# Shaft (company)

Shaft Inc. (stylized as SHAFT; Japanese: 株式会社シャフト, Hepburn: Kabushiki-gaisha Shafuto), 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. 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.
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 mantle—most 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 "Children of Shinbo" (新房チルドレン) 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 A Ninja and an Assassin Under One Roof 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 Japan Electronics College [ja].
Shaft opened a licensing division in 2017 which manages an online shop –Shaft Ten– 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 opening 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).

### Directors

One of the core elements that represented Shaft as a unique studio among its peers came with Shinbo at the head of Shaft's directing department. Though Shaft had developed a relationship with other directors in the past like Kunitoshi Okajima and in-house talents fostered under him like Toshimasa Suzuki, Shinbo's position initiated a wave of new directors both joining and being trained by himself and, especially, Oonuma and Oishi. Although Suzuki left the company prior to Shinbo joining, he would still act as the assistant director for the studio and director's first project together, Tsukuyomi: Moon Phase; and Suzuki later remarked that Shinbo was the catalyst for Shaft's identity as a "directing company" (演出の会社). Almost all works produced by Shaft for the next 14 years involved Shinbo as either "director" or "chief director" with a "series director", "assistant director", "chief director", or "chief episode director" in active positions beneath him. Works produced after Shinbo's reign as chief director continued to use this system. The various credits actively participated in various parts of pre-production, production, and post-production.
Shaft's director credits:
* Chief Director (総監督) - Generally used for works in which Shinbo and another director are involved from the start, and which Shinbo often gives more freedoms to the directors to. Shinbo's role as "chief director" ranges from little-to-no active participation like in Katteni Kaizō, to active creative decisions in pre-production like scenario checks, storyboard checks and revisions, design supervision, and overall direction like in Tsukuyomi: Moon Phase, Monogatari series and Pretty Boy Detective Club.
* Director (監督) - The standard "director" credit used in most of the industry and oftentimes at Shaft.
* Series Director (シリーズディレクター) - The "series director" is generally given to directors who join a production partway through pre-production or a similar circumstance and are involved as a director generally following Shinbo's orders. Tatsuya Oishi joined Bakemonogatari after the 5th episode's storyboard orders were completed, Yuki Yase joined Hidamari Sketch x Honeycomb after the 8th episode's storyboards were completed, and Yukihiro Miyamoto joined Puella Magi Madoka Magica a few months before the series began to air (thus in production itself). Oishi, Yase, and Miyamoto subsequently received director (監督) credits for their respective sequel works as they were a part of the projects from the start with Shinbo taking on the chief director (総監督) credit. Miyamoto later clarified that there was no difference between his role in the Madoka TV series and films despite the credit differences, and seemingly only the amount of time he had been involved with had changed.
* Chief Director (チーフディレクター) - Despite the name, the credit has been used generally to refer to "assistant" or "series" directors. Hidamari Sketch "chief director" Ryouki Kamitsubo referred to himself as the "assistant" for the series; and Suzuki referred to Kenjirou Okada, who was given a "chief director" credit, as the "series director" in an interview.
* Director's Assistant (監督補佐) - Used once for Suzuki on Tsukuyomi: Moon Phase.
* Assistant Director (副監督) - Despite the name, "assistant directors" at Shaft act similar to "series directors" or are like junior "directors." Naoyuki Tatsuwa, for example, was referred to as the "series director" for And Yet the Town Moves by Shinbo despite his official credit being "assistant director."
* Chief Episode Director (チーフ演出) - A credit usually describing a director closely involved in the production process of all episodes. Used only a few times at Shaft, Miyamoto described his role on the sequel Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei seasons as being like a "handyman" and doing a little bit of direction for all episodes, the openings and ending, as well as attending dubbing sessions and art meetings when assistant director Tatsuwa was unable to.
* Director (ディレクター) - Used only in Magia Record season 1 to refer to directors given "series director" responsibility over select episodes.

