Kara Dennison
December 22, 2023 
There are a lot of great things about winter anime. They’re one last hurrah for the year in anime, squeezing in a few more hits before the calendar turns over. They’re a cheerful beacon of fun in a dark and cold time of year. And, best of all, your favorite winter shows can air festive episodes in real time!
These three series are taking advantage of their excellent timing (or potentially thriving on coincidence) to bring you seasonal stories just in time for the holidays. Have a look:
Soaring Sky! Precure
As a year-round franchise, Precure is always on top of the changing seasons. Halloween, summer break, and even the change from summer to winter uniforms all get addressed throughout the show’s many series. So of course, this weekend we’re getting a festive Christmas episode for the holidays!
In the next episode, Soaring Sky! Precure travels back to Skyland to celebrate Strichmas. (Long-time viewers will know that Skyland and Earth share many traditions that just happened to be spelled a little differently.) This year, though, it’s up to the Cures to drum up the festive spirit for the locals. How will they do it? Find out this weekend!
Our Dating Story: The Experienced You and the Inexperienced Me
Runa and Ryuto’s turbulent introduction to dating comes to an end this week. (Unless, of course, a season 2 rolls around!) Our Dating Story: The Experienced You and the Inexperienced Me has led our young couple through the ups and downs of a relationship, and for its finale it closes in on Christmas. The holiday is an especially romantic one in Japan, so there’s a lot of emphasis put on the season.
From a Parent Trap plan to a health scare, this episode is full of happenings. Even so, the ending is a soft and sweet one with the potential for continuation. Showing how the pair have become closer, capping it off with an exchange of Christmas gifts, was a nice way to end this winter rom-com.
Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End
Okay, in fairness, no one in the world of Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End is celebrating Earth holidays. But the slow-burn fantasy hit has been giving us cozy vibes for a few weeks already. The first sense of a chill in the air came when Frieren’s party got new character designs as they journeyed farther north. Their cozy, bundled-up look landed at the perfect time for those of us in the real world.
That, plus the pile-on of gift-giving as Fern and Stark try to navigate each other’s birthdays, has kind of given us a festive vibe. Is it as on the nose as our other choices? No. Is the timing intentional? Probably not. But does it work out well? We think so.
This year, our Christmas gift is more Zom 100! Find out why we think there should be a second season.
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