Hopefully, we’ll get less split-cour anime in the future.
Summary:
- Spice and Wolf remake has been confirmed to run for 2 continuous cours.
- Fans were unhappy with how widespread split-cour anime were.
- This announcement might revive the general trend for two-cour anime.
The remake of Spice and Wolf (Ookami to Koushinryou) has been rumored to be two cours long for a while. A recent panel at AnimeJapan 2024 finally confirmed these rumors — and ended the argument within the fandom.
While many assumed the rumors would be true (after all, there’s no reason to adapt less than 4 novels), there were still questions whether the anime would run for two continuous cours or two split cours (two parts, essentially).
The anime is listed for 25 continuous episodes — and this might mean we’re going back to that format.
Anime has been getting shorter and shorter
The popularity of one-cour and split-cour anime is a more or less recent trend. Back in the 90s and 80s, anime commonly ran for a whole year — for four cours. In the 00s, the main format changed to two cours, and in the 10s, to one cour only.
In the past years, even if an anime was planned for two cours, they would usually be split and have a break in between them.
It’s somewhat understandable why the trend shifted this way. Shorter anime are safer to invest in, and newer anime fans might be discouraged from following one thing for too long because of the fear of it going worse at some point. There’s too much anime to choose from to stick with the same thing for too long.
Fans didn’t really like anime being split-cour
That said, the split-cour format — anime that are planned for two cours but have a break between them — was extensively criticized by many fans. Some said that this format was only used because many of these series were planned for two cours, but the studio couldn’t realistically keep up with the schedule.
As such, the widespread use of split-cour anime may have been a sign of production issues within the industry.
Spice and Wolf remake airing for two continuous cours is definitely ambitious. However, it also shows that the people behind it believe this format can be pulled off — and for a franchise as beloved as Spice and Wolf, an actual two-cour series is definitely welcome. Let’s hope this trend continues.
This isn’t even the only mainstream anime that runs for continuous two cours. While Shounen Jump adaptations like Jujutsu Kaisen often get multiple two-cour TV series, the recent seasons show that the format is back on the rise again.
Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End (Sousou no Frieren) and The Apothecary Diaries (Kusuriya no Hitorigoto) are among the most popular anime now, and they’re also continuous two-cour anime.