News
New Year's Greetings — Anime Style (Update 11)
posted on by Egan Loo
For generations, people in Japan have celebrated New Year's Day by sending specially designed cards — nengajō — to each other. As part of the tradition, postal workers store all the nengajō that are mailed in the final weeks of the old year, and then deliver every single one on New Year's Day. Many nengajō mark the Chinese Zodiac by depicting the animal of the year. (In 2009, that animal is the ox or cow.) Here are some New Year's (and Christmas) greetings from the folks that will be bringing you anime and manga in the new year.
AQUAPLUS (Tears to Tiara, ToHeart2 adplus, Utawarerumono, White Album, others)
Bandai (Tamagotchi!)
Flash animation© Bandai, WiZ 2004
Bandai Entertainment (Mobile Suit Gundam Seed)
© 2002-2004 Sotsu, Sunrise, MBS
BaseSon (Shin Koihime†Musō)
© BaseSon
CLAMP (Tsubasa, RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE/xxxHOLiC)
Via Chibi Yuuto's ChroniclesThank you to dreaming0 for the tip!
Akitaro Daichi (Fruits Basket, Kodomo no Omocha, Now and Then, Here and There)
This is a sign for a shrine that Daichi posted. Daichi admits that he was so busy with his new series that the New Year caught him by surprise, so he did not send a nengajō this year.
Doraemon Channel
Flash animation(In the linked page, select the Doraemon snow globe and drag it around vigorously to "shake" it. If you shake it hard enough, Doraemon gets dizzy. If you "push" it up and then let go…well, you'll see.)
© Fujiko Production, Shogakukan
Elf
feng (Akane-Iro ni Somaru Saka)
Fireball
© Disney
Gainax (Gurren Lagann)
Illustrated by Hiroyuki Imaishi"Happy New Year
Please enjoy [the second film] Ragan-hen"
Studio Ghibli
Ghibli Museum
Good Smile (Lucky Star)
These are the exclusive O-Nenga (New Year's Greetings) Capsule versions of the Lucky Star Nendoroid Petit figures that Good Smile created for the New Year's festivities at Washinomiya Shrine. The shrine served as a real-life inspiration for the Lucky Star anime. Via Danny Choo
Gurren Lagann
Image © Gainax, Kazuki Nakashima/Aniplex, KDE-J, TV Tokyo, Dentsu
Megumi Hayashibara
Flash animation and video(In the linked page, select the flying green butterfly. After a new page opens, select the upper righthand line of red text to see the New Year's greetings that Hayashibara's friends have sent her.)
Tomo Hirokawa and Ichiro Sakaki (Shinkyoku Sōkai Polyphonica: Cardinal Crimson)
Illustrated by Tomo HirokawaOriginal creator: Ichiro Sakaki
© 2008 Ichiro Sakaki © 2008 ocelot © 2008 Tomo Hirakawa/Flex Comix Inc.
Production I.G (Oblivion Island: Haruka and the Magic Mirror)
© 1996-2008 Production I.G© 2009 Fuji Television Network, Production I.G
jaPRESS
Shintaro Kago (Punctures)
Via Same Hat! Same Hat! blog
Yuhki Kamatani (Nabari no Ou)
Thank you to dreaming0 for the tip!
Yukito Kishiro (GUNNM/Battle Angel Alita)
Flash animationThank you to Al Young for the tip!
Macross Frontier
minori
Kaoru Mori (Emma)
Shoko Nakagawa
Ai Ota (Inuyasha, Turn A Gundam, Viper's Creed)
Maaya Sakamoto
Illustrated by Maaya Sakamoto(In the linked page, select the "I.D." logo.)
