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This entry is trivia, which is cool and all, but not a trope. On a work, it goes on the Trivia tab.

Following

Meaningful Release Date

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https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ben_ten_release_date.png
Tens across the board!

"You are PSYCHED about this SPECIAL DATE, 11.11.11 ... a date exhibiting just the sort of numerical gimmick corporations love to exploit for their big releases, or for launching MAJOR REBRANDING INITIATIVES."
— Homestuck

This is when some movie, game, TV show, etc., comes out and its release date has some referential meaning related to said media being released. This is usually simply gimmicky, though the date may be relevant to the plot.

Horror movies particularly like to come out on Friday the 13th, as it's an unlucky date, but then again, any holiday is a good time for a horror movie.

Remember, there's more than one way to write a date - day/month/year, month/day/year, and year/month/day are all common. Many examples here will seem nonsensical across the pond.

Compare Significant Reference Date. Can definitely overlap with Milestone Celebration.

Examples:

    open/close all folders 

    Anime and Manga 
  • Whether by chance or on purpose, both seasons of the Ace Attorney (2016) anime have this to a degree- Season One aired in 2016, the year the first game takes place, while Season 2 (covering the third game) was released in October of 2018, which was when "The Stolen Turnabout" (the first case in the third game where Phoenix is the lawyer and that isn't a flashback) takes place.
  • The first chapter of the manga version of AKIRA came out on December 6, 1982, which is the date of the apparent nuclear explosion that destroyed Tokyo and issued the start of World War III in the story. When the film version came out a few years later, the date of the explosion that destroyed Tokyo was changed to July 16, 1988, the same day the film was first released in Japan.
  • Boruto: Episode 218 ("Friend") aired on October 3rd, 2021, concluding with Kurama dying after giving all his chakra to Naruto. It happens to coincide with the exact same date of Naruto's first episode 19 years ago, where Kurama's rampage on the Hidden Leaf Village was the opening shot. It comes to show just how much Kurama has changed since then.
  • The second half of Carole & Tuesday was released on Netflix on Christmas Eve, 2019 — not only a day before Carole's birthdate, but on a Tuesday that year as well.
  • The 21st episode of Digimon Adventure where Taichi briefly goes home to the real world and discovers that it's the same date he left which is August 1st, 1999. The episode (directed by Mamoru Hosoda and connected to the plot of the pilot movie) also aired on August 1st 1999. This date as "Odaiba Memorial" is mentioned several times throughout that show and 02. In real life, it's practically a holiday for the fandom and the stars of the franchise, even using 8/1/2014 to announce Digimon Adventure tri..
  • Fairy Tail: 100 Years Quest: The first two chapters were released back-to-back in Japan on July 25, 2018, just one day shy of a full year after the final chapter of Fairy Tail on July 26, 2017. That's approximately the same amount of time spent between the original story's Final Boss and Distant Finale, which itself leads directly into 100 Years Quest.
  • The anime of the books Fate/Zero is rather infamous for a release schedule wherein certain episodes would air on holidays that made them tragically ironic. For example, Mother's Day aired the episode where Kiritsugu blow up a plane with his adoptive mother on it, while the episode where Kiritsugu kills Grail-created incarnations of his wife and daughter aired on Father's Day. Word of God says that these (along with the episode where Rider dies airing on the anniversary of his historical incarnation's death) were coincidence.
  • Both the rerelease of the Hellsing TV series and release of Hellsing Ultimate episodes 5 to 8 were out in the US on November 13 — the birthdate of Vlad the Impaler.
  • Episode 24 of the THE iDOLM@STER: Cinderella Girls, which features Uzuki regaining the ability to smile again naturally after her emotional turmoil, and has her performing her image song, S(mile)ing, first aired on October 2nd, 2015, which was World Smile Day for that year.
  • Inazuma Eleven Orion no Kokuin: The episode where Aphrodi joins Inazuma Japan was released on May 17, which is also the date of his birthday.
  • Kaguya-sama: Love Is War:
    • The episode that formally introduced Iino came out on May 2, 2020, just 3 days before the character's birthday.
    • The following episode (which featured the second adaptation of a "Fujiwara acts motherly to Shirogane" chapter) aired on May 9, 2020, the day before Mother's Day.
    • Episode 10 of Season 2 adapted Chapter 85 (Osaragi's first Day in the Limelight chapter) and came out less than a week before Chapter 192, another Osaragi focus chapter. There's also a major link between those two chapters since the former is filled with foreshadowing towards the reveal in the latter that she has feelings for Ishigami.
  • Laid-Back Camp: Episode 9 of the second season, in which Aoi and Nadeshiko realize that they share a birthday on March 4, first aired on March 4, 2021.
  • The delayed viewing of the third Love Live! Sunshine!! concert, Wonderful Stories, premiered in some countries on June 30, 2018, the date of the eighth anniversary of the Love Live! franchise.
  • Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha Reflection was released on July 22, 2017. July 22 also happens to be the day the movie takes place In-Universe.
  • The final chapter of the Rom Com manga My Monster Secret was published on Valentine's Day 2017.
  • Pretty Cure:
  • The Promised Neverland: Chapter 176, where Isabella is fatally wounded while protecting the children, was released on Mother's Day (May 10, 2020).
  • Puella Magi Madoka Magica:
  • Sakura Wars:
    • The first episode of The Gorgeous Blooming Cherry Blossoms was released on December 18, 1997, with the first episode of The Radiant Gorgeous Blooming Cherry Blossoms and the Su-Mi-Re OVA respectively coming out in 1999 and 2001 on the exact same date. Not only that, but it also coincided with the 66th, 68th and 70th birthdays of Yoritsune Hanakoji's voice actor Koichi Kitamura.
    • The first episode of Le Nouveau Paris was released on October 20, 2004, the 43rd birthday of Sumire's actress Michie Tomizawa, while the second was released on January 19, 2005, which was the 63rd birthday of Laurence Roland's voice actor Yasuo Iwata.
    • The first two episodes of New York, NY was released on April 4, 2007, 19 years to the date Sakura Wars 2: Thou Shalt Not Die was launched.
    • The third chapter of the manga adaptation of Sakura Wars (2019) was released on September 26, 2019, one day before the 23rd anniversary of the original 1996 release of Sakura Wars for the Sega Saturn.
  • Seitokai Yakuindomo, being a Sex Comedy, had its movie released on July 21, 2017 because it's a pun on "masturbation" in Japanese.
  • Several of Shoji Kawamori's projects had an episode air on his Birthday (February 20, 1960), he was the creator of these 3 series.:
    • Episode 18, "Pine (Apple) Salad" from Super Dimension Fortress Macross in 1983 which was on his 23rd birthday.
    • The episodes "The Guy in the Rain" and "The Invisible Words" from The Daichis - Earth Defense Family and Earth Maiden Arjuna respectively in 2001 which were aired on his 41st birthday. Both notable examples because both of these Anime were airing their episodes on the same days, in addition to both being the 7th episode.
  • Along with it airing the week of Christmas (which plays a big role in the episode), the final episode of the first season of Sleepy Princess in the Demon Castle premiered on December 22, 2020 in Japan, which also happens to be the birthday of the titular Princess as well as one day before the birthday of the succubus charcter Cubey (who is a major character in this episode).
  • Episode 15 of Summer Time Rendering, which features the climactic showdown where the cast scores their very first hard-earned victory against Haine and Shide, takes place in-universe on July 22, 2018. This episode was first broadcast in Japan on July 22, 2022.
  • Summer Wars, directed by Hosoda, was released in Japan on August 1st, which is Sakae Jinnouchi's birthday in the film.
  • Yamishibai: Japanese Ghost Stories, a horror anthology anime, aired in the Summer season. This is because Summer is considered the best season for horror stories in Japan.

