Lack of "animes" holidays special. (2024)

Hyper Luigi said:

Digimon had a whole arc that took place durring Christmas (in season 2).

Gundam Wing: Endless Waltz took place durring Christmas as well.

There are some Sailor Moon storys that take place durring Christmas, and Love Hina has a dedicated Christmas special.

So some shows do but not so many. I really wonder why Dragonball never had a Chirstmas special in all the episodes it has had. It'd be neat if Toei threw something together with some character design help from Toriyama.

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Digimon: Oh yeah, almost forgot that every episode from 38 to 50 in Adventures 02 took place from Christmas Eve to New Years Eve...but considering what happens in the final episodes, maybe its worth forgetting.

As for the Toei comment for DB/Z, actually its not like the original manga could have forgotten. Sometimes, even if the manga is stuck within a certain time or plot, the manga artist (like in some of the Weekly Jump stories) would have a Christmas-themed picture there just to mark the time in our calendar....(says that while looking at one for One Piece)

Speaking of Christmas in Japan...

...ever heard of the legend of Santa being crucified on a cross?

Arxane said:

Speaking of Christmas in Japan...

...ever heard of the legend of Santa being crucified on a cross?

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Oh yeah, the infamous crucified Santa urban legend. Something that probably received a lot of fame thanks to the guys at MST3K making reference to it whether they see a Japanese movie.

StrangerAtaru said:

Digimon: Oh yeah, almost forgot that every episode from 38 to 50 in Adventures 02 took place from Christmas Eve to New Years Eve...but considering what happens in the final episodes, maybe its worth forgetting.

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Let's not forget that they released CD Singles of the Digimon and their kids singing their own Christmas songs.

Well, in Japan christmas is almost purely secular, lacking the religious significance it has in America. Still, many anime do have Christmas specials. Some that come to mind include:

Tenchi the Movie 2 (sorta)
Urusei Yatsura
Ranma 1/2
Maison Ikkoku (which had GREAT specials, mind you)

I mean, it's not like when I think of american shows, I'm thinking of that many more Christmas specials, which are relegated to children's shows in America, very unlike Tenchi the Movie 2 (which is so adult it's outright gross)

For a country with less force behind Christmas then the US, Christmas manages to show a lot of secular power in Japan. Really, I think it's more than one would expect.

Yeah, the fact that there aren't many Christmas specials in anime as compared to American cartoons isn't that surprising. As it's been mentioned here, one problem is that anime shows generally have continuity and can't really just take a break to show a Christmas special, unlike American cartoons. Also, considering how small the Christian population is in Japan, I don't think anime companies really feel like going out of their way to please those few. That's probably why I've never heard of any Hanukkah specials in anime, either, since I think there's even less Jewish people in Japan than Christians.

That said, there are more than a few Christmas specials around in anime (like just today, I was flipping through the channels and saw that one Pokemon episode with Santa and the Jynxes). But they only deal with the secular part of Christmas, more or less.

Nick Biped said:

Yeah, the fact that there aren't many Christmas specials in anime as compared to American cartoons isn't that surprising. As it's been mentioned here, one problem is that anime shows generally have continuity and can't really just take a break to show a Christmas special, unlike American cartoons. Also, considering how small the Christian population is in Japan, I don't think anime companies really feel like going out of their way to please those few. That's probably why I've never heard of any Hanukkah specials in anime, either, since I think there's even less Jewish people in Japan than Christians.

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Yeah, Christians (including the Japanese version of Christianity) and Jews make up only ~1% of Japan's population. But it's not because the anime companies are out to please them. Like people said, Xmas is just another lover's holiday and an excuse to buy gifts. So companies take advantage of Xmas by playing out the romance and getting people to spend money.

Consequently, since Hanukkah doesn't have either tradition (romance or commerce), the Japanese see no reason to play it (certainly not for the few Jews). They don't play Xmas for the few Christians neither. Though if Hanukkah involved either romance or commerce, they'd play it too, for themselves (not for the Jews or Christians).

StrangerAtaru said:

As for the Toei comment for DB/Z, actually its not like the original manga could have forgotten. Sometimes, even if the manga is stuck within a certain time or plot, the manga artist (like in some of the Weekly Jump stories) would have a Christmas-themed picture there just to mark the time in our calendar....(says that while looking at one for One Piece)

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True, AT drew a group picture of the DBZ cast (Saiya-jin saga-era, minus Vegeta) all dressed in Santa Claus suits bearing bags over their shoulders (Yes, Piccolo, Tien, Chaouzu, Gohan, Chichi, and Bulma are included).

Aren't the last episodes of Gundam Wing set in Christmas? The prologue to Endless Waltz states that the Libra battle occurred on Christmas Eve.

A.Magik

The Christmas episodes of CCS and Ranma 1/2 are beautiful. Watch them.

The Pokemon one was funny and creative, but please don't get me started on Digimon 02...

A.Magik said:

Aren't the last episodes of Gundam Wing set in Christmas? The prologue to Endless Waltz states that the Libra battle occurred on Christmas Eve.

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The Gundam 0080 OVA is set right around Christmas.

Mynd Hed said:

Look at it this way: there are a lot more anime Christmas specials than there are American animated specials celebrating the birth of Buddha.

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But there are a lot more anime featuring the week of hanami, which is culturally significant. Celerating the birth of Buddha...I do not know of a place that does it at all.

Mynd Hed said:

Sweet Jesus, folks, it's called a joke. Lighten up.

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I thought it was funny. So if Christian Christmas is where you give people things they really want, would Buddhist Christmas be where you take away things people want, freeing them from world desire?