It's Always Spring: Difference between revisions

{{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.

 

{{quote|"Once upon a time, there was a magical place where it never rained. The end."|'''Mr. Sir''', ''[[Holes]]''}}

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?

 

 

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.

{{examples}}

== 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.

* In ''[[Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex]]'', it's always either sunny or rainy, but never cold or snowy. Presumably cyborgs aren't bothered by weather—though if they use hydraulic actuators they might have to change their working-fluid in colder weather—but it's still a little jarring.

** 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 ===

* 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.

** 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 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''.

* 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 ===

* 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.

 

 

=== Video Games ===

** 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 ===

* 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.]

 

=== Western Animation ===

* 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 ===

 

== 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 2–3 years pass and nobody seems to get any older is not mentioned.

** Note: 2-3 ''Mars'' year, which means roughly 4-6 Earth years.

* Averted in ''[[Kimi ni Todoke]]'', where the beginning and end of each school term is clearly marked, accompanied by an appropriate change of season.

 

** 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.

 

 

=== Video Games ===

** 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?

* ''[[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.

* ''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 weather—fog, cold, thundery, sunny, rainy, windy—one might expect from a realistic depiction of that season.

 

=== Web Comics ===

* 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 ===

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Did Not Do the Research]]

[[Category:Lazy Artist]]

[[Category:Tropes of Nature]]