    Asian Animation 
  • The Flower Angel television series premiered on Valentine's Day 2014, with Valentine's Day being the in-series birthday of the protagonist Xia An'an.

    Comic Books 
  • A Superman graphic novel titled End of the Century, featuring a massive conflict involving Lex Luthor and the title character, was about and was released as close to the last week of December 1999 as possible. An unrelated story in the regular Superman comics around the same time was the Y2K arc, which also took place on that day and starred Superman and Lex Luthor.
  • Uncanny X-Men #137's official street date of September 1, 1980 became this in retrospect, when it was revealed in a later issue that the events of that issue occurred on that very day.
  • Batwoman (Rebirth)
    • Issue #4 was released on June 21, 2017, which happened to be the 11th anniversary of Kate Kane's first appearance.
    • Issue #13 was released on March 21, 2018; March 21 is Kate's unofficial birthday.
  • Issue 1 of Doomsday Clock was released officially at around 11:57 pm, November 21, 2017. This was intentionally doubly-meaningful, with the 11:57 evoking the Doomsday Clock trope (released at three minutes to midnight, geddit?) and November 22 being the day that the story opens on.

    Fan Works 
  • Asylum of Doom: This Invader Zim story revolves around Gaz getting sent back in time and becoming a patient at a Bedlam House. It was posted on FanFiction.Net on November 1, 2020 — just after Halloween (the author had intended to publish on Halloween itself, but suffered a Schedule Slip).
  • The author of Angel of the Bat originally wanted to post the final battle on Christmas, 2014, as the event itself was set on Christmas Eve. As it became clear this was undoable with any quality left in place and the death of the author's dog took its toll, this idea was abandoned. The fic ultimately received its final non-epilogue chapter on March 17, 2015, exactly one year after it began.
  • Never Hike Alone, a Friday the 13th fan film, was released Friday, October 13th 2017. The sequel, Never Hike Alone 2, was also released on Friday, October 13th 2023.
  • Season 1 of The New Adventures of Invader Zim published its final chapter three years to the day that the first one was published. Which was itself the same date that Issue 1 of the continuation comic series by Oni Press was released.
  • cool and new web comic was posted on April 10th, 2016. April 10th, 2009 is the day the Homestuck beta pages were released, playing on CANWC's status as something that resembles, but isn't quite, Homestuck as it began on April 13th.
  • Where Talent Goes on Vacation: Chapter VI, Part 1, the first half of the final class trial, was released on May 10, 2020, Mother's Day. In that chapter, Yukari Nagato, the class's teacher and Chiyuri Nagato's mother, is revealed to be the traitor in Class 32.
  • An Empire of Ice and Fire: The sequel The Mystery Knight was first published on the one year anniversary of the Grand Finale of Game of Thrones. The author specifically said that this was done to help deal with the memory of the much despised finale.
  • Chapter 29 of Continuance was posted on December 8, 2015. December 8 is Yukiko Amagi's birthday, and the fic pairs her with the protagonist.
  • Mastermind: Rise of Anarchy, the sequel to Mastermind: Strategist for Hire, released its first chapter on New Year's Eve 2020, exactly one year after Strategist for Hire's release. Per Clouds herself, she chose that date because she felt it poetic.
  • The all-encompassing piece "Mastery of Morality and Wings of Fire" was purposefully released on the Wings of Fire series' 10th anniversary; it serves as a one-stop shop for learning about the books' history and themes.
  • A Friendly Battle was released on February 27th, 2021, the 25th anniversary of Pokémon and the writer's 20th birthday. It focuses on Ash and Misty having a full battle with each other. Another story of this collection, 25 Years Later was released on April 1st, 2022, 25 Years after the Japanese premire of "Pokemon, I Choose You!," when Ash and Misty made their debut.
  • Pokémon Rusted Platinum - The Champion's Successor by MF217 had the prologue preview for the fic uploaded exactly 1 week before March 22nd of 2021, which will mark the 12th Anniversary since Pokémon Platinum's US release date of March 22nd, 2009. The fic itself is about the continuing adventures of a fully grown cast of Dawn, Lucas, and Barry taking place 12 years after the post-game story involving Team Galactic at Stark Mountain, with Dawn (in the player's role) having to deal with adulthood while living in her Villa she acquired in the Resort Area full time, and having to deal with both a love triangle between her, Lucas, and Barry, as well as qualifying for eligibility by Cynthia for being her successor to the Champion of Sinnoh full-time now that Cynthia is planning to retire.
  • Junior Officers
    • The chapter "Home, Sour Home," which is concerned with Deborah's poor relationship with her father, was released on June 20, 2021; Father's Day.
    • "Woman, Wife, Worker," A Day in the Limelight chapter for Kitsune, was released on Kitsune's birthday, September 17th.
  • The Ma Fille chapter "Christmas Concert" was released on Christmas Eve.
  • The Pokémpanions story "New Year's Eevee" was released on New Year's Eve 2021.
  • Witching Hour is an Invader Zim Historical AU about Gaz being accused of witchcraft in Medieval times. Appropriately, it was posted to FanFiction.Net and Archive of Our Own on October 31/Halloween, 2021.

    Film — Animated 
  • The movie 9 came out on September 9, 2009 (9/9/09).
  • Coco, which is set around the Day of the Dead, was released in Mexico first on October 27, 2017, the weekend before the holiday. The international versions were released the next month, but it was important for Disney that Mexico would get their movie first, establishing the Spanish language as the official version, and that it opened for Dia Del Los Muertos.
  • The Garfield Movie: Garfield hates Mondays, especially Monday the 13th. So it's incredibly ironic that the first two trailers dropped on Mondays; the first came out on November 13, 2023.
  • In the film The Grinch, the titular character says he has had to deal with Whoville and Christmas for 53 years. This film was released approximately 53 years after the original animated adaptation from 1966. In addition, the film began its run in some theaters on November 8, 2018, eighteen years after the release of the 2000 Live-Action Adaptation.
  • Incredibles 2 released on the weekend of Father's Day in 2018, which is fitting since a large part of the movie's conflict is Bob/Mr. Incredible's struggle to become a better father.
  • The digital release of Lego DC Shazam: Monsters And Magic was April 28, 2020, also known as National Superhero Day.
  • The Lorax film was released on March 2nd, 2012, which would have been Dr. Seuss' 108th birthday.
  • Minions: The Rise of Gru was originally scheduled to release on July 3, 2020, six days before the exact day that Despicable Me, which Minions 2 is a prequel to, was released a decade prior. However, as multiple films' releases were shuffled that year due to the Coronavirus pandemic, the release date for Minions 2 was moved ahead by exactly two years.
  • Phineas and Ferb The Movie: Candace Against the Universe has two examples:
  • The final trailer of The Super Mario Bros. Movie premiered on March 9, 2023, at 2:00 PM PST, or March 10 at 7:00 AM in Japan. March 10 is also known as Mario Day ("MAR10"). The sequel was also first announced on Mario Day, 2024.
  • The War to End All Wars – The Movie was given a limited run in worldwide history museums from the 4th to the 19th of November 2023, bracketing the 105th anniversary of Armistice Day.
  • Some theaters previewed Wonder Park, a movie which contains a song about Pi, on Pi Day (March 14th) of 2019.
  • Turning Red, a film about a Chinese-Canadian was released domestically in theaters on February 9, 2024, the day before Chinese Lunar New Year.

