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*Literature/{{Anpanman}}: Annual Christmas episodes/specials have been produced for the TV series ever since 1988. The first one produced was episode 12 "Kieta Santa Claus".
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*''Anime/IdolAngelYokosoYoko'': In the Christmas episode, Yoko reveals that she believes in Santa Claus, but Saki says she'd rather receive a gift from a boyfriend than Santa. It also doubles as a [[GreenAesop Green Episode]] since the girls visit a farm and are told that if they don't take care of the environment, Earth's oxygen levels will fall 3% by 2020.
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* The penultimate chapter of ''Manga/IMarriedMyFemaleFriend'' takes place on Christmas. Unfortunately for the main couple, Ruriko is a pastry chef, so Christmas is the busiest day of the year for her, which prevents her and her wife Kurumi from having any romantic plans. Nevertheless, Kurumi decides to treat Ruriko extra-nicely when she gets home exhausted, giving her tender loving care and stew for dinner.
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* ''Manga/SleepyPrincessInTheDemonCastle'' has several of these:
** In one chapter, Syalis writes a letter to Santa requesting a high-tech sleep pod and knits a giant stocking for it. Unfortunately for her, Demon Santa considers her the naughtiest person in the castle, so the stocking ends up filled with coal and potatoes. The subsequent chapter sees her attending the demons' Christmas party and attempting to rig the Bingo tournament because the sleep pod she wanted is the prize. [[spoiler: She fails because she falls asleep during Demon Cleric's incredibly long speech.]]
** The next year, she manages to convince the demons to take her back home... [[PlayAlongPrisoner so she can retrieve her winter wardrobe and take it back to the demon castle]].
** The year after that, she ends up with ''another'' stocking full of coal and potatoes from Demon Santa, prompting the rest of the demons to try to cheer her up.
** The following year shows her accompanying Quilladillo to his family home and celebrating New Years there.
** In one chapter, Syalis writes a letter to Santa requesting a high-tech sleep pod and knits a giant stocking for it. Unfortunately for her, Demon Santa considers her the naughtiest person in the castle, so the stocking ends up filled with coal and potatoes. The subsequent chapter sees her attending the demons' Christmas party and attempting to rig the Bingo tournament because the sleep pod she wanted is the prize. [[spoiler: She fails because she falls asleep during Demon Cleric's incredibly long speech.]]
** The next year, she manages to convince the demons to take her back home... [[PlayAlongPrisoner so she can retrieve her winter wardrobe and take it back to the demon castle]].
** The year after that, she ends up with ''another'' stocking full of coal and potatoes from Demon Santa, prompting the rest of the demons to try to cheer her up.
** The following year shows her accompanying Quilladillo to his family home and celebrating New Years there.
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* ''Manga/IchigoMashimaro'' concludes with one of these. Nobue tries to preserve Matsuri's belief in Santa Claus by shutting down Miu's attempts to tell her the truth, and by dressing up as Santa Claus herself.
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Note that in Japan, Christmas has roughly the same cultural significance as Valentine's Day does in the West -- so Anime Christmas Episodes can have an additional romance theme to them. See UsefulNotes/ChristmasInJapan for details. Return to the main page [[ChristmasEpisode here]].
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* ''Literature/ACertainMagicalIndex'': The Genesis Testament series is set in the leadup to the Christmas holidays, with Touma stuck in makeup schoolwork, while Mikoto being taken in by the atmosphere of the season.
* ''Anime/{{Aggretsuko}}: A Very Metal Christmas'' is heavily invested in the holiday's significance in Japan, with a lot of weight put on finding a date for Christmas Eve...plus Retsuko working on her Instagram game.
* ''Manga/AiYoriAoshi: Enishi'''s Christmas Episode doubled as a ShoutOut to ''Manga/AhMyGoddess''.
* In episode 8 / Chapter 26 of ''Manga/AsteroidInLove'', the [[ClubStub Earth Sciences Club]] enjoys a hot pot and stargazes. The girls of the Newspaper club get in on this, too, dressing up in seasonal costumes.
* ''Manga/AzumangaDaioh'' had one of these. Complete with Chiyo-Dad as Santa; courtesy of Sakaki's imagination. The manga had two instances.
* ''Anime/TheBigO'' episode "Daemonseed" takes place on "Heaven's Day", a day of gift-giving whose origins have been lost to the amnesiac residents of Paradigm City. At the end, Alex Rosewater says, "Tell me, Chief, do you know the real meaning behind Heaven's Day? It's the day God's son was born." Also, a HumongousMecha fights a mutant Christmas tree. This could be a subtle subversion, as later revelations about Rosewater indicate he was probably talking about [[AGodAmI himself]].
* The ''Manga/ChronoCrusade'' anime has an episode where Chrono, Rosette, and Azmaria celebrate Christmas with the rest of the Magdalene Order before they begin their journey to California to save Joshua. The manga follows a slightly different timeline and mentions Christmas, but doesn't have a traditional "episode" per se--the final battle actually takes place over Christmas Eve and ends at sunrise on Christmas Day.
* ''Manga/CrayonShinChan'' had an episode with 3 Christmas themed parts, the first being about a troupe of performers coming to Shin's kindergarten class to put on a play, the second about Shin helping his mother (and her firends) give away some gifts and the third about Shin's parents fretting over how they're going to get their son a Christmas present.
* ''Anime/DaiGuard'' has one where the cast attempted to have a Christmas party, but threat of attack forced everyone to wait on standby. They simply move the party to Dai-Guard's hanger and invite the repair and ground crew to join them.
* The ''Manga/DeathNote'' manga had a couple of [[{{Yonkoma}} four-panel cartoons]] with Light and Ryuk. "Since when do {{shinigami}} celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ?"
* ''Anime/DigimonAdventure02'' used the Christmas episode for a RelationshipUpgrade.
