TV Show REGEX for anime?

I have loads of anime that I'd like to watch in XBMC, but I find that the built-in regex checks for adding tv shows to the library don't work at all. I tried to figure out how to make a regex for it myself, but I've had no luck at all--if someone wouldn't mind helping me out I'd be super appreciative. The structure could look like any of these;

Series Name/[release group] series name - 01 [some hash thing].mkv
Series Name/[release group]_series_name_-_01_[some hash thing].mkv
Series Name/[release group] series name - 01 (encoding details)[some hash thing].mkv
Series Name/[release group]_series_name_-_01_(encoding details)[some hash thing].mkv

I assume what I need to do is grab the folder name for the series and then check for any numbers followed by; " [", "_[", " (" or "_("...but I'm not sure how to do that.

Also; I'm not sure if it's possible, but can OVA/OADs be scanned in too, or should I just put those in with my movies? They don't really have a specific episode number, as they exist as an aside to the actual show...

you have a number of hurdles to get over.

1. Most anime doesn't have a season but some sites say they do by artificially creating them
2. the hash in the filename often trigger false positives
3. you cant use the hash in the filename as intended as a lookup
4. sites like thetvdb have poor anime coverage


If you want help do a debug log of XBMC trying to identify them and post it complete to pastebin and I will attempt to help you.

Try Series Name\Season 01\01 - Episode name.mkv

I believe you need a season folder to scrape it right.

xexe Wrote:1. Most anime doesn't have a season but some sites say they do by artificially creating them

That kind of throws a wrench in things. >.>

xexe Wrote:2. the hash in the filename often trigger false positives

Can't regex check for numbers and require that they are followed by an opening brace, rather than a closing brace? Since the hash is pretty much always inside square braces I'd think that should be doable.

xexe Wrote:3. you cant use the hash in the filename as intended as a lookup

I was talking about grabbing the episode number before the hash. It would be pretty nice though if there was a hash-based database like what freedb is for CDs...

xexe Wrote:4. sites like thetvdb have poor anime coverage

I've actually found it's coverage to be pretty decent so far--it identified all my shows correctly and loaded thumbnails and fan art for almost all of it...it just ends up finding zero episodes, since the files themselves aren't recognized in the regex search. >.>

legendman Wrote:Try Series Name\Season 01\01 - Episode name.mkv

I believe you need a season folder to scrape it right.

I'd really rather not have to rename the files. That'd be very time consuming, considering I have 1.6TB of anime. :O

tvdb forums are discussing how "seasons" are explained in Anime. Right now, its between 1 huge season or using the DVDs as breaks. The example would be Bleach having a subtitle for each "arc" of the series and each of those being a season.

Well, currently most anime is just numbered in a one-season style, so it'd make sense to go with that.

actually, we support episode-only matching expressions these days. we automagically stuff things in season 1.

but you have to follow what tvdb uses in any case.

No one has any suggestions on how to do this? I would've thought there'd be more anime fans that'd want something like this.

xexe Wrote:...


If you want help do a debug log of XBMC trying to identify them and post it complete to pastebin and I will attempt to help you.

You just ignored the offer for help that all

I've found thetvdb.com's anime coverage to be very good. But what I've done is gone to teh db website first, and checked for my tv shows there. Then, once I know what I've got name my files, I rename them as I get them from torrents. Its kind of a roundabout process but it works great, and I'd say 90% of the 60 odd shows I have, have db entries now.