25 Best Christmas Anime of All Time
Christmas is, for many and most, the best time of the year. The winter holidays generally have something special in them and that is why people love them so much. The entertainment industry and the cinematic arts are no exception, as we all know too well based on the number of holiday-themed movies that appear each year.
In this article, though, we are going to give you a list of the best Christmas anime of all time. Our list is going to include a total of 25 titles. We have tried to be as diverse as possible, including all genres, subgenres, and dates, meaning that you’ll find both old and new anime series on this list.
1. Toradora!
Episode 19: At the Christmas party of the school, Ryūji and Taiga are very elegant. Taiga has given a dress of his father to Ryūji so that he can impress Minori. During the party, Taiga and Ami amaze everyone with a surprise singing performance. Taiga tries to get Minori to go to the party, while Ryūji arranges a surprise for Taiga. The “tiger,” happy for Ryūji’s gesture, pushes the boy to go to school to wait for Minori: left alone, she realizes that she is fond of him and bursts into a desperate cry. Minori sees her, and immediately afterward, she meets Ryūji: she understands that he likes him, but she does not want romantic bonds, and she prefers to be alone (even if she is interested in him).
2. The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya
It is about mid-December, and the head of the SOS Brigade, Haruhi Suzumiya, announces to his comrades that the brigade is hosting a Christmas party in the classroom of their club. Club members Kyon, Yuki Nagato, Mikuru Asahina, and Itsuki Koizumi take care of the party preparations, such as decorations and costumes. But just a couple of days later, Kyon discovers that Haruhi is missing. Lei Haruhi has not only disappeared; she is as if she had never existed. Also, Mikuru does not seem to recognize Kyon and claims he has never seen him before, Koizumi is as if he has never moved into their school and Yuki is the only member of the literature club, which is obviously housed in the classroom where he would have us. It had to be the SOS Brigade. And no one in the whole school has ever heard of Haruhi Suzumiya. Kyon is the only one who can understand what happened.
3. Lucky☆Star
Episode 11: The end of the year is drawing close, and that means Christmas is right around the corner. They get on the topic of how, sometimes, when they get sleepy on a bus, they tend to lean on the person next to them. Whenever Konata gets on her bus, she gets sleepy and falls asleep a few times on the shoulder of the person next to her.
4. Winter Garden
In this romantic story set during winter on Earth, Dejiko, now 20, and Puchiko, 15, have matured, dropping their signature speech patterns and eye rays. Dejiko, contrary to her usual traits, is no longer lazy, selfish, or glory-seeking. She works diligently at a pastry shop and experiences a change in her personality. The narrative revolves around Dejiko’s blossoming romance with Takurou Senba, who shares an umbrella with her in a park. The story explores whether Takurou reciprocates Dejiko’s feelings. Notably, Rabi en Rose makes only a brief appearance, and Gema is absent from the storyline.
5. Tokyo Godfathers
Three homeless people accidentally find a little girl on Christmas Eve, abandoned in the garbage. While Hana, an impoverished trans woman after quitting her drag job, wants to keep her as she deems it a divine gift, Gin, a wandering alcoholic, and Miyuki, a runaway girl, wants to take the baby to the police right away. Eventually, they convince Hana to keep her only for that night, but when she awakens the next day, they discover that she has left their makeshift refuge. After finding her, together they try to bring the child directly to her parents, following tracks that often lead them astray. During the week between Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve, the three will have various adventures, coming into contact with the variegated humanity of the Tokyo metropolis on the trail of their past and their respective personal stories.
6. Digimon Adventure 02
Episode 38: In Digimon Adventure 02, to celebrate Christmas Eve, Ken decides to invite friends to a party at his house, but is reluctant because he fears they may refuse. However, everyone, including Cody, accepts with joy, and the six decide to surprise the other Digipelts with their Digimon to be able to spend these festive days together.
7. White Album 2
The story unfolds a decade after the events in the White Album game, focusing on the school’s struggling music group. Haruki, the protagonist, endeavors to revive the group and recruits two girls, Setsuna Ogiso and Kazusa Tomo. Together, they prepare for a school fair concert featuring songs from Yuki Morikawa’s “White Album” album. During the event, Setsuna confesses her love to Haruki, and they start dating.
