Jolly jingles, sparkling decors, good food, and fun times with friends and family — Celebrating Christmas is something that many of us eagerly look forward to and sadly say goodbye to. The magic and wonder that Christmas brings feel like comfort, glee, and belonging, and this must be why we also feel happy and giddy when Christmas comes in an anime series or movie we’re watching. The time we see our favorite characters with big smiles and gleaming eyes is probably one of our favorite things to see, so here are some of the best Christmas moments in anime while we are still waiting for that merry day to come this season.
The Disastrous Life of Saiki K.
The first on the list is one of my favorite Christmas scenes in anime — The Disastrous Life of Saiki K‘s episode 7 in season 1. The first time I saw the episode’s Christmas part, I immediately got excited – compared to Saiki who was being openly bitter about it. Their house, which was fully, overly, and extremely decorated by his parents, was a slap in the face to Saiki’s hatred for Christmas. Not only that, but the overly excited people in his house were just too much for him. Nendo, who deems himself as Saiki’s best pal, told Saiki’s parents that Santa’s never visited him before. Despite that, he told them that it was fine because he got his mom who brings him gifts while he’s sleeping. This scene alone is enough to make us go Awwww, but Saiki’s father, who was already wearing a Santa Claus costume, wanted to let Nendo experience meeting Santa in person — so he pretended to be one and even begged Saiki to teleport a reindeer outside their house when Nendo shared that he has always wanted to meet Santa’s reindeers. Other than Saiki Kusuo complaining about Christmas, leave the rest of the Christmas episode to Saiki’s parents to make it jolly, and to Nendo to make it wholesome with his genuine personality and life stories. Look at Nendo’s face when he received a gift from Saiki’s father who was pretending to be Santa — I never imagined myself saying this, but Nendo looks absolutely adorable in this scene!
Netflix is streaming the anime and describes the plot as:
High school sophomore Kusuo Saiki swore as a child that he would keep his psychic talents hidden, but his abilities still make his life difficult.
© Shuichi Aso / Shueisha, PK Gakuen
Komi Can’t Communicate
Imagine not being able to communicate with a lot of people, except for your family, your whole life. Then comes the person who brings the biggest change in your life just by being your friend, and even gives you the best Christmas you have ever experienced. Komi Can’t Communicate is another anime with an adorable and heartwarming Christmas moment. The Christmas episode (episode 16) started with our best girl Komi thinking her Christmas would be all the same as her previous ones, but her most extroverted friend Najimi called her all of a sudden and decided they would be having a Christmas party with gift-giving on the same day at Komi’s house. Komi, who’s not used to going to the station alone, picking a present for other people on her own, and shopping alone, sees her brother and makes him come along with her to the mall. It was surely a unique experience for the Komis who couldn’t communicate, especially during the time when they needed to pay for the gifts. A lot of people who love Komi attended the Christmas party, and they played games and had fun all day. Komi, who never had a lot of friends because of her social anxiety, can’t help but be grateful to everyone and writes “Please keep being my friend” in her notebook (which everyone found sweet and touching). Plus, she received a big black cat stuffed toy from her friends which really and surely made Shoko Komi the happiest girl on Christmas Eve.
Komi Can’t Communicate is streaming on Netflix and the plot is described as:
At a high school full of unique characters, Tadano helps his shy and unsociable classmate Komi reach her goal of making friends with 100 people.
©Tomohito Oda, Shogakukan／Itan Private High School
Dr. STONE
Dr. Stone is a sci-fi and adventure anime that I am glad I get to include here in this Christmas article, because who would have thought that Christmas could still be celebrated in the stone world where things we used to use in our everyday lives don’t exist anymore? Also, who would have thought that our science genius Senku would be interested in celebrating Christmas? The episodes before episode 21, which showed the short Christmas scene, were all about creating scientific stuff and Senku being ten billion percent excited in each one of them, but nothing prepared us for such a heartwarming and festive episode. Episode 21 began with the Kingdom of Science creating a hydroelectric generator to create energy, batteries to store the energy made by the waterwheels, and lightbulbs to bring light to the village. Senku could just choose to first use the lightbulbs in a different place, but he put them in a tree and gathered everyone at night. As the snow starts to fall, Senku turns on the light, and the tree is lit up by the bright lights which Suika compared to twinkling stars. The light will not only literally bring light to the houses of the villagers, but it’s also a symbol of the beginning of civilization. It even made Gen feel that he was back in the modern world. When Senku told the craftsman Kaseki that they finished the lightbulbs just in time, Gen realized that it was Christmas day. Senku, being Senku, told Gen that it was just a coincidence, but Gen saw through him and knew it was really Senku’s intention to celebrate Christmas in this new world. Honestly, the time, materials, and effort they spent in making the lightbulbs were all worth it, seeing as everyone in the Kingdom of Science became awestruck and filled with astonishment when the lights turned on. What a memorable day it must have been.