    Film — Live-Action 
  • Numerous horror movies tend to be released on Friday the 13th, particularly Dracula (1931) and, of course, the Friday the 13th movies. They also aim for October releases especially near All Hallows' Eve because, thematically, Horror Doesn't Settle for Simple Tuesday and also because people are in the market for scary movies during that month.
  • Just like the horror movie examples above, Holiday movies (usually Christmas-themed more-or-less) aim for a release in either November or December, otherwise known as the "holiday season."
  • The film 11-11-11 opened on... well, guess.
  • 42, the actual Jackie Robinson Story, opened on April 12, 2013, 3 days before Jackie Robinson Day.
  • The Film of the Book Nineteen Eighty-Four came out in 1984. Some of the scenes were deliberately filmed on the dates given for those events in the book (even though George Orwell made it clear those dates were possibly just Winston Smith's guesses in the first place).
  • Invoked in American Fiction: The publishers suggest releasing Monk's novel full of urban black tropes and stereotypes on Juneteenth, as black people will be celebrating and white people will be feeling guilty.
  • The remake of Black Christmas (2006) opened in the US on December 25, 2006. The UK got it ten days earlier, on December 15th.
  • BlacKkKlansman, a film about disrupting the Ku Klux Klan, opened in the US on August 10, 2018, just a day shy of the first anniversary of the Charlottesville riots. The film ends on a montage of real footage of that riot to draw parallels between the politics that drove them and the KKK.
  • Child's Play opened on November 9th, 1988, which is also the day when Charles Lee Ray becomes Chucky in the film.
  • A possible case for Cruella, the film exploring the backstory of the 101 Dalmatians villain. It came out on May 28th, 2021. May 28th was also the birthday of actor Cameron Boyce, who played Cruella's son Carlos in the Descendants trilogy and died about three years before the prequel.
  • In Disaster Movie, the world is set to end on August 29, 2008 — the very same day that the film opened in theaters.
  • ESPN has started running a tribute to Dodgeball's skewering of its network by dedicating a day each year to obscure and unpopular sports, along the lines of the film's ESPN 8: The Ocho. That day? August 8th.
  • Fantastic Four (2005) was originally supposed to be released on July 4, 2005, and early trailers played this up. However, its release date was shifted to four days later.
  • Gone with the Wind received a theatrical reissue in 1961 to commemorate the centennial of The American Civil War.
  • The first five Halloween movies, naturally, were released in October with Halloween II (1981) being the closest to the actual holiday (October 30th, 1981) before the sixth movie opened in September and the next four were summer releases. The 2018 Un-Reboot was the first since Halloween 5 in 1989 to be released in October, and sequels Halloween Kills and Halloween Ends followed suit.
    • Halloween (2018) was released on October 19th, 2018 not only commemorating 40 years of the Halloween franchise, but is also Michael Myers' canonical 61st birthday.
  • The Disney+ release of the Hamilton proshot was released on July 3, 2020, the day before Independence Day.
  • The film Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban was released in North America on June 4, 2004, coinciding with a full moon.
  • A Haunting in Venice:
    • Released on September 15, 2023; Dame Agatha Christie's 133rd birthday.
    • Probably accidental: in the United States, the movie was released hours before the holiday of Rosh Hashanah, and prominently features both honey and apples (symbolic foods meant to evoke a sweet new year for observers) as plot devices and Arc Symbols.
  • There are only so many times of the year you could release a film titled Independence Day. The film's story explicitly begins on July 2nd, the day of the film's release (which was a Tuesday), and ends on the 4th.
  • Independence Day: Resurgence soft-released on June 22nd, 2016, nearly 2 weeks before the 4th. Not only did 2016 mark the 20th anniversary of the first movie, but July 4, 2016 was the U.S.A.'s 240th birthday.
  • In the novel version of It, the titular monster comes out of hiding roughly about every 27 years. It (2017) came out 27 years after the previous miniseries adaptation of the novel.
  • Fitting James Bond's codename 007, the 10th EON movie, The Spy Who Loved Me, was released on July 7, 1977 (7/7/77).
  • The release date of The Little Mermaid (2023) (May 26) coincides with the month of May being coined as "Mermay" by mermaid afficionados, where every May many people draw mermaid versions of many creatures and characters and post them on social media.
  • Man of Steel was released June 14th, 2013, approximately 75 years to the very day of Superman's debut in Action Comics #1, which was released in June of 1938.
  • Marvel Cinematic Universe:
    • Black Panther, featuring Marvel's first big screen titular black superhero, was released in February, which is also Black History Month in the United States.
    • Avengers: Infinity War was set to be released on May 4th, 2018, just 2 days past the 10th anniversary of the MCU's first installment, Iron Man (May 2nd, 2008). The film rounds up a massive All-Star Cast from previous entries celebrating a full decade of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.note  The release, however, was then pushed a week forward to April 27th.
    • Avengers: Endgame opened just one day shy of a full year to the release of Infinity War.
    • Captain Marvel, which features Marvel's first big screen titular female superhero, was released on March 8, 2019, which is International Women's Day.
    • Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness was released on May 6, 2022, the weekend of Mother’s Day. Fitting, since the plot revolves around Scarlet Witch becoming insane to get her children back. (And that the film’s acronym just so happens to be MoM.)
    • Before it was shifted to the less meaningful 8 July, Thor: Love and Thunder was meant to be released on February 11, 2022, the first weekend before Valentine's Day. However, 2022 does mark the 60th anniversary of The Mighty Thor's first appearance back in 1962 as well as the centennial of his co-creator Stan Lee.
  • The remake of The Mechanic (2011) opened on January 28, 2011, the same day that the film's climax takes place.
  • The Number 23 opened on February 23, 2007.
  • The Omen:
    • The original The Omen (1976) was sneak previewed nationwide on June 6, 1976 (the official date was June 25th). Which also happened to be a Sunday.
    • The Omen (2006) remake was released on June 6, 2006 (6/6/06).
  • Pearl Harbor opened on Memorial Day weekend 2001 even though December 7, 1941 is the date that lives in infamy. 2001 also marked the 60th anniversary.
  • In Pokémon Detective Pikachu, it's stated that it's been twenty years since Mewtwo was created. The American release of Pokémon: The First Movie, which featured Mewtwo's birth, was released in North America 20 years before Detective Pikachu got released. The protagonist Tim, on the other hand is 21, which means he was born in 1998, which is the year Pokémon: The Original Series premiered in North America.
  • Sound of Freedom released on July 4th (the American Independence Day) which is one of the biggest and most well known celebrations of freedom in the world.
  • Star Wars:
  • Kamen Rider × Super Sentai: Super Hero Taisen opened on April 21, 2012, the day of the climatic Big Badass Battle Sequence.
  • Titanic (1997) was re-released in 3D on April 13th, 2012, two days before the 100th anniversary of the sinking.
  • Averted in the case of V for Vendetta, which was originally scheduled to open on November 4, 2005 (the day before Guy Fawkes Night and the quadricentennial of the Gunpowder Plot) but was delayed four months due to Warner Bros. being unsure about its box office prospects.

