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Most likely, the actual seasons are not a cause for the television
broadcasting schedule in Japan. Furthermore, the seasons themselves don't much
align to actual seasons, with "Spring 2015" ending in late June.

It seems strange to me that series air in such regular intervals and with such
consistent lengths (only deviating by perhaps 2 episodes from what I've seen).

Furthermore, I'm no expert on western television, but it seems to me that
western shows don't adhere to such a rigid schedule.

Notably, it seems that season lengths have changed in anime over the years,
too. For instance, the original season of Naruto had 35 episodes, which is
something I don't think would happen these days. Is there a specific reason
for this schedule? (cultural or otherwise)


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2015-06-16T01:27:06.807
22477
2020-12-15T05:01:31.000
2015-06-16T07:28:33.127
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question
anime-production anime-history
Why does anime air in 4 seasons per year of ~13 episodes?


It is for financial reasons.

In the past, many series had longer seasons: 24, 26 or 28 episodes for a
season was common in the 90s ( _Meitantei Conan_ 's first season was [28
episodes](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Case_Closed_episodes_\(seasons_1%E2%80%9315\))).
Series that were pretty guaranteed to be popular enough to keep up selling a
lot of toys to kids had longer seasons ( _Sailor Moon_ 's first season had [46
episodes](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Sailor_Moon_episodes#Episode_list)).
Gag series from _4-koma_ comics are more likely to have a long series length (
_Nintama Rantarou_ 's first season had [47
episodes](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Nintama_Rantar%C5%8D_episodes_\(series_1\))
and _Chibi Maruko-chan_ 's first season alone was a whopping [142
episodes](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Chibi_Maruko-chan_episodes)).
In the past, more people were loyal to their favorite series and collected the
merchandise carefully, whereas Japanese children now are quick to switch their
fads (from _Pokemon_ to _Youkai Watch_ , for example), so investing a lot into
a series that'll get discarded next year is not financially-sound.

12- or 13-episode series started to appear in the late 90s as a way to animate
and broadcast something (adapting a manga or video game, or an original
series) that did not have a big enough fan base to sustain financing a full-
length series (of course, this was in the era when everything was still drawn
by hand). Previously, those sort of anime only received a one-shot OAV or a
brief OAV series (for example, _[Koko ha
Greenwood](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Here_Is_Greenwood)_ or [_Tokimeki
Memorial_](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tokimeki_Memorial_\(series\)#Anime)).

Even though anime is mostly animated outside of Japan and by computer,
lowering production costs, the industry is able to further expand the genres
and number of titles produced by switching to a lot of shorter series over a
smaller number of long-running ones. To have a long run, a series needs to
keep viewers coming back (the sort of plot that can go on and on, like _Inu
Yasha_ ) and sell merchandise well. Many genres of manga do not lend
themselves to those epic series, so studios are creating shorter series that:

  * Can get something animated which in previous generations of anime production would never have had a chance to get animated at all because it's more niche.
  * They can make a modest amount of money off of it if it does well (and give it another season), or they can chalk it up to not too drastic of a loss if it doesn't do well and quickly move on to the next one.
  * Provide a nice, tight story arc that has closure at the end (though when they are not sure up to nearly the last minute whether they will get the green-light for another season, the ending can still fizzle).

Although the main reason is financial, a series where the very limited total
number of episodes available to work within is known to the staff from the
start can allow the writers to craft the storyline to suit the length with
little to no filler, which offers a different sort of project than _Rurouni
Kenshin_ or _HUNTER x HUNTER_ where you don't entirely know where it's going
and how many episodes it will need to get there.

I'm not sure what you mean by "the seasons themselves don't much align to
actual seasons, with 'Spring 2015' ending in late June." Japanese culture is
very specific on when seasons take place, what is associated with that season,
what to do during each season, what day of the year to switch from
spring/summer school uniform to fall/winter school uniform and vice versa
(called _koromogae_ : see 2.07
[here](http://www.genvid.com/lunarch/faqyou/continuity.html)), what to eat in
which season, etc. The seasons coincide with the Japanese academic year, so
that the _sakura_ (cherry blossom) trees are blooming in most of the country
during graduation ceremony in late March and during the first day of school
(on April 1st). This is a primary reason why, although Tokyo University has
switched to the Western academic year, most schools in Japan strongly do not
want to. Anime is usually keen to let the viewer clearly know what season it
is in the story, and try to coincide this with the air date of the episode
(New Year's Day, St. Valentine's Day, _sakura_ blooming, the sound of cicadas
in summer, mosquito repellent, summer festivals, _ishi yaki imo_ (stone-baked
sweet potatoes) in autumn, fall leaves, snow, etc.).


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2015-06-16T06:33:36.857
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answer


From the point of view of a consumer who isn't watching things as they air,
but instead buying box sets or watching them on Crunchyroll or similar, my
experience is that 12ish episodes is about ideal.

e.g. as much as I liked the first few seasons of the (original) Sailor Moon
anime, they dragged out a lot. And being so large, the thought of watching
them again (especially if it means purchasing box sets) feels very daunting,
and I am unlikely to do so.

Whereas, for example, the 12 episodes Puella Magi Madoka Magica was long
enough to be able to tell a story in satisfying depth, but short enough that
it feels like the story keeps moving along.

Of course, I'm just speculating that this is something producers care a lot
about, but I'd be surprised if they didn't care at all.


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2015-06-16T06:48:47.517
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2015-06-16T06:48:47.517
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answer