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{{quote|'''Robert Moscoe:''' The kids fly from one pole to the other in a short amount of time and the season doesn't change.
'''Bryan Konietzko:''' Um... let's not talk about that.
'''Michael Dante DiMartino:''' It's one of those continuity things where [[MST3K Mantra|you'll just have to go with it.]]
|''[[Avatar: The Last Airbender]]'' production commentary}}
{{quote|"Once upon a time, there was a magical place where it never rained. The end."|'''Mr. Sir''', ''[[Holes]]''}}
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Think back to the last cartoon series you watched. Did you see red, orange and yellow leaves coming off the trees? Was there snow on the ground? Was school out of session?
If you answered no to all of these, and furthermore, can't even remember the last time any of these things occurred outside a seasonal episode, then that's because '''It's Always Spring'''.
Cartoon characters tend to have a [[Limited Wardrobe]], which generally does not lend itself to cold weather. Furthermore, school is often a plot element in cartoons about kids, so that rules summer out of the question. Finally, it is probably easier to just put green leaves on every tree and to never draw leaves lying on the ground, so ultimately, the lack of seasonal change is a matter of convenience.
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[[Do They Know It's Christmas Time?]] episodes almost invariably shift the setting to winter.
{{examples}}▼
▲{{examples}}
== Anime & Manga ==▼
== Played Straight ==
* [[Justified Trope|Justified]] in ''[[Neon Genesis Evangelion]]'', where Second Impact shifted the axis of the Earth such that there are no longer seasons in the modern sense. This is subtly hinted at by the constant droning of summer cicadas in background scenes where the kids are nonetheless attending the normal school year, and more humorously by Pen-Pen being a variety of penguin who've adapted to a warmer climate.
** This may be best illustrated by the expression "... and tomorrow it will snow", which has apparently taken on the same meaning as "when pigs fly" in Japan.
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** While it is usually always spring (or whatever season is most convenient), as of the last half of the manga this has been mostly averted. We see a summer festival, which eventually brings us to autumn, followed by winter with a New Year's outing... and then finally to spring again around chapter 70. From 70 on it appears we have real chronological time. As a bonus, when the seasons change so do the [[Unlimited Wardrobe|casts' outfits]] depending on the weather.
* It's still summer in ''[[Bleach]]'' even though there's been a lot of talk about a dramatic showdown in winter. Early on the title pages showed the characters in winter clothes to reflect real time while it was still summer in the manga. Lampshaded when two minor characters complained about wearing such uncomfortably hot outfits.
** It is not summer in Bleach (well... maybe now, after the timeskip). Manga started in Spring around April, late March, SS arch was during summer vacation, and the winter war happened in October, very early November.
* Justified in ''Clamp School Detectives'', where the ridiculously fancy middle-school campus is kept spring all year long with "a revolutionary cooling system". The Detectives like to build detailed playscapes of different seasons in their office when they want a change.
* Justified in ''[[One Piece]]'' where different islands have a specific season motif. Changing seasons exist on those islands, but will vary according to the central climate of the island.
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** Even in winter, much of Japan doesn't get much snow—and without snow it's difficult to tell how cold it is. Occasionally the characters' breath is visible, usually at night.
=== Literature ===▼
* An interesting example is the ''[[Magic: The Gathering|Magic the Gathering]]'' plane Lorwyn, in which it is ''literally'' always spring.▼
** For some long period of time, at some point it turns into a dark always fall/winter and is known as Shadowmoor.▼
** ''Magic'' certainly shows seasons, though. Ice Age was one of the earliest sets, and has had a few subsequent sets that show non-spring settings.▼
▲== Literature ==
* Justified in [[Peter S. Beagle]]'s ''[[The Last Unicorn (novel)|The Last Unicorn]]'' book and movie, since it is eternally spring in any forest where a unicorn lives. When the eponymous unicorn leaves her forest to travel, however, she has to endure changing seasons just like any mortal.