Crunchyroll is streaming the anime and describes the plot as:
Several thousand years after a mysterious phenomenon that turns all of humanity to stone, the extraordinarily intelligent, science-driven boy, Senku Ishigami, awakens. Facing a world of stone and the total collapse of civilization, Senku makes up his mind to use science to rebuild the world. Starting with his super strong childhood friend Taiju Oki, who awakened at the same time, they will begin to rebuild civilization from nothing… Depicting two million years of scientific history from the Stone Age to present day, the unprecedented crafting adventure story is about to begin!
©Richiro Inagaki, Boichi/Shueisha, Dr. STONE Production Committee
Horimiya
Another anime with a Christmas episode that’s didn’t fail to make us feel all the warmth, love, and joy is Horimiya’s Season 1, Episode 12 titled “Hitherto, and Forevermore.” In this charming and cheerful episode, the relationships of our favorite characters such as Yuki and Toru, Kakeru and Remi, Hori and Miyamura, and even Miyamura’s adorable relationship with Hori’s family were given a spotlight. One hilarious moment in this Christmas episode is when Hori’s father Kyosuke and her brother Sota were trying *really hard* to make Miyamura go to their house on Christmas day to celebrate with them. It led to the point where Kyosuke said it was okay for his own daughter Hori to not be there, but Miyamura must be. It just shows how well-loved Miyamura is in the Hori family. In the later scenes, Kyoko Hori can be seen telling his father that Miyamura won’t be able to join them, but will be dropping off a cake later. Thinking that Miyamura would stay, her parents lit up with excitement. It instantly changed, of course, when Hori said Miyamura would only be at the entrance. This got Hori’s mother to say that their family would be very lonely this Christmas. When Miyamura arrived to drop off the cake, the whole Hori family was there to greet him at the entrance. Again, with extreme persuasion from the Hori family, a troubled Miyamura ended up staying there for an hour, and as he was leaving with Hori, Kyosuke and Sota were seen wearing their shoes in the hope of walking Miyamura to their bakery. Of course, the main highlight of this episode was Hori telling Miyamura she still wants to be with him after they graduate, to which Miyamura replied with a totally unexpected answer — “Let’s get married.” Let me tell you, I was screaming internally when I watched it. There’s no doubt – this charming and cheerful episode gave us all *the feels* which makes it one of the best Christmas moments in anime.
Horimiya is streaming on Crunchyroll and Netflix, and the latter describes the plot as:
An outgoing, popular girl who’s secretly a homebody bonds with her nerdy classmate who hides his tattoos and piercings while at school.
©HERO・萩原ダイスケ／SQUARE ENIX・「ホリミヤ」製作委員会
The Ice Guy And His Cool Female Colleague
To be honest, the entirety of this anime already feels like Christmas as it is, but the episode Christmas Day which came in the series had us wishing for a charming Christmas full of romance and wonder just like Fuyutsuki-san’s and Himuro-kun’s. The Christmas episode of The Ice Guy And His Cool Female Colleague, episode 8, starts with Himuro-kun buying Fuyutsuki-san snowflake earrings and hoping she will like them. It is then followed by Komori-san inviting them to go skiing for Christmas and have a Christmas party afterward. The idea of skiing with Fuyutsuki made Himuro blush just by thinking about it. When the day of the skiing trip came, Himuro couldn’t believe that he was experiencing such a major event in his life, which was skiing with someone he likes. The often-worried Himuro even felt like making puns because of his excitement. After skiing, they decided to go to the lodge on the top of the mountain to eat some curry but were surprised when they unexpectedly met Himuro-Kun’s little sister there. Yukimin, Himuro’s little sister, recognized Fuyutsuki and even almost told her about how his brother always talks about her. This Christmas episode also did not fail to give us all the romance and excitement, because after this, they had a takoyaki party, even walked outside that night with all the bright romantic lights and fully-decorated Christmas tree making the place lively, and Himuro-kun finally gave his present to Fuyutsuki-san in front of the well-lit tree (though it was not the snowflake earrings he bought because he thinks Fuyutsuki won’t like it). Nearing the end of the episode, we can see Himuro-kun having a flashback to when he was overthinking what else to give her, but fortunately, Fuyutsuki brought him back to reality by saying the blanket present he gave her was warm, and Himuro blushed as she appreciated the gift. Just like the other Christmas moments, this episode also made us go Awww! and a little bit of “I wish I was her” moment.
Netflix and Crunchyroll are streaming the anime, with the former describing the plot as:
The new hire – a descendant of snow spirits who can cause blizzards when agitated – harbors a crush on his aloof, but also intrigued, coworker.
©Miyuki Tonogaya/SQUARE ENIX, The Ice Production Committee
And that’s it for some of our best Christmas moments in anime! Do you have a favorite Christmas scene from other titles that are not mentioned here? If so, please share them below. Of course, if you have read this article and reached this part — thank you so much, and happy holidays!
Featured Image: Dr. STONE
©Richiro Inagaki, Boichi/Shueisha, Dr. STONE Production Committee
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