Sunrise and SHAFT—two of the most iconic studios in anime history—have just confirmed they are working together for the first time. Announced on via Bandai Namco Filmworks, the joint project is presented under the name Sunrise × SHAFT. Full details of the anime will be revealed on .
For now, the announcement is more about the event than the content. To build anticipation, a five-day countdown campaign has been launched, releasing new installments leading up to the June 23 reveal. The first post included a video made with color scripts—that is, color and atmosphere studies studios use to define the visual tone of a production before final animation. The video offers a first impression of the visual identity and atmosphere of the project, without explicitly showing characters or plots. What you see is enough to get an idea of the aesthetic register they are aiming for.
This is the first time in history that both studios have collaborated on an animated production, which in itself makes the project unusual. It is not common for two studios with such defined and distinct visual identities to work together, and the result of that combination is precisely what makes the June 23 reveal generate expectations.
What They Offered First Isn’t a Character or a Plot—It’s a Mood
Their opening move is color scripts. A tantalising glimpse of atmosphere and visual tone—the architectural blueprint before the building goes up. This is a study in contrasts.
The Studios: Two Different Languages of Animation
Sunrise — Mechanical and Narrative Solidity
Sunrise is a studio with more than four decades of history, specialized in original anime. Responsible for franchises that defined generations:
- Mobile Suit Gundam — the saga that built the playbook for real-robot mecha
- Code Geass — sharp political theatre
- LoveLive! — a cultural phenomenon in its own right
Their work carries a weight, a mechanical and narrative solidity. Think of the way a Gundam’s frame is rendered—a kind of die-cast realism.
SHAFT — Psychological Interiority Made Visual
SHAFT, founded in , is known for a distinctive visual style and for works such as:
- Puella Magi Madoka Magica — impossible perspectives, the famous head-tilt
- The Monogatari series — rhythmic, dialogue-driven choreography
- Theatrical productions, commercials, and work in video games
Their signature is a psychological interiority made visual—a style that doesn’t just depict a scene but often attempts to map a character’s mental state directly onto the screen.
A Negotiation of Visual Languages
Putting them together isn’t just a collaboration. It’s a negotiation. One studio speaks in the grammar of kinetic, large-scale conflict and societal mechanics. The other speaks in the syntax of intimate, often surreal, character psychology. The real question isn’t what they’ll make—but how they’ll translate.
Will SHAFT’s abstract flair discipline Sunrise’s world-building, or will Sunrise’s grounded scale give SHAFT’s theatrics a new kind of weight?
That these two studios, with such particular creative philosophies, are putting their names together on the same project is the type of announcement that the anime medium has not seen before.
The Announcement Strategy Is Telling
They’re not leading with a trailer or a key art dump. They’re leading with process—colour and mood. It’s a confident play, one that says the how of this union is, for now, the most compelling product. It signals a focus on atmosphere and tonal fusion before anything else.
What This Pairing Rejects
It rejects the safe bet of studios with overlapping, marketable aesthetics. Instead, it bets on creative friction. The history of anime is built on auteur visions, but this suggests a different model—a dialogue between two entrenched, powerful house styles. The result won’t just be a new show. It’ll be a case study in collaborative creation.
Carrying These Thoughts Into June 23
- What kind of story demands both the scale of a Sunrise and the introspective visual language of a SHAFT?
- Could this be a signal that the industry’s future lies not in singular studio dominance, but in these kinds of high-profile, philosophy-clashing partnerships?
- And if the colour scripts are the opening offer—what exactly is being left off the table until the final reveal?
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