* Justified in ''[[
** Ironic, since Asian cultures find cherry blossoms beautiful ''because'' of how short the time is they're in bloom.
*** {{spoiler|Fixed at the end of the book.}} Lu-Tze got the entire point that Wen missed.
* The Lost Hero has the characters heading to Walnut Creek, CA in the middle of december. the weather is described as ' brisk' but also as if 'winter wasn't a concept'( forget the real wording) and Mt. Diablo has no snow on it. it gets very cold in WC in the Winter- not enough to snow, thanks to the wind currents off the ocean, but it's not 'warm' in the morning either. And there's often snow on MT. Diablo- enough that hikers can't climb. another fun mention was the Berkeley hills, holding back the fog. while they do that, they are only ' golden brown' in the late spring , summer, and fall. the rest of the time, they are green.
* An odd live-action example: in the Australian soap ''[[Home and Away]]'', it's always summer in Summer Bay. Even when the actors are filming in the middle of winter next to the strong cold winds of the ocean, their wardrobe reflects a summer climate. No wonder they have trouble
▲== Live Action TV ==
* A live-action [[Did Not Do the Research]]-y example in ''[[Greek]]''. The show is set in a college in Ohio. The second part began after winter break. The finale was spring break. In between, [[Punctuated!
▲* An odd live-action example: in the Australian soap ''[[Home and Away]]'', it's always summer in Summer Bay. Even when the actors are filming in the middle of winter next to the strong cold winds of the ocean, their wardrobe reflects a summer climate. No wonder they have trouble emoting -- they're too busy trying not to shiver. This is justified only by the nature of filming: episodes filmed in winter won't air until mid-spring.
▲* A live-action [[Did Not Do the Research]]-y example in ''[[Greek]]''. The show is set in a college in Ohio. The second part began after winter break. The finale was spring break. In between, [[Punctuated for Emphasis|Not. One. Snowflake.]] Not even a heavy coat. In ''Ohio''. Where winters are known to ''kill people''.
** The incredibly weak [[Justified Trope|justification?]] "It's a warm part of Ohio". That's located in [[California Doubling|southern California]].
** Indeed, the fact that the whole upper-right-hand corner of the United States has a, shall we say, wide variety of weather conditions from day-to-day seems to be largely lost on Hollywood. A while back somebody proposed a YKTTW with the excellent title, "Most Writers Live In California".
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* On ''[[LazyTown]]'', Stephanie is apparently staying for the summer. So, the show takes place in summer, right? Well, there's two winter-themed episodes, and an episode where they go to school. Looks like Steph is staying longer than we thought.
** In one ''LazyTown'' Extra episode, it's stated that she's lived in LazyTown a year by then (the actress had aged 4 years by then, after having been [[Dawson Casting|Dawson Cast]] to begin with).
* In one episode of ''[[Gilmore Girls]]'', Rory and Dean spend the night in the theatre in the middle of winter. When they wake up at 5am to go running home, it's perfectly light out. Now, [[Gilmore Girls]] takes place in Connecticut. It is never that bright out at 5am during the winter.
* ''[[Make It or Break It]]'' takes place in Boulder, Colorado and yet we never see any snow or even any characters wearing jackets. It seems like the show only takes place during the spring/summer.
* ''[[Degrassi]]'' takes place in, is filmed in, and is ''written, produced and directed entirely by people who live in'' [[Toronto]], and is an example of this due to a shooting schedule that coincided with summer vacation in the ''[[Degrassi Junior High]]'' days and now runs roughly
* Old/New City of ''[[Sanctuary]]'' never sees any kind of weather change except rain, despite the fact that the series is shot in friggin' Vancouver. The characters do, however, alternate between long and short sleeves.
* While you do occasionally see snow in ''[[Northern Exposure]],'' it's pretty scarce, considering the show is set in Alaska. Given that the Arctic Circle is just up the road a stretch, ''daylight'' should be rare for part of the year.
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* Averted in ''[[Ally McBeal]]'', or possibly inverted- it seemed to be winter more often than not. Presumably because of [[Snow Means Love]] or [[Snow Means Sadness]].
* Played straight in [[The X-Files]], even when it was filmed in Vancouver. While not specifically spring, when the agents are at home, the weather seems to be a non-descript season of mild weather. Partially justified in that both agents live around Washington D.C., which tends to exhibit more milder winter weather and seasonal change than other parts of the country. The temperature is really the most noticeable thing, though even the average temperature in the winter is in the 40's.