## Productions
### Anime television series

| Year | Title | Director(s) | Series director(s) | Animation producer(s) | Source | Eps. |
| 1995–1996 | Juuni Senshi Bakuretsu Eto Ranger | Kunitoshi Okajima | — | Producer: Hiroshi Wakao | Original work | 39 |
| 2000–2001 | Dotto! Koni-chan | Shinichi Watanabe (#1–13) Kenji Yasuda (#14–26) | Shintarou Inokawa (assistant, #1–13) | Producer: Mitsutoshi Kubota | Original work | 26 |
| 2001 | Mahoromatic: Automatic Maiden (co-animated with Gainax) | Hiroyuki Yamaga | — | Producers: Mitsutoshi Kubota Hiroki Katou | Manga | 12 |
| 2002 | G-On Riders (co-animated with TNK) | Shinichiro Kimura | — | | Original work | 13 |
| 2002–2003 | Mahoromatic: Something More Beautiful (co-animated with Gainax) | Hiroyuki Yamaga | Shouji Saeki (assistant) | Producer: Mitsutoshi Kubota Hiroki Katou | Manga | 14 |
| 2003 | Popotan | Shinichiro Kimura | — | Producer: 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 Shinbo (chief) Toshimasa Suzuki (assistant) | — | Mitsutoshi Kubota | Manga | 25 |
| 2005 | He Is My Master (co-animated with Gainax) | Shouji Saeki | — | Mitsutoshi Kubota | Manga | 12 |
| 2005 | Pani Poni Dash! | Akiyuki Shinbo | Shin Oonuma | Mitsutoshi Kubota | Manga | 26 |
| 2006 | Rec | Ryūtarō Nakamura | — | Producer: Mitsutoshi Kubota | Manga | 9 |
| 2006–2007 | Negima!? | Akiyuki Shinbo | Shin Oonuma (chief) | Mitsutoshi Kubota | Manga | 26 |
| 2007 | Hidamari Sketch | Akiyuki Shinbo (chief) | Ryouki Kamitsubo (chief) | | Manga | 12 |
| 2007 | Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei | Akiyuki Shinbo | Naoyuki Tatsuwa (assistant) | Mitsutoshi Kubota | Manga | 12 |
| 2007 | Ef: A Tale of Memories | Shin Oonuma | — | Shigeyuki Amemiya | Visual novel | 12 |
| 2008 | (Zoku) Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei | Akiyuki Shinbo | Naoyuki Tatsuwa (assistant) Yukihiro Miyamoto (chief episode) | Mitsutoshi Kubota | Manga | 13 |
| 2008 | Hidamari Sketch × 365 | Akiyuki Shinbo | — | | Manga | 13 |
| 2008 | Ef: A Tale of Melodies | Shin Oonuma | — | Shigeyuki Amemiya | Visual novel | 12 |
| 2009 | Maria Holic | Akiyuki Shinbo | Yukihiro Miyamoto Naoyuki Tatsuwa (assistant) | Mitsutoshi Kubota | Manga | 12 |
| 2009 | Natsu no Arashi! | Akiyuki Shinbo | Shin Oonuma | Mitsutoshi Kubota | Manga | 13 |
| 2009 | Bakemonogatari | Akiyuki Shinbo | Tatsuya Oishi | Producer: Mitsutoshi Kubota | Light novel | 15 |
| 2009 | (Zan) Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei | Akiyuki Shinbo | Naoyuki Tatsuwa (assistant) Yukihiro Miyamoto (chief episode) | Mitsutoshi Kubota | Manga | 13 |
| 2009 | Natsu no Arashi! Akinai-chū | Akiyuki Shinbo | Shin Oonuma (#1–7) Kenichi Ishikura (#8–13) | Mitsutoshi Kubota | Manga | 13 |
| 2010 | Dance in the Vampire Bund | Akiyuki Shinbo | Masahiro Sonoda | Mitsutoshi Kubota Line producer: Takeshi Baba | Manga | 12 |
| 2010 | Hidamari Sketch × Hoshimittsu | Akiyuki Shinbo | Kenichi Ishikura | | Manga | 12 |
| 2010 | Arakawa Under the Bridge | Akiyuki Shinbo | Yukihiro Miyamoto | Mitsutoshi Kubota Line producers: Tadao Iwaki Makoto Kohara | Manga | 13 |
| 2010 | Arakawa Under the Bridge x Bridge | Akiyuki Shinbo | Yukihiro Miyamoto | Mitsutoshi Kubota Line producer: Tadao Iwaki | Manga | 13 |
| 2010 | And Yet the Town Moves | Akiyuki Shinbo (chief) | Naoyuki Tatsuwa (assistant) | Producer: Mitsutoshi Kubota | Manga | 12 |
| 2011 | Puella Magi Madoka Magica | Akiyuki Shinbo | Yukihiro Miyamoto | Tadao Iwaki | Original work | 12 |
