Shaft
Shaft (stylized as SHAFT) is a Japanese animation studio headquartered in Suginami, Tokyo, and founded in 1975. Since 2004, the studio's productions have been broadly influenced by director Akiyuki Shinbo, whose visual style and avant-garde cinematography are featured in works including Hidamari Sketch, Sayonara Zetsubou-Sensei, the Monogatari series, Puella Magi Madoka Magica, Nisekoi, and March Comes In Like a Lion. (Source: Wikipedia)
The timeline
Monogatari Series: Off & Monster Season
Koyomi Araragi spent his last year of high school helping girls in his town resolve various supernatural afflictions. But now Araragi has departed for university, leaving his friends to fend for themselves against new problems and curses that plague them. Yotsugi Ononoki, once a human corpse and now a living doll, takes residence in Araragi's home, keeping watch over his sister Tsukihi, a girl harboring a mystical secret of her own. As part of her duties, Yotsugi fills Araragi's vacated role as occult expert, assisting others in town with their issues. One of these girls, middle school student Nadeko Sengoku, slowly recovers from her own recent brushes with the paranormal. She avoids returning to school, instead spending time alone in her room and pursuing her dream of becoming a professional manga artist. In order to speed up Nadeko's quest for mastery of her craft, Yotsugi convinces her to create four copies of herself, each representing a distinct aspect of Nadeko's personality. However, the clones refuse to help Nadeko, instead escaping into the town and creating a chaotic mess. Now forced to grapple with her own fractured sense of identity, Nadeko sets out to capture them and resolve her inner conflict. [Written by MAL Rewrite]
Kizumonogatari: Koyomi Vamp
After befriending his classmate Tsubasa Hanekawa, Koyomi Araragi, a cynical and lonely high school student, begins to develop a more positive outlook on life. One night while walking home, however, he encounters an ethereal woman with severed limbs, barely clinging to life. Although reluctant at first to help her, Koyomi ultimately agrees to trade his life for hers, and lets her feast on his blood. Upon waking in an abandoned building, he is horrified to find that he was turned into a nigh-immortal being by the vampire he saved, Kiss-Shot Acerola-Orion Heart-Under-Blade. Thankfully for the desperate young man, there is a way for him to regain his mortality. Assisted by Meme Oshino, an expert in oddities, Koyomi must defeat the three vampire hunters who stole his new master's limbs to restore Kiss-shot's powers. Determined to return to his old life, Koyomi will stop at nothing to accomplish his goal. However, his largest challenge may not lie in overcoming his adversaries—but in preserving his own humanity. [Written by MAL Rewrite]
3-gatsu no Lion 2nd Season
Now in his second year of high school, Rei Kiriyama continues pushing through his struggles in the professional shogi world as well as his personal life. Surrounded by vibrant personalities at the shogi hall, the school club, and in the local community, his solitary shell slowly begins to crack. Among them are the three Kawamoto sisters—Akari, Hinata, and Momo—who forge an affectionate and familial bond with Rei. Through these ties, he realizes that everyone is burdened by their own emotional hardships and begins learning how to rely on others while supporting them in return. Nonetheless, the life of a professional is not easy. Between tournaments, championships, and title matches, the pressure mounts as Rei advances through the ranks and encounters incredibly skilled opponents. As he manages his relationships with those who have grown close to him, the shogi player continues to search for the reason he plays the game that defines his career. [Written by MAL Rewrite]
Owarimonogatari 2nd Season
Following an encounter with oddity specialist Izuko Gaen, third-year high school student Koyomi Araragi wakes up in a strange, deserted void only to be greeted by a joyfully familiar face in an alarmingly unfamiliar place. Araragi, with the help of his girlfriend Hitagi Senjougahara, maneuvers through the webs of his past and the perplexities of the present in search of answers. However, fate once again delivers him to the eccentric transfer student Ougi Oshino, who brings forth an unexpected proposal that may unearth the very foundation to which he is anchored. As Araragi peels back the layers of mystery surrounding an apparition, he discovers a truth not meant to be revealed. [Written by MAL Rewrite]
Kizumonogatari III: Reiketsu-hen
After helping revive the legendary vampire Kiss-shot Acerola-orion Heart-under-blade, Koyomi Araragi has become a vampire himself and her servant. Kiss-shot is certain she can turn him back into a human, but only once regaining her full power. Araragi has hunted down the three vampire hunters that defeated Kiss-shot and retrieved her limbs to return her to full strength. However, now that Araragi has almost accomplished what he’s been fighting for this whole time, he has to consider if this is what he really wants. Once he revives this powerful immortal vampire, there is no telling what she might do, and there would be no way of stopping her. But there is more to the story that Araragi doesn’t understand. If a newborn vampire like him could defeat the hunters, how did they overpower Kiss-shot? Can he trust her to turn him back to a human? And how is that even possible in the first place? Araragi is at his limit but he must come to a decision, and it may not be possible to resolve this situation without doing something he’ll regret… [Written by MAL Rewrite]
