them into a battle against witches to rid the world of evil, are things really as simple as they appear to be? 

The Character Designs.

Characters have been designed by Ume Aoki who was also the director of SHAFTS ‘Hidamari Sketch’ one of its cuter style shows as shown before.  The designs are typical of those that you wold be expected to see in a magical girl type show such as card captor Sakura, sailor moon, Precure and even Power Puff Girls, each girl having their own style and colour theme with designs also matching personalities very well. The character styles used help make the deconstruction of the genre attempted by this show all the more obvious, making it blunt that these are your ordinary  magical girl in a very different situation.

Backgrounds

The backgrounds are rather stunning at times with a lot of scenes having resemblances with famous real life structures. A good setting can always help bring a scene to life and using realistic/ well knows structures from time to time helps portray the fact that the show is trying to represent a scenario more realistically and helps people relate to this. It is well knows that a strong setting can add lots of atmosphere to an animation and this shows tries to take advantage of it wherever it can.

Weltstadthaus. Colonge, Germany (left) this is a shopping mall that madoka and sayaka visit after school.

Shanghai World Financial Center. Shanghai, China (right) a hallway at school were Madoka and Homura have a conversation, which looks similer to the 100^th floor obdervation deck.

Witches

These are the main antagonists of the show and are a creation of Akiyuki Shinbo; they use a style of cut-out animation (similar to that briefly used in Bakemonogatari and an opening of Sayonara, zetsubo sensei) as a backdrop for creating an alternate dimension in which the witches reside. The witches themselves are also done in the same extremely surreal cut-out style, the witches and there environment are designed to represent the witches past personalities with the dimension itself being a representation of the witch and how she was viewed at first glance, while a central courtyard type of place would be used to show the witches innermost personality and was where she would reside. This made for one of the more stunning aspects of the show and helped it stand out amongst any other show in the industry for a while. They take strong influences in terms of naming conventions and textual ciphers/ runes that appear throughout the witches domain from Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's play Faust. Even the protection circles that surround the magical girls are written in German with a few quotes from his play.

Sound

While Background music can add a lot of live and character to an animation here it was used scarcely, but it went all out during fight scenes and witch encounters, while there could have been more in other parts it was a good attempt to use sound to add atmosphere during the more important situations. This could be seen as a decision taken to further boost the shows “what really counts” theme. 

Voice actors

While a lot of voice actors are from past shows a lot of though was put into this at times. The voice actor for Sayaka (the blue girl) is Eri Kitamura who is also the same voice actor for another magical girl show called ‘Fresh Pretty Cure!’ The character is named Miki Aono and also has the blue theme of that show. A Teacher in Madoka Magica who seems to have problems with her love interest is being played by Junko Iwao who voiced a character with the exact same situation in a show called Mai-HIME. In addition to SHAFT’s regular voice actors this familiar cast will help draw out the impact behind the stories motives and amplify the effects of the animation. Of course for translated/ dubbed versions such “clever/ tactical” choices are likely to be of no importance.

Songs

The opening and ending songs play a vital part in the show the opening song CONNECT by ClariS is a very upbeat fast paced song with strong lyrics that seem somewhat bitter sweet showing both desperation, happiness and longing. As the show goes on the lyrics begin to make a lot more sense and seem to fit the animation perfectly. 

Claris - Connect 

As opposed to the optimistic flavour of the upbeat opening the ending song, Magia by Kalafina is incredibly dark and deep in sound yet the lyrics are not of desperation, they talk of finding the courage and strength inside of you to fight off all you find evil; to protect the ones you love using childish dreams of love, fairy tales and omnipotence to find the strength you need. I should mention that the Animated sequences themselves also accurately replicate the feelings of the songs mood through its colours, but its meanings  through its animation.

Kalafina - Magia

The title

Titles are important, they give a good idea of what an animation is about and can help emphasise the animations meaning in a big way, most well-known pieces of art will always have some sort of title or tag that we instantly associate with them. While the title written in its original Japanese the word for magic was stylised and could easily be read as the word meaning cowardice or hesitation thus letting the title be known as wavering girl madoka magica, which in fact resembles her actions perfectly for almost the entire show.

Themes

The show as mentioned before is a magical girl show flipped on its head. This in a way could be used to help point out to those heavily influenced by such shows that almost everything will come at a price and the greater the reward the bigger the consequences that could come to haunt you “there is no such thing as a free dinner in life.” The show also helps to point out that it’s not wrong to break the norms and experiment a little bit; societies can be very fixed and closed sometimes in Japan often creating stereotypes, I feel the show in a way helps show the complexities and variances that occur from one individual to another, society doesn’t always have to be spoon-fed a perfect image sometimes showing the reality of a situation can help deter it. 