| 2011 | Maria Holic Alive | Akiyuki Shinbo (chief) | Tomokazu Tokoro Kenichi Ishikura (assistant) | Mitsutoshi Kubota Yuuji Kanno | Manga | 12 |
| 2011 | Ground Control to Psychoelectric Girl | Akiyuki Shinbo (chief) | Yukihiro Miyamoto | Mitsutoshi Kubota | Light novel | 12 |
| 2011 | Hidamari Sketch × SP | Akiyuki Shinbo | — | | Manga | 2 |
| 2012 | Nisemonogatari | Akiyuki Shinbo | Tomoyuki Itamura | Producer: Mitsutoshi Kubota | Light novel | 11 |
| 2012 | Hidamari Sketch × Honeycomb | Akiyuki Shinbo | Yuki Yase | | Manga | 12 |
| 2012 | Nekomonogatari (Black) | Akiyuki Shinbo (chief) Tomoyuki Itamura | — | Producer: Mitsutoshi Kubota | Manga | 4 |
| 2013 | Sasami-san@Ganbaranai | Akiyuki Shinbo | Naoyuki Tatsuwa (assistant) | Kousuke Matsunaga | Manga | 12 |
| 2013 | Monogatari Series: Second Season | Akiyuki Shinbo (chief) Tomoyuki Itamura | Naoyuki Tatsuwa (#6–9) Yuki Yase (#14–17) | Kousuke Matsunaga Takuo Yukinaga | Light novel | 23 |
| 2014 | Nisekoi | Akiyuki Shinbo (chief) Naoyuki Tatsuwa | — | Hitoshi Fujikawa | Manga | 20 |
| 2014 | Mekakucity Actors | Akiyuki Shinbo (chief) Yuki Yase | — | Kousuke Matsunaga | Media-mix project | 12 |
| 2014 | Hanamonogatari | Akiyuki Shinbo (chief) Tomoyuki Itamura | — | Takuo Yukinaga | Light novel | 5 |
| 2014 | Tsukimonogatari | Akiyuki Shinbo (chief) Tomoyuki Itamura | — | Kazuki Soumiya | Light novel | 4 |
| 2015 | Gourmet Girl Graffiti | Akiyuki Shinbo (chief) Naoyuki Tatsuwa | — | | Manga | 12 |
| 2015 | Nisekoi: | Akiyuki Shinbo (chief) | Yukihiro Miyamoto (chief episode) | Kousuke Matsunaga | Manga | 12 |
| 2015 | Owarimonogatari I | Akiyuki Shinbo (chief) Tomoyuki Itamura | — | Kazuki Soumiya | Light novel | 13 |
| 2016–2017 | March Comes In Like a Lion | Akiyuki Shinbo | Kenjirou Okada | Kousuke Matsunaga | Manga | 22 |
| 2017 | Owarimonogatari II | Akiyuki Shinbo (chief) Tomoyuki Itamura | — | Kazuki Soumiya | Light novel | 7 |
| 2017–2018 | March Comes In Like a Lion 2nd Season | Akiyuki Shinbo | Kenjirou Okada | Kouichi Yasuda | Manga | 22 |
| 2018 | Fate/Extra Last Encore | Akiyuki Shinbo (chief) | Yukihiro Miyamoto (chief episode) | Kazumasa Amitani | Video game | 13 |
| 2019 | Zoku Owarimonogatari | Akiyuki Shinbo | — | Producer: Kazuki Soumiya | Light novel | 6 |
| 2020 | Magia Record: Puella Magi Madoka Magica Side Story | Doroinu (chief) | Yukihiro Miyamoto (assistant) Kenjirou Okada (director) Midori Yoshizawa (director) | Producer: Mitsutoshi Kubota | Mobile game | 13 |
| 2020 | Assault Lily Bouquet | Shouji Saeki | Keita Nagahara (assistant) Hajime Ootani (chief episode) | Kouichi Yasuda | Media-mix project | 12 |
| 2021 | Pretty Boy Detective Club | Akiyuki Shinbo (chief) Hajime Ootani | Kenjirou Okada (assistant) | Kouichi Yasuda | Light novel | 12 |
| 2021 | Magia Record: Puella Magi Madoka Magica Side Story - Eve of Awakening | Doroinu (chief) Yukihiro Miyamoto | Midori Yoshizawa (assistant) | Yuuya Matsukawa | Mobile game | 8 |
| 2022 | Magia Record: Puella Magi Madoka Magica Side Story - Dawn of a Shallow Dream | Doroinu (chief) Yukihiro Miyamoto | Midori Yoshizawa (assistant) | Yuuya Matsukawa | Mobile game | 4 |
| 2022 | Luminous Witches | Shouji Saeki | Kana Shundou (assistant) | Kouichi Yasuda | Media-mix project | 12 |
| 2022 | RWBY: Ice Queendom | Toshimasa Suzuki | Kenjirou Okada (chief) | Yuuya Matsukawa | Web series | 12 |
| 2025 | A Ninja and an Assassin Under One Roof | Yukihiro Miyamoto | TBA | TBA | Manga | TBA |

