If you’re new to the world of classic long-running anime like Naruto or Bleach and dare to ask a seasoned fan “What season are you on?” you might be met with a look of confused dread or perhaps a slightly patronizing smile. It’s a common, hilarious point of conflict in the fandom: new viewers see perfectly labeled “Seasons” on Hulu, Netflix, and Crunchyroll, while veterans insist that such shows “don’t have seasons.” So, what gives? Are the streaming services lying, or are the fans just being gatekeepers? The truth, my friend, is a fascinating mix of both, rooted in the very history of how anime has been broadcast over the decades Bleach (366+ episodes, 16+ seasons) and Naruto (700+ episodes including Shippuden, 22+ seasons).
The Great Divide: Why Fans Reject Bleach or Naruto Seasons
To understand why people get weird about the word “season,” you have to step back from the modern streaming interface. For decades, anime broadcasting was split into two camps: short-run shows and long-run shows. Shorter anime operate on a seasonal model—Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter—with 12 or 24 episodes. Shows like Jujutsu Kaisen or Attack on Titan follow this rule, breaking their stories into distinct broadcast seasons.
However, Naruto, Bleach, and One Piece are different. These were perpetual, weekly broadcast machines that often ran non-stop for hundreds of episodes over many years. The breaks in these shows were dictated not by the calendar, but by the story’s major narrative shifts, known as Arcs.
Arcs vs. Seasons: The True Chapter Breaks
When an old-school fan asks you what part of Bleach or Naruto you’re watching, they’re looking for the major story arc. This is the official, true way the story is sectioned, corresponding directly to the manga chapters. For fans, calling the “Soul Society Arc” or the “Chunin Exam Arc” a “Season 2” feels inaccurate because the original broadcast never paused and rebooted with that label.
The story flow of these long-running shonen is divided by major plot milestones, not by standard 12 or 24-episode television batches. For fans, the narrative structure is everything, and the broadcast format of nearly 400 episodes for each show means the traditional concept of a “season” is irrelevant.
Here are just a few examples of the narrative divisions fans prioritize:
- Naruto: The Land of Waves Arc, The Chunin Exams Arc, The Search for Tsunade Arc.
- Bleach: The Agent of the Shinigami Arc, The Soul Society: Sneak Entry Arc, The Arrancar: Hueco Mundo Sneak Entry Arc.
The Streaming Era Divide
This is where the streaming services step in. Hulu, Netflix, and even Crunchyroll, despite being an anime-first platform, license and organize their content for a global audience accustomed to the Western TV structure. Western television is built on the concept of seasons: a fixed-length batch of episodes produced and released together.
When a streamer acquires hundreds of episodes of Bleach or Naruto, they often divide the total run into digestible, uniform blocks for ease of navigation, licensing, and binging. These blocks are labeled “Season 1,” “Season 2,” and so on, even if the “season break” falls right in the middle of a major story arc. This organizational necessity is why on Hulu Netflix and Crunchyroll there are seasons, but it clashes fundamentally with the historical and narrative labeling used by long-time viewers.
Ultimately, neither side is strictly wrong. For a fan, the arc name is the only accurate label that reflects the story’s structure. For a new viewer using a streaming service, the season number is the only relevant number on their screen. The passion and “weirdness” you see from veterans just comes from a protective desire to teach new fans the canonical, story-driven structure of these iconic anime. So next time, try asking which arc they’re on—you’ll sound like a true connoisseur and get a much better answer!