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Christmas can be just as big a holiday in Japan as it is in other parts of the world, but not for the reasons you would think. There are not that many Christians in Japan, so they don’t celebrate for the religious aspects. It’s celebrated more for the romantic aspect, decorating trees, and eating KFC. That is, in fact, a thing in Japan, thanks to a promotional campaign KFC did in the 1970s. 

After reading D&A Anime Blog’s post about anime Christmas Specials, I decided I wanted to do more myself. So I went online and found a Christmas episode for an anime I’ve been meaning to watch, Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid.

Here’s the synopsis first. This office worker named Kobayashi rescues this dragon from another dimension named Tohru, causing Tohru to fall in love with her. She (Tohru) then reveals she can turn into a human and starts living with Kobayashi as her maid. Then she gets joined by Tohru’s friend, Kanna, who is probably the winner for cutest anime character in 2017. It’s a cute slice-of-life anime, and the dub by Funimation is fairly good. If you like anime that are more laid-back and not as heavy on the action, I’d recommend it. Now onto the episode!

When one of Tohru’s friends from the town mall injures himself practicing for their annual Christmas Eve show at the local retirement home, she volunteers to put it on. So she gathers her friends, which include other dragons living on Earth, a young mage named Shouta, and Kanna’s classmate Saikawa who has a massive crush on her (as you can see in the above video at 1:50).

After trying to think up a bunch of ideas, they settle on a play of The Little Matchgirl. They try getting Shouta to dress as the matchgirl, but he’s too embarrassed. So they settle for Kanna, who is already cute enough (again as seen in the video)

We also get this cute little subplot during this whole thing. When Kanna gets worried they won’t be visited by Santa because they don’t have a chimney, Tohru…installs one for their apartment, right into Kanna’s room. That makes it hard for Kobayashi to give her her present without being caught. The struggle of every adult, I guess.

So Christmas Eve comes, and the play is performed, but it’s not the same as the story. The group ended taking some creative liberties with the story. The next thing I know, Shouta shows up as an old man selling straw hats (have to find out what story that’s from) and they turn into Magical Girls fighting alongside the 47 Ronin. That is literally what happens!

Fortunately, the elders love it, which is the whole point of the thing, so the play is a huge success. They then all head back to Kobayashi’s house for a Christmas Party, and the episode ends with Kobayashi and Tohru going for a ride in the night sky for Christmas. Well, the whole “Santa” thing happens after that, but that’s not the point. 

Overall, this was a nice Christmas episode. Like I said, Christmas isn’t as big a deal in Japan as it is to America, so there are not many anime Christmas specials. I loved this one, though, hilarity and all. Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid is a fun little slice of life.

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Yesterday, my friends at D&A Anime Blog posted the following: 5 Anime Christmas Specials That Will Get You In The Holiday Spirit! Good post, but it forgot one big anime Christmas Special. When I brought it up, they said the following:

I knew there was one we had missed!

Seeing as how I was planning on doing it already, I got you guys covered. Here’s the one they miss: Fairies’ Christmas from the anime Fairy Tail.

I am a big fan of Fairy Tail, and in my experience, people have two opinions on it: they either like it or hate its guts. Funimation managed to get a lot of talented voice actors to play roles on the show, many of whom fans may recognize for their roles in other anime.

It’s more than the casting, though: it’s the series sense of humor. Fairy Tail can go from being serious to incredibly silly in just a few scenes. It may cram the “power of friendship” down your throat at times, but it has its fair share of moments that are genuinely heart-warming. 

Alright, I am done defending myself. I like the show, and if anyone has a problem with that, I don’t care. On to the special!

Fairies’ Christmas

Wait. I should mention that to mention that this special is going to be a bit… PG-13 and up. If you know Fairy Tail, then you know why.

It’s Christmastime in the city of Magnolia, and everyone is in the process of getting ready for the holidays. The first half of the OVA is of the guild helping set up Christmas Decorations, but that’s not really important. The real fun starts at Lucy’s apartment when Erza invites herself and a bunch of others over for a Christmas Party. Everything is going fine… until the girls start drinking alcohol. No, I don’t know what the age limit is in their world, but it’s probably 18. There’s a bigger concern.