### Anime films

| Year | Title | Director(s) | Series director(s) | Animation producer(s) | Source |
| 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 | Kenichi Ishikura (assistant) | Mitsutoshi Kubota Yuuji Kanno | Manga |
| 2012 | Puella Magi Madoka Magica the Movie: Beginnings | Akiyuki Shinbo (chief) Yukihiro Miyamoto | Hiroyuki Terao (assistant) | Yasuhiro Okada | Original work |
| 2012 | Puella Magi Madoka Magica the Movie: Eternal | Akiyuki Shinbo (chief) Yukihiro Miyamoto | Hiroyuki Terao (assistant) | Yasuhiro Okada | Original work |
| 2013 | Puella Magi Madoka Magica the Movie: Rebellion | Akiyuki Shinbo (chief) Yukihiro Miyamoto | Hiroyuki Terao (assistant) | Yasuhiro Okada | Original work |
| 2016 | Kizumonogatari I: Tekketsu | Akiyuki Shinbo (chief) Tatsuya Oishi | — | Kousuke Matsunaga Takuo Yukinaga | Light novel |
| 2016 | Kizumonogatari II: Nekketsu | Akiyuki Shinbo (chief) Tatsuya Oishi | — | Kousuke Matsunaga Takuo Yukinaga | Light novel |
| 2017 | Kizumonogatari III: Reiketsu | Akiyuki Shinbo (chief) Tatsuya Oishi | — | Kousuke Matsunaga Takuo Yukinaga | Light novel |
| 2017 | Fireworks, Should We See It from the Side or the Bottom? | Akiyuki Shinbo (chief) Nobuyuki Takeuchi | Seimei Kidokoro (assistant) | Kazuki Soumiya | Live-action film |
| 2023 | The Quintessential Quintuplets~ | Yukihiro Miyamoto | — | Yuuya Matsukawa | Manga |
| 2024 | Kizumonogatari: Koyomi Vamp | Tatsuya Oishi | — | — | Light novel |
| 2025 | Virgin Punk: Clockwork Girl | Yasuomi Umetsu | TBA | TBA | Original work |
| 2025 | Puella Magi Madoka Magica The Movie: Walpurgisnacht: Rising | Akiyuki Shinbo (chief) Yukihiro Miyamoto | TBA | TBA | Original work |

### Original video animations

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

### Original net animations

| Year | Title | Director(s) | Series director(s) | Animation producer(s) | Source | Eps. |
| 2016 | Koyomimonogatari | Akiyuki Shinbo (chief) 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 Shinbo (chief) Midori Yoshizawa | — | Yuuya Matsukawa Ryuusuke Suzuki | Light novel | 14 |