Kizumonogatari II: Nekketsu-hen
No longer truly human, Koyomi Araragi decides to retrieve Kiss-shot Acerola-orion Heart-under-blade's severed body parts that were stolen by three powerful vampire hunters. Awaiting him are Dramaturgie, a vampire hunter who is a vampire himself; Episode, a half-vampire with the ability to transform into mist; and Guillotinecutter, a human priest who is the most dangerous of them all. Unbeknownst to Araragi, each minute he spends trying to retrieve Kiss-shot's limbs makes him less of a human and more of a vampire. Will he be able to keep his wish of becoming human once again by the end of his battles? [Written by MAL Rewrite]
3-gatsu no Lion
Having reached professional status in middle school, Rei Kiriyama is one of the few elite in the world of shogi. Due to this, he faces an enormous amount of pressure, both from the shogi community and his adoptive family. Seeking independence from his tense home life, he moves into an apartment in Tokyo. As a 17-year-old living on his own, Rei tends to take poor care of himself, and his reclusive personality ostracizes him from his peers in school and at the shogi hall. However, not long after his arrival in Tokyo, Rei meets Akari, Hinata, and Momo Kawamoto, a trio of sisters living with their grandfather who owns a traditional wagashi shop. Akari, the oldest of the three girls, is determined to combat Rei's loneliness and poorly sustained lifestyle with motherly hospitality. The Kawamoto sisters, coping with past tragedies, also share with Rei a unique familial bond that he has lacked for most of his life. As he struggles to maintain himself physically and mentally through his shogi career, Rei must learn how to interact with others and understand his own complex emotions. [Written by MAL Rewrite]
Kizumonogatari I: Tekketsu-hen
During Koyomi Araragi's second year at Naoetsu Private High School, he has a chance encounter with Tsubasa Hanekawa, the top honor student in his class. When they strike up a conversation, Hanekawa mentions a shocking rumor: a vampire with beautiful blonde hair and freezing cold eyes has been seen lurking around town. Happy to have made a new friend, Araragi writes off the rumor and goes about the rest of his evening in a carefree manner. However, on his way home, he stumbles across splatters of blood leading down the stairs to the subway. His curiosity pushes him to investigate further, so he follows the gruesome pools into the depths of the station. When he arrives at the source of the blood, he is terrified by what he sees—the rumored blonde vampire herself, completely dismembered. After she calls for his help, Araragi must make a decision, one which carries the potential to change his life forever. [Written by MAL Rewrite]
Monogatari Series: Second Season
Apparitions, oddities, and gods continue to manifest around Koyomi Araragi and his close-knit group of friends: Tsubasa Hanekawa, the group's modest genius; Shinobu Oshino, the resident doughnut-loving vampire; athletic deviant Suruga Kanbaru; bite-happy spirit Mayoi Hachikuji; Koyomi's cute admirer Nadeko Sengoku; and Hitagi Senjougahara, Koyomi's eclectic girlfriend. A new semester has begun and with graduation looming over Koyomi, he must quickly decide the paths he will walk, as well as the relationships he will form and friends that he will save. But as strange events begin to unfold, Koyomi is nowhere to be found, and a vicious tiger apparition has appeared in his absence. Hanekawa has become its target, and she quickly finds she must fend for herself. [Written by MAL Rewrite]
Mahou Shoujo Madoka★Magica Movie 3: Hangyaku no Monogatari
The young girls of Mitakihara happily live their lives, occasionally fighting off evil, but otherwise going about their peaceful, everyday routines. However, Homura Akemi feels that something is wrong with this unusually pleasant atmosphere—though the others remain oblivious, she can't help but suspect that there is more to what is going on than meets the eye: someone who should not exist is currently present to join in on their activities. Mahou Shoujo Madoka★Magica Movie 3: Hangyaku no Monogatari follows Homura in her struggle to uncover the painful truth behind the mysterious circumstances, as she selfishly and desperately fights for the sake of her undying love in this despair-ridden conclusion to the story of five magical girls. [Written by MAL Rewrite]
Hidamari Sketch: Sae Hiro Sotsugyou-hen
The day has come for Sae and Hiro to graduate, who are now in their last days as High School students. The first episode centers on the final exams and the university entrance tests, while the second episode centers on the graduation of Sae and Hiro.
