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Answerman - Where Do "Seasons" On Long-Running Anime Begin And End?


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Raikuro



Joined: 22 Feb 2009
Posts: 347
PostPosted: Wed Oct 25, 2017 11:08 am Reply with quote
The easiest way to break a longer show up into more manageable "seasons" is to go by story arcs. Of course that method would be different for each show.
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mgosdin



Joined: 17 Jul 2011
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Location: Kissimmee, Florida, USA
PostPosted: Wed Oct 25, 2017 11:15 am Reply with quote
Quote:
I honestly have no idea where those "seasons" are coming from. I have a feeling it's an invention by whatever otaku put that into Wikipedia.


No surprise this. People feel the need to make up classifications when the original didn't have them ( Ask me about Diesel Locomotives in North America. ) just so they can tell things apart. I would go with breaking a series down by the year the episode was aired in, then into the standard quarters to get to "Season" equivalents. But, of course, the production folks they are just trying to get their job down without running out of money or time.

Mark Gosdin
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Aphasial
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Joined: 08 Aug 2010
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PostPosted: Wed Oct 25, 2017 11:19 am Reply with quote
It always felt slightly confusing how Sailor Moon seemed to refer to itself as different *series*es (in the intro and outro comments after the final episodes of SM/SMR, for example).

I wonder if this was distinct from the confusion over "seasons" or just a part of it. Obviously there's a split along story arcs, and the massive change in staffing and art style in the 5th season, Sailor Stars, but was there some other legal thing going on on the Japanese side (renegotiation of distribution contracts, etc) that would require them be considered distinct shows?
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MarshalBanana



Joined: 31 Aug 2014
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PostPosted: Wed Oct 25, 2017 11:28 am Reply with quote
I didn't expect the answer to go into radio programing in the 1930s
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Nate148



Joined: 24 May 2012
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PostPosted: Wed Oct 25, 2017 11:34 am Reply with quote
Aphasial wrote:
It always felt slightly confusing how Sailor Moon seemed to refer to itself as different *series*es (in the intro and outro comments after the final episodes of SM/SMR, for example).

I wonder if this was distinct from the confusion over "seasons" or just a part of it. Obviously there's a split along story arcs, and the massive change in staffing and art style in the 5th season, Sailor Stars, but was there some other legal thing going on on the Japanese side (renegotiation of distribution contracts, etc) that would require them be considered distinct shows?

not really It was just more of a way to split up large chunks of eps and rework some of the frame work when staff would leave and such
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Otaku-sempai



Joined: 27 Mar 2017
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Location: Lackawanna, NY
PostPosted: Wed Oct 25, 2017 11:45 am Reply with quote
Raikuro wrote:
The easiest way to break a longer show up into more manageable "seasons" is to go by story arcs. Of course that method would be different for each show.

For a show like Ranma 1/2* it is easy, if still arbitrary, to divide the show into seasons using the changes in opening and closing theme songs.

* Yeah, that dates me a bit, but I also remember the b&w Astroboy series and watching Speed Racer and Marine Boy back when they first appeared in on U.S. television. It was Star Blazers that actually made me an anime fan.
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zrnzle500



Joined: 04 Oct 2014
Posts: 3767
PostPosted: Wed Oct 25, 2017 12:05 pm Reply with quote
Raikuro wrote:
The easiest way to break a longer show up into more manageable "seasons" is to go by story arcs. Of course that method would be different for each show.


I think for many long running shows this is best, though there are definitely ones that that wouldn't work with. Detective Conan comes to mind for me, as it is mostly composed of two episode cases, even looking at just the parts that come from the manga. The overarching plot relevant episodes or arcs are too sporadic to be useful markers for seasons either, and I honestly couldn't tell you the rhyme or reason behind the wiki's designation of seasons.
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DerekL1963
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Joined: 14 Jan 2015
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PostPosted: Wed Oct 25, 2017 12:25 pm Reply with quote
Quote:
I honestly have no idea where those "seasons" are coming from. I have a feeling it's an invention by whatever otaku put that into Wikipedia.


Sometimes. Other times, there's widely accepted fan canon. Other times, there's some random fan canon with a website Wikipedia can refer to. (Wikipedia's loose standards for the value of a reference are only indifferently enforced.)
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mangamuscle



Joined: 23 Apr 2006
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Location: Mexico
PostPosted: Wed Oct 25, 2017 12:42 pm Reply with quote
At least in the latest episodes of Naruto Shippuden they gave up, that is what I get in crunchyroll, where from episode 337 to 500 they stopped breaking it in 6 to 33 episodes "seasons".
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LuckyAstei



Joined: 21 Jun 2003
Posts: 227
PostPosted: Wed Oct 25, 2017 12:58 pm Reply with quote
Granted with shows like Detective Conan I tend to go from Movie release to Movie release (around April to May for the break down) not by Opening changes as that tends to be more sporadic these days.
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Scalfin



Joined: 18 May 2008
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PostPosted: Wed Oct 25, 2017 1:03 pm Reply with quote
I noticed that Bleach seemed to like having every I want to say 26th episode be a recap clip show.
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thenix



Joined: 18 Apr 2012
Posts: 265
PostPosted: Wed Oct 25, 2017 3:09 pm Reply with quote
Everyone can do whatever they want with naming seasons I guess. To me though I go with the "cour" model of 11-13 episodes, 1 quarter of the yearly schedule as being a season of long run anime. I mean to me the word "season" means seasons like fall, winter, spring, summer. This site even refers to each season as they come out 'Spring 2017 Anime season'. If you want to mark groups of episodes by some other marker call it something else, a season is a season. That's the way I see it anyways.
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EricJ2



Joined: 01 Feb 2014
Posts: 4016
PostPosted: Wed Oct 25, 2017 3:22 pm Reply with quote
Raikuro wrote:
The easiest way to break a longer show up into more manageable "seasons" is to go by story arcs. Of course that method would be different for each show.


It's harder to tell with fight serials like Fairy Tail or One Piece, where something like DBZ's Majin Buu saga could go on for two or three seasons--
It was easier back in DB:Classic's Lil' Goku days, since the story arc was geared to some actual goal, like that year's fight tournament.

Generally, a "season" on most normal running 90's series worked out to the usual 26 episodes, which works out with the various Sailor Moon series story-arcs.
Also, Viz disks notwithstanding, you can see the "season-finale" episodes on the more epic, filler, or sillier episodes of Ranma 1/2, before they change OP/ED for the next "season"...Also at a general 26-episode break, as they used to back then.
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Cranium



Joined: 09 Aug 2005
Posts: 45
PostPosted: Wed Oct 25, 2017 3:26 pm Reply with quote
Naruto Shippuden seasons at Wikipedia are not the "invention by whatever otaku". They come from official Japanese DVD releases.
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leafy sea dragon



Joined: 27 Oct 2009
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PostPosted: Wed Oct 25, 2017 3:32 pm Reply with quote
Interesting history on seasons. I think they have plenty of practical value too though: The fewer episodes per year there are of a show, the higher they can make its quality and the more leeway they have to fix things if something goes wrong. And in the case of anime adaptations of popular manga, it will allow some time for the manga to keep going and avoid letting the anime catch up to it. Considering shows like Attack on Titan and My Hero Academia are structured as seasons and continue to remai popular, I think the Japanese viewers have gotten accustomed enough to the concept for it to work.

As for classification of continuous anime into seasons by western fans, I think it's due to how all western television can be classified into seasons (or series for British programming), with the exception of live events, news, and one-time events. Even year-round game shows like Jeopardy! and continuous soap operas like All My Children are split into seasons, typically with a fixed point in the year as the starting and ending points.
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