Anime Studio Evaluation #1: Shaft

SHAFT is the studio known for artsy visuals, head tilts, directorial self indulgence, and lots of fan service. The first full series they made was Sakura Diaries in 1997, a typical ecchi comedy which lacked their trademark visuals, it was left incomplete, and everybody forgot right away.

Their second work was Mahoromatic in 2001, also an ecchi comedy but because it was a collaboration with Gainax it also had some interesting existentialism themes about a robot running out of time and wanting to spend her last months with someone she cares for. It’s dramatic enough to initially hook you into watching it but just like Plastic Memories from some time before, it is doing very little with the concept and wastes most of its duration on plotless run of the mill ecchi jokes. The ending is the most memorable thing about it because of how bizarre it is, but other than that it’s another forgettable ecchi comedy.

The following years were pretty much wasted on making forgettable nonsense, two lines for a plot that heads nowhere, some fetishes to define the characters, and otherwise nothing more than mindless fan service.
2002: G-On Riders
2003: Popotan
2004: This Ugly yet Beautiful World, Tsukiyomi Moon Phase
2005: He is my Master

Paniponi Dash in 2005 is a slight exception, since although still another plotless comedy set in a school, there wasn’t much fan service and the humor was creative, despite being completely random and heavy on references. Did that make it a good show? No, but at least it wasn’t about fan service.

In 2006 they made Rec, a short comedy that starts with sex in the first episode! They don’t do much with the premise of adults trying to be in a relationship. They squandered the chance of having a mature take on relationships, instead of another aimless slice of life. Not very good but at least it’s a decent time passer.

In 2006 they also made an alternative version of Negima, a harem nobody ever cared about, and the same counts for this one as well.

In 2007 they made Hidamari Sketch, an aimless slice of life comedy about cute girls doing cute sketching. It’s forgettable, just like everything else of this kind.

It was only in 2007 when SHAFT became famous thanks to Shimbo going apeshit with the artsy artstyle in Sayonara Zetsubo Sensei. Although still just an episodic comedy, it had great variety in jokes and characters, plus a lot of superficial social satire to please the hipsters. It was an anime that could please most audiences, and thus it’s their first success both financially and critically.

Same year, they made A Tale of Memories, followed with its sequel, A Tale of Melodies the following year. It’s typical school romance tragedy, the likes of which we get all the time before we forget them in a couple of months. Anohana eclipsed it in an instant and Your Lie in April is the recent specimen of this kind, the only one people talk about, and the first they will forget as soon as the next school tragedy comes out.
In the following years, SHAFT made a bunch of lukewarm comedies and ecchis, none of which were special, since unlike Sayonara Zetsubo Sensei, they were very limited in themes and content. No amount of fancy visuals is enough to change that simple fact, and thus all these titles were forgotten very fast.
2008: Maria Holic
2009: Natsu no Arashi
2010: Dance in the Vampire Bund, Arakawa under the Bridge, And yet the Town moves
2011: Denpa Onna to Seishun Otoko, Katte ni Kaizou

All that pale compared to the second major title they made in 2009, Bakemonogatari, and its numerous sequels, and specials. Otakus and pseudo-intellectuals deified this harem for its artsy fan service to the point you can’t take it seriously even if you tried. Let’s not kid ourselves, the whole thing is a harem, stuffed with every deviant fetish you can think of, and the psychological aspect of it is just directorial self-indulgence. I am not a pretentious overthinker, and thus I am not fooled to think it is anything more than well directed rule of cool, instead of simply fan service or deep symbolisms.

The third major title was Madoka Magica in 2011, which was hailed as the best anime of all times by tasteless casuals, edgelords and pseudo-intellectuals. The cashgrab movie sequel broke the illusion and people finally realized the pile of bullshit it was all along. Princess Tutu for the win.

After 2011, the creative juices of SHAFT ran dry. Aside from milking the crap out of Bakemonogatari and Madoka Magica, they are not creating something new and worthwhile. They even reached to a point where their shows are nothing more than repetitive Shimbo gimmicks. They went so up in their own ass that nobody understands or enjoys them without reading the source material. If you remove the shafting from their shows, they are still nothing but generic harems and otaku pandering nonsense with no plot or theme exploration. They are selling based on fancy visuals and not on substance.
2013: Sasami-san Ganbaranai
2014: Mekakucity Actors
2014: Nisekoi
2015: Gourmet Girl Graffiti
2016: Kubikiri Cycle
The recent show they made as of now is an exception to the rule, as March comes like a Lion is a mixture of slice of life, sports, and psychological drama. It’s not nearly as bad as most of everything else they made but it never made a big impact, since everybody would always mention something like Ping Pong or Yuri on Ice every time it comes up to completely eclipse it.
Thus, out of the 28 titles they have, only 2 are worth it as rule of cool. The rest are mostly fan service trash, slice of life that never sticks out, and Madoka Magica being the cancer that killed anime because it was made by Urobutcher. It got 7% on Sturgeon’s Law, thus it’s not a good studio.