The relationships between people in Madoka's family are quite important too. in the Industry many female characters are shown to be either very feminine and weak of strong but to an extent they seem manly this provides a untrue and bias picture to the target demographic, there are very few representations of what a strong lady in a real life situation could be. Madoka's Mother is a prime example of this, she is an ambitious business woman who dreams of being on top and is only happiest when she giving her all dispite the stresses, this gives reason for Madoka to be a strong willed person herself as she has a respectable role model. Her father in comparison is actually a housewife but rather than being embarrassed about his situation he does all that needs to be done to keep the home running smoothly while working in a small but stable job time to time. While this is probably far from a revolutionary thought it does seem that it could send a good message to its audience, unfortunately the target audience is unlikely to be young/ teenage girls.

A Genre that was usually aimed at young girls being transformed into something that wouldn't even be rated at their age may even show how the nation is even more desensitised to events, events that should normally seem shocking or grime may appear to be very normal, and instead it is seen as a refreshing piece of art.

In a way the concept of magical power in this show can be a representation of drugs or smoking and other addictions people can take up, they seem tempting at first and give you your high, but once you have it there’s no letting go, while it makes the suffering worse, yet the only real cure is for it to not exist at all or to find something you desire even more.

Final Thoughts

A lot more could be said about this show but in terms of animation, it really is something spectacular in the Japanese animation industry as it is now, and there probably isn’t much in the west currently in terms of a serialised cartoon that can match up to the uniqueness of this show, regardless of whether or not the show is your cup of tea in terms of story or genre the “art” behind the show is most definitely praiseworthy and can be view in respect to that alone.

Despite poor animation quality on the Aired products the Blu-ray releases have noticeable improvements and should be seen to view the show at its best the say the directors intented it to be seen the first time around.

SHAFT, their distinctive distinction

As most animation in the Japanese industry is created from pre-existing work such as comics, the style tends to vary very slightly from the original, usually only simplifying it in order to make it feasible for animation. But here are some points that usually make shaft what they are.

Deranged Animation – characters and scenes are often freed from the shackles of reality. Ordinary objects that resemble something real can all of a sudden turn into the most outrageous things that you probably would never have thought of unless you were on drugs.

Warping of an image to add a feeling of surreal imagery 

the same person changing the way he is being drawn in under 10 seconds of the same scene. from left to right normal, serious face with a completly pointless line, over the top deranged reaction that youd expect from a different genre of actual toon like cartoons.

Varied Art Styles – while animations are typically drawn, shaft has a habit of mixing it up adding various forms such as stop motion and cut out animations to the mix all in the same episode. This makes for very pleasurable viewing (if it’s to your tastes at least) but sometimes it just helps something regular look extraordinary.

Medium Blending – Mixing Live action sequences/ backdrops with traditional 2d animation or vice versa,  this was used a lot in sayonara, Zetsubo Sensei and also in Puella Magi Madoka Magica for backgrounds and objects.

Shout Outs – There shows are packed full of shout outs that are meant to signify there family members of any sourses of information, there usually not obvious to the general viewer, but there are plenty. Some of these are often used to point out past mess-ups or solve controversy’s that the fans may have been curious about but unsure of for previous shows.

Unreadably Fast Text – they have a habit of scrolling usually relevant text unreadable fast across the screen, at some points even the characters get annoyed about it.

A head tild – They have a head tilt that they WILL force into any show they create it is not a SHAFT show without it so donot belive anyone who tells you it is. The head tilt usually serves no purpous and can happen at any time for example, in times of happiness, surprise, curiousness, deep thought, love, admiration, superiority, blankness, sinister thoughts, basically whenever the director feels like it!

Unmoving Patterns – characters wearing outfits with complex patterns will keep their orientation regardless of the angle. While shaft use this a lot their have been other studios who have taken this to a much higher extreme.

Who ever said that was normal – they will up the FPS and quality of a scene coupled with exaggerated movements randomly just to make a boring everyday thing look extraordinary.

Surreal theme tunes - the endings and/or openings to the shows will always feature a surreal song worthy of their deranged animations whether its obscene of irrelevant, it just isn’t normal.