* ''Manga/{{Doraemon}}'' has plenty of these.
* ''Manga/DoctorSlump'' has three of them, each with a BadSanta of its own.
** The first one has Senbei putting on the Santa Claus disguise to hand out "presents" (his autographs). No one likes them -- the chapter ends with the villagers tossing out his autographs left and right the next day.
** The second one involves an old martial artist on a mountaintop appointing his young pupil for the role of handing out presents in Santa Claus custome. Said pupil delivers presents by ''knocking down locked doors and knocking out anyone who wakes up from the commotion''. The villagers converge the next day to beat up "Santa Claus" in return.
** The last one has [[MadScientist Dr.]] [[TakeOverTheWorld Mashirito]] carrying out his plan to eliminate the Norimaki family, which involves using a remote-controlled robot doll in the appearance of Santa Claus (Camamel Man #8) to deliver [[MadBomber a bag of bombs that activate upon opening the bag]].[[note]]The plot doesn't work out for him -- he has the bag of bombs placed next to two bags he believes are presents (they turn out to be bags of trash instead). [[SpannerInTheWorks Midori grabs the bags the next morning and hands them to the trash collectors without bothering to open any of the bags, one of which falls off the truck on the way to the landfill and lands in front of Dr. Mashirito's lab.]] Dr. Marishito takes a look to see what's in the bag... and [[LaserGuidedKarma gets the full blast]] [[HoistByHisOwnPetard from his own bag of bombs]].[[/note]]
* While ''Manga/{{Eyeshield 21}}'' is not essentially Christmas themed, the Deimon Devil Bats aspire to [[spoiler:and eventually do]] go to the Christmas Bowl, the biggest game of the year played on Christmas.
* ''Manga/DrStone'': Senku uses their newly created lights to decorate a tree as snow starts to fall, Gen then realizes Senku figured it was Christmas, just as Santa flies over the sky.
* The first half of Episode 9 in ''Manga/GabrielDropout'' has the cast celebrate Christmas indoors.
* In later volumes of ''Manga/HappyHappyClover'', the main characters Clover and Mallow discover the story of Santa Claus. But their school teacher, named "Professor Hoot" takes the book away from them and doesn't allow them to read the rest of it. Since he told them that the whole Santa story was for "Grown-Ups". But Clover tells about Santa Clause to Kale's baby brothers, which he would later find out and start ripping the letters to shreds. Clover and her friends then decided to deliver their Christmas gifts to Kale's brothers much to their amusement on Christmas morning. Near the end of the story, Clover and her friends wake up and see presents laying around them home wondering if Santa actually did visit them on Christmas Eve.
* ''Anime/{{Hamtaro}}'' has several of them, the first involving the Ham-hams making sure that Boss has a good Christmas since "Santa never comes to field hamsters" and the second involving Hamtaro playing the part of Santa Claus and delivering presents to his friends, with a little help from Bijou. [[NoExportForYou And it had (at least) three more that were never dubbed in English]]
* ''Anime/HetaliaAxisPowers'' had a special with [[MoeAnthropomorphism Finland]] dressing up as Santa and answering fan mail with his puppy Blood-Smeared Flower Egg. [[spoiler:France then hijacks the special and runs around molesting other countries and forcing them to strip]].
** There was also one where the Allies and Axis are visited by Finland as Santa, who gives them gifts, and one where Italy, Germany and Japan interview the other countries about their Christmas traditions. In the Webcomic, there's a strip where Britain and Germany call a truce on Christmas and play a game of soccer/football, based on a real-life event. There is an episode in the anime where America holds a Christmas party.
** And then came Manga/HetaliaBloodbath2010...
* ''Manga/HowHeavyAreTheDumbbellsYouLift'': In episode 10, the cast attends a Christmas party at the Silverman gym dressed in festive attire, such as Santa and Reindeer costumes.
* Episode 12 of ''Manga/ICantUnderstandWhatMyHusbandIsSaying'' takes place on Christmas, but Kaoru and Hajime can't spend the day together due to Kaoru having to work late. So Hajime goes to a party with Kaoru's friends and their husbands. And since she has to work the next day, they can't spend any time together that night either, so it ends with Hajime reaching for a box of tissues.
* ''Manga/IchigoMashimaro'' concludes with one of these. Nobue tries to preserve Matsuri's belief in Santa Claus by shutting down Miu's attempts to tell her the truth, and by dressing up as Santa Claus herself.
%% ZCE * ''Anime/TheIdolmaster'' has one of these.
* Episode 11 of ''Manga/IsTheOrderARabbit'' starts with a Christmas Market[[note]]The premise is located in a Japanese town which looks more like a German one[[/note]], and the main bulk of the plot has the girls and the side characters working at Rabbit House to serve customers during this time of year. Cocoa also secretly gives Chino a present while she's sleeping, but then falls asleep next to her, though Chino appreciates the thoughts behind the gift.
* The ''Anime/IrresponsibleCaptainTylor'' OVA episode "White Christmas" has Tylor trying to make a Christmas Eve date with Yuriko, only to get sidetracked by a kid whose mother is stuck working late.
* ''Manga/ItsudatteMySanta'': the whole thing is a [[GoshDangItToHeck friggin']] Christmas Episode!
* ''Toys/{{Jewelpet}}'':
** ''Anime/Jewelpet2009'': Episode 38, in which BigBad Dian decides to ruin Christmas for everyone using a brainwashed Io. At the end it turns out that Santa Claus is way cool.
** ''Anime/JewelpetTwinkle'': Episode 39 features Akari taking her love interest Yuuma on a tour of Jewel Land on Christmas Day.
** ''Anime/JewelpetSunshine'': Episode 38. The first half is about the Jewelpets helping Sakuran do her job as Santa's helper. The second half is a messed up midnight mass, only with a {{Jerkass}} CrystalDragonJesus instead of plain ol' Jesus.