    Literature 
  • The 13th and final installment of A Series of Unfortunate Events was released on Friday, October 13. Thirteen is an Arc Number throughout the series.
  • Herman Melville's The Confidence-Man was published on April 1st, 1857 and the events of the novel also take place on a first of April.
  • One of the hints that George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four is an allegory for contemporary politics is that its title is an altered version of the year of its writing — 1948.
  • Subverted for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows; it was originally intended to release on 7/7/2007 (as seven is a number often associated with magic and it was the seventh and last book), but it would have fallen on the second anniversary of the 7 July terrorist bombings in London, so it was changed to July 21 (7 + 7 + 7) instead.
  • Longsummer Nights is a Paranormal Romance anthology that was released for Kickstarter backers on Valentine's Day.

    Live-Action TV 
  • As mentioned in the Literature folder, Season 1 of A Series of Unfortunate Events (2017) premiered on Netflix on, you guessed it, Friday, January 13, 2017.
  • Doctor Who:
    • In the fifth series of the revived show, the date in which the universe was scheduled to blow up was June 26th 2010, the air date of season finale "The Big Bang."
    • April 22, 2011 at 5:02pm was the date the Doctor was scheduled to die in the sixth series. Accounting for Utah timezones vs. British timezones, this means that he appeared to die the day "The Impossible Astronaut" aired.
    • The 50th anniversary episode "The Day of the Doctor" aired on the exact annviersary date of November 23, 2013.
  • In 2003 and 2008, the Eurovision Song Contest, as well as the second semifinal of 2012, was held on 24 May, the anniversary of the first Contest. Furthermore, the 1984 and 1990 Contests were held on 5 May, the Council of Europe's Europe Day, and the 1987, 1992 and 1998note  Contests, as well as the first semifinal in 2017, were held on 9 May, the European Union's chosen date for Europe Day.
  • A very ironic example occurred for the sixth season of Fear the Walking Dead. "In Dreams" aired on May 9th, 2021, which happened to be Mother's Day. With an event that celebrates the relationships between a mother and her child, this caused many viewers to be shocked by the Tragic Stillbirth that Grace went through.
  • One of the driving forces of the plot in Hawkeye (2021) is the titular character trying to return home for Christmas. Fittingly, the last episode released the same week as Christmas of 2021.
  • This happened by accident, but the 28th episode of Kamen Rider OOO and the thousandth episode total of the Kamen Rider franchise aired on April 3, 2011, 40 years to the day since the franchise began airing on television.
  • By chance, the episode of Merlin which featured King Arthur pulling Excalibur out of the Stone was broadcast on Christmas Eve, 2011. According to Arthurian Legend, Arthur pulled the Sword in the Stone out of its anvil on Christmas Day.
  • The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power debuted on September 2, 2022, the 49th anniversary of J. R. R. Tolkien's death.
  • Lost Season 5 Episode "316" first aired in 2009 on February 18, when there were exactly 316 days in the year left.
  • The Black Mirror episode "15 Million Merits." The theme of the episode was a dystopian satire of TV talent shows. At Charlie Brooker s request, the episode was broadcast on Channel 4 immediately after the 2011 finale of The X Factor ended on ITV1.
  • Played for very dark humor in the last episode of Season 4 of Game of Thrones. To celebrate Father's Day 2014, Tyrion Lannister kills his father, Tywin.
  • Poirot:
    • The first episode of the third season, The Mysterious Affair at Styles, first aired in the United Kingdom on a Sunday, September 16, 1990. This was to coincide with the celebration of the centenary of the birth of Agatha Christie (September 15, 1890, which is pretty close enough).
    • The first episode of Season 6, Hercule Poirot's Christmas, aired on Christmas Day 1994 in the UK. And the second episode of Season 12, Hallowe'en Party, aired just four days before Halloween 2010.
  • An unintentional example and aversion for the 2015 Super Sentai series Shuriken Sentai Ninninger, which had its entire schedule delayed by one week, due to episode 46 of the previous series being preempted by the death of a Japanese journalist at the hands of ISIL extremists: Episode 1 ended up debuting on February 22, also known as Ninja Day, since the number 2 in Japanese sounds like "ni," or "nin-nin-nin," while Episode 7, which celebrated the 40th year of Super Sentai with two Role Reprise guest stars for a team-up, was supposed to air on April 5 – 40 years to the day that Himitsu Sentai Gorenger premiered - but had to air on April 12th in the end.
  • On the other side of the Pacific, Ninninger's Power Rangers counterpart Power Rangers (Super) Ninja Steel, which is the 25th season, featured a special team-up episode, which aired on August 28, 2018 — exactly 25 years since the premiere of Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers.
  • Dimension 404 first premiered on Hulu on April 4th.note 
  • Whereas Marvel's Netflix shows have normally always dropped on Fridays, the second season of Jessica Jones (2015) premiered on March 8, 2018 (a Thursday), as that is International Women's Day. Which is appropriate seeing as the show has been revolutionary at female representation. Case in point: all thirteen episodes of season 2 are directed by women, and the main cast is primarily female.
  • The Walking Dead, a show about zombies, premiered on October 31, 2010, which was Halloween.
  • The series finale of Henry Danger aired on March 21, 2020, which was the 20th birthday of lead actor Jace Norman.
  • The Noddy Shop episode "The Birthday Party," which is about Noah Tomten's birthday, first aired on September 11, 1998, two weeks before Sean McCann's 63rd birthday.
  • Donkey Hodie:
    • "Donkey's Bad Day," about the titular character having an unlucky day, aired on August 13th, 2021, which was on a Friday. Many people associate Friday the 13th with bad luck.
    • "Groovy Guitar; Treasure Nest" aired on March 11, 2022. March 11, 1968 was the day when the first episode of Mister Rogers' Neighborhood to feature Donkey Hodie aired.
    • A book adaptation of "Planet Purple Party" was released on May 3, 2022, a year to the day the show premiered.
    • "Acornball; Super Duper Magic Fun Box," which contains a plot about how best friends don't have to like the same things, aired on June 8, 2022, National Best Friends Day.
  • That '70s Show: The episode "Kitty's Birthday (That's Today?!)," where Red and Eric accidentally forget Kitty's birthday, originally premiered on February 27, 2001, which was 3 days after Debra Jo Rupp (Kitty)'s 50th birthday.
  • Star Trek: Voyager: The season 6 premiere episode "Equinox: Part II" premiered on September 22, 1999, the same date as the autumn equinox that year.
  • As shown on this poster, Voltes V: Legacy's release date of May 8, 2023 is just 3 days past the 45th anniversary of the original air date of the original anime on Philippine network GMA, being May 5, 1978.
  • The "We've Been Expecting You" teaser of Percy Jackson and the Olympians released on August 18, 2023, which is Percy's birthday in the books.