Setsuna plans a birthday party, and on the way, Haruki decides to invite Kazusa, knowing Setsuna wishes to see her. However, Kazusa’s imminent departure causes tension, leading to a heated argument. Despite attempts to reconcile, Kazusa declares her departure for Vienna and disappears from school. She leaves a letter for Setsuna before her graduation.
Haruki searches for Kazusa unsuccessfully until she contacts him, prompting a meeting at her house. The two reconcile, but Kazusa still departs. The story concludes with Setsuna and Haruki bidding farewell to Kazusa at the airport.
8. Itsudatte My Santa!
Itsudatte My Santa! is a romantic comedy anime OVA that revolves around a high school student named Santa Claus (yes, that’s his actual name) and a girl named Mai. Despite his name, Santa has a troubled past with Christmas and harbors negative feelings towards the holiday. On Christmas Eve, Mai, who happens to be a Santa Claus-in-training with magical powers, appears before him to grant his Christmas wishes.
9. K-On!
Episode 7: Yui’s sister, Ui Hirasawa, remembers how Yui once attempted to give her a white Christmas when they were little by putting pillow-stuffing on the tree outside. Ritsu decides to hold a Christmas party for the club, and while her initial plans of holding it at Tsumugi’s house fail, they eventually decide to have it at Yui’s house while Yui’s parents are on vacation.
10. Ichigo Mashimaro
Episode 12: Matsuri’s faith in Santa Claus makes the rest of the gang guarantee her a happy Christmas.
11. Hachimitsu to Clover
Episode 4: Mayama meets Riku at college. Hagu gets sick from stress. Takemoto, walking with Hagu before the Christmas party, remembers why he doesn’t like Christmas.
12. 5 Centimeters per Second
The feature film 5 Centimeters Per Second is a poignant and sentimental story divided into three episodes, each depicting a significant moment in the lives of the main characters, Takaki Tōno and Akari Shinohara. In the first episode, set in the early nineties, the childhood friends are separated by distance as Akari moves to Tochigi. They continue to exchange letters, and Takaki embarks on a challenging journey to meet her one last time before he moves to Kagoshima.
The second episode follows Takaki in Kagoshima, where he navigates high school life and the unspoken feelings of a classmate, Kanae Sumita. Kanae realizes Takaki’s heart belongs to another, and she suppresses her own feelings.
In the final episode, set in Tokyo in 2008, Takaki, now an adult, struggles to move on from his past and find love. He encounters Akari, but circumstances prevent them from reconnecting. A flashback reveals that Akari has moved on and is about to get married. Takaki realizes he must let go of the past and embrace his future, providing a bittersweet but liberating conclusion to their story.
13. Chocotto Sister
In Chocotto Sister, the story begins with little Haruma Kawagoe expressing a Christmas wish for a little sister after his mother’s abortion leaves her unable to have children. Years later, as a university student, Haruma encounters a woman claiming to be Santa Claus on a flying motorcycle. He delivers the fulfillment of his childhood wish to a little sister named Choco. Despite the confusion and the passage of time required to create a little sister, Haruma now navigates life with his new, younger sibling, who carries a book seeking answers about the world and often questions her brother.
14. Hetalia: Axis Powers
Episode 31: In a universe similar yet different from this one, three students at the World Academy W decide to survey the others on how they spend their winter holiday.
15. Log Horizon
Episode 30: Enheart Nelreth continues to wreak havoc in Akihabara and throws the city into a state of disquiet. This prompts the remaining Round Table members to impose an evacuation of the lower-leveled players to Zantleaf for their protection.
16. Whisper of the Heart
The plot follows Shizuku Tsukishima, a middle school student who loves to spend her free time reading a book. However, no matter what volume she picked up in the library, his form always had the name of Seiji Amasawa.
After meeting an unusual boy, Shizuku realizes that he is her first love. Communication with him opens her inner world for the girl, she learns a lot about others and about herself. One of the main topics covered in the plot is the period of growing up and first love, transitional age in all its manifestations.
The evolution of the girl’s feelings is examined in many details – from dissatisfaction with an annoying boy to affection for him. However, the most important theme is finding yourself and overcoming difficulties on the way to your dream.