Mahou Shoujo Madoka★Magica Movie 2: Eien no Monogatari
Though Sayaka Miki's wish was fulfilled, the unforeseen consequences that came with it overwhelm her, causing her soul gem to become tainted as she succumbs to despair and eventually loses her humanity. Homura Akemi reveals to Kyouko Sakura and Madoka Kaname the ultimate fate of magical girls: once their soul gem becomes tainted, it transforms into a Grief Seed, and they are reborn as witches—a truth Homura learned only through repeating history countless times in a bid to prevent Madoka's tragedy. Kyuubey only compounds their despair when he confesses his true intentions: to harness the energy created from magical girls and use it to prolong the life of the universe. As the threat of Walpurgisnacht, a powerful witch, looms overhead, Homura once again vows to protect Madoka and the world from a grim fate. Caught between honoring Homura's wish and saving the world, which one will Madoka choose in the end? Mahou Shoujo Madoka★Magica Movie 2: Eien no Monogatari is a story of inescapable destiny, and an unlikely hero who could change it all. [Written by MAL Rewrite]
Mahou Shoujo Madoka★Magica Movie 1: Hajimari no Monogatari
Madoka Kaname and her best friend Sayaka Miki are ordinary middle school students in the city of Mitakihara. But one day, they encounter a strange cat-like creature named Kyuubey, who claims he can grant them one wish. In exchange, they would become magical girls and fight against evil perpetrated by witches. A veteran magical girl in the area, Mami Tomoe, decides to show them how to hunt witches, while the mysterious transfer student Homura Akemi warns them to not take Kyuubey's deal, though she refuses to say why. However, after witnessing the brutal reality of fighting witches, the girls decide it may be safer to decline Kyuubey's offer. But when another magical girl arrives in the city and Sayaka decides to make a wish to help the one she loves, things quickly escalate as they are confronted with the harsh truth behind their powers and the ultimate price of their wishes. [Written by MAL Rewrite]
Nisemonogatari
Koyomi Araragi has recently survived a vampire attack and met several girls plagued by supernatural entities. On top of all this, he wakes up one morning to find himself kidnapped and tied up by his girlfriend Hitagi Senjougahara. Araragi's sister Karen has run afoul of Deishuu Kaiki, a swindler who once conned Senjougahara's family. As a result, Senjougahara has imprisoned Araragi to keep him safe from the devious Kaiki. But when Araragi receives a frantic message from Karen, he sets out to rescue her. Along with Karen's troubles, Tsukihi, Araragi's other sister, faces issues of her own. And when two mysterious women step into their lives, not even Araragi can anticipate their true goals, nor the catastrophic truths about his family soon to be revealed. [Written by MAL Rewrite]
Hidamari Sketch x Honeycomb
Studying at the Yamabuki Arts High School has been a dream-come-true for Yuno, and she's learned so much already! And not just from her instructors, but from her friends and neighbors who've become her second family and made the Hidamari Apartments such a safe and nurturing home. But as the day of her "big sisters" Sae and Hiro's graduation draws slowly closer, it's time for Yuno to start seriously taking on the same role for Nazuna, Nori and the other budding young artists who've entered Hidamari's protective cocoon. And it's also time to tackle some really challenging artistic assignments. That doesn't mean there won't still be time for fun with Miyako and all the others, but it's definitely time to pencil in her plans for the future. And sometimes that means you have to put the art before the course! (Source: Sentai Filmworks)
Nekomonogatari: Kuro
After surviving a vampire attack, Koyomi Araragi notices that his friend and savior, Tsubasa Hanekawa, has been acting strange. When he happens to cross paths with her on his way to a bookstore and sees she has a bandage on her face, he knows something must definitely be wrong. Araragi wants to help her, but Hanekawa assures him that her wound is just something she received at home and that he should not concern himself with it. But when a white cat with no tail is hit and killed by a car, the pair bury the creature and the real trouble begins. When Araragi later pays a visit to his friend Meme Oshino and recounts the day's events, he is informed what they have buried is actually an apparition, one perfect for Hanekawa in her current state. Tasked with finding his friend to confirm her safety, he discovers that she has attacked her parents, possessed by the "Sawari Neko." Now, it is up to Araragi to help Hanekawa as she once helped him. [Written by MAL Rewrite]