    Museums 
  • The MEGA (Mundo Estrella Galicia) Museum is dedicated to the Estrella Galicia beer brand in La Coruña and opened on June 19, 2019 - 19/06/19 - to acknowledge how the beer was founded in 1906.

    Music 
  • The remastered albums of The Beatles were released on 09/09/09, based on the infamous "lyrics" to "Revolution 9." Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band was released worldwide on CD on 1 June 1987, so that it would indeed be "twenty years ago today."
  • Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour deliberately released his solo album, On An Island, a rumination on family life, aging, and mortality, on March 6th, 2006, the date of his 60th birthday.
  • The Neon Genesis Evangelion soundtrack album The Day of Second Impact was released in Japan on September 13, 2000, which matches the date of the Second Impact event in the show's storyline.
  • On January 8, 2013, David Bowie turned 66 years old — and shocked the world by having his official website relaunched, announcing the forthcoming release of his first studio album in nearly ten years, and releasing the first single and video ("Where Are We Now?") from it. No one in his fanbase or the press (who were sure he'd retired years ago) saw this coming, as he swore his collaborators to secrecy. Three years later, Bowie released ★ on his 69th birthday - which turned out to be two days before his death. A year after that, the EP No Plan is issued on what would have been his 70th birthday.
  • 311's album Stereolithic was released on March 11 (3/11), 2014.
  • Deicide released the album The Stench of Redemption on June 6, 2006. (6/6/06)
  • Black Sabbath's self-titled 1970 debut album was released on Friday 13th of February.
  • Adele's theme song for the James Bond film Skyfall was released at 12.07 am – or 0.07 using the 24-hour clock – on October 5, 2012, the 50th anniversary of the release of the first Bond film, Dr. No.
  • Siamés released the music video for "Mr. Fear" on Halloween 2018.
  • Songs that Saved My Life is a series of compilation albums where various rock bands cover songs that helped them through a rough time. The first single from the first album, Neck Deep's version of "Torn," was released on September 10, 2018, which is World Suicide Prevention Day.
  • The Grand Illusion, the seventh studio album by Styx, came out on 7/7/77.
  • R.E.M.'s Green, an album full of political songs, was released on Election Day, 1988, November 7th.
  • Julia Nunes digitally released the single "August 2020" on August 1st, 2020 (the song title is also because it's a remake of an earlier song of hers called "August").
  • A possible case is how *NSYNC's Walk of Fame star was unveiled on April 30, just to acknowledge the meme turning "It's Gonna Be Me" into "It's Gonna Be May!"
  • Miracle Musical: Hawaii: Part II came out on December 12th, 2012, at 12:12:12am; the day the Mayans predicted Doomsday. The album contains references to this, such as the line "alone at the edge of a universe" being used as Bookends.
  • Weezer's "Buddy Holly" from their debut album Weezer (The Blue Album) was released as a single on September 7, 1994, which would have been Buddy Holly's 58th birthday.
  • Norwegian folk metal band Glittertind released its patriotic album Til Dovre Faller on 17 May 2005. Not only is this the Norwegian Constitution Day, but the year 2005 marks 100 years after Norway's independence from Sweden in 1905 (though it didn't become independent on 17 May 1905). Moreover, the album's runtime is exactly 18:14, a nod to the year Norway got its constitution.
  • Taylor Swift released Speak Now (Taylor's Version) on July 7th 2023, the first Friday before July 9th, a date referenced in one of the tracks, "Last Kiss"
  • Stabbing Westward's cover EP Hallowed Hymns was released on October 30, 2020: one of its three cover songs is titled "Every Day is Halloween", and the other two are associated with movies where the date of October 30 is significant to the plot: "Burn" by The Cure was written for The Crow, which takes place entirely on October 30th, and "The Killing Moon" by Echo & the Bunnymen was prominently used in Donnie Darko, which takes place in October of 1988 and has its climax occur on October 30th of that year.

    Professional Wrestling 
  • Most likely a coincidence, but Beulah McGillicutty's famous mini-match with Bill Alfonso at ECW As Good As It Gets was on September 20, 1997, the 24th anniversary of the famous "Battle of the Sexes" Tennis match between Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs, which King won.

    Theatre 
  • The West End production of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child officially premiered on July 30, 2016, with the rehearsal script being released worldwide the following day, July 31. These dates (in particular, the worldwide release date of the rehearsal script) coincided with the birthdays of Harry Potter and author J. K. Rowling.
  • Cirque du Soleil's Drawn to Life opened at Disney Springs at Walt Disney World on November 18, 2021, the same day as Mickey Mouse's 93rd birthday. The entire show is a love letter to Disney's hand-drawn era and a collaboration with Walt Disney Animation Studios and "Walt Disney Imagineering."

    Toys 
  • The Monster High franchise was launched on a Friday the 13th.
  • Since 2004, most new Tamagotchi toys are released on (or close to) November 23rd, the same date the original Tamagotchi launched in 1996.

