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I always see that different stories in the same anime series are usually
called with either "hen", "arc" or "season" as seen in the examples below.

  * **Hen (編)**  
JoJo no Kimyou na Bouken - Stardust Crusaders - Egypt **Hen**  
Alps no Shoujo Heidi: Alm no Yama **Hen**  
Hokuto no Ken: Raoh Gaiden Gekitou- **hen** / Hokuto no Ken: Raoh Gaiden
Junai- **hen**  
Arata naru Sekai: Kako- **hen** / Arata naru Sekai: Gendai- **hen** / Arata
naru Sekai: Mirai- **hen**

  * **Arc**  
One Piece: Arlong Park **Arc** / One Piece: Sabaody Island **Arc**  
Bleach: Arrancar, The Arrival **Arc** / Bleach: Arrancar, The Hueco Mundo
Sneak Entry **Arc**  
Naruto: Chuunin Exam **Arc** / Naruto: Pain's Assault **Arc**

  * **Season**  
Aldnoah.Zero 2nd **Season**  
Girls Bravo: First **Season**  
Moonlight Mile 1st **Season** : Lift Off

I observed these differences:  
**Hen** : Always added at the end of the title. Sometimes it is made suffix
with a hyphen.  
**Arc** : Used to logically divide long running series.  
**Season** : Always used with a number starting from 1.

Why do they choose one over another? For example, why don't we say "Moonlight
Mile: Lift Off Hen" or "Naruto: Chuunin Exam Season"? Is this only a matter of
choice or do they differ in meaning?


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2015-01-21T20:08:56.677
18733
2015-01-22T01:23:21.443
2015-01-21T20:26:29.627
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question
japanese-language terminology
What is the difference between "arc", "hen" and "season" when categorizing anime series sub-stories?


Arc is English word and Hen is Japanese. They both indicate storylines
(separation by what is happening in story), whereas season is used to split
the anime by industry and commercial timeline (commonly by actual seasons:
Winter 2015, Fall 2015). Multiple arcs may comprise a single season or
multiple seasons maybe needed to finish a single arc.

Take [One
Piece](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_One_Piece_episodes#Season_1_.281999-2001.29)
for example. Season 3 and Season 4 of One Piece anime actually share arcs.


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2015-01-22T01:23:21.443
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answer