Full on editing – Sometimes scenes will be done completely differently from there source material just because the director wants to do it his way, as long as the story progresses in the same manner and the overall mood is in line with its original, they will feel free to explore and express.

In these scene from Denpa Onna Seishun Otoko the Aunt twirls Erio (blanket girl) around and throws her into a wall leaving only her legs dangling out of the door she smashed through, all this because Erio knocked down the table in a selfish fit. Compare it to the scene from the original comic below, not only are the characters designed differently but rather than the aunt getting angry she herself got hurt (by Erios foot touching her) and complained instead.

Don’t I know you from somewhere?! – They have a habit of bringing back the same voice actors for their shows, usually playing characters with similar personality’s to the previous ones. It just helps the shows be a lot more comfortable having a familiar sound to it and in a way ensures quality.

Blu-ray’ed –with shaft being known for their poor time management this is the only positive thing that could have been born from it. The DVD and Blu-ray releases usually get a complete quality overhaul that’s the hectic weekly schedule prevented them from creating it is one of there more promised and adored policy’s form the studio to the fans. I will be showing an example or two of this later.

SHAFT, so that's who made that show

Here are a list of animated shows created under the company's own name, the studio has worked on other productions but they were usually just assists to help other studios get work done and not something that they had the rights too. most of these are roughly in order of when they were made.

Tsukiyomi: Moon Phase (2004)

Based of an original manga series by Keitaro Arima it revolves around a photographer who gets bitten by a vampire princess in a haunted castle who claims the photographer is her slave, but he is a bit to stubborn to play along with her stories, as they go back to Tokyo the show follows the relationship of this so called master and servant.

Negima!? (2006)

Ken Akamatsu's 'Negima! Magister Negi Magi' was turned into an OVA (original video animation) by shaft it follows a magic teacher who looks more like a student and his class through there magic training and daily life. the shaft version used the some characters but told the story in a much different way from the original manga and even the original anime made by studio Xebec

Hidamari Sketch Series (2007 - 2011) [sunshine Sketch]

This show is based of a manga by Ume Aoki. As the title suggests this is a show about a young girl who enters an art school she has dreamed of all her life. it follows the daily encounters of her and 3 others as they progress through there school years.

Sayonara Zetsubo Sensei  Series (2007 – 2010) [Goodbye, Mr. Despair]

Koji kumeta's manga was turned into an animated show by shaft. the story follows a extreamly pessimistic teacher who sees despair in everything in fact his name is Mr. Despair. To make things even more odd all his students have some sort of personality disorder and are literally named after it.

Ef: A Fairy Tale of the Two Series (2007 – 2008)

The Show is actually based of a two part adult graphic visual novel, a type of game where the player makes choices to let a story progress which contains dialogue and images/ video scenes that play out according to the users actions. A manga reproduction of the visual novel was made, while shaft decided to make a two part animated series for it, the first 12 part series was named Ef: A Tale of Memories while the later was also a 12 part series named Ef: A tale of Melodies. 

Maria + Holic Series (2009 – 2011)

this is a manga series by Minari Endo, it revolves around the protaganist 'Kanako' she is a Lesbian High School girl who is scared of boy and would break out in hives if she was so much as touched by one. enrolling into a catholic all girls school in hopes of finding true love, her ideal candidate for a partner turns out to be a sadistic cross dressing guy.

Natsu no Arashi! Series (2009 – 2011) [Summer Storm]

A manga made by Jin Kobayashi, a thirteen year old boy Yasuka who lives with his grandfather goes out to a store one day and sees a beautiful sixteen year old girl Arashi who works at the store being seemingly kidnapped by a group of people. Yasuka saves her and lets her stay with him and his Grandpa he soon finds out that Arashi has supernatural time travel powers. nothing but fun and strange adventures can follow such a meeting.

Monogatari series (2009 – 2012) [A tale of…]

The Monogatari series which literally means story has 2 different stories to it Nisemonogatari (story of Vampires) and the more popular Bakemonogatari (story of Ghost/ Spirits) these are usually 12 episodes long with the objective of carrying out some task in parts and usually follows the story as an adventure through a perticuler persons eyes. Bakemonogatari follows encounters with 8 well known Japanese spirits/ monsters in a very wierd way, it was originally a Light Novel buy Nisio Isin and illustrated by the Taiwanese illustrator Vofan.

