3 of the most festive Christmas episodes in anime
I am always fascinated by how anime explores cultural touchstones that aren’t necessarily common in Japan itself. While the world might seem like it shuts down for two weeks for Christmas in the west, in Japan, where there are relatively few Christians living in the country, the day doesn’t even warrant time off work. So when we see Christmas episodes in anime, I always find it interesting how the holiday is portrayed.
Plenty of shows have given us a Christmas-themed episode or two, but which ones are the most memorable? Which ones give us a unique take on the holiday? Here are some of our favourite Christmas episodes in anime.
Sword Art Online: Red Nose Reindeer
If you missed my exploration of Santa in JRPGs the other day, you might not know about my love for beating the heck out of a monstrous Santa Claus, but that is exactly what we get in this episode from season one of Sword Art Online. Not only that, but it does a surprisingly good job at exploring the loneliness that many experience in the holiday. Kirito, for the first time in the show’s run, has a real sense of vulnerability to him as he mourns the death of his first guild.
Looking for a way to revive a friend who had died in the game, Kirito discovers there is an item that drops when you defeat Nicholas the Renegade — who is terrifying, by the way — on December 24. Despite this not really being the true, it is the first time we see Kirito looking for a way to help someone other than himself. It was his first step toward being a likeable character. That is the kind of miracle we need from Christmas episodes in anime.
Rent-a-Girlfriend – Christmas and Girlfriend
This was one of my favourite shows of 2020, primarily because of how awkward every interaction between the main character Kazuya and Best Girl Chizuru is. When he sees her with another guy, he makes the very adult and mature decision to stalk her to find out if he is her real boyfriend. He is so hopeless it swings between endearing and concerning on a nearly constant basis.
While most stalking attempts are rewarded with a restraining order and a criminal record, Christmas episodes in anime tend to gloss over these sorts of things, so the situation isn’t quite as dire for Kazuya. After a busy day keeping tabs on the two of them, Kazuya interrupts what he thinks is a kiss only to find out that they are simply a pair of actors practicing their scripts together. Chizuru is rightly weirded out by his behaviour, but the scene ends on a surprisingly sweet moment. She gives him a Christmas present: a phone case to replace the one she broke earlier in the series. It is a genuinely wholesome moment in a show that thrives on them.
Dr. Stone – Spartan Crafts Club
Come, friends, and let me tell you the story of the man who would bring joy and hope to millions and had the power to bring people back from the dead. I am talking, of course, of the saviour of the Stone World, Senku Ishigami. Like most Christmas episodes in anime, this one is filled with classic imagery of the holiday. The lightbulbs the cast had been working so hard to create lined the tree while snow fell and everyone gathered around together.
The show had some issues around pacing, but moments like this were a highlight of its first season. This was a chance to pull back from the impending Stone War that the season was building up to and show how science could be used in a positive way. Thousands of years after the fall of mankind, the holiday spirit was still alive and well.
What are your favourite Christmas episodes in anime? Let us know down in the comments or via the usual social channels!
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