Summary
Christmas anime in Japan often focuses on romance and love confessions, adding a unique touch to the holiday spirit. Some animated Christmas episodes prioritize friendship and family relationships over romance, creating touching and humorous moments. Even in action-packed anime like My Hero Academia, Christmas episodes provide comedic relief and a break from the serious plot.
Although holiday traditions in Japan are different from those in Western countries, Christmas is still a time of hope, joy and togetherness – the best of all. Christmas cartoon memory. In Japan, Christmas is considered a romantic holiday, meaning that many popular romance anime culminate when the stars finally confess their love on Christmas Eve. That means there are a lot of really good episodes vying for a spot on this list.
Screen Rant’s pick of the ten best Christmas anime celebrates those who embrace the holiday spirit to create beautiful, heartwarming moments. These Christmas-themed episodes and specials prove that the best part of the Christmas spirit is multiculturalism.
10 Azumanga Daioh
Azumanga Daioh seizes the opportunity to change Chiyo-chichi’s appearance
Although Christmas only plays a small role in Azumanga Daioh, The Christmas episode is the perfect example of this series’ best and funniest gag, showcases Azumanga Daioh’s surreal sense of humor. When ten-year-old genius Chiyo tries to explain where Christmas presents come from, the other characters interpret this to mean that Santa Claus is actually Chiyo’s father. Since the characters all imagine Chiyo’s father as a big orange cat, this leads to a hilarious fantasy of Daddy-Cat wearing a Santa hat, wishing Chiyo a Merry Christmas.
9 K-On!
K-On! Choose friendship over romance
Kyoto Animation’s famous Slice of Life series K-On! there’s a Christmas episode, but it’s a marked change of pace from the usual romance-focused depictions of the holiday, focusing instead on friendships and family relationships. Even seven episodes into the series, it’s clear that the After School Tea Time members have become cherished friends and that Sawako is their trusted advisor.
The most touching aspect of the episode is the recurring theme of the sisterly bond between Yui and Ui, which is depicted as having existed since they were both little girls. There’s also a lot of intrigue in the episode and Mugi’s impression of a sunfish is one of the funniest gags in the entire series.
8 My Hero Academia
MHA uses Christmas to dispel the gloom
The idea of supernatural characters doing mundane, everyday things is a great premise for creating humor. The Christmas episode of My Hero Academia season five is an excellent example of this. The episode begins on a dark note, foreshadowing impending tragedy and disaster, but that is put aside at least until Class 1-A’s Christmas party lasts. There’s an inherently humorous quality to seeing superheroes dressed as Santa Claus, and that’s true even when those heroes are teenagers in high school. My Hero Academia fully embraces the comedic potential of this situation for a light-hearted respite in the spirit of the holiday season, breaking up the more serious story lines.
7 How heavy are the dumbbells you lift?
Romantic failure offers many opportunities for comedy
How heavy are the dumbbells you lift? is up there with the best fitness anime of all time, specifically focusing on the importance of having a group of like-minded gym friends. The four girls’ friendship group is what drives both the plot and the humor of the series. The main conflict, for example, in the anime’s Christmas-themed tenth episode is the girls’ futile attempts to find boyfriends at their gym’s Christmas party. The girls aren’t particularly successful in that endeavor, and the series’ often sarcastic narrator provides much of the humor as he continues to comment on their misdeeds.
6 close friends
A heartwarming Christmas episode… about a young girl’s father being assassinated
For an episode that culminates in a violent gunfight, The first episode of Buddy Daddies was surprisingly touching. Hired assassin Kazuki infiltrates a Christmas party in a trafficker’s apartment dressed as Santa Claus to assassinate the criminal. Meanwhile, the trafficker’s estranged daughter arrives hoping to meet her father for the first time. After claiming to be her father to help her escape danger, Kazuki realized that her real father was the target he had just assassinated. Thanks to some truly dark coincidences, Miri gets a Christmas miracle, kicking off the adorable Found Family anime.
5 Strawberry Marshmallows
Brotherly love creates a warm Christmas season
The central theme behind the anime Slice of Life Strawberry Marshmallow is that being siblings is equally frustrating and rewarding. Throughout the series, Nobue’s younger sister Chika and her friends Miu, Matsuri and Ana are portrayed as the biggest source of disappointment in her life, even as Nobue is also portrayed as sincere and real. concern for her sister and her friends.
This is best shown in the Christmas episode, when Nobue, Chika, Miu, and Ana dress up as Santa and his reindeer to personally deliver Christmas gifts to Matsuri to maintain the sense of wonder. nature and her belief in Santa Claus. It’s a remarkably selfless act and a surprising display of Christmas spirit for a character like Nobuewho always seems distant and uncaring.
4 Sailor Moon S: The Movie
The tuxedo mask steals the show
The second Sailor Moon movie saw the Sailors fight an ice-themed villain and had a pretty neat subplot about Luna temporarily becoming human. Tuxedo Mask, as usual, shows up just in time to help Sailor Moon, but this time he’s dressed as Santa Claus, while piloting a giant Christmas-themed airship complete with sleigh and reindeer to wish Sailor Moon and Chibi-Moon a Merry Christmas and HAPPY NEW YEAR. It makes very little sense, but it’s a really lovely moment that makes the most of the Christmas theme.
3 Kaguya-sama: Love is war
Kaguya and Miyuki’s romance is taken seriously
Much of the humor in Kaguya-sama: Love is War stems from the fact that the two romantic leads Kaguya and Miyuki are sharp and intelligent but turn into absolute idiots when around each other, increasingly going to absurd lengths to avoid having to confess his feelings. All this is helped along by a wonderfully sarcastic narrator. But despite this silly premise, Kaguya-sama has real emotional appeal.
The scene where Kaguya and Miyuki are finally honest about their feelings is touching. Kaguya-sama’s Christmas episode is the best proof of this. While never completely abandoning the series’ signature humor, the Christmas episode is the most sincere and straightforward depiction of Kaguya and Miyuki’s romance.
2 Love Hina
Love Hina Nail the ‘Christmas Eve Confession’
Love Hina is one of the most popular romance anime series and perhaps one of the genre’s best examples of a plot driven by constant false starts. As a child, Keitaro promised to study at Tokyo University with a girl whose name he has forgotten. Every time it looks like Naru will be confirmed as the girl, another potential candidate is introduced, and every time it looks like Naru and Keitaro will finally confess and finally be together again, then Something happened that caused them to be apart.
Thanks to Naru and Keitaro’s increasingly close relationship, Love Hina’s Christmas special is one of the most memorable moments in the series. The Christmas special is one of anime’s best examples of a Christmas confession. It took the entire original anime series, plus almost the entire length of the special, but Naru finally confessed to Keitaro.
1 Tokyo Godfather
Tokyo Godfathers is the best Christmas anime out there
On Christmas Eve, three homeless friends discover an abandoned baby and race to return her to her parents. Although the story has a certain surreal quality and the plot is driven by a series of coincidences, there are no overt supernatural elements like Satoshi Kon’s other films. Indeed, Tokyo Godfathers is most notable for being an incredibly beautiful and moving film, filled with the spirit of hope and joy. Not only is this an anime about Christmas, but it also truly embodies the holiday spirit – so this is our best pick Christmas cartoon to watch this holiday season.