### Video game work

| Year | Title | Developer | Animation producer(s) | Role(s) | Note(s) |
| 2013 | Fate/Extra CCC | Type-Moon Imageepoch | Production manager: Ryuusuke Suzuki | Opening animation production | Directed by Akiyuki Shinbo. |
| 2016 | Fate/EXTELLA | Marvelous | Production manager: 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. |
| 2018 | Monogatari Series PucPuc | NHN PlayArt | — | Illustration assistance | |
| 2018 | 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. |

### Other productions

* Shina Dark (OVA, March 21, 2008) – four music video shorts for the manga by Bunjūrō Nakayama; directed by Naoyuki Konno, Shinpei Tomooka, Shin Oonuma, and Toshimasa Suzuki.
* MAG Net (TV series, 2010) – opening animation for the television series; directed by Tatsuya Oishi.
* Palutena's Revolting Dinner (ONA, March 19, 2012) – two promotional shorts for Kid Icarus: Uprising; directed by Akiyuki Shinbo.
* Goddess of Light (ONA, June 10, 2014) – Palutena character reveal trailer for Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U.
* Okitegami Kyouko no Bibouroku x Monogatari (ONA, December 31, 2014) – promotional video for Nisio Isin's Boukyaku Tantei Series, featuring characters from the Monogatari series; directed by Yukihiro Miyamoto.
* IRoid: Koi no Yūkō Frontier (ONA, December 14, 2015) – Promotional short for the dating simulator app IRoid by QUICK.
* Kakushigoto (ONA, June 14, 2016) – promotional short for the manga by Kōji Kumeta; directed by Yukihiro Miyamoto.
* Akuma no Memumemu-chan (ONA, January 22, 2018) – promotional short for the manga by Keitarо̄ Yotsuya; directed by Seiya Numata.
* "Ikebukuro PR Animation" (ONA, January 17, 2019) – promotional short for the Ikebukuro district in Tokyo's Toshima ward; directed by Yukio Takatsu.
* "Limited Time Fate/EXTRA CCC x Fate/Grand Order Special Event 'Deep Sea Dennou Rakudo SE.RA.PH' Announcement CM" (ONA, May 7, 2017) – promotional short for a crossover event between the Fate/Extra CCC and Fate/Grand Order video games.
* "Hungry Days" (ONA, May 21, 2019, September 12, 2019, December 5, 2019, February 7, 2020) – series of four commercials for Nissin's Cup Noodles featuring characters from One Piece; directed by Yūsuke Takase
* Choujuu Giga Gao Road Chocolate Dai 0-dan (ONA, February 20, 2021) – promotional commercial directed by Kiyoyuki Amano.
* Taishou Romance (music video, September 16, 2021) – music video for the song by YOASOBI; directed by Yūsuke Takase.
* Bakemonogatari (ONA, February 17, 2022) – promotional video for the manga adaptation of Bakemonogatari by Oh! Great; directed by Akiyuki Shinbo.
* J:COM x U25 Kankyou wo Kangaeru Project CM (ONA, July 3, 2023) – promotional video for J:COM's environmental awareness "U25 Kankyou wo Kangaeru Project"; directed by Ryou Shimura.
* "Baton Concept Movie" (ONA, December 1, 2023) – corporate short film promoting "Baton", an education-focused app; directed by Yūsuke Takase.
* Fate/Grand Order Explore Movie 2024 "Wanted" (ONA, August 3, 2024) – promotional short film for the Fate/Grand Order mobile game; directed by Hiroto Nagata.