** ''Anime/JewelpetKiraDeco'': Episode 38, in which Peridot is Santa's helper and instead of reindeer, Santa uses an ice turkey-phoenix thing to get around.
** ''Anime/JewelpetHappiness'': Episode 38, about the gang setting up their Cafe for Christmas, only to have an overeager Jewelpet screw things up. Nene and Mouri develop their romance as a bonus.
** ''Anime/LadyJewelpet'': Episode 38 shows Christmas as celebrated by Petit Ladies in the Royal Palace. Much romantic drama ensues between Momona, Cayenne and Elena.
* ''Manga/KOn'' and its manga has one of these.
* The Christmas arc of ''Manga/KaguyaSamaLoveIsWar'' had multiple shake-ups to the status quo. Most notably, [[spoiler:Kaguya and Shirogane finally confess their feelings to each other and start dating.]]
* ''Manga/KaitouSaintTail''. Interestingly, in the manga, the corresponding chapter had nothing to do with Christmas at all.
** Particularly baffling since the manga does have one or two Christmas chapters.
* ''Anime/{{Kamichu}}'' has a Christmas episode. Pretty interesting, considering the show follows the daily life of a Shinto Goddess. Although keep in mind that episode had the show's resident HotBlooded {{Miko}} [[http://i49.tinypic.com/30c6aza.jpg get offended]] about the foreign holiday and invent "[[YouMeanXmas Yurie's Year-End Thanksgiving Day]]" as a Shintoist alternative.
* A bonus chapter in ''Manga/KingdomHearts358DaysOver2'' is set on a rather cold day, in which most members of Organization XIII decided to take a day off against Saïx's wishes.
* ''Manga/KitsuneNoYomeiri'':
** Chapter 9 has [[AsianFoxSpirit Kyouka]] experience her first Christmas when she and Ousuke visit the Yamato household for a Christmas party where they dress up in Christmas costumes, eat a Christmas feast and take part in an obstacle course race. The episode also serves to introduce Aria Yamato, Tarou's younger sister.
** Chapter 21 sees Kyouka, Hinata, Kumi & Aria make a Christmas Cake so that [[spoiler:Hinata can use it as bait in a trap for Santa]].
* In ''Manga/KimagureOrangeRoad'' the Christmas episode involved Kasuga [[SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong time traveling]] [[ResetButton three times]] in order to create a Christmas Eve meeting that didn't leave either [[LoveTriangle Hikaru or Madoka]] furious at him, due to the [[SeriousBusiness Serious implications]] of a [[WackyMarriageProposal Christmas Eve Date]].
* The ''Manga/LoveHina'' Christmas special focuses on Keitaro and Naru trying to meet up with each other while it is still Christmas Eve.
* ''Anime/MagicalGirlLyricalNanohaAs'':
** Episode 9 is called "Christmas Eve". It starts out like a Christmas episode up until Nanoha and Fate visit the hospital where Hayate's staying so she won't be alone on Christmas. Little do they know that Hayate's the MoralityPet of their enemies and the {{Mana}} battery for their ArtifactOfDoom. What follows is AnAssKickingChristmas that lasts for 3 episodes.
** Episode 11 is called "A Present For Christmas", although more than one present is given. [[spoiler: Fate gets to meet Alicia, and The Book of Darkness [[MeaningfulRename gets a name]] (Reinforce).]]
** The first Megami [[AudioAdaptation Sound Stage]] takes place on Christmas Eve in ''A's'', although strangely enough, it suggests that after Nanoha and Fate visited Hayate, they went to training without any further problems. In the sound stage, Nanoha and Fate discuss topics like believing in Santa and what they do to celebrate Christmas, in addition to their thoughts on the current situation.
* ''Manga/MermaidMelodyPichiPichiPitch'', twice. There were actually three episodes that took place on Christmas, but one was plot-important and didn't focus on the holiday itself... [[spoiler: although it did have a Christmas birth.]]
* ''Manga/MissKobayashisDragonMaid'':
** Chapter 8 had Tohru decide to throw a Christmas party. Due to the anime rearranging the timeline, the party was changed into an excuse for Kobayashi to get out of the company cherry blossom viewing festival. The anime had its own Christmas episode later on when all the dragons performed a [[DerailedFairyTale very loose adaptation]] of ''Literature/TheLittleMatchGirl'' at a retirement home.
** ''Kanna's Daily Life'' had it's own Christmas chapter, where Kanna and Saikawa spend the day handing out cookies to people as good deeds so Santa will bring them presents. It ends with the cast having another Christmas party, though neither Kanna or Saikawa take part [[SleepCute due to them having fallen asleep]].
* ''Manga/MyHeroAcademia'': The anime's fifth season has one appropriately titled "Have a Merry Christmas!" taking place on Christmas. Oddly though, the episode aired in June.
* There is also one in ''Manga/NinjaNonsense'', in which Kaede shows the {{Ninja}}s the ''true'' meaning of Christmas. HilarityEnsues. (Honestly, that episode is one of the funniest of that series, hands down).
* ''Manga/{{Nisekoi}}'' had a story arc in the manga that ran from late 2012 to early 2013 that dealt with Raku attempting to get Chitoge's extremely busy mother to spend time with her daughter on Christmas.
* ''Manga/OnePiece'': The anime had a filler (which went on to become regular filler) of the cast in Feudal Japan with Luffy as a detective. The first episode had a Christmas ending with Chopper, who was vaguely busy all day, being one of Santa's reindeer. Chopper, the blue-nosed reindeer.
%% ZCE * ''Anime/{{Ojarumaru}}'' has one of these.