Arakawa Under the Bridge series (2010)

a manga created by Hiraku Nakamura set in Arakawa, Tokyo under a bridge, Kou is the heir to be of a multi million dollar corp. while being bullied by a bunch of school thugs he is saved by a girl Nino who believes she is an alien from Venus. Living by the golden rule "Never be in-debt" Kou becomes Nino's girlfriend as payment, little does he know about the weird and wonderful world that exist below the bridge, a lot of Shafts signature fast scrolling text and deranged scenes take play in this show.

Dance in the Vampire Bund (2010)

manga written by Nozomu Tamaki, Mina tepe is a Vampire Princess who wishes to end the centuries of isolation her kind have endured, but the human world is not fully ready to accept her kind and extreamist groups break out to try and shatter Mina's wishes for peace. Can love and peace overcome mortal fears?

Seredemo Machi wa Mawatteiru (2010) [and yet the town moves…]

written by Masakazu Ishiguro this shaft adaptation follows Hitori in a slice of life fashion as she works in a maid cafe, but the detective in her always seems to lead her to weird encounters with aliens, ghosts and other paranormal beings.

Puella Magi Madoka Magica (2011) [magical girl madoka of the mages]

This is an Original piece shaft has created follows Madoka a tyipical well mannered girl who feels there is nothing special about herself. she is approached by an extraterrestrial being going by the name of Kyubey she is then told that he can grant her any wish she desires in exchange for having to become a magical girl and fight evil beings knows as witches who terrorise the world from its shadows. While the plot seems straight forward enough follow this story to see a genre turned completely on its head and then inside out for added effect.

Denpa Onna to Seishun Otoko (2011) [the electric wave woman and youthful man]

Makoto goes to meet his aunt but is shocked to also see his first cousin Erio since he thought his aunt lived alone and didnt have a child, further more her 'daughter' is wrapped in a blanket and believes that she is an alien. A strange light novel written and illustrated  by Hitoma Hiruma a weird setting for a weird company to take advantage of.

SHAFT, about the studio.

The animation studio was founded on September 1^st 1975 by HiroshiWakao. The company originally contracted itself out to help paint and produce animations for other studios but were later able to start making their own productions.

Since 2004 Hiroshi Wakao has since been retired and Kubota Mitsutoshi has taken up the role of representative director. Since the companies new management, Akiyuki Shinbo, Tatsuya Oishi and Shin Onuma have directed, produced of screen played most of shafts productions till date and have become the new face of shafts giving this studio its very own unique feel.

Their work is packed with gags literal and subtle, they have a famous head tilt which WILL be added to ANYTHING and EVERYTHING! A habit of making references to people and other anime’s in the background through the use of posters, billboards and blackboards, sometimes revealing their own screw ups or fun facts about past productions.

To sum it up, chances are if you’re watching a pilot episode and the word shaft doesn’t pop into your mind then it most probably is not a shaft production. There unique directing style is most definitely what has drawn me to them in an industry where almost everyone looks the same, shaft sticks out like a sore thumb.

Since 2004 the painting staffs has been downsized to make room for more digital editing and 3d artists to help improve the quality of their productions but they are still relatively new and downsizing and up scaling unevenly can effect production. shaft has been well known for not being able to finish productions in time or getting other studios to help create works for them time to time. A well-known example of this is episode 10 of their Bakemonogatari series while their highest selling series at the time episode 10 got dubbed the “NO ANIMATION” episode. Due to lack of time and resource management there was no one to draw animations properly this created an episode with stationary images and only lip-syncing animation for the most part.

The lack of quality during production (if any at all should occur) leads on to one of my most favourite things about this studio and further sets them apart from other animation studios. They will always give 100% quality during their Blu-ray and DVD releases; this is when you notice just how spectacular the skills this studio has are, entire episodes get a complete makeover, segments can be completely redrawn and redesigned, edited to provide a better feel and changed to create a high quality product that can rival the quality of a feature length production. It’s definitely a big plus side for them to keep their fan base in their early years. 

Heres a little taste of Shafts specialised High-On-Drugs animations that they've become famous for. This is the opening sequence for the show Sayonara, Zetsubo Sensei OVA2

As you can see its not really what you would expect from your average cartoon, and what makes it even more unique is this style is often embedded into the shows themselves at points. of course it isn't always to everyone's taste so at times Shaft has been known as a love it or hate it company.

What this blog is about

This is a small blog made to explore one of my most favourite animation studios. The companies name is SHAFT  it is a Japan based animation studio that mainly works on serialised TV productions. This studio has recently won my admiration for trying to add something fresh to an industry that is in danger of becoming very repetitive and mundane.