I'm back after my break and of course over the festive period there have been a metric ton of Christmas Specials as per usual, in this feature I'll cover my favorites along with a few I'm not so fond of, as a bonus anything I mention whether it be the show it came from or the actual Christmas show itself, I shall cover in the vault, as an Anime review or in the case of Video Games in the Cartridge Diaries feature, so pick a good one and it shall start the year off.
To save me having to repeat myself a number of times these Christmas specials are all built around similar plots. Something bad happens and they need Christmas Spirit to cheer everyone up, now that's out the way lets begin.
Video Games
Christmas Games are usually saved for Androids these days but back in the Windows 98 era we had the utterly terrible Elf Bowling, it was okay and it was kind of the Angry Birds of it's day but it didn't have ever lasting appeal, it's creators felt differently and subjected us to a film about it which is as bad as it sounds.
On a better note, Sega did the season more justice with the utterly beautiful Christmas Nights into Dreams; okay it was only a demo of level one but my god did they work hard for it, they pretty much transformed it into a winter wonderland complete with exclusive content, something which would be sold easily as DLC. What made it so unique is that it kept changing with the date with whatever is read on the internal Sega Saturn clock, so you had Halloween, April Fool special variants along with the standard Christmas one. Special mention to Sonic R for it's snow weather making every zone a Winter Wonderland, it's something Sega just seem to do right.
More recently we had Saints Row IV's Christmas special where the Saints leader must save Christmas by defeating an evil Santa Claus while spreading joy in their own unique way, it feels like something out of Futurama which uses a similar plot of an evil robot Santa, only in the Saints Row version we remain as violent as possible with Gingerbread beatdowns and Elf Slaying along with Christmas Dubstep guns.
Anime
The Japanese seem to like Christmas a lot and no one likes it more than Ken Akamatsu as he tries to insert at least one Christmas Special into every work including a whole mini series on the holiday. Starting with Love Hina who managed both the anime and manga for it's special but each version is different. In the anime Keitaro gets the wrong idea about what Naru wants and ends up missing on Christmas, so much of the special is Naru apologizing and making peace with Keitaro, the Manga does better though as it jumps more into the past as Keitaro finds out that the girl he made his big promise to was Mutsumi and not Naru but with Keitaro confused between which girl to be with he ends up taking both out on Christmas Eve much to the annoyance of single men walking around. In the end Keitaro doesn't choose leaving the relationship battle on hold; but I always remember the manga version especially for two reasons: A) the sexy Santa dresses and B) the fact that the others spend all their time trying to put a bra on poor Motoko.
But not to be out done Itsudatte My Santa goes a step further with a young Santa Helper named Mai who can transform into a sexy Santa girl at full power to spread Christmas cheer to everyone but I will be reviewing that one soon so I won't spoil anymore. In the meantime Mai is over in Walk of Fame if you want to read that.
But it's not just Akamatsu works; Hetalia's characters all go into detail how each country celebrates Christmas with a less than flattering example from China, this offers some screen time for Finland who spreads Christmas while the lead nations fight it out on the beaches in what is a very familiar scene from Season one.
Ninja Nonsense starts out with the Ninjas tradition of eating all the leftover rations until Kaede teaches them about Christmas in what is quite a hilarious episode in context.
Ranma 1/2's OVA brings the entire cast together for the Saotome/Tendo Christmas party, and in traditional Ranma 1/2 style everyone wants to give a gift to Ranma but in the end Akane & Ranma spend some convenient alone time which makes their arranged marriage go a step closer as is with all Ranma episodes.
Read or Die TV's Christmas Episode starts off with Nenene attending a party for writers but all she gets is stuck up writers who really don't think much of her while the Paper Sisters just enjoy the food and books. In the second half we get some back story into how Maggie & Michelle met Anita. It's quite the moment of heartwarming as the sisters extend their family to Nenene.
Cartoons
There are far too many to name so lets dive into some favorites this time.