* The 28th episode of the ''Anime/PaRappaTheRapper'' anime has [=PaRappa=] work up the courage to ask Sunny Funny to dance with him at the Christmas party, then having to retrieve Sunny's heart when it gets stolen by a witch who hates Christmas due to never being invited to Christmas parties.
* ''Manga/PingPong'': An unorthodox one, at best. The manga never added any scenes implying Christmas had passed. However, Yuasa and his team made sure Episode 6 changed that. The episode covers material that was in Chapters 5, 6, and 7 of the second volume. In addition, it plays out how the five prodigies spent Christmas following the first tournament.
* ''Anime/PokemonTheSeries'' has several episodes that are Christmas- or winter-themed, and the ''true'' [[Recap/PokemonHolidayHiJynx Christmas one]] ended up being banned from TV for containing Jynx, perceived by one woman to be an offensive caricature (but not before it got released to video).
* ''Anime/PrettyCure'' series tend to have a Christmas episode every year. Starting with ''Anime/HeartcatchPrettyCure'', they began to be plot-heavy stories that go directly into the finale, whereas earlier ones tend to be something of a BreatherEpisode before that (such as the girls having to fight a giant snowman or Santa's sleigh).
* ''Manga/RanmaOneHalf'' has one with nearly all of the characters appearing in it, at least for a little bit.
* ''Manga/RockLeesSpringtimeOfYouth'': In Episode 39, the Hidden Leaf Village throws a big Christmas party with many shinobi competing for affections, then the Secret Santa turns into a survival battle.
* The Three Sisters Agency was started on Christmas in ''Anime/RODTheTV''. The episode shows them sharing birthday cake with Nenene. Another features a particularly heartwarming episode that doubles as a Christmas episode and an OriginsEpisode for the Paper Sisters.
* ''Franchise/SailorMoon'':
** [[Anime/SailorMoon The 90s anime]] did not have a literal Christmas Episode, but the [[Anime/SailorMoonSTheMovie second movie]] is implied to take place during Christmas. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q9lNelJcDHc Say what you will, but it gave us this scene.]] Added to that, the girls form a Christmas tree to fight the villain.
** This is more explicit in the [[Manga/SailorMoon manga story]] the film was based on, [[spoiler: where Luna's transformation is treated as a Christmas gift.]]
* ''Manga/SchoolRumble'': Harima uses Tenma's present for Karasuma as transportation.
* ''Manga/SgtFrog'' had an episode where Keroro plots to take over the world at Christmas while everyone's guard is down, but everyone drops out one by one. Eventually he goes to help Kogoro by dressing up as Santa and giving away Christmas presents (so as to get onto Santa's good list and to get a present for Christmas).
* ''Manga/SingYesterdayForMe'': Episode 9 and part of 10 of the anime takes place on Christmas. This being [[UsefulNotes/ChristmasInJapan Japan]], the event is an opportunity to advance the romantic plot. Haru spends the evening at work in a special Christmas cosplay outfit. Rikuo spends the evening third-wheeling at a "party" with his college friend and his wife, and invited Shinako, though she declines to spend it with Rou. Shinako couches her Christmas gathering as continuing the tradition of spending the day with family (Rou), but he clearly understands the romantic subtext and passes over a party with his friends to try to make a move on Shinako. Shinako leaves early after rejecting Rou yet again and patronizingly telling him to study, and shows up unexpectedly at Rikuo's party. [[spoiler: Rikuo uses this opportunity to give her a necklace, a romantic gesture that pushes them closer towards being a couple.]]
* ''Manga/ShugoChara'': The show tends to move with the date upon the episode's creation and further release, and, therefore has several ones taking placed within winter: however only a portion (One where Su loses her way home, and upon being found via Amu and her other Chara, Amulet Clover is created for the first time, and one involving Amu strengthen her path with Lulu at her house within christmas, and some more, slightly less christmas focused ones around them.) are more than slight Christmas-related tryings.
* ''Manga/ShugoCharaParty'' also had a ''Manga/ShugoCharaPucchiPucchi'' 2-parter. The first was Yoru getting snow from Santa, the other is about a Christmas Cake.
* Chapter 28 of ''Manga/SkipAndLoafer'' is set around Christmas. The characters go Christmas shopping, and some members of Class 1-3 go bowling to celebrate the end of term.
* ''Manga/StrawberryMarshmallow'''s episode revolves around the discovery that Matsuri still believes in Santa, and efforts to keep her from finding out otherwise, to the point of climbing a ladder to her bedroom to leave the latest ''Literature/HarryPotter'' book by her bed. In the anime, Nobue wonders afterwards what the point was of delaying the inevitable. (Also in the anime, Miu invents a story in which she asked for such far-out gifts when she was little that "Santa" gave up and wrote her a letter telling her that her parents would be taking over that duty, and to please go easy on them.)
* ''Anime/SuperDimensionFortressMacross'' both upholds and subverts the trope, as the protagonist and his ladylove use the holiday as an excuse to kiss over a Christmas cake, while there are scenes of the religious aspect -- a priest and a (very obviously Christian) church are highlighted in one sequence, implying that people in the city were taking in Midnight Mass just before the HumongousMecha attack launched by Kamujin.
* The ''Anime/{{Tamagotchi}}'' TV show had at least one Christmas episode every year during its run.
* ''Anime/TokyoGodfathers'', of course, for a unique Japanese Christmas story. It even opens with two of the main characters attending Mass and watching a Nativity scene, and there is a surprising number of allegories to the birth of Christ in itself --the most obvious being the Three Magi.
* ''Manga/TokyoMewMew'' had a two-parter with a Mew Aqua time bomb on top of the giant city Christmas tree. It also inserted foreshadowing for an event in the GrandFinale that also happened in the manga, but there, went unexplained.
* ''Literature/{{Toradora}}'' gets a lovely one where [[spoiler:all the main school age characters end up alone and probably in tears because they've all been ignored, rejected or rejected someone they did like.]] Except for Yuusaku. Nobody who's willing to be in ''that'' costume could possibly be feeling down.
