How would you suggest "Season 2 -Arise from the Shadow-" be added to this entry without ignoring the regular TV guidelines, specifically the rule stating seasons start with episode #1. The first episode is officially listed as episode 13 and can't be anything else on TMDB because the official website doesn't number it as episode 1, just episode 13.

It's very easy!

Season 1 Episode 1 (#1 Overall)

Season 1 Episode 5 (#5 Overall)

Season 2 Episode 1 (#13 Overall)

Season 2 Episode 4 (#16 Overall)

@chrundle said:

How would you suggest "Season 2 -Arise from the Shadow-" be added to this entry without ignoring the regular TV guidelines, specifically the rule stating seasons start with episode #1. The first episode is officially listed as episode 13 and can't be anything else on TMDB because the official website doesn't number it as episode 1, just episode 13.

It's very easy!

Season 1 Episode 1 (#1 Overall)

Season 1 Episode 5 (#5 Overall)

Season 2 Episode 1 (#13 Overall)

Season 2 Episode 4 (#16 Overall)

Exactly. Please this ^

"In my reply to @chrundle, I literally wrote asking them to suggest a way without ignoring the regular TV guidelines, specifically the rule stating seasons start with episode #1 and your first suggestion is to ignore the regular TV guidelines, specifically the rule stating seasons start with episode #1??"

Yup, ignore them, as we and you keep saying anime does not follow regular guidelines so you shouldn't bend over backwards to try to force it.

"That would ignore the episode numbers listed on the official websites since the actual episode number entered on the database would not match with the episode numbers used on the official website. I take it you'd rather TMDB ignore the official episode numbers and always add the first episode of an anime's new "season" as episode #1 of a new season on the database than follow the episode numbers listed on the official websites? Why even follow official episode numbers (for anime or any TV show in general) at that point if they could just be ignored?"

I'm trying to come up with a compromise that actually works.

Your method completely ignores the season numbers listed on official site with no way of finding that information on tmdb.

My method (#2 with absolute numbers in() ) allows season structure to fit the regular guidelines AND also show the season structure that the official website shows ie. Solo Leveling Season 2 -Arise from the Shadow- S02E01 (13).

As for ignoring episode numbers listed on the official website, I invite you to read my previous content report about WHEN you think those official episode numbers are actually important or when you just ignore them. https://www.themoviedb.org/tv/196944/discuss/6785b56cdb4fe022ad4e746a

No reply, raze64 or superboy, about how episode numbers are the very most important data point until they can't fit into your obtuse ordering so you just ignore them as well...

I watch Solo Leveling

What are you watching? Can you seriously say that "Season 2" is completely irrelevant to everything you're watching?

Assuming you're talking specifically about how to add new episodes, it's because some anime restart their episode numbering with every new "season" while others use continuous numbering

Literally so what. They all have clearly defined seasons. No one is confused about what season of Solo Leveling we're on. Or Re:Zero. Or My Hero Academia.

These new episodes are listed as a separate anime, not a new season, on both MyAnimeList (MAL) and AniList. Have you contacted them to ask why is "Solo Leveling Season 2 -Arise from the Shadow-" listed on their databases as a separate anime from "Solo Leveling," and asked them to reconsider their rules and add it as a new season instead of a separate anime?

They do this because quite often a new season of anime is a completely new production. A new studio, new staff, new director, etc. Having a new entry documents that. An anime entry is pretty much a wiki page for that production.

IMDB and TVDB are not that. They just document the TV airing as a whole, so it makes sense to combine everything. You don't go to IMDB or TVDB to see what studio animated One Punch Man season 2. You go to MAL for that since it has a dedicated page for each OPM season.

Regardless, what is this deflection? We're talking about TMDB here. How MAL and AniList do things is irrelevant. We're talking about how TMDB does things.

That's just how MAL and AniList do it and this is how TMDB does it. TMDB has its own rules just like how Wikipedia, IMDb, AniList, MAL, TVMaze, TVDB, etc. have their own rules.

Ok. And we're saying TMDB's rules are flawed.

This entry has episode groups available that split the episodes into seasons.

So make an episode group for the episode organization that everyone hates.

There is no "standard" as whether or not continuous episode numbers are used for new "seasons" varies from anime to anime.

Exactly. There's no standard about episode numbers. It's just you guys trying to create one. Meanwhile everyone else goes with common sense.

For example, Blue Exorcist restarted its episode numbering from 1 for the recently finished "-Beyond the Snow Saga-" and restarted from 1 yet again for the currently airing "-The Blue Night Saga-" but "Solo Leveling Season 2 -Arise from the Shadow-" didn't. Any ideas as to why one anime restarted its episode numbering for its new "seasons" while the other didn't?

No one cares lmao. Beyond the Snow Saga and The Blue Night Saga consist of season 4 of Blue Exorcist. Arise from the Shadow is season 2 of Solo Leveling. You're making a mountain out of a molehill. Stop it.

Are there anime that are actually weird and need special consideration? Sure. But guess what, the exact same is true for non-anime.

