Forum - View topicThe Mike Toole Show - Christmas Special Forces
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Xavon
Posts: 367 Location: Minnesota |
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I also helped Kickstart Santa Company. It wasn't bad, but it felt short and incomplete.
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John Thacker
Posts: 1006 |
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Tokyo Godfathers is arguably a Christmas feature, no? The Nadesico Christmas episode goes down as one of my favorite random Christmas episodes. I actually think that they are rarer than they used to be, because of all the short thirteen episode series. The ones that have the special episodes are mostly the exceptions that prove the rule.
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mrsatan
 Posts: 909 Location: Olympia, WA, USA |
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The only other Christmas anime I can think of besides the aforementioned "Santa Company" are the infamous OVA Itsudatte My Santa! and Shōnen Santa no Daibōken, a TV series of which I can find little info.
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Northlander
 Posts: 901 |
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Santa Company was.... not very good. Honestly, aside from the briefness of it all, the whole thing just turned into an instructional video for corporate work ethic, and I can't really think of a single day out of all the other days in the year where that lesson should be allowed to take a day off.
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Sahmbahdeh
Posts: 712 |
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It's more in the vein of individual episodes than a special, but the very first episode of Hayate the Combat Butler is Christmas-themed. That sticks out in my mind as I can't think of any other anime that has a first episode like that.
Also, I'd be remiss to neglect to mention Chocotto Sister, the only TV anime with a Christmas premise I can think of. It's OK, from what I remember of it. Last edited by Sahmbahdeh on Sun Dec 25, 2016 8:33 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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invalidname
 Contributor Posts: 2442 Location: Grand Rapids, MI |
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JFC, Kid Power / Wee Pals, I haven't thought about that damn thing since it was on back when I was a kid. I remember having a paperback of the newspaper strips. Also, I am really old.
Anyways, cool info-dump. Thanks as always, Mike. |
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DerekL1963
 Subscriber Posts: 1113 Location: Puget Sound |
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Ahh... my childhood, lo these many years ago, was practically defined by Rankin-Bass Christmas specials.
I doubt you'll ever see them, the same way you'll likely never see a Cultural Festival episode of an American show set at school. Both are deeply rooted in and a product of their particular cultures. |
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Top Gun
 Posts: 4570 |
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It really blew my mind when I started getting into this fandom and learned that the specials that form the heart of the modern American Christmas mythos were almost universally created in Japan. Growing up, we had a ridiculously well-worn VHS that my parents used to tape the TV airings of just about every special you could think of (anyone remember CBS's awesome "Special Presentation" intro?), and along with the Grinch and Charlie Brown, it was pretty much all Rankin-Bass. So I guess thanks to Japan for making this time of year fantastic.
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Gina Szanboti
Posts: 11339 |
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I've never understood this obsession with endless narratives about the need to "save Christmas." When has Christmas ever been in danger? This bizarre fear even morphed into the ridiculous War on Christmas meme. There's no escaping Christmas anywhere on the planet (my favorite example of this was in Saint Young Men movie where Buddha tries to throw Jesus a surprise birthday party). In fact, I'd love to see a movie Escape From Christmas!, but Christmas is so unendangered a beast, that's only ever going to happen in my dreams. Rest easy, kids, Christmas is bulletproof and will be just fine without heroic interventions. Seriously, if the Alf Christmas special couldn't kill it, nothing can.
Interesting article though, as always. |
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Cutiebunny
 Posts: 1746 |
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I kickstarted Santa Company as well and it's the last project that AwesomeJapan runs that I'll ever back. I get tired of their noncommittal "We'll see" and then nothing is ever done and there's 0 communication that anything is in progress. I find their communication skills very lacking. I'd rather a company be upfront instead of doing things such as waiting until the funding period has ended to let you know that something they promised in a tier will no longer be included. AwesomeJapan isn't the only company that has this issue. DMP is a routine offender. I honestly have no clue as to why they allow established companies to use KS, but I guess that's a complaint for another day.
This was an interesting article. I never knew that the stop motion Rudolph specials were all done in Japan. It never dawned on me to research it other than "This is a Rankin-Bass production". My personal favorite Christmas movie is "Santa Claus Conquers the Martians". So cheesy...but I love it. |
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gordok
Posts: 22 Location: San Diego, CA |
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Actually, the Christmas episode of Kamichu comes pretty close to this: One of the main characters decides they want a non-Christmas-themed holiday season, since they view Christmas as an imported/foreign (and therefore invalid) holiday. 
On the "pro-Christmas" side, there's the second Tenchi Muyo movie, Daughter of Darkness. It has a few dark themes (as suggested by the title), but [spoiler alert!] spoiler[Christmas wins in the end.] |
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invalidname
Contributor Posts: 2442 Location: Grand Rapids, MI |
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I had a similar thought myself once, that we've be so inundated with stories about "saving Christmas" that as a relief, I'd kind of like one about wanting to destroy Christmas. And then I suddenly realized that was probably how Dr. Seuss came up with the idea for How The Grinch Stole Christmas! |
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Gina Szanboti
Posts: 11339 |
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Nah, in the end that was a saving Christmas story too. Most such hold that stopping Santa = Christmas destroyed, but the Grinch showed that nothing can harm Christmas and proved my point that it has never needed saving. Not even from Martians.
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Venus_Angel9
 Posts: 55 |
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"Do you think that something like Jump All-Stars Save Christmas would really have legs?"
Yes, I would also love to see A very special Jojo X-mas In all seriousness (I would seriously watch those BTW), I second Tokyo Godfathers as a Christmas movie. Tha's definitely what it is, isn't it? I was a bit bored by Santa Company but it was okay. It felt more like the first episode of a series, like something I'd have appreciated more if I knew the characters. There is potential there, but it needed more work. |
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TravellinMatt77
Posts: 85 Location: Durham, NC |
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I'll always contend that The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya is a Christmas movie. It opens with a Christmas party, and it's storyline is very reminiscent of It's a Wonderful Life.
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