Saturday Anime: Christmas in Anime.

Merry Christmas! As promised, here comes the first edition of Saturday Anime.

To start off, I would like to direct your attention here as this link is where I got some of my examples for this article. Thanks to the original author!

So, Japan is a place where Animation has been one of the top forms of entertainment for decades. For example, Princess Mononoke, an animated fantasy epic and in my opinion the crowning achievement of Hayao Miyazaki's illustrious career, sold more tickets than Titanic in Japan. Japan is also a country that has known occupation by American Forces following World War II. As a result, there are some traditions that Americans brought with them that remain in one form or another. And Christmas is one of them.

As stated in the above link, in Japan, Christmas is quite a bit different, but also much the same as it is in traditionally Christian countries. While it is not a Holiday recognized by the Japanese Government and almost completely secular, it is still celebrated as a time of Exchanging Gifts, Romance, and an unearthly sense that the miraculous can come true in this special time of year. The Iconography revolves more around Santa, Gifts, Christmas Trees, and Cake than anything overtly religious. As a result of the romantic overtones attached to the Holiday in Japan, it if fairly common for anime with romantic overtones to include episodes or arcs that take place during Christmas.

Earlier this week, I watched a movie I always love this time of year. Tenchi Muyo: Manatsu no Eve. The second of the Tenchi movie trilogy, this one follows the events of the original OVA, which still ranks as my Favorite anime to date. While it isn't truly a Christmas Movie, as most of the events take place in the summer on Earth, some of the previously mentioned themes of Japanese Christmas are the driving force of the story. One typical summer day, Masaki Tenchi is surprised to find a young girl along the path to the old Masaki Shrine, and even more surprised when the girl claims to be his daughter. When Tenchi brings the girl, Mayuka, back to the Masaki house and the other girls here her claim, things get really interesting. As Mayuka and Ryoko clash verbally and physically, Washu quickly confirms that Mayuka is biologically Tenchi's Daughter. When Washu is unable to determine the identity of her mother and speculates that she must be from the future, the girls wonder if one of them could be Tenchi's eventual wife and Mayuka's Mother. However, Tenchi's Grandfather seems to knowingly intervene on the girls behalf and there is clearly something more to be known about Mayuka and here origins. As Mayuka befriends most of the girls while she stays at the house, they show her an album of photos taken from their Christmas Party the previous year. Mayuka becomes enamored with the holiday, and is overjoyed when Aeka and the others invite her to join their family and celebrate Christmas with them Next year. As events draw to their conclusion, Sasami reveals that it is Startica Season back on their home-world, and that Startica is very like Earth Christmas, even including decorating trees. Unfortunately, the sad truth of Mayuka's origin comes to light and tragedy strikes. The last act of the movie is heart wrenching, but in the final scene, a miracle occurs and restores the hope that Mayuka will celebrate Christmas with her new family.

Great Compilation Vid I found on YouTube: Spoilers!


Despite the fact that the majority of the film is not strictly a Christmas movie, I can't deny the fact that it gives me the Holiday's warm fuzzys.

A more direct example of the Japanese idea of Christmas in anime is the Love Hina Christmas Special. If you aren't familiar with Love Hina, I highly recommend it for a lot of the same reasons I recommend Tenchi Muyo.

The story revolves around Urashima Keitaro, a Ronin (Student who has studied for college entrance exams for over a year) who despite his poor performance in the past is determined to get into the toughest college in Japan, Tokyo U, in order to fulfill a childhood promise to a girl. Even though he has forgotten the identity of the girl, the memory of the promise drives him to continue to try. This is compounded by the fact that his grandmother leaves him in charge of the Hinata Inn, which has become an all-girls dorm. Not only does he have the added workload of running the dorm, but he is constantly distracted by the antics or attacks of it's tenants. However, one of the girls is also shooting for Tokyo U and eventually offers to help the hapless Keitaro study for the entrance exams. This girl, Narusegawa Naru, quickly becomes Keitaro's biggest distraction as he is besotted by her. From there, the primary narrative of the show revolves around Keitaro and Naru's could-be-couldn't-be romance, and this is still the case as the Christmas Special.

The Special primarily deals with the romantic aspects of Japanese Christmas. Naru is becoming frustrated with Keitaro, as his mock test scores have been slipping lately. What she doesn't know is that Keitaro's studies are suffering because he has taken a Holiday job, dressing as Santa to advertise Christmas Cakes (What did I tell you? It's all about the cake!) for a local bakery, in order to purchase a Christmas Gift for Naru. As the story unfolds, mishaps and miscommunications seem to doom the would-be/wont-be couple and all appears lost. However, a rumor of a matchmaking miracle and a last second turn around gives the viewer renewed hope that their relationship really does go deeper than mere study-buddies.

I love the feeling of hope that accompanies the ending of this special, and the romantic overtones of Japanese Christmas are in full force.

Overall, I like to watch several Christmas movies this time of year, but it just wouldn't be the Christmas Season without at least one of these flicks.

Anyway, that's all I have to say about that, I'll probably do a more traditional review next Saturday for Saturday Anime and I try to post a list of my 10 favorite Christmas shows/movies/whatever. Merry Christmas!