* Series/Mash. Despite being set in Korea, which is at roughly the same latitude as the the surrounding plantlife is always quite green and alive.
* ''[[It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia]]'' not surprisingly fits this trope. It's always a sunny, warm day outside, despite the fact that Philadelphia can get quite cold. Even when news reports warn of a huge storm bearing down on the city, the weather is perfect and Frank notes, "It's warm as shit!" Only the direct-to-DVD Christmas episode has the cast actually start wearing winter clothing, and even then the weather is still sunny. The pilot for the show was titled ''It's Always Sunny on Television'', referencing this trope directly.
=== Music ===▼
▲== Music ==
* This is the reason the songs "Winter Wonderland", "Let It Snow", "Baby, It's Cold Outside", "Sleigh Ride" and, hell, even ''"Jingle Bells"'' are considered Christmas songs, despite not mentioning Christmas at all. On the other hand, it's also probably the only reason anybody still remembers them at all.
** Oddly enough, these are BY FAR the most over-played songs on US radio stations during the month of December (more egregious offenders keep this shit going through
** It's also weird considering that winter doesn't officially start until the 21st or
* Olivia the Band, a rock group from Hawaii, has an album called ''Where We Come From It Never Snows''. Which is true of Oahu, but not the entire state of Hawaii - Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea on the Big Island see snow most winters, and even Haleakala on Maui can get it on rare occasions.
===
▲* An interesting example is the ''[[Magic: The
* Even warm locations have seasons -- the rainy season versus the dry season, for instance. Nevertheless, seasons in Southern California tend to oscillate from summer, to <s>early fall, to late spring</s> not summer, back to summer again. It tends to make the imported deciduous trees very confused.▼
▲** For some long period of time, at some point it turns into a dark always fall/winter and is known as Shadowmoor.
** Tropical environments and places with similar climates usually don't change a lot, having only a dry season and a wet season. In some areas the dry season is the period between fall and winter and in other's it's the opposite, but besides the temperature and the amount of rainfall, the surroundings are basically always the same.▼
▲** ''Magic'' certainly shows seasons, though. Ice Age was one of the earliest sets, and has had a few subsequent sets that show non-spring settings.
*** Rainforests in particular, where the temperature change from day to night is greater than summer to winter.▼
* One interesting case of this becoming [[Truth in Television]], the rise of climate controlled buildings means it can always be spring indoors. Since most buildings stay at somewhere between 68 and 72 year-round, people who work in these buildings tend to dress for spring for their workday and simply put on extra layers whenever they have to go outside.▼
* The natural environment within caves changes little if at all with the seasons, and then only because the flow rate of underground streams may be slightly higher after a spring thaw.▼
=== Video Games ===
* In outside dungeons in ''[[Dark Cloud]] 2''/''Dark Chronicle'', it sometimes rains at different frequencies, but it never snows. And it never even rains anywhere else except in the opening movie.
* The ''[[Grand Theft Auto]]'' series has this problem, although it is averted in ''Vice City'' and ''San Andreas'', which are set much closer to the equator than ''GTA3''. The fictionalized New York of ''GTA3'' never changes climactically despite the significant amounts of time that can pass in game (it is actually possible to check how many days have passed in game from the menu).
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*** For ''Vacation'', mentioned above, it's [[Justified Trope|semi-justified]] by being a mountainous island: the winter-like lots are up on the snow-cap, the temperate lots are in a forest up on the mountain's side, and the summer lots are down on the beachy shore.
* In ''[[Persona 4]]'', it's always the rainy season, as it's guaranteed to rain every couple of weeks or so for matters of plot convenience.
* In ''[[
* In the first four generations of the ''[[Pokémon]]'' series, each region seems to take place in a specific season. Kanto takes place in the spring, Johto in the fall, Hoenn in the summer, and Sinnoh in the winter. (The trope is averted in ''[[Pokémon Black and White]]'' and subsequent games; see below.)
