With Christmas right around the corner, it’s time to give yourself a gift that actually means something important: anime. Yes, “cheer” and “family” and “goodwill toward mankind” are okay, but it’s anime that you really want in your stocking. Because of this particularly jolly time of year, why not celebrate with twelve Christmas-themed anime episodes. We might not be able to wrap them and put them under your tree, but they’ll definitely put you in the holiday spirit.

 

Kimi ni Todoke — From Me To You Episode 22: “A Christmas”

 

 

Okay, let’s settle into this list with something pleasant. This episode is very aptly titled “A Christmas” and it’s just nice! Fun times with family! Emotional growth! Mishaps get cleared up and romantic connections deepen. In short, like most of Kimi ni Todoke, it’s pure comfort food.

 

Dr. STONE Episode 21: “Spartan Crafts Club”

 

 

If you had to reinvent the world your top priority would probably be ways to get more food, clothing and settlements. But eventually, you’d come to a point where someone would wonder where holidays fit in — particularly Christmas. Here, it coincides with our boy Senku figuring out how best to construct light bulbs. With the creation… well, re-creation of light bulbs comes a Christmas tree, just in time for the actual holiday and the winter season.

 

Toradora! Episodes 17 – 19: “Mercury Retrogrades at Christmas,” “Under the Fir Tree” and “Christmas Eve Festival”

 

 

Few genres fit more comfortably with Christmas than the romantic comedy. It’s why, in November, we’re flooded with roughly ten-thousand movies with titles like Feelin’ Kinda Christmas and Emperor of Christmas 2: Sovereign Santa. It’s the same with romantic comedy anime and I’d be remiss if I didn’t start out with an anime that devoted an entire mini-arc to Christmas — Toradora! Taiga and Ryuji are known for their backfires and hijinks around one another, but this set of episodes (all leading up to a Christmas party) is touching at times. It’s a pretty good example of why Toradora!’s fanbase continues to latch onto it — there’s heart underneath the general concept.

 

MY love STORY!! Episode 17: “My Christmas”

 

 

 

Christmas tends to make all of us a little sentimental. It’s why you can walk through the mall hearing Mariah Carey rise from a snow bank or Frank Sinatra’s version of “Santa Claus is Comin’ To Town” blare a dozen times and not once consider leaving and never coming back. So it makes sense that MY love STORY!!, a heart-on-your-sleeve tale about Rinko Yamato and her courtship with the gigantic Takeo Goda, would have such a great Christmas episode. There are no real surprises here as like most of the episodes in this series it’s devoted to good vibes above all else. But sometimes good vibes are all you need.

 

Cardcaptor Sakura Episode 35: “Sakura’s Wonderful Christmas”

 

 

I’m adding this to the list partly because I’ve always wanted to celebrate Christmas at an amusement park. The idea of The Firey, a powerful elemental Clow Card, setting stuff ablaze while I’m there hanging with my friends and trying to get in some time with my crush doesn’t sound AS fun, but you take what you can get in situations like these.

 

Mr. Osomatsu Episode 11: “Christmas Osomatsu-san”

 

 

 

Is there anything that the Matsu brothers, anime’s most terrifyingly and hilariously inept band of siblings, can’t ruin? Three seasons and a few movies on and the answer is “No.” In this episode, they take their staggering awfulness to Christmas, where a lack of self-awareness and/or dates turns the holiday into a nightmare for everyone that encounters them and the world at large. I wouldn’t have it any other way.

 

Sword Art Online Episode 3: “Red Nose Reindeer”

 

 

The idea of a monstrous Santa Claus is nothing new. From David Harbour in the recent Santa vs Terrorists film Violent Night to Weird Al’s bloody yuletide ballad “The Night Santa Went Crazy,” there’s practically a whole subgenre of it. Well, you can add Sword Art Online to that list with its boss “Nicholas the Renegade.” It might not be a typical Christmas episode, but it does include Kirito slaying a huge Santa lookalike that wields an axe, so it’s appropriately seasonal. There’s even snow!

 

My Hero Academia Episode 101: “Have A Merry Christmas!”

 

 

Look, I won’t lie to you. If you’re expecting a supervillain that has a quirk of, like, turning people into Christmas trees or whatever, you won’t find that here. Instead, it’s just a casual scene of the students giving each other gifts and trying to enjoy a nice holiday in the middle of their intense training toward becoming heroes. They deserve it at this point, especially considering the next step in their studies involves an all-out war.

 

 

One Piece Episode 90: “Hiriluk’s Cherry Blossoms! Miracle in the Drum Rockies!”

 

 

Again, not necessarily a Christmas episode, but it’s no accident to replicate the iconography of a sleigh led by a reindeer through the sky above a snow-covered forest landscape. When you have a sleigh, Tony Tony Chopper, and the fact that every episode of One Piece IS A GIFT, you can’t not do it.

 

Horimiya Episode 12: “Hitherto and Forevermore”

 

 

Killer Santas. Six terrible brothers. The invention of light. Literally all of One Piece. Some of these episodes are a little dramatic. If you want something more lowkey try the penultimate episode of Horimiya. There’s a lot of relaxing and chatting between the characters and those they care about with a BIG final act between Hori and Miyamura. Ya know what? I’d recommend watching the first eleven episodes beforehand. It might mean a little more.

 

What are some of your favorite Christmas episodes from anime? What anime do you sit down to watch during the holidays? Let us know in the comments, and remember, putting a Santa hat on Bakugo’s head is always the best decision.

 

 

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Daniel Dockery is a Senior Staff Writer for Crunchyroll. Follow him on Twitter! His book, Monster Kids: How Pokémon Taught A Generation To Catch Them All, is available wherever books are sold.