Never give Erza Scarlet alcohol of any kind. She’s scary enough as it is, but when she’s drunk, RUN. Pretty soon all the girls are drunk, though.

It gets worse. Hiro Mashima, Fairy Tail’s creator, likes teasing fans with shipping couples, so most of the girls (minus Wendy, because she’s a kid) start flirting with their respective ships. Then Erza gets jealous and forces everyone to play The Guild Master Game: they draw sticks, and whoever gets the one with the crown on gets to make everyone else do whatever they say.

Drunken Antics

It sounds fun and innocent, but it quickly gets out of control and Erza’s the only one having fun, since she’s still drunk. They finally end her reign of terror, and I’m not going to say what happens because I don’t want to spoil how. All you need to know is that she leaves the party, still drunk, and then runs into her childhood friend/possible boyfriend (stop teasing us, Mashima.), Jellal

This is where those heartwarming moments come into play. Erza quickly realizes the state she’s in and gets embarrassed. Jellal figures out what was going, and Erza admits that she got out of control because she was jealous of her friends. Jellal just offers her his coat and helps walk her to her home amidst the snow. 

It’s the kind of tender moment that I’ve come to expect from Fairy Tail, and it’s one of the reasons why I fell in love with the series in the first place. For an anime fan, I normally don’t find a lot of anime Christmas Specials because Christmas is not as big in Japan. People there celebrate it, but less for the religious aspect and more for spending time with loved ones. With that in mind, this was a really nice Christmas Special. I liked it, and I know that there are others out there who liked it. Speaking of which, if you want to watch it for yourself, here’s the OVA;

Other Anime Christmas Material

If you want to read D&A Anime Blog’s post, click here. And since tonight was the series finale for Hellsing Ultimate Abridged, here’s a quick Christmas Special they did:

See you tomorrow guys!

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Growing up, A Charlie Brown Christmas had always been a staple of Christmastime, as it was with many kids in America. This special, alongside It’s The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, is what introduced me to the Peanuts. I actually went through a phase in my childhood where I read, watched, and played anything related to the Peanuts. But I think I like their Christmas Specials the most out of all of them. There are, in fact, more than one, like Charlie Brown’s Christmas Tales.

I actually missed most of this year’s broadcast of A Charlie Brown Christmas, but I was able to watch the follow up, Charlie Brown’s Christmas Tales. It’s not as classic as the first Peanuts Christmas Special, being released in 2002, but it’s still a fun little special to watch. 

There is no overarching plot to the special: it’s just the kids and animals preparing for Christmas. But I think this actually works to its advantage. It hearkens back to the comic strip from which Peanuts was born. It’s Peanuts at its simplest, but also it’s most entertaining.

Peanuts Are the Best

I will always like Peanuts, and I hope that they manage to stick around for a long, long time. This is a brief blog, but that is because I don’t think I can say anything that hasn’t already been said about the Peanuts. I like Charlie Brown, and no matter how many times I may see his specials, I will always want to watch them once more when the holidays come around. They are timeless classics and staples of the American Holiday Season.

I hope that Charlie Brown and his friends stay popular well into the future, as they help to tie generations of people together through a common interest. And if The Peanuts Movie proved anything, its that the gang still has some stories left to spare. Merry Christmas, Charlie Brown!

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This is one of the stranger Christmas Specials that I’ve seen. I actually found it by complete accident one day. Supermansion is this show that is done in the style of Robot Chicken: with action figures for the characters. It’s got a lot of good talent on it, with Bryan Cranston playing the lead, and Matthew Seinrich and Seth Green from Robot Chicken working on it as well, so I thought I’d give it a shot. Plus, Jim Parsons is in it, and I like him from The Big Bang Theory. So here is Supermansion: War on Christmas. Lets see some Santa!

Evil Santa is Born

After Cooch the talking cat learns from Titanium Rex that Santa Claus isn’t real, she stumbles into his hall of confiscated villain weapons and meets a magic alien doll thing, voiced by Jim Parsons. I wish I could show you the video of his song and dance, but Sony won’t let me.