* [[Gameplay and Story Segregation]] in the last three ''[[Elder Scrolls]]'' games. Officially, there ''are'' seasons (the names of the months are derived from agricultural practices among other things, e.g. Last Seed), but in the games the season is apparently keyed to the location rather than the time of year. To wit, it's always spring or summer in [[Morrowind]] and [[The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion|Cyrodiil]], and always late fall or winter in [[The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind|Solstheim]] and [[Skyrim]].
** Of course, Nirn isn't Earth. Strictly speaking, it's not really even a planet (cosmology in ''[[The Elder Scrolls]]'' is bizarre, to say the least).
* In the ''[[Neverwinter Nights]]'' series the seasons never change regardless of how many times the [[In
** Despite the name, Neverwinter ''does'' get snow in the pen-and-paper game. Its name comes partly from the fact that the river never freezes, due to being warmed by a dormant volcano upstream inhabited by fire elementals.
* Paragon City in ''[[City of Heroes]]'' always seemed to be in late Spring or maybe early Summer -- except during the Halloween and Christmas events, when Fall and Winter dressing was temporarily applied to all zones (Halloween) or just Atlas Park (Christmas).
=== Web Comics ===▼
▲== Web Comics ==
* After several years of sunny summer weather, ''[[The Inexplicable Adventures of Bob]]'' announced it would be introducing seasons, inaugurating it by having a [[Humongous Mecha]] [http://bobadventures.comicgenesis.com/d/20090811.html knock over Bob's freshly raked pile of leaves.]
* Not only is it always spring in [https://web.archive.org/web/20160313053613/http://revfitz.com/msi95.html "Mr. Square"] but they never seem to leave the same field of grass.
=== Western Animation ===
* In ''[[South Park]]'', it is always winter, even when it's not (during baseball season, or while school is out). In the original short films that preceded the series proper, the creators figured characters in snowy landscapes would be easier to animate since their feet would be obscured by the snow.
** As Cartman puts it in "Jakovasaur", "There are two seasons in South Park: winter and July."
*** There is a part of Colorado (north of the region referred to as "South Park"), that's called the "Neversummer Range".
* In ''[[Ed, Edd 'n' Eddy]]'' it was always summer for the first four seasons except the three holiday specials. After it was [[Uncancelled]] the fifth and final season took place in fall.
* ''Ben 10'' takes place entirely during summer vacation.
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* On ''[[Camp Lazlo]]'', it's always summer. Makes sense, since they're at summer camp, right? Except it's still summer, and they're still at camp on Valentine's Day. Most of the [[Christmas Episode]] took place in July, for crying out loud.
* During an episode of ''[[Rugrats]]'', the grandfather moves out of the main families house. For the next 30 seconds to 1 minute it shows the seasons changing. Then after it comes back to the season it originally was it is found out that {{spoiler|this entire weather pattern change happened over a one week period with a sentence saying "One Week Later"}}. Now THAT'S spring weather.
* ''[[Hey Arnold!]]'' played with this trope in a way similar to the ''Rugrats'' example above. There was an episode where Stinky decided to enter a harvesting
{{quote|'''Stinky's dad:''' What a crazy weather! It rains, it snows, it dries...
'''Stinky:''' And all within a week. }}
** There was also the episode wherein the town gets affected by a heatwave.
* In ''[[Code Lyoko]]'', a year apparently passes without any change in the seasons or weather except when required by the XANA attack of the day, and no aging or moving up in grades for the characters. All of the main characters except Yumi start off in the eighth grade, then a year passes and they're still in the eighth grade, then Aelita (who is in the same grade as the rest, i.e. eighth) is said to be twelve years old. Only once do they actually move up a grade, and if memory serves only twice is any sort of school holiday mentioned.
* Although it's occasionally
* For the most part, it usually is spring in ''[[Danny Phantom]]''. However, during most times on-site of Casper High, the season is apparently autumn as all the trees are orange. Even right before summer vacation.
* In ''[[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic|My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic]]'', it appears to always be summer unless the season is relevant to the plot. In one case this led to bafflement when a Fall Episode occurred soon ''after'' a Winter Episode, with no discernible transitions in either direction. Admittedly, the seasons are explicitly magical, but [[Word of God]] claims they still take the normal amount of time and this was purely because they didn't want a calendar to limit what plots they could do.