    Video Games 
  • Episode 2 of The Coffin of Andy and Leyley, a Horror Comedy game, was released on Friday, October 13, 2023.
  • Sonic the Hedgehog:
    • Sonic the Hedgehog 2 was released on November 24th, 1992, which was a Tuesday. They even called it Sonic 2sday. Not only is it a pun, Tuesday is the second day of the week if you consider Sunday the seventh.
    • Sonic the Hedgehog 3 was released in North America on February 2nd, 1994, the same day as the American holiday Groundhog Day. Advertising acknowledged the release date by calling it “Hedgehog Day”.
    • Sonic Adventure 2 was officially released on June 23rd, 2001, ten years to the day after the first game was released.
    • The demo for Sonic Generations, a game about Sonic's history, was made available on June 23rd, 2011, this time being twenty years after the first game. Its second demo was released on October 19, 2011, the 17th anniversary of Sonic & Knuckles.
    • Sonic Origins was released on June 23rd, 2022, 31 years after the first game.
  • The English patch for Yousei Daisensou ~ Touhou Sangetsusei (Fairy Wars) was released on September 9. The game stars Cirno, who has a memetic association with the number 9.
  • Much like the above-mentioned 9 and Beatles remasters examples, The Beatles: Rock Band saw release on 09/09/09.
  • NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams was announced on April 1st, 2007 and released in December of the same year. The original Nights into Dreams had a Christmas version known for having special events occur on Christmas Eve and April Fools' Day.
  • In 2005, Killer7 was released on the seventh day of the seventh month.
  • All of the Greek era God of War games (apart from Ghost of Sparta, which released in November of 2010) were released in March, the month named for the Roman God of War, Mars. In addition, God of War III was released March 16. This may be a reference to John 3:16 in the Bible, as the series has some possible Christian overtones, III most of all. The Norse era has thus far averted this, with God of War (PS4) releasing in April 2018, and God of War Ragnarök in November 2022.
  • The DS Horror Game Dementium: The Ward was released 31.10.07, or Halloween. This date comes up a few times in-game, such as the combination to a keypad.
  • Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 came out on November 10th, 2009, and the launch trailers ended with "11-10-09" blinking on in sequence like the countdown before an explosion. Presumably, this was meant to signify the "exploding" international tensions in the game's plot which results in America being invaded, or just the ramped-up action in the game.
  • Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty was released during the Chinese Year of the Snake. Whether this was deliberate or coincidental, at least one trailer pointed it out.
  • Similar to above, Spyro: Year of the Dragon was released in 2000. As it says in the title, the Chinese Year of the Dragon.
  • The myth arc of Assassin's Creed heavily tied into the supposed apocalypse date of 12/21/2012. Assassin's Creed III was released on the same day it begins in game (30.10.2012) to play into this. The game itself ends on the former date.
  • Hate Plus was due to be released to coincide with the new lunar year, an event celebrated in the story. It didn't happen.
  • The PC version of Valkyria Chronicles, a game about war, was released on Veterans Day 2014.
  • Super Columbine Massacre RPG! was released on April 20, 2005, the sixth anniversary of the Columbine High School massacre — which is the main topic of the game.
  • The release date of Super Mario Maker, a game celebrating the 30th Anniversary of Super Mario Bros., was the closest Friday to the September 13th release date of the original game. In an unfortunate coincidence, that Friday happened to be September 11th.
  • World War II Online was released on June 6 to coincide with D-Day. The marketing department forced this as a publicity stunt, despite the game still needing months of work. To say it was an Obvious Beta doesn't even begin to describe its launch problems.
  • Persona 5, a game with a major visual motif in the form of hearts and a theme of "stealing hearts," was set to release in the Americas and Europe on Valentine's Day 2017, before delays pushed the release back to the no-longer meaningful April 4.note  The Updated Re-release Persona 5 Royal was released in Japan on Halloween 2019, which fits into the game's themes of masks, costumes, and monster summoning.
  • Tyranny, a game set in a world where the Evil has finally won, released the day after the results of the 2016 US Presidential Elections had been announced. The fact that the release date was announced when the elections' outcome could not be predicted with any certainty may have been a statement in itself.
  • Mass Effect: Andromeda, a game about a space journey to the eponymous galaxy, was released on March 21, 2017 in North America. If this date is written in the date format customary in the US, it becomes 3/21 — or "three-two-one," the iconic countdown preceding most Real Life spacecraft launches.
  • Mortal Kombat X: Jason Voorhees was revealed as a Guest Fighter on February 13th, 2015 - a Friday the 13th.
  • Episode 5 of the time-travel adventure game Life Is Strange was released the day before "Back to the Future Day" (October 21, 2015), the date Marty McFly travels to in Back to the Future Part II.
  • Similar to above, on October 21st, 2015 we got the launch of a new piece of Rocket League DLC; the Back to the Future DeLorean.
  • The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim was released on November 11th, 2011 - that is to say, 11/11/11.
  • Startopia was released in 2001. In a game of sci-fi Shout-Outs, 2001: A Space Odyssey is one of the main ones with the game's intro and your Virtual Artificial Lifeform who vaguely remembers one of his previous charges being Dave.
  • The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask: In order to suit the game's dark tone and macabre themes, the original Nintendo 64 version was released shortly before Halloween in 2000 in North America, and the Nintendo 3DS remake came out on Friday, February 13, 2015.
  • Doom (2016), a game about massacring the ever-loving hell out of demons, was released on Friday, May 13, 2016.
  • Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire was released on November 21st, 2014, exactly twelve years after the Japanese release of the original Ruby and Sapphire.
  • Brütal Legend was released on the 13thnote  of Rocktober 2009, in order to emphasize how metal the game is.
  • Red Dead Redemption II was released on October 26, 2018, which happens to be the 137th anniversary of the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral that involves gunfighters Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday, the latter of whom died of tuberculosis at age 36 in 1887 (and in coincidence, this disease could also be the same fate that would befall the 36-year-old Arthur Morgan 12 years later in the fictional 1899).
  • Luigi's Mansion 3, which involves ghosts residing in a haunted locale, was released on October 31, 2019.
  • Sakura Wars:
    • Sakura Wars (1996) was released on September 27, 1996, which marked Masaru Ikeda's 54th birthday.
    • As for the 2019 game:
      • The first official trailer premiered on March 30, 2019, the 14th anniversary of the international release of Sakura Wars: So Long, My Love.
      • The game was released in Japan on December 12, 2019, which is also the 56th birthday of Ayame and Kaede Fujieda's voice actress Ai Orikasa.
  • Not Tonight got its Switch port released on January 31st 2020 — the same date that Brexit happened, which plays an integral part in the game's plot.
  • The various ports of Puyo Puyo Fever were released on the 24th of a month. 24 is the Goroawase Number for "Puyo," and as a result it's the Puyo Puyo series' Arc Number.
  • The final major update for Terraria, titled "Journey's End," was originally going to be released in 2019, but got pushed to 2020 instead. It was later released on 16 May 2020, Terraria's ninth anniversary.
  • Cyberpunk 2077 was intended to be released in 2020, as a homage to its tabletop predecessor's setting. Constantly slipping schedules (from April, to September, to November, to December) led to the game being Christmas Rushed.
  • Portal Reloaded: The mod was released on the 10th anniversary of Portal 2.
  • The Updated Re-release of Metal Wolf Chaos was released on the 76th anniversary of the nuking of Hiroshima, which aside from fitting the tone of a game about Americans blowing things up is also the kind of Crossing the Line Twice sense of humor that Devolver Digital gets up to.
  • The Evil Within 2 is a twofold example, being released on Friday, October 13th, 2017. Befitting for a horror game with plenty of bad luck motifs (like the broken mirrors and Kidman's black cat).
  • While the Japanese release date for the Sega Dreamcast didn't have any particular meaning, the North American release took advantage of the relative delay between regions to set its release date to September 9, 1999 — that is, 9/9/99, in order to paint it (not inaccurately) as advanced technology for a rapidly-approaching new millennium.
  • The release date of the Ultra Deluxe edition of The Stanley Parable is slated as 4/27, the same employee number Stanley is assigned.
  • The full version of Wednesday's Infidelity came out on December 15, 2021, the 55th anniversary of Walt Disney's death. In addition, the mod was released on a Wednesday, a day when suicides were most likely to be carried out.
  • Toonstruck was released on Halloween 1996, which fits its madcap and often dark tone. The game's Mascot Villain is Spike, a Monster Clown, and the entire second half of the game takes place in a spooky castle.
  • CarnEvil was released on Halloween 1998, and it's a horror-based game filled with murderous zombies, clowns, mutants, and more.
  • Return to Monkey Island, sixth in the Monkey Island series of pirate Adventure Games, released on September 19 (Talk Like a Pirate Day), 2022.
  • OMORI released on Christmas of 2020. Within the game's story, the main character was gifted a violin as a Christmas gift, which winds up being the catalyst that leads to the game's conflict.
  • Celeste's ninth chapter, "Farewell," was released as DLC on September 9th, 2019.
  • Diablo IV, perhaps inevitably for a game themed around demons and Hell, released on June 6th, 2023.
  • The King of Fighters XV: The extremely fanservicey Kick Chick Luong was revealed as a returning character on June 9th, 2021. June 9th can be read as 6/9.
  • The announcement page for Neko Atsume 2 was published on February 22, 2024. February 22 is National Cat Day in Japan — 2/22 can be read as "ni ni ni", which sounds like "nya nya nya", or a cat meowing.
  • The remasters of the first three Tomb Raider games was released on February 14, 2024 because February 14th is Lara Croft's birthday.

