After being banished from her family and sent into exile on Wet Crow Feather’s Island, located in the Sea of Japan, Akagami Iria spends much of her time inviting geniuses of various orders from around the world to her mansion. One such guest is Kunagisa Tomo, a genius in the field of computing who is accompanied by her closest friend, “I-chan”, the nameless protagonist. Their stay at the mansion is coming to a close; however, things take a dramatic turn when one of the guests is found murdered, and the suspect is unidentifiable. Now “I” and the rest of the guests need to find out who did it, before anyone else falls victim to the same fate, but is it really that simple?

Based on the original work by NisioisiN, Kubikiri Cycle makes use the centuries-old mystery genre plot device: the closed room. With access to the site of the murder having been restricted to only the victim at the time of the murder, as well as the other clues on-site leading to an endless loop of unsatisfactory speculations, fear sets into the hearts of the characters. Being a NisioisiN work, Kubikiri Cycle is dialogue-driven, with the interactions between characters being the centre of the dynamic; however, put against the intricate and colourful Shaft animation style, the eccentric characters almost seem that much more interesting.

Matsumaru Fumihiko is your average salaryman. Currently single, his luck in that department is still yet to change after his plans to watch a movie with his colleague, Ms Tanaka, fall through when she doesn’t show. As Matsumaru is about to toss the movie tickets into the bin, a cute girl appears and asks him not to waste those tickets. After the movie and dinner, he escorts her home and finds out that they live in the same neighbourhood. Unfortunately, her home caught fire a few hours later. With nowhere else to go, Onda Aka moves into Matsumaru’s place and the two have a relationship that is clearly beyond friendship, but not quite lovers either – and they have to keep all of it a secret.

Rec is a unique entry on this list given the fact that it is the most stylistically deviant anime in terms of the visibility of Studio Shaft’s touch. Be that as it may, it still has a pleasant look and feel to it, word to Shaft’s quality. From a viewer’s perspective, the short episodes make it instant binge material and the slice of life nature of the show allows for it to go down much easier - a fact further rarefied by the way in which the art “mellows out” at some points, appearing a little less rendered and rather, a little more cosy.

Mina Tepeş, the Queen of the Vampires, reveals their existence to humanity on live television. She states her plan to create a sanctuary for vampires in Japan, what she calls the “Vampire Bund”. Using her family’s wealth to pay off Japan’s national debt, the Japanese government agrees to build this location for the vampires; however, some people are still not convinced by the vampires’ desire for peaceful cohabitation. Kaburagi Akira is a high schooler who doesn’t believe in vampires, but feels uneasy whenever they are mentioned and has no idea why. Other than having sustained a head injury a year ago, his life is normal until he meets Mina, who triggers his memories, causing him to rediscover his identity as a werewolf sworn from birth to protect the vampire queen.

Straying away from many of Shaft’s tendencies when it comes to art and animation is Dance in the Vampire Bund, a vampire anime which feels very much like mid-to-late 2000s anime when it comes to the art style. It goes for a more realistic feel when it comes to the characters. The anime sometimes views like a documentary or slightly older film, with the varied camera angles as well as the familiar Shaft manner of panning out to long shots. Visuals also have an element of graininess to them which is reminiscent of old cameras.

Kanako Miyamae transferred to Ame no Kisaki Catholic School in order to find love, inspired by her parents’ story of falling in love there; however, Kanako is allergic to men and has therefore come to the all-girls school to find her love. When she meets the beautiful Shidou Maria, Kanako is certain she’s found her person but it turns out that Maria is boy dressed in feminine clothes. He threatens to expose her objectives unless she keeps his real gender a secret and goes as far as replacing her roommate in order to keep an eye on her. Will Kanako be able to find the girl of her dreams in this nightmare?

Ripe with the familiar Shaft style of animation which makes use of various beautiful shots, sometimes in rapid succession, Maria†Holic is a humorous anime which plays with the genderbending trope a little bit. With its bright colours and beautiful backgrounds, Maria†Holic brings us some highly enjoyable absurdism and that little pinch of romance in the chaos that we need sometimes. We also see much of the Shaft touch in this anime, with head tilts galore and a juxtaposition of characters against highly detailed backgrounds and landscapes.

Itoshiki Nozomu is an incredibly pessimistic school teacher. His glass is so half-empty that the smallest misfortune sends him into a well of walling despair – sometimes pushing him to the point of wanting to take his own life. With his band of eccentric students like Komori Kiri, who doesn’t leave school, Kobushi Abiru, a mysterious learner who always arrives with severe injuries, the highly optimistic Fuura Kafuuka and all his other students, Nozomu tackles his everyday modern life with humorous results.

Much like Bakemonogatari and other notable Shaft works, Sayounara Zetsubou Sensei bears a familiar Shaft-esque animation style which incorporates still frames populated with textboxes at random junctures. These serve as narration and are an important part of the animation. In addition to the in-anime text narration, we are still treated to the same avant-garde approach for which Shaft is known.

On Christmas Eve, Hirono Hiro runs into Miyamura Miyako, a girl who takes his bicycle in order to pursue a thief. Later Hiro finds his bicycle totalled and Miyako unconscious, leading to the both of them unexpectedly spending Christmas Eve together. Their relationship develops further as they realise that they go to the same high school; however, Hiro’s childhood friend, Shindou Kei, becomes jealous of the two’s growing relationship. Unbeknownst to Kei; however, a creepy photographer has become interested in her, wanting to capture the perfect shot. On the other hand, Asou Renji is a boy who dreams of becoming a girl’s heroic saviour, who runs into Kei’s twin sister, Shindou Chihiro and befriends her. Chihiro is a bookworm and the two decide to write a book together, but Renji soon realises Chihiro’s tragic secret: she has a condition which causes her memories to last but for a short while. Will they ever be able to write their story?

