My Top 5 Anime and Manga Christmas Wishlist

Dear Santa,

This year I have extra super good. No need to check you can just take my word for it. You’re super busy this time of year and all, so really I’m happy to just let you know that I deserve all the gifts and you don’t have to do any complicated naughty or nice compiling!

I realize this is last minute and you might have one or two other things to get done before the big day so it’s ok if you want to get me some of these, next year. Or for New Year’s, we celebrate that too in my house! Go ahead and just get them to me as soon as it’s convenient for you, I’m not difficult!

5. Tatami Galaxy on Crunchyroll

I’m starting with a pretty simple one here. Tatami Galaxie was on FUNimation but I didn’t get a chance to watch it before the merger. Crunchyroll was supposed to be slowly bringing in the whole FUNimation library over to Crunchy so I canceled my FUNimation membership.

We’re almost in 2023 and still no Tatami Galaxy! Look, I am super happy about having been able to consolidate my anime streaming services a little. I love it. And I don’t want to start getting more now. So could you just make this one show Crunchyroll should already have access to available to us loyal subscribers? That would be great!

4. A completely new Kunihiko Ikuhara project

It doesn’t matter what it is as long as it’s not a retelling of something he’s already done. Actually, I should be a bit more clear here. Ikuhara is a talented man and he can fill many roles in an anime production. What I actually want is a series that’s written and directed by him.

Sarazanmai dates back to 2019. Which I realize now is not that long ago in the grand scheme of things but what can I say, I miss those Ikuhara tropes and weird stories. I’ll take anything you got. Give me a traditional isekai harem Ikuhara style. I bet that would be a hoot!

3. Less heated anime fan debates about lolis.

I like being a part of the anime community…most of the time. But the greater community has a few eccentricities that make me uncomfortable. And one of the big ones is seeing people get really passionate while saying stuff like, the age of consent is 14 in Japan and it’s a cultural thing you just don’t understand.

Aside from the fact that it’s just factually false, it’s just odd and a little sad to me that with all the wealth of art and ideas that anime has to offer, we constantly argue about this one point. And let’s face it, those arguments can get pretty creepy.

So how about in 2023 we calmly discuss class representation in anime? Or how about the way certain professions tend to be portrayed. Anime streetwear fashion? Take your pick!

2. A large used manga bookstore easily accessible to me

I still say that going digital is the right path for manga consumption. And that certainly will remain one of my goals for 2023. Growing my digital manga library and weening myself off the paper.

But let’s face it, there’s a certain charm to the hard stuff (as in hardcopy) that just can’t be matched despite all the conveniences of the digital realm. Once in a while, you just want to get your hands on a manga. Directly on it. You want to put it on your shelf and stare at it. You want to slowly turn the pages and lend it to your friends. It’s a ritual.

And for those times, a used bookstore would be ideal. Unfortunately, not only has the number of used book stores gone down dramatically in the past few years, but those also that carry manga are even fewer and further apart.

The odds of finding any manga at all are pretty slim, the odds of finding the specific manga you are looking for are just about astronomical.

So I would like to ask either for a large used manga specialty store or for all used bookstores in my area to start carrying a decent repertoire of manga. That shouldn’t be too hard to do, right?

1.       A New Season of Natsume’s Book of Friends

This is a non-negotiable. It’s not even for me, really. The world needs a new season of Natsume’s Book of Friends. I read every new volume as it comes out so I know there should be enough material now and that the available material is charming af. Yes you heard me, it’s so charming that it brings out the crude parts of me. (Do yourselves a favour and read vol. 27. It doesn’t matter if you haven’t read anything before, you’ll get the gist and it will make you happy.)

I guess I could eventually just rewatch the available seasons of Natsume’s Book of Friends and I probably will. But ‘c’mon now. Don’t tell me you don’t want another season of that show. It’s like a hug in anime form.

So that’s it. A very short and extremely reasonable list of Christmas gifts I definitely deserve and should get.

I will be waiting anxiously for the delivery sitting next to my three. The milk and cookies are ready and will be held hostage until receipt! Thank you!

Oh, and I guess I wish for peace on earth and all that as well…