Other than a few very niche lenses, like tilt-shift or fish-eye, anamorphic glass tends to have the most distinctive look that is easy to spot, even to the uninitiated. They often have an almost three-dimensional look due to the focus falloff, can have characterful artifacts and astigmatisms, and, of course, a much wider field of view than their spherical counterparts.
Anamorphic lenses have, up until quite recently, been a pleasure only available to those with larger budgets, or for rentals. There was a movement of using adapters to add anamorphic attributes to spherical lenses however I think those days are numbered, as a few companies are now producing anamorphic glass at attainable price points and with great quality.