* ''Anime/{{Vandread}}'' has an entire episode, with the Captain trying to entice young maids with her Santa Suit, a Yule Log, Snow-making Machines, and, oh yeah, [[MoodWhiplash machines trying to destroy them hiding in a comet's tail that looks like a Christmas Tree]].
* ''Manga/WanderingSon'' had one where Nitori and Takatsuki hang out with Yuki and her boyfriend.
* ''Anime/YokaiWatch'': Subverted in one episode. It starts with Nate getting ready to see the Christmas lights with his crush Katie (and their two other friends), but a freak blackout quickly ruins Nate's plans. When he does go to see the lights with his friends, he misses it when he needs to chase off a yokai.
* The third episode of ''Anime/YukiYunaIsAHero: Hero Chapter'' takes place around Christmas. It ends with Fu's friends visiting her on Christmas Eve at [[spoiler:the hospital after she got hit by a car a few days prior]].
* In an early ''Manga/YuYuHakusho'' manga chapter, Yusuke meets the spirit of a girl who fell ill and died while waiting for her boyfriend, Kenji to show up to meet her on Christmas Eve of the previous year, not knowing that she'd been stood up. When Kenji shows up to meet another girl on this Christmas Eve, she realizes that he never cared for her, and Yusuke takes her out for some fun, enabling her to happily pass on. Yusuke then takes revenge on Kenji by pretending to be one of his other girlfriends; when he tries guessing which one, his current girlfriend gets angry after realizing how unfaithful he is.
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* ''Literature/ACertainMagicalIndex'': The Genesis Testament series is set in the leadup to the Christmas holidays, with Touma stuck in makeup schoolwork, while Mikoto being taken in by the atmosphere of the season.
* ''Anime/{{Aggretsuko}}: A Very Metal Christmas'' is heavily invested in the holiday's significance in Japan, with a lot of weight put on finding a date for Christmas Eve...plus Retsuko working on her Instagram game.
* ''Manga/AiYoriAoshi: Enishi'''s Christmas Episode doubled as a ShoutOut to ''Manga/AhMyGoddess''.
* In episode 8 / Chapter 26 of ''Manga/AsteroidInLove'', the [[ClubStub Earth Sciences Club]] enjoys a hot pot and stargazes. The girls of the Newspaper club get in on this, too, dressing up in seasonal costumes.
* ''Manga/AzumangaDaioh'' had one of these. Complete with Chiyo-Dad as Santa; courtesy of Sakaki's imagination. The manga had two instances.
* ''Anime/TheBigO'' episode "Daemonseed" takes place on "Heaven's Day", a day of gift-giving whose origins have been lost to the amnesiac residents of Paradigm City. At the end, Alex Rosewater says, "Tell me, Chief, do you know the real meaning behind Heaven's Day? It's the day God's son was born." Also, a HumongousMecha fights a mutant Christmas tree. This could be a subtle subversion, as later revelations about Rosewater indicate he was probably talking about [[AGodAmI himself]].
* The ''Manga/ChronoCrusade'' anime has an episode where Chrono, Rosette, and Azmaria celebrate Christmas with the rest of the Magdalene Order before they begin their journey to California to save Joshua. The manga follows a slightly different timeline and mentions Christmas, but doesn't have a traditional "episode" per se--the final battle actually takes place over Christmas Eve and ends at sunrise on Christmas Day.
* ''Manga/CrayonShinChan'' had an episode with 3 Christmas themed parts, the first being about a troupe of performers coming to Shin's kindergarten class to put on a play, the second about Shin helping his mother (and her firends) give away some gifts and the third about Shin's parents fretting over how they're going to get their son a Christmas present.
* ''Anime/DaiGuard'' has one where the cast attempted to have a Christmas party, but threat of attack forced everyone to wait on standby. They simply move the party to Dai-Guard's hanger and invite the repair and ground crew to join them.
* The ''Manga/DeathNote'' manga had a couple of [[{{Yonkoma}} four-panel cartoons]] with Light and Ryuk. "Since when do {{shinigami}} celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ?"
* ''Anime/DigimonAdventure02'' used the Christmas episode for a RelationshipUpgrade.
* ''Manga/{{Doraemon}}'' has plenty of these.
* ''Manga/DoctorSlump'' has three of them, each with a BadSanta of its own.
** The first one has Senbei putting on the Santa Claus disguise to hand out "presents" (his autographs). No one likes them -- the chapter ends with the villagers tossing out his autographs left and right the next day.
** The second one involves an old martial artist on a mountaintop appointing his young pupil for the role of handing out presents in Santa Claus custome. Said pupil delivers presents by ''knocking down locked doors and knocking out anyone who wakes up from the commotion''. The villagers converge the next day to beat up "Santa Claus" in return.
** The last one has [[MadScientist Dr.]] [[TakeOverTheWorld Mashirito]] carrying out his plan to eliminate the Norimaki family, which involves using a remote-controlled robot doll in the appearance of Santa Claus (Camamel Man #8) to deliver [[MadBomber a bag of bombs that activate upon opening the bag]].[[note]]The plot doesn't work out for him -- he has the bag of bombs placed next to two bags he believes are presents (they turn out to be bags of trash instead). [[SpannerInTheWorks Midori grabs the bags the next morning and hands them to the trash collectors without bothering to open any of the bags, one of which falls off the truck on the way to the landfill and lands in front of Dr. Mashirito's lab.]] Dr. Marishito takes a look to see what's in the bag... and [[LaserGuidedKarma gets the full blast]] [[HoistByHisOwnPetard from his own bag of bombs]].[[/note]]
* While ''Manga/{{Eyeshield 21}}'' is not essentially Christmas themed, the Deimon Devil Bats aspire to [[spoiler:and eventually do]] go to the Christmas Bowl, the biggest game of the year played on Christmas.
