Can someone explain to me why Anime studios name their series part II instead of season 2?
So recently while I was talking with my friend about spy x family something was not adding up when we discussed the series because I was talking about things that didn't happen in season 1 nor in season 2 or 3 then my friend said that I must have imagine that stuff happened and then checked and the next installment after season 1 was part 2 where those stuff took place in and then we had season 2 so 4 instalments with 3 seasons. Can someone explain to me why studios do this instead of naming their series with normal season numbers. I also don't like when the series do a season finale and then do season finale part 2 etc. instead of naming the last part just season finale. I know that part naming usually happens with cour series but what's stopping them with just naming second cour season 2? Example for people not being happy with weird naming practice was Xbox with their 360, X and One because some didn't know which one was the newest when buying it (I also needed to look up recently which Xbox controller was the newest to buy for my pc and If I didn't look it up I would buy the old Gen one that was sold in similar price as the newest one). And Playstation have just 1,2,3,4,5. So someone care to explain to me why they did that just as spy x family and Xbox example I explained? It serve no purpose but add unnecessary confusion in my opinion
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Usually, the segmentation by "parts" occur only when it's going to be an interruption on their normal schedule, like holidays, or other stuff. But that's the same in occidental shows.
What may be different, is that anime is more focused on "arcs", or sub stories / plots. Usually, one arc is one season, unless the arc is quite long.
That is the usual rule, however an anime season also refers to a single production batch of episodes. A 24 episodes anime season actually runs across 2 seasons, but was produced as 1 part so it is considered only 1 season.
Now this production batch is where things get complicated. An anime can get greenlit for 24 episodes, but production time and timeslots necessitate the season being made in 2 halves, aired non-consecutively. So part 1 of the season will air now, and part 2 will air a few months from now, but it was all initially produced and greenlit as a single season. So that second part of the season will have to be called part 2.
Many anime series have weird names for different seasons. For example one series I purchased it was this:
Working! (S1)
Working!! (S2)
Working!!! (S3)
Another series (Miname-ke) has the seasons named after common greeting when arriving home in Japan, so it can be weird.
I think it's a culture thing, maybe they think how we just number things is boring.
It also helps put less crunch into the anime business, like some studios finish episodes the day they air soooo it can be a very time sensitive business.
TLDR; The reason why is because a Manga is popular so they make a 24 episode season but air it in part I & part II as to give more time and to not contend with other series airing at the same time.
Though I believe there are exceptions to this, and sometimes multiple *seasons* can be ordered. The distinction may be arbitrary, or it may be based on whether or not production is continuous between releases or stops entirely- since most Part 1 and Part 2's occur with only 3 months between them. But you also see supposed cases of multiple seasons ordered at once, like Seasons 3 and 4 of Rent a Girlfriend, but tend to take place with closer to a year separation.
In cases where 24 episodes are ordered, but the time slots don’t line up in a way where the anime can air continuously half a year, they have a quarter year (cour) break and then air the second 12 episodes of the 24ep season.
This is often called "part 2".
Seasons are defined as separately produced, so it would be wrong to call it a new season.
It's not really an anime studios issue though, books, games or movies can have confusing titles too.
For the time being that is seemingly their convention and the way that the major anime database sites online will list them, but ultimately it doesn't really matter what they call them and doesn't really matter what you, I, or anyone else call them for our own reasons and convenience.
For example, I usually refer to "86 season 2", even though it's technically listed as part two of season one, despite "parts" one and two being the exact same length as plenty of other series' seasons one and two. It just really doesn't matter and is pointless worrying about or feuding over.