### 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) |
| 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 | |
| 1983 | 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 |
| 1991 | Oh! My Konbu | Kodansha, VAP | Tetsuo Imazawa | 4, 8, 12, 16, 20 | |
| 1991 | 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 |
| 1996–1997 | 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 |
| 1997 | Mach Go Go Go: Restart | Tatsunoko Production | Hiroshi Sasagawa et al. | 5, 9, 14, 19, 25 | |
| 1997 | Hareluya II Boy | Triangle Staff | Kiyoshi Egami | 3 | |
| 1997 | 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 |
| 1998 | Generator Gawl | Tatsunoko Production | Seiji Mizushima | 4, 6, 10 | |
| 1998 | 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 | |
| 1999 | Dual! Parallel Trouble Adventure | AIC | Katsuhito Akiyama | 1–13 | |
| 1999 | Power Stone | Pierrot | Takahiro Omori | 9, 16 | |
| 1999 | Magic User's Club | Triangle Staff, Madhouse | Junichi Sato | 10 | |
| 1999 | Dai-Guard | Xebec | Seiji Mizushima | 11 | |
| 1999 | Now and Then, Here and There | AIC | Akitaro Daichi | 5, 10 | |
| 1999 | A Pair of Queens | Triangle Staff | Takashi Watanabe | 2, 4, 7, 9 | |
| 1999–2000 | Blue Gender | AIC | Masami Abe | 4, 10, 16, 22 | |
| 1999–2000 | Excel Saga | J.C.Staff | Shinichi Watanabe | 4, 9, 14, 19, 24 | |
| 2000 | Boogiepop Phantom | Madhouse | Takashi Watanabe | 2, 5, 7, 11–12 | |
| 2000 | NieA_7 | Triangle Staff | Tomokazu Tokoro Takuya Satō | 11 | |
| 2000 | Sakura Wars | Madhouse | Ryūtarō Nakamura | 1–25 | |
| 2000 | 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 |
| 2001 | Sister Princess | Zexcs | Kiyotaka Ohata | 4 | |
| 2001 | The SoulTaker | Tatsunoko Production/VCR | Akiyuki Shinbo | 10 | |
| 2001 | 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 | |
| 2001–2002 | Android Kikaider: The Animation | Radix, Studio OX | Tensai Okamura | 2, 7–8, 12 | |
| 2001–2002 | 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 | |
| 2002 | WXIII: Patlabor the Movie 3 | Madhouse | Fumihiko Takayama Takuji Endou | | Film |
| 2003 | Heat Guy J | Satelight | Kazuki Akane | 19 | |
| 2003 | Dear Boys | A.C.G.T | Susumu Kudou | 3, 7, 12, 18, 23 | |
| 2003 | Kino's Journey | A.C.G.T | Ryūtarō Nakamura | 7 | |
| 2003 | Neon Genesis Evangelion: Girlfriend of Steel 2nd | Gainax | | | Video game |
| 2004 | Misaki Chronicles | Radix | Jun Takada Hiroshi Negishi | 2 | |
| 2004 | Maburaho | J.C.Staff | Shinichiro Kimura | 11 | |
| 2004 | Gilgamesh | Group TAC, Japan Vistec | Masahiko Murata | 16, 22 | |
| 2004 | Tetsujin 28-go | Palm Studio | Yasuhiro Imagawa | 3, 6, 9 | |
| 2004 | Gakuen Alice | Group TAC | Takahiro Omori | 4, 10 | |
| 2004 | 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 | |
| 2023 | The Café Terrace and Its Goddesses | Tezuka Productions | Satoshi Kuwabara | 9 | |
| 2023 | 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

* Masahiko Murata [ja] (animator, 1982~1987)
* Hiroyuki Morita (animator, 1987)
* Yutaka Nagaushi (production assistant, 1987~1995; founder of Digital Network Animation [ja])
* Toshimasa Suzuki (animator, 1987~2000; currently freelances as a director)
* Yoshiaki Itou (character designer and animator, 1987~present)
* Masahiko Nakada [ja] (animator, 1990~1995)
* Makoto Kohara (animator, 1996~2001; founder of Diomedéa)
* Mai Ootsuka [ja] (animator, 1998~2003)
* Naoko Shiraishi [ja] (production assistant, 2000~2002; later founded Millepensee)
* Nobuhiro Sugiyama (character designer and animator, 2001~present)
* Kazuya Shiotsuki (character designer and animator, 2002~present)
* Yasuko Watanabe (color designer, 2000~present)
* Kazuhiro Oota [ja] (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)
* Yuki Yase (director, 2010~2017)
* Hiroki Yamamura (character designer and animator, 2012~present)
* Hisaharu Iijima (art department technical advisor/art director, 2020~present)

### 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)