* ''Manga/DrStone'': Senku uses their newly created lights to decorate a tree as snow starts to fall, Gen then realizes Senku figured it was Christmas, just as Santa flies over the sky.
* The first half of Episode 9 in ''Manga/GabrielDropout'' has the cast celebrate Christmas indoors.
* In later volumes of ''Manga/HappyHappyClover'', the main characters Clover and Mallow discover the story of Santa Claus. But their school teacher, named "Professor Hoot" takes the book away from them and doesn't allow them to read the rest of it. Since he told them that the whole Santa story was for "Grown-Ups". But Clover tells about Santa Clause to Kale's baby brothers, which he would later find out and start ripping the letters to shreds. Clover and her friends then decided to deliver their Christmas gifts to Kale's brothers much to their amusement on Christmas morning. Near the end of the story, Clover and her friends wake up and see presents laying around them home wondering if Santa actually did visit them on Christmas Eve.
* ''Anime/{{Hamtaro}}'' has several of them, the first involving the Ham-hams making sure that Boss has a good Christmas since "Santa never comes to field hamsters" and the second involving Hamtaro playing the part of Santa Claus and delivering presents to his friends, with a little help from Bijou. [[NoExportForYou And it had (at least) three more that were never dubbed in English]]
* ''Anime/HetaliaAxisPowers'' had a special with [[MoeAnthropomorphism Finland]] dressing up as Santa and answering fan mail with his puppy Blood-Smeared Flower Egg. [[spoiler:France then hijacks the special and runs around molesting other countries and forcing them to strip]].
** There was also one where the Allies and Axis are visited by Finland as Santa, who gives them gifts, and one where Italy, Germany and Japan interview the other countries about their Christmas traditions. In the Webcomic, there's a strip where Britain and Germany call a truce on Christmas and play a game of soccer/football, based on a real-life event. There is an episode in the anime where America holds a Christmas party.
** And then came Manga/HetaliaBloodbath2010...
* ''Manga/HowHeavyAreTheDumbbellsYouLift'': In episode 10, the cast attends a Christmas party at the Silverman gym dressed in festive attire, such as Santa and Reindeer costumes.
* Episode 12 of ''Manga/ICantUnderstandWhatMyHusbandIsSaying'' takes place on Christmas, but Kaoru and Hajime can't spend the day together due to Kaoru having to work late. So Hajime goes to a party with Kaoru's friends and their husbands. And since she has to work the next day, they can't spend any time together that night either, so it ends with Hajime reaching for a box of tissues.
* ''Manga/IchigoMashimaro'' concludes with one of these. Nobue tries to preserve Matsuri's belief in Santa Claus by shutting down Miu's attempts to tell her the truth, and by dressing up as Santa Claus herself.
%% ZCE * ''Anime/TheIdolmaster'' has one of these.
* Episode 11 of ''Manga/IsTheOrderARabbit'' starts with a Christmas Market[[note]]The premise is located in a Japanese town which looks more like a German one[[/note]], and the main bulk of the plot has the girls and the side characters working at Rabbit House to serve customers during this time of year. Cocoa also secretly gives Chino a present while she's sleeping, but then falls asleep next to her, though Chino appreciates the thoughts behind the gift.
* The ''Anime/IrresponsibleCaptainTylor'' OVA episode "White Christmas" has Tylor trying to make a Christmas Eve date with Yuriko, only to get sidetracked by a kid whose mother is stuck working late.
* ''Manga/ItsudatteMySanta'': the whole thing is a [[GoshDangItToHeck friggin']] Christmas Episode!
* ''Toys/{{Jewelpet}}'':
** ''Anime/Jewelpet2009'': Episode 38, in which BigBad Dian decides to ruin Christmas for everyone using a brainwashed Io. At the end it turns out that Santa Claus is way cool.
** ''Anime/JewelpetTwinkle'': Episode 39 features Akari taking her love interest Yuuma on a tour of Jewel Land on Christmas Day.
** ''Anime/JewelpetSunshine'': Episode 38. The first half is about the Jewelpets helping Sakuran do her job as Santa's helper. The second half is a messed up midnight mass, only with a {{Jerkass}} CrystalDragonJesus instead of plain ol' Jesus.
** ''Anime/JewelpetKiraDeco'': Episode 38, in which Peridot is Santa's helper and instead of reindeer, Santa uses an ice turkey-phoenix thing to get around.
** ''Anime/JewelpetHappiness'': Episode 38, about the gang setting up their Cafe for Christmas, only to have an overeager Jewelpet screw things up. Nene and Mouri develop their romance as a bonus.
** ''Anime/LadyJewelpet'': Episode 38 shows Christmas as celebrated by Petit Ladies in the Royal Palace. Much romantic drama ensues between Momona, Cayenne and Elena.
* ''Manga/KOn'' and its manga has one of these.
* The Christmas arc of ''Manga/KaguyaSamaLoveIsWar'' had multiple shake-ups to the status quo. Most notably, [[spoiler:Kaguya and Shirogane finally confess their feelings to each other and start dating.]]
* ''Manga/KaitouSaintTail''. Interestingly, in the manga, the corresponding chapter had nothing to do with Christmas at all.
** Particularly baffling since the manga does have one or two Christmas chapters.
* ''Anime/{{Kamichu}}'' has a Christmas episode. Pretty interesting, considering the show follows the daily life of a Shinto Goddess. Although keep in mind that episode had the show's resident HotBlooded {{Miko}} [[http://i49.tinypic.com/30c6aza.jpg get offended]] about the foreign holiday and invent "[[YouMeanXmas Yurie's Year-End Thanksgiving Day]]" as a Shintoist alternative.