There is no standard or custom because aniDB, MAL, and AniList all list new "seasons" on their databases as separate anime instead of new seasons of the existing anime. TVDB and IMDb add new "seasons" as seasons of the existing entry. TMDB follows the episode number. How can there a standard or custom when there are at least three different ways to list new "seasons" between six separate databases?

Separating into new pages and separating into seasons is separating the episodes into groups which are the seasons. Something TMDB does not do.

Of the three different ways of doing things, you guys are doing it the worst.

We can't support whatever the production company and/or studio decides to do since there is no standard regarding episode numbering.

I'm sorry what? I swear you guys have repeatedly justified your decision on anime by linking the official sites of anime. Is this not supporting whatever the production company and/or studio decides to do?

Episode #13 can't be the first episode of a season if it's episode #13.

It absolutely can if it's universally understood as the first episode of season 2.

Episode #13 of Solo Leveling also can't be the thirteenth episode of the first season. So you can choose to either have a very minor discrepancy that everyone will understand or do something straightforwardly wrong that everyone will hate.

That would ignore the episode numbers listed on the official websites since the actual episode number entered on the database would not match with the episode numbers used on the official website

Did you not say you can't support whatever the production company and/or studio decides to do since there is no standard regarding episode numbering???

@GregSithole said:

@-Ryner said:

It's a shame that the other options that Plex has for metadata on anime topics are quite bad, otherwise I would directly use another one because this one, apart from this one, also has several other mistakes, such as putting OVAs in movies or the same content in some series and in other movies.

It really is a shame but I switched to TheTVDB (Aired) on Plex and that works fine.

I tried it but in most cases the order of TheTVDB (Aired) has really messed things up for me.

Well, considering that here on this website an OVA is considered a movie, I don't know why I'm surprised that they consider the second season of Solo Leveling to not be a second season.

@raze464 said:

@chrundle said:

What source are you guys using to where you're the only database insisting that this is a single season of anime, despite all the evidence to the contrary?

The official website, which shows the first episode of Solo Leveling Season 2 -Arise from the Shadow- as [episode 13],(https://sololeveling-anime.net/story/?id=13) and our own anime guidelines.

The guidelines say:

The answer lies in the original Japanese data.

But the data is ambiguous. On the one hand, there are numerous references to a season 2, and on the other, the 'first episode' of this 'season 2' is called '#13'.

The guidelines also say:

Sequels (i.e. a direct continuation of the story) are added to the same entry. When the number of episodes is continuous, all episodes are added to the same season. When the number of episodes is restarted (i.e. the first episode is episode 1), the new episodes are added as a new season.

This continuous numbering rule unfortunately contradicts the first one, where we learned that episode '#13' explicitly belonged to season 2.

As you can see, the guidelines were not written with the problem in mind. So, I think we're dealing here with a good old “letter and spirit of the law” problem, and I think the guidelines were written not to be followed to the letter, but in the spirit. Several clues:

1. the document you referred to is called “guidelines”, not “rules”,
2. the guidelines call for the answer to be found elsewhere than in the guide,
3. the guidelines don't impose, they recommend (“The answer lies with the original Japanese data”, “We strongly recommend using the official Japanese website. Databases such as anidb, MyAnimeList and Anime News Network, or trustworthy sources such as Syoboi can help you make informed decision, but they should be used with caution."),
4. guidelines explicitly leave the decision to the user ("[...] can help you make informed decision")
5. guidelines give clues to the “spirit of the law” they contain ("Long-running series with continuous episode numbers (e.g. 867, 868, 869) are added as a single season.")

The guidelines may not have anticipated our current case, but they did anticipate that there would be cases by laying down flexible guidelines.

1. The idea behind the guidelines is to be consensual, so we should keep the season 2 option.
2. The idea behind the guidelines was not to have a torrent of seasons for long series, so we should keep the season 2 option.
3. The idea behind the guidelines was to bring a genuine organizational element to the series, an intended structuring element, and not to take into consideration an aesthetic tendency, so we should keep the season 2 option. (PS: https://www.themoviedb.org/tv/205050/discuss/67275ea39dcc2dd534744787)

I guess the strategy is "ignore the problem until it goes away"

Par for the course here. Problem gets reported, mods say read the guideline, everyone says they did and guidelines are bad, there's a back and forth, then the mods dip because they don't have an answer.

In short, they take advantage of the fact that there are no better alternatives to do whatever they want in order to get their way because their ego does not allow them to change their minds no matter how much the majority asks them to.

@superboy97 We would appreciate your continuation of support on this unresolved issue.

@kingofhollows099 said:

@superboy97 We would appreciate your continuation of support on this unresolved issue.

Nothing is unresolved. The listing follow our rules.

@superboy97 said:

@kingofhollows099 said:

@superboy97 We would appreciate your continuation of support on this unresolved issue.

Nothing is unresolved. The listing follow our rules.

In short, you insist on being retrograde dictators.

Nothing is unresolved. The listing follow our rules.

That's the unresolved part lmao. We're all saying your rules are flawed and needs to change.