I like to use anime images for desktop wallpaper on my computers at home. Big surprise, I know. Typically, I like to match the wallpaper to the season: cherry blossoms in Spring, swimsuits and festivals in Summer, and so on. There’s one season that always gives me trouble when searching for suitable images, however. And it just so happens to be my favorite season of the year, making it all the more frustrating.
Yes, it’s Autumn.
Sometimes, I wonder if the anime industry has something against Autumn. Perhaps there was a premium on orange and red paint back in the cel animation days? Who knows. All I do know is that Autumn rarely makes an appearance in anime, and when it does, it’s often for only a short period of time.
If you think about it, a fair number of anime series - especially those with a high school setting - begin their stories in Spring. It’s the season of new beginnings in Japan, and a lot of anime series kick their stories off just as the cherry blossoms are blooming and the new school year is getting underway. It can’t be Spring forever, however. Spring eventually gives way to Summer.
Swimsuits, festivals, vacations… Summer is another staple of the seasonal landscape in anime. Some short stories take place exclusively in Summer; “natsuyasumi” shows are perfect for telling stories about adolescent characters outside of a classroom setting, for example. Also, shows that begin their stories in Spring often morph into Summer in short time. It’s a season ripe with romance, fanservice potential, and general debauchery. It’s no wonder a lot of anime series spend their entire middle sections on the months of July and August. Gotta get the cute girls out of their school uniforms and into swimsuits, after all.
But it would be premature to end a story in Summer. A Summer romance is meant to be temporary. The protagonist in a bishoujo game adaptation, for example, must eventually leave the smorgasboard of swimsuits behind and come crawling back to the chosen girl. And, for the sake of the production budget, those classroom backgrounds should probably be put to use once again. So, back to school we go… except, we’re now 3/4 of the way through our episode run. Time to start thinking about wrapping things up.
Well, what better setting for a dramatic and romantic conclusion than Christmas Eve, right? The twinkling lights, the hand-knitted scarves, the falling snow (it always snows on Christmas Eve in Japan, after all)… time to blow the budget on particle effects and go out with a bang! See you again in the sequel!
One question, though… what the hell happened to Autumn?
I wouldn’t be writing this if it wasn’t true. Nine times out of ten, Autumn is completely passed over in anime series that have stories which, theoretically, should pass through the months of September, October, and November. And the number of shows that take place almost exclusively in Autumn can be counted on one hand; of what I’ve watched, only To Heart and Tenchi Muyo come immediately to mind. There are others, I’m sure, and there are a few shows that place extra emphasis on the season (the final season of Cardcaptor Sakura, for example, takes place in Autumn), but compared to Spring, Summer, and even Winter, Autumn just doesn’t get much respect in anime.
So, I suppose it’s no surprise that anime artwork with an Autumn theme is difficult to come by. And that’s why, every October, as I go searching for something new for my desktop, I return to the same few images I use every year. This year, I went with naked Mahoro and a takoyaki bandit…
Although, given how it looks outside my window at the moment, I should probably just break out the Kanon wallpaper. What the hell happened to Autumn, indeed.
Given the way it looks outside my window, I should break out the Air wallpaper…
What’s scary is that it was warmer here yesterday than it will be in New York City today. Yesterday’s high in Denver was 80 degrees F. Less than 24 hours later, and there’s 6 inches of snow on the ground. I love this town.
Given the way it looks outside my window, I should break out Crest of the Stars wallpaper…
I share Jeff’s lament. Autumn rocks but it’s not commonly found in anime. But while we are quickly to associate the White Christmas Eve anime trope with winter, in reality the weather is closer to autumn around Dec. 24 than winter for the typical Asian Pacific islander.
What I’m trying to say is there’s another reason why Autumn isn’t common for anime; it’s just not a season/annual climatic event that stands out in Japan. Sure, if you live in Hokkaido or Nagano, that’s one thing; but the brilliant and fiery autumn foliage is tough to match up thick snow on the ground that Tokyo folks rarely see.
That’s a good point, Omo. The onset of Autumn is somewhat delayed (compared to what’s expected) in Tokyo. Even moreso in parts of Western Japan. Growing up in Texas, I got used to the trees not changing color until around Thanksgiving and the leaves not falling until close to Christmas. And then there was that Christmas I spent in Hawaii…
One thing I’ve always wondered about is why winter scenes in anime are often filled with green trees. If they were evergreens, I could understand, but they usually have the appearance of deciduous trees, so it’s a bit odd. It’s especially odd when a show sets an episode or two in Autumn, and the trees magically revert to being lush and green afterwards. Even the best animation studios seem to make that mistake every now and then.
You have to love Colorado weather. Here in Ft. Collins, there’s no snow on the ground, though we had a little rain this morning.
And I wouldn’t say there’s a complete absence of Autumn in anime, though it is underrepresented. This season Mokke gives us some nice images, starting with the opening. I wonder how the seasons will progress through the series.
Your analysis of the “standard school anime” is right on. It does seem that a memo went around, “We’re sorry, but due to schedule and budget considerations we have had to delete the entire season of Autumn.” Now you’ve got me trying to remember whether Autumn was better represented in the “old days of longer series”. I remember some fall episodes, but I’m not sure they’re a representative sample.
Heh… I’m still waiting for Autumn to actually arrive here in Ontario. I mean, it’s /here/. There are leaves on the ground. But somehow it doesn’t feel like Autumn at all. It’s been very warm, sometimes foggy or rainy, but never “Autumn”. More like an awkward Summer that refuses to leave. Not that I’m complaining, I like having a semi-warm Halloween. But it’s a bit awkward.
Good post, fall is my favorite season too, although now that I live in California I don’t really see much of it anymore, since it’s 83 outside as I write this. Kyoto in the fall is my favorite spot on Earth though, the fall color is just amazing–last time we went there I think we ended up with just shy of 2,000 pictures (thank God for digital cameras or we’d have gone through a LOT of film…). I give credit to Seto no Hanayome for having their Kyoto school trip episode set in the fall, since to me at least it’s more impressive than the sakura. In anime as a whole though it’s true that sakura is about 1,000x more common than brightly colored momiji, which is just a shame…
Great post! To be fair though, during the school year, autumn doesn’t seem to have a lot of major things. Sports Day in September and the Cultural Festival seem to be the two main school events. Other than that, it’s just studying and a couple of national tests. I haven’t seen too many school-centered anime series, but I imagine an entire episode centered about Sports Day would be kind of boring.
I’m in Hidoshi’s boat right now. Temperatures have stayed around the 80s for a while, though they’re finally beginning to come down, and it’s been a little windy. The leaves haven’t really changed color or started falling down yet either…
Come to think of it, why don’t anime use autumn falling leaves for romantic moments, since sakura petals have been terribly overdone. Or something like that. :P
Given the look outside your window, are you sure you are in autumn?? lol, it looks more like december, cuz all the snow… Anyway, i also like to match my desktop anime wallpapers with the season, but more specifically with the supossed season, because where i live theres only 2 seasons in all the year: summer and winter… (we lack spring and autumn), so right now, looking outside my window we are in the raining season…
For the moment, i have a funny anime wallpaper about Halloween (it will be very soon…) i havent think about november yet…
^_^
I love the fall weather- great for golf here in the Monterey Bay area, especially since there have been more trees planted over the years that turn color.
Your right that autumn is glossed over in anime which is a shame color-wise. Omo probably has the best reason why its not seen more I would suppose.
I was hoping that this would turn into a meme
(Given the way it looks outside my window, I should break out the Legend of the Overfiend wallpaper?)
At least Mokke’s using falling Autumn leaves to good effect this season. :3