Season

A season is a not clearly defined, mostly continuous run of episodes in anime. The term is unclear because unless the distributors or producers clearly state the episode count and season end date, many long running anime do not have clearly numbered seasons.

For most anime divided in to cours, numbered seasons cleanly fall into quarters of the year associated with weather-based seasons (see below). However, unlike most weather-based seasons, anime seasons usually do not cross year boundaries.

A shorter anime season usually ranges from no less than 8 episodes to 13 episodes. While first short seasons sometimes exceed 13 episodes, the extra episodes will usually bleed into a following quarterly season due to the weekly release schedule.

Longer single seasons usually range from 20 episodes to 25 or 26 episodes and run through two quarterly seasons.

Season details

 * Below is taken from the MANGA.TOKYO article "What is a Cour and a Season in Anime?"...


 * Winter Season: January, February, March
 * Spring Season: April, May, June
 * Summer Season: July, August, September
 * Fall Season: October, November, December


 * What’s the difference between a season and a cour?
 * The problem with using the terms ‘season’ and ‘cour’ is mostly technical. ‘Cour’ is less ambiguous than ‘season’ because the latter can refer to both the regular season (as in Spring 2017), or in an anime season as in the first and last episode of an anime run. ‘Cour’ is much more specific and it refers to a three-month period of broadcast, and it can be used interchangeably with terms like ‘Spring Anime’ or ‘Winter 2017.’ It makes sense when you want to talk about different anime series airing at different times of the year.


 * After all, both terms become redundant when an anime has completed its circle and is released at its full in Blu-ray or DVD. If I asked you now, do you remember in which seasons Code Geass was broadcast or how many cours it had? You just know of the complete two seasons. Or do you remember Death Note or Fullmetal Alchemist being split into separate seasons?

Why are anime broadcast in cours and seasons?


 * In just one word: Convenience. Creating an anime in single cours instead of full-blown 24-episode runs (or more) leaves the production company with more options. If the first cour is popular and the ratings are good, then they can follow up with a second cour back-to-back. If the fans like the show but there are certain complaints that need to be addressed, the series can go to the split-cour format and skip a season between the first and second cour (see how convenient is the use of cour and season here?) If the show is a total flop, or if the ratings are not promising, the company can conclude the show and start working on something new.