Exclude part of the filename when detecting episode numbering (anime)

[grenadecx 6]

Yo!

Okay so dealing with Anime in Emby can sometimes be a pain (especially if you don't want to rename the original filenames). But since the introduction of absolute numbering that's improved a lot I would say. However, when adding animes, such as:

Zom 100 - Zombie ni Naru made ni Shitai 100 no Koto (thetvdb: https://thetvdb.com/series/zom-100-bucket-list-of-the-dead)

Example filename: 
[SubsPlease] Zom 100 - Zombie ni Naru made ni Shitai 100 no Koto - 01 (1080p) [4E6B4518].mkv

Is still a pain, mainly because it takes the number 100 as episode 100 which then would require me to manually set the episode number correctly. So I'm quite dumb and don't understand how Emby handles files or if this would be hard or even possible. But..wouldn't it be possible to add some metadata on the series where you could exclude part of the name when it detects episode numbers? So in the case above if you excluded for example "100 - Zombie ni Naru made ni Shitai 100" then it would have no choice but default to episode 1? 

Adding exclusion could be either make so you can tell if it's beginning of the file, end of file or whatever, I think it could be versatile in that regard.

One could argue to just rename the files, I understand that. But this small change could be a really great improvement to get anime libraries synced correctly for a lot of us.

Yay or nay?

Have a great day!

[Luke 42078]

Hi, what should the result of that one be?

[grenadecx 6]

It should have gotten season 1, episode 1 based on the (absolute ordering):

[SubsPlease] Zom 100 - Zombie ni Naru made ni Shitai 100 no Koto - 01 (1080p) [4E6B4518].mkv

But since the naming of the file is problematic in this case as I can understand why it doesn't. There's a lot of other animes out there that have similar problem due their name including characters that emby will use for episode number instead, like:

[HorribleSubs] Log Horizon 2 - 01 [720p].mkv (despite being in a Season 2 folder.)
[HorribleSubs] Kono Subarashii Sekai ni Shukufuku wo! 2 - 01 [720p].mkv  (despite being in a Season 2 folder.)

I have a few other examples, but from my understanding it's because Emby picks up the first number as episode number in these cases. So being able to add exclusion feels like this could really help on that front.

And as I said, I do realize that this can feel like solving a problem that shouldn't exist if people where to just rename their files and I get that. But at the same time I don't think this would be something that necessarily would add huge complexity (I might be wrong however) and I believe it would greatly help us animes fans that would like to keep the original filenames.

Edited July 10, 2023 by grenadecx

[Luke 42078]

Hi, if you have to manually define these exclusions, then wouldn't that defeat the purpose? Wouldn't it be just as fast to rename the file?

[grenadecx 6]

That's valid, but no I don't quite agree. This would be done once on a series and excluded on all new files added, while renaming would require me to rename every single new file added and that's a little trickier depending on the source and the automated process (Also I personally would love to keep the filename as is).

I see your point however.

If you see no value in this feel free to ignore it, I just personally think it would be a good addition and make life easier for those edge cases that exists in the anime universe.

Edited July 10, 2023 by grenadecx

[Luke 42078]

I do think there's value and I've added your examples to our test cases to look at. When it comes to something like this though I just would prefer to always pursue automated improvements over manual ones if at all possible.

[grenadecx 6]

Thanks for being attentive and taking the time to reply. If you need anything or even more examples I'm happy to help