17. Usagi Drop
Episode 3.5: Daikichi and Rin prepare for Christmas.
18. Gochuumon wa Usagi Desu ka?
Episode 11: The girls are shopping for Christmas decorations for Rabbit House and Ama Usa An, then they start making plans to have a Christmas party after they have all finished working on Christmas Eve. When the guests arrive at the party, Rabbit House still has customers because the special Christmas pancakes they prepared attracted a lot of people, so they decide to help.
19. Kanon
Kanon‘s storyline is based on a group of five girls whose lives are tied to the same boy. Yuichi Aizawa is a second-year high school student who visited the town where the story takes place seven years before the game starts.
The story begins on Wednesday, January 6, 1999, when Yuichi arrives in town, very indifferent to the town and its people. . He must live with his aunt Akiko, with his cousin Nayuki Minase. After his long absence, Yuichi remembers virtually nothing, except details, of his previous visit to the city.
Nayuki tries to refresh her memory several times but fails. Throughout the story, learning about the supernatural aspects of the city, Yuichi remembers the events that took place seven years earlier.
20. Wolf Children
Hana, a 19-year-old student, meets a wolf boy. The fruits of their love are the girl Yuki and her younger brother Ame. After the death of her beloved, Hana has to raise her children herself. Due to the need to hide their origin, the girl does not risk taking the kids to the doctor, which raises suspicions among social services.
And the regular howl of children leads neighbors to suspect that Hana got a dog, thereby violating the agreement on renting an apartment. In such a critical situation, she decides to move to the village soon, away from prying eyes.
21. Your Lie in April
Arima Kōsei is a renowned young pianist. A little prodigy from an early age, commonly known as a “human metronome”, he excels in all the competitions in which he participates by giving a performance that accurately reproduces a score.
However, his mother, who is both a pianist and his teacher, suddenly dies from a serious illness whose causes are unknown and Kōsei misses a competition that could have led him to play the piano internationally. He, therefore, abandons the piano and all his past.
Two years later, Kōsei enters his last year of middle school and meets Kaōri Miyazono, a violinist of the same age as him and who is in the same class as his neighbor and loving sister, Tsubaki, with whom he will immediately fall in love.
22. Winter Sonata
Joon-sang, the teenage son of an eminent musician, moves to the rural town of Chuncheon, where he is well-received by schoolmates and teachers thanks to his extraordinary talent as a student, despite his introverted and quiet character.
Joon-sang is looking for his father, who his mother claims is dead, and whom the boy has never met, which led him to believe that no one really loves him, especially his mother. Joon-sang soon falls in love with one of his classmates, Yoo-jin, who reciprocates, but a car accident causes brain damage that makes him forget everything that happened before he wakes up.
His mother, who has always been eager to obtain love and respect from him, has him altered by a psychologist so that he can cancel his painful childhood as an illegitimate child and take him with her to the United States. As the boy begins a new life under the name of Lee Min-hyeong, friends and teachers are told of his death.
23. Sailor Moon S: The Movie
In Sailor Moon S: The Movie A mysterious alien entity is heading towards Earth, intending to freeze it completely. But a crystal useful for this is lost and detaches from the main comet. The crystal is found by Kakeru Ozora, a young astronomer in poor health, who became friends with the cat Luna, after saving her life from a car accident.
The proximity to the crystal further precipitates the conditions of the young man, and Luna decides to help him with the help of the Sailor Warriors who in the meantime are having their business with the terrible Snow Dancers, who have the task of freezing the earth.
This entity is precisely the comet observed by Kakeru, the Snow Princess Kaguya, already rejected once at the time of the Silver Millennium by the power of the Silver Crystal.
24. Clannad: After Story
Episode 13: Tomoya wants to ask Akio to be able to take care of Nagisa, but the father, before listening to him, wants to be beaten in baseball.
25. Love Hina Christmas Special – Silent Eve
There are a few days to Christmas and Keitaro, Naru and Mutsumi are studying for the exam they will have to face on the morning of the eve.
Keitaro, taking advantage of the Christmas atmosphere, thinks of declaring himself to Naru even though she is rather cold towards him. Kaolla and Sarah find a package with a letter in Naru’s room in which they read the words “I love you” and believe it is for Keitaro.
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