=== Real Life ===
▲* Even warm locations have
▲** Tropical environments and places with similar climates usually don't change a lot, having only a dry season and a wet season. In some areas the dry season is the period between fall and winter and in other's it's the opposite, but besides the temperature and the amount of rainfall, the surroundings are basically always the same.
▲*** Rainforests in particular, where the temperature change from day to night is greater than summer to winter.
▲* One interesting case of this becoming [[Truth in Television]], the rise of climate controlled buildings means it can always be spring indoors. Since most buildings stay at somewhere between 68 and 72 year-round, people who work in these buildings tend to dress for spring for their workday and simply put on extra layers whenever they have to go outside.
▲* The natural environment within caves changes little if at all with the seasons, and then only because the flow rate of underground streams may be slightly higher after a spring thaw.
=== Exceptions and Aversions ===▼
==
* Averted in ''[[Aria]]'', where Akari mentions the changing of the seasons in her letters, which is reflected in the art for the episode. The manga volumes are actually seasonally themed, with the first being fall, the second being winter, the third being spring, and so on. That
** Note: 2-3 ''Mars'' year, which means roughly 4-6 Earth years.
* ''[[Love Hina]]'' also had all four seasons, several times (it takes place over the course of at least two years). It even had Halloween, Christmas, and New Years stories. In order.
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* Averted in ''[[Kimi ni Todoke]]'', where the beginning and end of each school term is clearly marked, accompanied by an appropriate change of season.
* Averted in the various versions of ''[[Law
== Comics ==▼
* Averted by... well, probably most newspaper comics, and they have plenty of good reasons to. Most cartoonists don't live in California, and most of their comics take place in the present day in the creator's own country. They also have plenty of time to waste on strictly winter-related strips and storylines, being not confined to the 22-episode limit that most TV shows have, and most strips are guaranteed to only run once, during the appropriate season (reruns take up a maximum of four weeks a year and can be culled from any point in the series' run).▼
** ''[[Calvin and Hobbes]]'' in particular had some epic winter strips over the years, including his famous <s>demented snowmen</s> deranged mutant killer monster snow goons.▼
▲== Live Action TV ==
▲* Averted in the various versions of ''[[Law and Order]]'', where, due to filming in New York City and the production's shooting schedule, it seems to be mostly winter.
** Look at the clothes worn by people in the background, fall episodes are filmed in summer. Spring episodes are shot in winter. The amount of sunlight is also a giveaway.
* Averted on ''[[ER]]'', which gives the impression that Chicago never has spring. Most of the time it's either snowing or raining, unless it's sweltering hot because they wanted an air-conditioning failure episode.
** Longtime residents of the Chicago area know that this is Truth in Television - Spring here lasts about 45 minutes after the last snow melts. Then we skip straight ahead to high-80s temperatures and high-90s humidity.
▲* Averted by... well, probably most newspaper comics, and they have plenty of good reasons to. Most cartoonists don't live in California, and most of their comics take place in the present day in the creator's own country. They also have plenty of time to waste on strictly winter-related strips and storylines, being not confined to the 22-episode limit that most TV shows have, and most strips are guaranteed to only run once, during the appropriate season (reruns take up a maximum of four weeks a year and can be culled from any point in the series' run).
▲
=== Video Games ===
* Averted somewhat in ''[[Persona 3]]'', the game takes place over the course of nearly an entire year. As the seasons change, the trees lose their leaves and they eventually grow back... but that's about it.
** Your party members will change clothing depending on the season [[Limited Wardrobe|(and little else)]], and school goes in and out of session as expected.
** As noted above, it's Japan. You were expecting snowfall that close to the equator?
* The
* ''[[Dwarf Fortress]]'', with typical depth, averts this by simulating the seasons appropriate to the local climate.
** Played straight in Adventure Mode due to [[Good Bad Bugs]] which cause the season to reset to spring every time you quick Travel, which is rarely more than a couple days each time.
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* ''[[Pokémon Black and White]]'' have a brand new feature where the season changes at the start of every month, in contrast to how it was always the same season in previous generations.