A clear-cut romance; ef: A Tale of Memories explores relationships between characters while propping them up against some top-class backgrounds. Again, Shaft bringing in its flair with certain shots being animated differently for different effects. As a dialogue-driven type of story, the changing visuals make for a much more engaging watch. The art is incredible especially over a decade later, the characters while generic-looking in their design, look good. From an artistic perspective, the stops were pulled out and if you’re a fan of romantic anime, you’ll probably share that insight about the story itself too.

Niwa Makoto’s parents have moved overseas for work, so he moves to a new town in order to live with his aunt, excited at the prospect of life away from his village. However, his aunt claimed that she lives alone, so when Makoto meets his long-lost cousin, Touwa Erio, Makoto’s various plans for life in that house come crashing down. To top it off, Erio is his age but extremely eccentric, choosing to wrap herself up in a futon rather than go to school. She also claims that she is an alien, with a zany personality and speech pattern to back it up. His dream of having a normal life is instantly cancelled and with more encounters with other eccentrics, Makoto must get used to the fact that his life is anything but normal.

Denpa Onna to Seishun Otoko really shows off the sheer skill that Studio Shaft has at its disposal through the colourful artwork and character designs that make this show what it is. It is beautiful to look at from the word go. Dialogue and art-driven, Denpa Onna to Seishun Otoko is a humorous slice of life title which whips out elements of the absurd in its interactions between characters. The characters themselves are unique within the bounds of the story and while they may all be eccentrics, the way in which they are is vastly different.

Kiriyama Rei reached professional status in the game of Shogi when he was a middle schooler. As a result, he has experienced an incredible amount of pressure from his adoptive family as well as the Shogi community, who consider him one of the few elite players. At 17, Rei moves into an apartment in Tokyo, away from his tumultuous life back home; however, living alone, Rei doesn’t quite take the best care of himself and his reclusiveness causes him to be alienated from his peers. However, soon after his arrival in Tokyo, he meets the Kawamoto sisters - Hinata, Akari and Momo, who live with their grandfather. The trio of sisters, each coping with past tragedies share a familial bond with Rei which he has lacked in his life and it could be the aspect he needs as he struggles to maintain himself throughout his Shogi career, teaching him many much-needed lessons about himself and the world around him.

One of those anime which follow a niche interest, 3-gatsu no Lion is an emotional rollercoaster which does a good job of fleshing out its characters over the span of 22 episodes. An archetypical Shaft work if there ever was one, 3-gatsu no Lion shows us the extent of Shaft’s abilities when it comes to giving us beautiful scenery and backgrounds over and above characters who are appealing to the eye. The art style is somewhere between real and exaggerated, making it accommodating to the colours and backdrops which are consistent throughout.

Ichinomiya Kou is the son of a wealthy businessman. The Ichinomiya family motto is to never be indebted to anyone, so when Kou falls from the Arakawa Bridge and a random stranger saves him from drowning in the Arakawa River, he finds himself owing his entire life to a stranger. He insists on paying her back; however, the blonde, stoic, tracksuit-clad homeless girl known as Nino lives under the bridge and wants nothing more than to fall in love. When Nino asks Kou to be her boyfriend, he has no choice but to accept – so Kou moves in with Nino under Arakawa Bridge!

A show filled with several eccentric characters and humour of the absurd kind, Arakawa Under the Bridge is a whole lot of fun! The animation style brings out much of the unique elements which have become synonymous with the animation studio, including the classic “Shaft head tilt”, which we see on several occasions in addition to the way in which episodes are not marked by their episode count, but rather each segment is denoted, so the Arakawa Under the Bridge experience might be like watching a cartoon where several different stories are explored separately while chronology is maintained. The art is excellent and reflects the light-heartedness of the show, with its bright colour schemes which capitalise on the fact that most of the show happens outside.

August 14th. Summer. Kisaragi Shintarou finds himself forced to leave his room for the first time in two years. During an argument with Ene, the cyber girl who lives in his computer, Shintarou accidentally spilled soda on his keyboard. To make things worse, online shops were closed to observe the Obon Festival, so Shintarou had no choice but to finally leave his room. The journey makes him anxious, but as his horrific luck would have it, Shintarou’s first journey outside results in him getting caught up in a hostage situation. Luckily, a group of superpowered teenagers who call themselves the “Mekakushi-Dan” arrive and sort things out. Shintarou must now join the Mekakushi-Dan with Ene, as they realise that their powers fit together like a puzzle, the secret to it all lies in their pasts…

Seemingly hidden by the flow of time, Mekakucity Actors is in many ways a quintessential Shaft work. The animation is fluid and colourful, not to mention at times downright mesmerising. The story is incredibly interesting and makes use of the past and memory to develop its cast of quirky, colourful characters. The show also plays with several frames which are divorced from the characters themselves and thus the viewer’s experience is one set up by the intensely colourful and detailed scenery that sets it all up gorgeously… all with some of it being made to look like it was documented with a video camera. Shaft also uses its wide shots often in Mekakucity Actors, making it the kind of anime you watch when you want plot, characters and intensely beautiful art and animation bringing it all together.