Bottom line, Mr. Skibumpers grants a person a wish in exchange for his freedom, and Cooch wishes for Santa to be real. It’s awesome at first, but Santa is quickly freaked out by all the job entails and goes crazy!

Honestly, I think this special is supposed to be a commentary about how scary it would if Santa were real. I don’t really know. The good news is the heroes resolve everything and turn Santa sane again using his magic bag to give him peace of mind. He moves to the North Pole and promises to come back every Christmas like the legends say.

This is not your normal holiday special, but it pretty much admits that at the end, courtesy of Mr. Skibumpers… who says that if he gets out of being wood (he got tricked by Titanium Rex), he’s gonna kill everyone. It’s still a laugh riot, though. I thought this was one of the most original holiday specials I had seen in a while, hence why I came back to it. If you haven’t seen it, you can buy it on YouTube or watch it if you have Sony Crackle. Just make sure no one under 17 (16 at the least) watches it. Happy Holidays!

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HAPPY HOLIDAYS, everyone! It’s time to kick off my 25 days of Christmas. I watch a new Christmas Special every day and talk about it with you guys. And it just so happens that a new one came on this morning. So, here’s my first special, Last Christmas from Disney’s Ducktales!

A Dr. Scrooge Christmas

Next to Ducktales, Scrooge McDuck is probably most famous for playing his namesake in Mickey’s A Christmas Carol. When this special starts, he also seems to hate Christmas as much as Ebeneezer Scrooge did. He scoffs at everything Christmas related, and even goes “Bah, humbug!” It looks like he’s set for another Christmas Ghost visit. And he gets it… though not in the way you’d think!

Turns out the Ghosts of Christmas met him years ago after mistaking him for Ebeneezer, and every year they go back in time to party for Christmas. Scrooge’s just faking hating Christmas… except for Santa, he hates him.

Things Get Crazy

Long story short, Scrooge goes off to party, only for the Ghost of Christmas Past to get upset at the idea of Scrooge leaving them to spend Christmas with his family. Fight ensues, and Past (played by Jack McBrayer) gets stranded in the past.

The second half… okay, I didn’t pay attention as much as I should have. But Dewey ends up back in the past where he meets his Uncle Donald as a kid. He also manages to meet his mom as a kid. Considering how hard he tried to find out what happened to their mom last season, this was a very emotional moment for him. It doesn’t take long for Donald and Della to figure out he’s a relative from the future (Duck Family after all) and then Scrooge comes to get him, along with Past.

Oh, yeah! Past got stuck in the past and got turned into a monster because he was so lonely missing Scrooge. So to make up to him, Scrooge invites the Ghosts to a Christmas Party with his family.

I Love This!

I loved this special overall. The “Christmas Carol” premise has been repeated a lot in the annals of Pop Culture, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen it subverted and then tossed like this! There were also plenty of references to Mickey’s A Christmas Carol, and even a reference to Scrooge’s first appearance! But the best part is that we get a look at Della in the present day. The Season One finale revealed that she’s still alive and stuck on the Moon (how is she breathing, though?), and from the looks of things, she’s working on making a new spaceship to get her home. I really hope we get to see that play out to the end. Ducktales is one of the best cartoons Disney has right now, and I can’t wait to see what they do next.

Overall, this was a memorable Christmas special and the perfect way to start my countdown. Happy Holidays Everyone! I love Ducktales Christmas!

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Ho-ho-ho, Internet!! Tomorrow marks the start of the Christmas Season. For me. I don’t count the days after Thanksgiving until December 1st. It’s a quirk. It’s the 25 Days of Christmas!

But that’s not why I am here. I’m here for Holiday traditions. It’s a tradition of mine during this time of year where I watch at least one holiday special or movie a day to get me jazzed for Christmas. This year, I have a blog, so I thought “why not make this a theme?” So that’s my plan.

Check back every day leading up to Christmas to see what special I’ve watched. I’ll be giving you my honest thoughts and what I liked and hated about it, all leading up to Christmas Day. If you’ve got a good holiday special that I haven’t seen, let me know in the comments below! If I watch it, I’ll give you a shout out.

Until tomorrow, Happy Holidays, no matter what religion you follow!

Now, let’s watch a clown ride a christmas tree. Take it away, Joker

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