* ''Rhiannon: Curse of the Four Branches'' is set in mid-autumn, probably because that's when the various leafy twigs you need to collect can most easily be distinguished from one another.
* Averted, kind of, in ''[[The Lost Crown]]'', which does take place in springtime, but with the full range of
▲=== Web Comics ===
▲== Web Comics ==
* Averted by ''[http://epparker.com/tallcomics/ Unwinder's Tall Comics]'', which not only changes seasons, it maintains the seasons for multiple comics (none of which are actually related to the plot or [[Dreaming of a White Christmas|Christmas]]), and characters' clothing changes appropriately.
* Played with in ''[[Our Little Adventure]]''. The seasons do change but since the [[Flat World|world is flat]], they logically ''shouldn't.'' There are also places in Manjulias where it's always summer or always winter. This like many other things in the comic [http://danielscreations.com/ola/comics/ep0222.html get lampshaded.]
* The plot of ''[[The Phoenix Requiem]]'' happens during the course of one year, with the changing of seasons clearly seen in time.
=== Western Animation ===▼
▲== Western Animation ==
* Despite the quote at the top of the page, ''[[Avatar: The Last Airbender]]'' averts this for the most part, especially in season one, which features a trip from the south pole to the north pole, with the weather and outfits notably changing to being appropriate equatorially and back over time. Sure, you'd think that there would be different seasons in the north and south hemisphere, but let's just go with the [[Fanon]] that the ''Avatar'' globe doesn't have a tilt.
** One episode did seem to explicitly take place in Autumn.
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*** The [[Christmas Episode]], however, has [[Dreaming of a White Christmas|shifted the setting to winter break]].
*** And the recent [[Halloween Episode]] actually took place on Halloween. There have been a few other holiday/seasonal-themed episodes where the creators got around the whole "summer" thing by incorporating seasonal changes or elements into Phineas and Ferb's plans. They invented "S'winter" (winter in summer), [[Hiccup Hijinks|built a haunted house to cure Isabella's hiccups]], and, more recently, [[Rule of Funny|decided to stage an old-fashioned family Christmas special with fake snow, guest stars and gum ads]].
* Averted in [[Moral Orel]]. The First Season takes place in the Fall and Winter. The Second Season takes place in the Spring. The Third Season takes place in the Spring, Fall and Winter.
* Averted in the original ''[[Transformers Generation 1|Transformers]]'' animated series. Autobot Headquarters is located in a desert, where there wouldn't be much in the way of seasons. One episode Lampshades this when Megatron's latest scheme disrupts the world's climate and it starts snowing in the desert in July. The episode opens with several of the heroes having a snowball fight.
* In [[Transformers Animated]], it's snowing in Detroit around the end of season one, and again midway through season 3 during the [[Christmas Episode]] (which secondary material confirms was the Autobots' ''second'' Christmas).
* Averted on ''[[The Spectacular Spider-Man]]'', where time passes realistically with visible seasons.
* Semi-averted on ''[[Max Steel]]'': the first series of the show starts at the beginning of the school year and finishes somewhere in the summer semester. However, unless the characters aren't in California, the weather is always nice a spring-like.
* Averted in Chuck Jones' Bugs/Daffy/Elmer ''[[Looney Tunes]]'' trilogy, with backgrounds in full autumn color or snow white - due to it being rabbit season. [[Duck Season! Rabbit Season!|Duck season. RABBIT SEASON!]]
* Averted with [[American Dragon: Jake Long]]. While the series is mostly Always Spring, the two Valentine's Day episodes are notably snowy in addition to the Christmas episode. However, the Chinese New Year, which typically occurs in
* Played straight in ''[[Ed, Edd 'n' Eddy]]'' with a perpetual summer until the last season (with the exception of their holiday specials). The final season [[Lampshade Hanging|lampshaded]] this trope when Eddy changed all of the neighborhood calendars to July, rigged the cul-de-sac with central heating, and painted the leaves green so he could keep up his daily school-free scamming forever.
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Did Not Do the Research]]
[[Category:Lazy Artist]]
▲[[Category:It's Always Spring]]
[[Category:Tropes of Nature]]
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