* A bonus chapter in ''Manga/KingdomHearts358DaysOver2'' is set on a rather cold day, in which most members of Organization XIII decided to take a day off against Saïx's wishes.
* ''Manga/KitsuneNoYomeiri'':
** Chapter 9 has [[AsianFoxSpirit Kyouka]] experience her first Christmas when she and Ousuke visit the Yamato household for a Christmas party where they dress up in Christmas costumes, eat a Christmas feast and take part in an obstacle course race. The episode also serves to introduce Aria Yamato, Tarou's younger sister.
** Chapter 21 sees Kyouka, Hinata, Kumi & Aria make a Christmas Cake so that [[spoiler:Hinata can use it as bait in a trap for Santa]].
* In ''Manga/KimagureOrangeRoad'' the Christmas episode involved Kasuga [[SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong time traveling]] [[ResetButton three times]] in order to create a Christmas Eve meeting that didn't leave either [[LoveTriangle Hikaru or Madoka]] furious at him, due to the [[SeriousBusiness Serious implications]] of a [[WackyMarriageProposal Christmas Eve Date]].
* The ''Manga/LoveHina'' Christmas special focuses on Keitaro and Naru trying to meet up with each other while it is still Christmas Eve.
* ''Anime/MagicalGirlLyricalNanohaAs'':
** Episode 9 is called "Christmas Eve". It starts out like a Christmas episode up until Nanoha and Fate visit the hospital where Hayate's staying so she won't be alone on Christmas. Little do they know that Hayate's the MoralityPet of their enemies and the {{Mana}} battery for their ArtifactOfDoom. What follows is AnAssKickingChristmas that lasts for 3 episodes.
** Episode 11 is called "A Present For Christmas", although more than one present is given. [[spoiler: Fate gets to meet Alicia, and The Book of Darkness [[MeaningfulRename gets a name]] (Reinforce).]]
** The first Megami [[AudioAdaptation Sound Stage]] takes place on Christmas Eve in ''A's'', although strangely enough, it suggests that after Nanoha and Fate visited Hayate, they went to training without any further problems. In the sound stage, Nanoha and Fate discuss topics like believing in Santa and what they do to celebrate Christmas, in addition to their thoughts on the current situation.
* ''Manga/MermaidMelodyPichiPichiPitch'', twice. There were actually three episodes that took place on Christmas, but one was plot-important and didn't focus on the holiday itself... [[spoiler: although it did have a Christmas birth.]]
* ''Manga/MissKobayashisDragonMaid'':
** Chapter 8 had Tohru decide to throw a Christmas party. Due to the anime rearranging the timeline, the party was changed into an excuse for Kobayashi to get out of the company cherry blossom viewing festival. The anime had its own Christmas episode later on when all the dragons performed a [[DerailedFairyTale very loose adaptation]] of ''Literature/TheLittleMatchGirl'' at a retirement home.
** ''Kanna's Daily Life'' had it's own Christmas chapter, where Kanna and Saikawa spend the day handing out cookies to people as good deeds so Santa will bring them presents. It ends with the cast having another Christmas party, though neither Kanna or Saikawa take part [[SleepCute due to them having fallen asleep]].
* ''Manga/MyHeroAcademia'': The anime's fifth season has one appropriately titled "Have a Merry Christmas!" taking place on Christmas. Oddly though, the episode aired in June.
* There is also one in ''Manga/NinjaNonsense'', in which Kaede shows the {{Ninja}}s the ''true'' meaning of Christmas. HilarityEnsues. (Honestly, that episode is one of the funniest of that series, hands down).
* ''Manga/{{Nisekoi}}'' had a story arc in the manga that ran from late 2012 to early 2013 that dealt with Raku attempting to get Chitoge's extremely busy mother to spend time with her daughter on Christmas.
* ''Manga/OnePiece'': The anime had a filler (which went on to become regular filler) of the cast in Feudal Japan with Luffy as a detective. The first episode had a Christmas ending with Chopper, who was vaguely busy all day, being one of Santa's reindeer. Chopper, the blue-nosed reindeer.
%% ZCE * ''Anime/{{Ojarumaru}}'' has one of these.
* The 28th episode of the ''Anime/PaRappaTheRapper'' anime has [=PaRappa=] work up the courage to ask Sunny Funny to dance with him at the Christmas party, then having to retrieve Sunny's heart when it gets stolen by a witch who hates Christmas due to never being invited to Christmas parties.
* ''Manga/PingPong'': An unorthodox one, at best. The manga never added any scenes implying Christmas had passed. However, Yuasa and his team made sure Episode 6 changed that. The episode covers material that was in Chapters 5, 6, and 7 of the second volume. In addition, it plays out how the five prodigies spent Christmas following the first tournament.
* ''Anime/PokemonTheSeries'' has several episodes that are Christmas- or winter-themed, and the ''true'' [[Recap/PokemonHolidayHiJynx Christmas one]] ended up being banned from TV for containing Jynx, perceived by one woman to be an offensive caricature (but not before it got released to video).
* ''Anime/PrettyCure'' series tend to have a Christmas episode every year. Starting with ''Anime/HeartcatchPrettyCure'', they began to be plot-heavy stories that go directly into the finale, whereas earlier ones tend to be something of a BreatherEpisode before that (such as the girls having to fight a giant snowman or Santa's sleigh).
* ''Manga/RanmaOneHalf'' has one with nearly all of the characters appearing in it, at least for a little bit.
* ''Manga/RockLeesSpringtimeOfYouth'': In Episode 39, the Hidden Leaf Village throws a big Christmas party with many shinobi competing for affections, then the Secret Santa turns into a survival battle.
* The Three Sisters Agency was started on Christmas in ''Anime/RODTheTV''. The episode shows them sharing birthday cake with Nenene. Another features a particularly heartwarming episode that doubles as a Christmas episode and an OriginsEpisode for the Paper Sisters.