Starting with Recess whose Christmas episode is about believing in Santa Claus as Mikey tries to get to grips with the moment that he finds out Santa isn't real which for someone of his age is a bit sad but it manages to be touching as the gentle giant learns Christmas spirit and performs as Santa in the play with his incredible voice.
Rocko's Modern Life was particularly memorable as the episode revolves around Rocko having a Christmas party but when he invites the new elf neighbors, Ed Bighead starts a sinister rumor about the Elves being diseased and poor Rocko is left on his own. But in a Christmas miracle the Elf Rocko befriends manages to make it snow which is what the cloud above Rocko has been trying to do all episode. Everyone makes up and Rocko has his party with all his friends.
A classic one with Sylvester & Tweety along with Hector the dog and their owner Granny as they try and enjoy the holidays without anyone getting eaten as per the usual setup. I enjoy this episode particularly as we find out how well Mel Blanc can sing in his Tweety voice.
Pinky and the Brain's one is a real tearjerker; Pinky writes a letter to Santa while Brain continues with his plans to takeover the world which is starting to look like a reality this time all the while getting more annoyed at Pinky who keeps bringing up his letter to Santa, it's only when he activates his mind control device when Brain reads Pinky's letter and finds out that Pinky asked Santa if he could give Brain the world. In a moment of heartwarming from Brain he wishes the World a Happy Christmas and destroys his device not willing to let down his only friend hours before Christmas. This is a really poignant moment for Brain as we discover that taking over the world isn't worth it without Pinky being happy.
But the clincher is Hey Arnold. Arnold takes part in the Boarding house Secret Santa and he gets Mr Hyunh; Mr Hyunh doesn't really ask for much as he's pretty loaded with gaudy clothing anyway but the one thing he does want is to see his daughter again. It's revealed that Mr Hyunh is a refugee from the Vietnam War and that he sent his daughter to America to keep her safe. Arnold being Arnold tries everything including helping a man with Christmas Shopping just to try and make Mr Hyunh's wish come true but in the end it fails but just before we end on a downer Helga finishes the job off by giving up her own Christmas present so that Mr Hyunh's daughter can be found, and wouldn't you know it she comes back. Just another act of kindness from the most unlikely source.
Christmas Specific Specials
In my country we had Robbie the Reindeer from the same people who made Wallace & Gromit. In this special Robbie has to live up to the expectations of being the son of Rudolph and is sent to the North Pole to apply for the Reindeer team on Santa's Sleigh but a few of the Reindeer are not so impressed particularly Blitzen who holds a grudge against Rudolph for stealing his leadership of the sleigh. So Robbie enters the Reindeer Games to try and win a place on the team after being trained how to best utilize his red nose by Old Jingle, a take off on Yoda. Although he doesn't win he manages to earn his place anyway after he shows great spirit. A good special with two lousy sequels but it's still good British Humor.
Like I said before there are far too many specials to name but I suppose the one special I should bring up is Charlie Brown.
In this special Charlie Brown is depressed, despite all the cards, presents and decorating, he feels convinced that Christmas is over commercialized, his depression only upsets a few more people and his activities only makes things worst as he tries to direct a Christmas Play but the final straw comes when he can only find a pathetic Christmas tree when asked to get one, when asked why he got a crappy one he reveals that it was only one that's real which prompts mockery from his friends. After failing to save the little tree Charlie Brown sulks about his latest failure until the other kids help restore some cheer by saving the tree and singing carols with Charlie Brown. Despite being a Christmas favorite for years on end since it's release, looking back it's actually pretty terrible; no I haven't got a black heart, it's because: A) I don't like Charlie Brown to begin with and B) I'm not American so I wasn't brought up on this special, I was brought up on the many numerous Christmas Specials from British made shows, so I wouldn't look too much into this.
And that's about it, a look at some Christmas Specials old and new, hope you had a good one this year and I'll return in the New Year.