    Visual Novels 

    Webcomics 
  • Homestuck has an interesting history of turning release dates into Arc Numbers, and then turning those same arc numbers into future release dates.
    • Andrew Hussie planned to start the comic on April 10, but unexpected delays pushed the date back to April 13, or 4/13. Subsequently, the number 413 pops up many places in Homestuck. And some major flash animations were posted on subsequent 4/13 anniversaries, or on the 413th day since the start of the comic.
    • The Hivebent arc, which introduced the troll universe, began on June 12 (or 6/12), introducing the arc number 612. The flash "John: Rise Up" was released on the 612th day since the start of the comic.
    • Later, the comic introduced another arc number, 1025 (the sum of 413 and 612), generally used to represent some union between the kids' and the trolls' universes. The end-of-Act 5 animation (in which the kids and the trolls escape the simultaneous destruction of both universes) was initially meant to go up in August or September, but significant delays pushed it back until October. Hussie then delayed it a few days longer, so it could go up on October 25 (10/25).
    • Act 6 began on November 11, 2011, so Hussie lampshaded it by making it an in-universe meaningful release date, referred to as "2x3prong Day (whatever that means)." Not surprisingly, Act 6 introduces a new Arc Number based around eleven, or sometimes three ones (1/11), four ones (11/11), or six ones (11/11/11), more commonly the latter.
    • Homestuck also does the variation where the events of certain updates correlate with the days on which they were released. For example, an update showing a ball-shaped object falling from the top of a building was posted on New Years, and another series of updates consisting mostly of Dave making Freudian Slips when talking about a teenage version of his mom was posted on Mother's Day.
  • Roommates has this in spades mostly with the ending pages of the arcs but sometimes with the first ones too. Also not only holidays but solstices are important in this comic, mostly when the fae are concerned.
    • The 2013 summer arc begins on the 21th of June; Summer Solstice / Midsummer - It's about Kings and/or Fae.
    • Halloween arcs routinely begin or end on Halloween.
    • There was also a page titled Gift published on Christmas Eve for example (the second to last page of the 2012 Halloween arc incidentally, the page before it was on Winter Solstice and the last page of the arc on New Year's Eve).
  • Nebula, which revolves around Anthropomorphic Personifications of the solar system, released comic #14 on the blog (it had been available earlier as part of the Nebula Ultra compilation) on the date of the New Horizons flyby of Pluto: July 14th, 2015.
  • Dumbing of Age began on the 13th anniversary of the debut of Roomies!.
  • Alienby Comics: "Trans Jesus" was published on March 31, 2024, which happened to be both Easter Sunday and Transgender Day of Visibility.