* ''Franchise/SailorMoon'':
** [[Anime/SailorMoon The 90s anime]] did not have a literal Christmas Episode, but the [[Anime/SailorMoonSTheMovie second movie]] is implied to take place during Christmas. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q9lNelJcDHc Say what you will, but it gave us this scene.]] Added to that, the girls form a Christmas tree to fight the villain.
** This is more explicit in the [[Manga/SailorMoon manga story]] the film was based on, [[spoiler: where Luna's transformation is treated as a Christmas gift.]]
* ''Manga/SchoolRumble'': Harima uses Tenma's present for Karasuma as transportation.
* ''Manga/SgtFrog'' had an episode where Keroro plots to take over the world at Christmas while everyone's guard is down, but everyone drops out one by one. Eventually he goes to help Kogoro by dressing up as Santa and giving away Christmas presents (so as to get onto Santa's good list and to get a present for Christmas).
* ''Manga/SingYesterdayForMe'': Episode 9 and part of 10 of the anime takes place on Christmas. This being [[UsefulNotes/ChristmasInJapan Japan]], the event is an opportunity to advance the romantic plot. Haru spends the evening at work in a special Christmas cosplay outfit. Rikuo spends the evening third-wheeling at a "party" with his college friend and his wife, and invited Shinako, though she declines to spend it with Rou. Shinako couches her Christmas gathering as continuing the tradition of spending the day with family (Rou), but he clearly understands the romantic subtext and passes over a party with his friends to try to make a move on Shinako. Shinako leaves early after rejecting Rou yet again and patronizingly telling him to study, and shows up unexpectedly at Rikuo's party. [[spoiler: Rikuo uses this opportunity to give her a necklace, a romantic gesture that pushes them closer towards being a couple.]]
* ''Manga/ShugoChara'': The show tends to move with the date upon the episode's creation and further release, and, therefore has several ones taking placed within winter: however only a portion (One where Su loses her way home, and upon being found via Amu and her other Chara, Amulet Clover is created for the first time, and one involving Amu strengthen her path with Lulu at her house within christmas, and some more, slightly less christmas focused ones around them.) are more than slight Christmas-related tryings.
* ''Manga/ShugoCharaParty'' also had a ''Manga/ShugoCharaPucchiPucchi'' 2-parter. The first was Yoru getting snow from Santa, the other is about a Christmas Cake.
* Chapter 28 of ''Manga/SkipAndLoafer'' is set around Christmas. The characters go Christmas shopping, and some members of Class 1-3 go bowling to celebrate the end of term.
* ''Manga/StrawberryMarshmallow'''s episode revolves around the discovery that Matsuri still believes in Santa, and efforts to keep her from finding out otherwise, to the point of climbing a ladder to her bedroom to leave the latest ''Literature/HarryPotter'' book by her bed. In the anime, Nobue wonders afterwards what the point was of delaying the inevitable. (Also in the anime, Miu invents a story in which she asked for such far-out gifts when she was little that "Santa" gave up and wrote her a letter telling her that her parents would be taking over that duty, and to please go easy on them.)
* ''Anime/SuperDimensionFortressMacross'' both upholds and subverts the trope, as the protagonist and his ladylove use the holiday as an excuse to kiss over a Christmas cake, while there are scenes of the religious aspect -- a priest and a (very obviously Christian) church are highlighted in one sequence, implying that people in the city were taking in Midnight Mass just before the HumongousMecha attack launched by Kamujin.
* The ''Anime/{{Tamagotchi}}'' TV show had at least one Christmas episode every year during its run.
* ''Anime/TokyoGodfathers'', of course, for a unique Japanese Christmas story. It even opens with two of the main characters attending Mass and watching a Nativity scene, and there is a surprising number of allegories to the birth of Christ in itself --the most obvious being the Three Magi.
* ''Manga/TokyoMewMew'' had a two-parter with a Mew Aqua time bomb on top of the giant city Christmas tree. It also inserted foreshadowing for an event in the GrandFinale that also happened in the manga, but there, went unexplained.
* ''Literature/{{Toradora}}'' gets a lovely one where [[spoiler:all the main school age characters end up alone and probably in tears because they've all been ignored, rejected or rejected someone they did like.]] Except for Yuusaku. Nobody who's willing to be in ''that'' costume could possibly be feeling down.
* ''Anime/{{Vandread}}'' has an entire episode, with the Captain trying to entice young maids with her Santa Suit, a Yule Log, Snow-making Machines, and, oh yeah, [[MoodWhiplash machines trying to destroy them hiding in a comet's tail that looks like a Christmas Tree]].
* ''Manga/WanderingSon'' had one where Nitori and Takatsuki hang out with Yuki and her boyfriend.
* ''Anime/YokaiWatch'': Subverted in one episode. It starts with Nate getting ready to see the Christmas lights with his crush Katie (and their two other friends), but a freak blackout quickly ruins Nate's plans. When he does go to see the lights with his friends, he misses it when he needs to chase off a yokai.
* The third episode of ''Anime/YukiYunaIsAHero: Hero Chapter'' takes place around Christmas. It ends with Fu's friends visiting her on Christmas Eve at [[spoiler:the hospital after she got hit by a car a few days prior]].
* In an early ''Manga/YuYuHakusho'' manga chapter, Yusuke meets the spirit of a girl who fell ill and died while waiting for her boyfriend, Kenji to show up to meet her on Christmas Eve of the previous year, not knowing that she'd been stood up. When Kenji shows up to meet another girl on this Christmas Eve, she realizes that he never cared for her, and Yusuke takes her out for some fun, enabling her to happily pass on. Yusuke then takes revenge on Kenji by pretending to be one of his other girlfriends; when he tries guessing which one, his current girlfriend gets angry after realizing how unfaithful he is.
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