How an anime season works
Winter, spring, summer and fall. The calendar that organizes TV premieres in Japan.
Japanese TV organizes premieres into four seasons a year, starting in January, April, July and October. Each season brings dozens of new series at the same time.
The cour
The broadcast unit is the cour, a block of about three months, which gives twelve or thirteen weekly episodes. A one-cour series takes up one season. Longer series add up two, four or more blocks, sometimes with breaks in between.
Who pays the bill
Many productions are financed by a production committee, a group of companies that shares costs and rights: publishers, record labels, merchandise makers and broadcasters. The animation studio makes the work, but doesn't always own it.