    Web Original 

    Western Animation 
  • Adventure Time:
    • The Mystery Train episode, which takes place on Finn's 13th birthday, first aired on 3/14/11 putting Finn's birthday on Pi Day.
    • The 100th episode, "The Hard Easy," premiered on October 1, 2012, Cartoon Network's 20th anniversary.
  • Amphibia:
  • Arthur: The episode "Prunella Sees The Light/Return of the Snowball" aired on November 28, 2002, the 10th birthday of Cameron Ansell, Arthur's voice actor.
  • Hazbin Hotel:
    • The show takes place in Hell and its pilot episode debuted online on October 28, 2019, just three days before Halloween. It also happens to be the birthdate of the series creator, Vivienne Medrano.
    • The song "Poison" is sung by the character Angel Dust, whose birthday is officially April 1. "Poison (Official Remix)" dropped on April 1, 2024.
  • The first episode of Nightmare Ned premiered the same day (April 19, 1997) as the tenth birthday of Ned's voice actor, Courtland Mead.
  • The U.S. premiere of the Wander over Yonder episode "The Birthday Boy" was March 31st 2014, which is Craig McCracken's birthday.
  • The Powerpuff Girls (1998) episode "The Bare Facts," centered around the Mayor and told mostly from his POV (at least camera-wise) aired on January 20th, 1999. January 20th being the date most U.S. presidents are inaugurated.
  • SpongeBob SquarePants:
    • The episode "SB-129" in which Squidward accidentally time travels too far into the future, then too far into the past and then "nowhere" aired on December 31st, 1999—the last day before the year 2000. Nickelodeon actually aired several new episodes of shows with a millennium/future theme that night, including The Angry Beavers and Kablam.
    • The regular premiere of the show happened on July 17th, 1999, which was 4 days after the birthday of Tom Kenny. This continued with the 20th anniversary special, which was released on July 12, 2019, which was a day before his birthday.
    • "Graveyard Shift" ends with an appearance by Count Orlok (misidentified as Nosferatu). The episode first aired on September 6th, the birthday of Max Schreck, who played the titular vampire (and who also reprised the role here via a still image).
  • The Hub, the predecessor to Discovery Family, launched on October 10, 2010, with the premieres of My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, Pound Puppies, and Strawberry Shortcake's Berry Bitty Adventures.
  • On October 10, 2015, five years to the day of the show's premiere, My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic released "Crusaders of the Lost Mark," a Wham Episode in which the Cutie Mark Crusaders finally received their cutie marks since their (accidental) introduction together in the first episode. Four years and two days later, the Grand Finale aired, tying up everything together in a nice Book Ends fashion.
  • Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts:
    • October 23, 2020 kicked off the events of the show, although it was first released on January 14, 2020. This date commemorates the start of the mutant outbreak. It also happened to be on the birthday of Rad Sechrist's daughter!
    • Kipo's birthday is on March 23rd, which happens to be on Women Suffrage day.
  • Although its US release was in April of 2010, Ben 10: Ultimate Alien was released in Asia, the UK, Latin America, Australia and New Zealand on the 10th of October of 2010 (some places even broadcasted the episode at 10:00 AM to drive the point home). 10 is Ben's age during the original series, the number of starter aliens in said series and Alien Force, and it's even part of the protagonist's surname (Tennyson).
  • Using the American dating system, the first episode of Gravity Falls aired on 6/15/12 (June 15, 2012). The final episode was aired on that number backwards, 2/15/16 (February 15, 2016), befitting of the show's heavy use of secret messages and codes. According to Word of God, it was unintentional.
  • The first solo season of The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy premiered on June 13, 2003, a Friday the 13th.
  • The Family Guy episode "Quagmire's Dad," in which Quagmire's father is revealed to have had a male-to-female transition, aired on May 9th, 2010. In some countries, that was Mother's Day.
  • The Unikitty! episode "Birthday Blowout," an episode that celebrates the birthday of Puppycorn, the dog-unicorn little brother of the title character, was released on February 16th, 2018, the start of the Chinese New Year for the Year of the Dog.
  • Season 2 of She-Ra and the Princesses of Power, a cartoon made by a WLW creator, premiered April 26th, 2019, which also happens to be Lesbian Visibility Day.
  • The Simpsons:
    • The episode "Milhouse Doesn't Live Here Anymore" aired on February 15, 2004, which was Matt Groening's 50th birthday.
    • The episode "Fears of a Clown," in which Bart gets busted for his pranks and is sent to a rehabilitation program for his pranking habits, aired on April Fools' Day.
    • In Asia, the episode "You Don't Have to Live Like a Referee," which was about the FIFA World Cup, aired on June 12, 2014. Not only was this the first day of the 2014 World Cup, but the episode aired against the opening ceremony.
  • Steven Universe "Heart of the Crystal Gems" DVDnote  came out on August 14, 2018, one day before Steven's birthday. "The Question" also aired on July 4, American Independence Day, and is about Ruby discovering her independence. A later episode "Together Alone" that served as the start of Era 3 for Homeworld aired on New Years Eve.
  • The Fancy Nancy Christmas special "Nancy And The Nice List" aired on December 14, 2018. Nancy's voice actress, Mia Sinclair Jenness, turned 13 that day.
  • The DC Super Hero Girls TV series premieres on March 8, 2019, which is International Women's Day. Given that it's a show about girl power, this makes sense.
  • The Elena of Avalor episode "The Return Of El Capitan," which takes place on Dia De Los Muertos, aired on October 27, 2018, which is one year after the Mexican premiere of Coco, which focuses on the holiday.
  • Legend of the Three Caballeros first came out in the Philippines on June 9, 2018, which is Donald Duck's 84th anniversary.
  • Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! celebrated its 50th anniversary on September 13, 2019, which fell on a Friday the 13th and had a full moon.
  • The Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood episode "Daniel's Goldfish Dies; Daniel's Strawberry Seeds" premiered on February 26th, 2018, one day before the 15th anniversary of Fred Rogers' death.
  • DuckTales (2017) has a few examples of this:
    • "Whatever Happened To Della Duck?" aired on March 9, 2019. It was one day before the 50th birthday of Della's voice actress Paget Brewster.
    • "Nothing Can Stop Della Duck," which featured Della finally getting to meet her children after spending a decade trapped on the moon aired on May 13, 2019, the day after Mother's Day.
    • "Double-O-Duck in You Only Crash Twice!," an episode which parodies the James Bond franchise, was supposed to come out on the same day as the most recent entry in the series (before the latter's release date was pushed several months back due to the coronavirus pandemic).
    • "The Fight For Castle McDuck" aired on November 23, 2020, which is the 54th birthday of Michelle Gomez (the voice of Matilda McDuck) and the 57th anniversary of Doctor Who (where she and David Tennant worked on).
  • The Muppet Babies (2018) episode "Mystery On The Muppet Express," which focuses on Animal and Summer, aired on November 15, 2019, which is National Drummer Day.
  • The Jake and the Never Land Pirates special "Jake Saves Bucky" aired on September 19, 2012, exactly one year after the episode "Captain Hook's Parrot/Skybird Island is Falling." The episode "Pirate Pogo/The Sneaky Snook-Off" premiered 2 years later.
  • Doc McStuffins:
    • The episode "The Rip Heard Round the World/Walkie Talkie Time" aired on April 20, 2012, which is the 45th birthday of actress Lara Jill Miller.
    • The series finale aired on April 18, 2020, which is the birthday of series creator Chris Nee.
  • The House of Mouse episode "Donald's Pumbaa Prank," which is about April Fools' Day, aired on March 31, 2001, the day prior to said holiday.
  • The 7D premiered on July 7, 2014. In other words, a show about the Seven Dwarfs was released on the seventh day of the seventh month.
  • Blue's Clues:
    • The VHS of the episode "Blue's Birthday" was released on September 8, 1998, the second anniversary of the show's premiere on television.
    • The Halloween Episode of Blue's Clues & You! aired 20 years to the day of the premiere of "Blue's Big Costume Party."
  • Harvey Street Kids came out on June 29, 2018, the 39th birthday of Audrey's voice actress, Stephanie Lemelin.
  • Infinity Train:
    • The Book 1 finale came out on August 9, 2019, the 36th birthday of Tulip's voice actress, Ashley Johnson.
    • The trailer for Book 2 was released on November 22, 2019. In-universe, this was the exact day the protagonist of the first season, Tulip, ran away from home and ended up on the train.
  • The Lego Star Wars Holiday Special premiered on Disney+ on November 17, 2020, 42 years to the date that The Star Wars Holiday Special originally aired on TV.
  • The Elinor Wonders Why episode "The Unsinkable Lynx; Rocky the Rock" aired on September 7, 2021, the one year anniversary of the show's premiere on TV. In addition, PBS released a DVD on the same day called 15 Girl Power Adventures that also featured Elinor Wonders Why.
  • The Owl House:
    • The episode "Understanding Willow" premiered on August 1, 2020 (National Girlfriends Day in the US) and featured the first major signs of Amity being in love with Luz. Similarly, "Knock, Knock, Knockin' on Hooty's Door" aired one day short of a year later and ended with the two having a Relationship Upgrade.
    • Willow debuts in the episode "I Was a Teenage Abomination," which aired on January 24, 2020. The day after that, January 25, is the birthday of her voice actor Tati Gabrielle.
    • The Grand Finale "Watching and Dreaming" aired April 8, 2023, the day before Easter Sunday. With Luz undergoing death and resurrection and Belos' religious symbolism, it fits right in.
  • The Amazing World of Gumball:
    • The episode "The Romantic," which focuses on Gumball trying to pull off a series of romantic gestures for Penny, aired on October 8, 2015, almost exactly one year after they had their Relationship Upgrade in "The Shell," which aired October 9, 2014.
    • The episode "The Schooling," which is the 18th episode of Season 6, premiered in the USA on June 18, 2018.
  • Regular Show: The episode "This Is My Jam" centers around a song called "Lovin' in the Summertime," which, as the name implies, is about the arrival of summer. In Latin America, the episode first aired on December 22, 2011, which is around the time summer starts in the Southern Hemisphere.
  • Molly of Denali:
    • "Molly and the Great One" is about a climbing expedition planning to reach the summit of Denali on June 7th, in order to honor Walter Harper reaching the top of Denali for the first time on June 7, 1913. The episode aired on PBS Kids on June 7, 2021.
    • Season 2 premiered on November 1, 2021, the first day of Native American Heritage Month.
    • "Bubbling Up/Eenie Eenie Aye Over" premiered on October 10, 2022 to celebrate Indigenous Peoples' Day.

    Real Life 
  • There was a considerable increase in marriages set for July 7, 2007 (7/7/07) due to the conception of 7 as a lucky number. No word on if those marriages have had a better rate of success.
  • Eight is a lucky number in China, associated with prosperity and confidence, so the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing had its opening ceremony not just on August 8 (8/8/08), but at 8:00 PM local time.
  • MIT announces who will be admitted into it on pi day (3/14) at 6:28 (pi times 2, or tau, is about 6.28)
  • The Bank of England released its first polymer £20 note, featuring artist J. M. W. Turner on the reverse, on February 20, 2020. The following polymer note, the 50, featured mathematician Alan Turing, and was released June 23rd, 2021; what would have been his 109th birthday.

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