FUNimation and their use of the term "Season"

[JohnnyCashKami]

It's nothing new how FUNimation misuses the term "Season" for products with 40 episodes in which case it should be "Volume", "Box", "Collection" or even "Part".

A season nowadays consists anywhere from 10-23 (that's stretching it as it is) so technically, the DB Super home media releases should be titled "Season" as they're under 20 episodes per boxset.

Logically, FUNimation's season releases make no sense because there aren't series that last 40 episodes per seasons. And no, soap operas aren't series.

Kinda wish FUNi would correct this mistake they've been doing for years.

[Gaffer Tape]

I have no problem with the episode count. A season has no set length. It is simply the material created during a production cycle. What annoys me is that DBZ in America had seasons, six of them. And the "season " designations they use in home media in no way correspond to them. That's how the term is misused.

[MasenkoHA]

There is no define rule for number of episodes in a tv seasons although 10-24 is pretty standard its not a hard rule. A lot of kid shows back in the 90s had 60 episode long “seasons” The first season of Power Rangers was 60 episodes. The first season of Aladdin was 65. Batman TAS first season was 60 episodes etc etc

The only really annoying thing is Funimation’s “season” boxsets don’t actually match up with the actual broadcast seasons. For example the Orange Bricks says season 3 starts at episode 75 (Password is Porunga) but the actual season 3 premiere was episode 68 (edited episode 54) Ginyu assault

[ABED]

The season sets tried to encompass as many sagas as they could in six disc sets.

[OutlawTorn]

It's nothing new how FUNimation misuses the term "Season" for products with 40 episodes in which case it should be "Volume", "Box", "Collection" or even "Part".

While, yes, it is inaccurate when taking the original Japanese distribution into account, FUNimation can really label a collection of episodes in any way they want. The only issue, however, is if they label episodes X through Y as "Season 1" on one release and then they do a new release labeled "Season 1" with a different episode count, that would be an example of them "misusing" the term "Season."

A season nowadays consists anywhere from 10-23 (that's stretching it as it is) so technically, the DB Super home media releases should be titled "Season" as they're under 20 episodes per boxset.

What makes a season (or series,as it can also be called) is not a fixed or rigidly defined concept, and such definitions often do vary when it comes to live action as opposed to animation. There was a time when seasons of animation ration 65 episodes and, in at least one instance, a "season" even consisted of a single three-part story. To make things even more confusing, what is presented as two seasons to the consumer could be considered a single season to those involved in the production, or vice versa..

Logically, FUNimation's season releases make no sense because there aren't series that last 40 episodes per seasons. And no, soap operas aren't series.

As I mentioned above, that may be typical of modern production, but shows like G.I. Joe, Transformers, He-Man and ThunderCats have had seasons in excess of 40 episodes. You are incorrect, however, that soap operas aren't "series" as they most definitely are and to dispute that is illogical, what you are thinking of is the difference between an episodic program and a serial. Soap operas, like other shows, are scripted entertainment thus they differ from other daily programs like news broadcasts or game shows. Even though Dragon Ball is technically a "serial" in terms of its general composition, it is originally presented in episodic format In North America, at least, the dub brought it closer to the soap opera format when a new episode would be aired each weekday.

Kinda wish FUNi would correct this mistake they've been doing for years.

They really have nothing to "correct" other than making sure they are consistent with what they have packaged together as a "season." Also, what about Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood or Dragon Ball Super? FUNimation has been labeling those releases as "Parts" since the beginning.

[ABED]

There are plenty of shows that last that many, but they are usually kids shows that get produced in a giant batch. I think it has to do with syndication. The split seasons are mostly marketing and contractual.

The only reason I can think they used the term season is because TV shows were released on DVD's in season sets. BTAS and Superman were released in sets labeled as "Volumes" of roughly equal episode count which made more sense. Wish FUNi did the same here because it makes no sense to label their sets as seasons.

[Robo4900]

Originally, Funimation produced the show as American TV seasons, with the first being a 26-episode edit of the first 35 Japanese episodes. The second season was then 30 episodes, consisting of a 3-part "TV special" presentation of the "Tree Of Might" movie, and 27 episodes of the series, edited down from 32 and a half Japanese episodes. After that, there kind of stopped being any real need to define seasons for anything, since Toonami was fairly consistently ordering episodes, so it became more a case of "Sagas".

For the 2008+ DVD releases, Funi decided to bring back the idea of "Seasons", but only for the sake of being able to clearly label their boxsets of huge chunks of episodes. There's no rhyme or reason behind what defines a DVD/BD season other than how many episodes Funi thought they could fit in a box, really. And that's stuck... And it's kinda dumb.

[Gligarman]

Like the vast majority of decisions Funimation has made, their "seasons" are all wrong. That show never almost never went on hiatus. "Volume" is much more appropriate.

[ABED]

After that, there kind of stopped being any real need to define seasons for anything, since Toonami was fairly consistently ordering episodes, so it became more a case of "Sagas".

You could still break them into seasons as the episode aired typically during the fall.

[Gaffer Tape]

After that, there kind of stopped being any real need to define seasons for anything, since Toonami was fairly consistently ordering episodes, so it became more a case of "Sagas".

You could still break them into seasons as the episode aired typically during the fall.

Yes. Dubbed DBZ was still very much produced, sold, and aired in distinct seasons even after the move to Toonami.

As I've said, though, the problem with the home video releases is that they in no way correspond to any kind of season breakup DBZ ever had.

[Kakacarrottop]

To quote an old thread here, the actual seasons for the show in America were as follows:
Season 1 (1996-1997) Saiyan Arc - 1-26 (1-35)
Season 2 (1997-1998) Namek Arc - 27-53 (36-67)
Season 3 (1999) Ginyu/Freeza Arc - 54-92 (68-107)
Season x (Early 2000) Garlic Jr Arc - 93-101 (108-116)
Season 4 (Late 2000) Trunks/Android/Cell Arc - 102-179 (117-194)
Season 5 (2001) Otherworld Tournament/Saiyaman/Fat Buu Arc - 180-222 (195-237)
Season 6 (2002) Evil Buu/Super Buu Arc - 223-261 (238-276)
Season 7 (2003) Kid Buu Arc - 262-276 (277-291)

The made up seasons is just one of many revisionist aspects of the OBs

[PacificOceanDub]

Someone mentioned how calling them “volumes” would’ve been more appropriate and I totally agree! It seems like Funi got a little wiser later on and started releasing Kai and Super in “Parts”. Releasing the OBs and Blu Rays as DBZ parts 1-9 woulda made more sense, IMO, but if they absolutely insisted on calling them seasons, they at least could have made them correspond to the actual 6 or 7 seasons that DBZ had in the States

[Dragon Ball Ireland]

Someone mentioned how calling them “volumes” would’ve been more appropriate and I totally agree! It seems like Funi got a little wiser later on and started releasing Kai and Super in “Parts”. Releasing the OBs and Blu Rays as DBZ parts 1-9 woulda made more sense, IMO, but if they absolutely insisted on calling them seasons, they at least could have made them correspond to the actual 6 or 7 seasons that DBZ had in the States

Until they repackaged Kai 1.0 into "Seasons", which are likewise made up for the sake of convenience in episode counts per set. It remains to be seen if the same will happen for Super, but I'm cautiously optimistic for Manga UK leaving their releases as is.