One of our traditions here on Beneath the Tangles is to celebrate by posting about 12 different Christmas-centered anime episodes leading up to and including Christmas Day. Each year, we do things a little differently and cover different episodes, though some favorites seem to make the list every year. Here’s a hint of what’s to come:
- A trio of unlikely guardians care for a baby
- All she wants for Christmas is to go to party with her first real friends
- A captain who is a irresponsible with Christmas Eve dates as with commanding his ship
As we begin tomorrow, I hope you’ll join us as we go along, and maybe even watch along with us, too!
Husband. Dad. Occasionally Korean. Enjoys Star Wars, ASOIAF, and Meg Ryan movies. Tweets before proofreading. Ghibli. Oregairuuuuu. Jesus is King. Follow me on Twitter (@thetangles).
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Twwk, these Japanese mangakas and animators don;t have a clue what Christmas is all about. Their take on Christmas is ridiculous at best, and stupid at worst,
Unfortunate, isn’t it? Especially given the utter glory of the actual holiday.
Yeah, they very rarely get the idea behind Christmas – in anime, it’s certainly portrayed more as a “love holiday” in addition being a family one. Strangely enough, “My Santa,” a fanservice-y anime that is kinda terrible actually mentions the reason for Christmas.
Then again, is their representation of Christmas much different from that in America these days? The Japanese know little about Christ, while most of us are raised knowing a great deal, so I think we may be worse offenders!
I was thinking that myself; it’s devoid of any Christian meaning, but Christmas has largely become that in America for the most part as well. If that’s what they see, then that’s how they’ll understand it. Incarnation of the Lord which subsequently deifies human nature? Bah, gimme them presents!
The first episode which came to mind was the Gintama episode featuring the Neo-Armstrong cannon or whatever. It takes place around Christmas and is one of the most hilarious episodes in that show.
Thanks for the recommendation! I’ve yet to see Gintama…it’s so ubiquitous, I don’t know how I’ve missed it.
I will say that some of the humor goes over the top, and certain episodes are very mediocre, even sentimental. Yet, they are often on the mark with humor hilarious enough to bring one to the floor with laughter. For that reason, it’s reached episode 256. I think that I stopped watching around episode 40, mostly because comedy can’t keep me focused on a series for much longer than that.
“A trio of unlikely guardians care for a baby”
Beelzebub? xD But nothing to do with Christmas D:
Not a bad guess! Wrong, but not bad. 😉
I get this feeling that #1 will be one of those old titles that still has 4:3 ratio lol
whoops, missed the Tokyo Godfathers post at below … oh the shame! LOL
I think #1 is Satoshi Kon’s Tokyo Godfathers, and #3 almost has to be Irresponsible Captain Tylor, but I’ve got no idea about #2.
That said I suspect I’ll be kicking myself when you reveal it. 🙂
You win! I could have been more subtle with number three, but I wondered if any readers at all had ever seen even a part of The Irresponsible Captain Tylor.
#2 sounds like some sort of shoujo. Kimi ni Todoke, perhaps?
It does sound very shoujo. And it is. And you’re right.
#2 Definitely Kimi ni Todoke.
Yep – definitely.
[…] of Anime”, detailing their favorite moments of anime they watched that year, blogs like Beneath the Tangles literally post Christmas-centered anime episodes. So I decided to take this in my own way too, […]