Sanrio (Hello Kitty)
Flash animationSeventh Expansion (Umineko no Naku Koro ni, Higurashi no Naku Koro ni)
Spice and Wolf
Illustrated by Jū Ayakura© Isuna Hasekura, MediaWorks/Spice and Wolf Production Committee
Sunrise (Armored Trooper Votoms)
Illustrated by Norio Shioyama© Sunrise
Sunrise (The Big O)
Illustrated by Keiichi Satou© Sunrise
Sunrise (Brave Exkaiser)
Illustrated by Masayuki Hiraoka (characters) and Takahiro Yamada (mecha)Colored by Reiko Iwazawa
Special effects by Masayuki Hiraoka
© Sunrise
Sunrise (The Brave Express Might Gaine)
Illustrated by Atsuko Ishida (characters) and Masahiro Yamane (mecha)Colored by Reiko Iwazawa
Special effects by Masayuki Hiraoka
© Sunrise
Sunrise (Chou Mashin Eiyuden Wataru)
Illustrated by Toyoo Ashida© Sunrise, R
Sunrise (Future GPX Cyber Formula)
Illustrated by Takahiro YoshimatsuColored by Keiichi Funada
Special effects by Hirofumi Yagi
© Sunrise
Sunrise (Infinite Ryvius)
Illustrated by Hisashi HiraiColored by Reiko Iwazawa
Special effects by Reiko Iwazawa
© Sunrise
Sunrise (Iron Leaguer)
Illustrated by Tetsuya YanagisawaColored by Reiko Iwazawa
Special effects by Masayuki Hiraoka
© Sunrise
Sunrise (Mobile Suit Gundam 0083: Stardust Memory)
Illustrated by Toshihiro Kawamoto© Sotsu, Sunrise
Sunrise (Muteki Choujin Zanbot 3)
Illustrated by Yoshikazu Yasuhiko© Sotsu, Sunrise
Sunrise (Round Vernian Vifam)
Illustrated by Toyoo Ashida© Sunrise
Sunrise (Zettai Muteki Raijin-Oh)
Illustrated by Akira Takeuchi (characters) and Takahiro Yamada (mecha)Colored by Reiko Iwazawa
Special effects by Masayuki Hiraoka
© Sunrise
Naoko Takeuchi (Sailor Moon)
This is not a nengajō, but on New Year's Day, the official Sailor Moon Channel posted a drawing that "Naoko-hime" drew after touring the Bandai Hobby Center's Gundam plastic model factory last fall. The factory workers' uniforms are modeled after the Earth Federation military uniforms in the Gundam anime.
Type-Moon
Hiroki Ugawa (Shrine of the Morning Mist)
Ugawa drew the linework for Christmas 2007 and colored it for Christmas 2008.Via Yuri na Hibi, Okazu, and Yuricon Mailing List
Kazuo Umezu (Drifting Classroom)
Video MessageVia Same Hat! Same Hat! blog
Nao Yazawa (Wedding Peach)
Illustrated by Nao Yazawa (English website)Thank you to Rebecca Rudeen for the tip!
Kenichi Yoshida (Eureka Seven)
Illustrated by Kenichi YoshidaThank you to VLOXY for the tip!
Mine Yoshizaki (Keroro Gunsō/Sgt. Frog)
Illustrated by Mine YoshizakiThere are many more anime/manga nengajō out there, so if you know of one we've missed, feel free to let us know in our forums or by email (newsroom at animenewsnetwork.com). Akemashite Omedetō Gozaimasu!
(Here are last year's greetings!)
Haru image © 2004 Natsuki Takaya/HAKUSENSHA • TV TOKYO • NAS • Fruba Project. Licensed by FUNimation® Productions, Ltd.
Update: Disney (Fireball), Gainax (Gurren Lagann), Spice and Wolf, and Sunrise (Brave Exkaiser, Mobile Suit Gundam 0083: Stardust Memory, Muteki Choujin Zanbot 3) added.
Update 2: Bandai Entertainment (Mobile Suit Gundam Seed), Yukito Kishiro (GUNNM/Battle Angel Alita), and Macross Frontier added.
Update 3: feng (Akane-Iro ni Somaru Saka) and Sunrise (Armored Trooper Votoms, The Brave Express Might Gaine, Future GPX Cyber Formula) added.
Update 4: Bandai (Tamagotchi!), BaseSon (Shin Koihime†Musō), Elf, Ai Ota (Inuyasha, Turn A Gundam, Viper's Creed), and Naoko Takeuchi (Sailor Moon) added.
Update 5: AQUAPLUS (Tears to Tiara, ToHeart2 adplus, Utawarerumono, White Album, others), Megumi Hayashibara, jaPRESS, Kaoru Mori (Emma), and Nao Yazawa (Wedding Peach) added. Switched copyrights on Bandai Entertainment and BaseSon. Thanks, Cloud668.
Update 6: Good Smile (Lucky Star), Sunrise (Round Vernian Vifam, Infinite Ryvius, Zettai Muteki Raijin-Oh), and Kenichi Yoshida (Eureka Seven) added.
Update 7: CLAMP (Tsubasa, RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE/xxxHOLiC), Yuhki Kamatani (Nabari no Ou), and Sunrise (The Big O, Chou Mashin Eiyuden Wataru, Iron Leaguer) added. We also added the instructions for Doraemon Channel's "Easter egg" feature.
Update 8: Akitaro Daichi and minori added. We also added the 2008 thank you card from Mine Yoshizaki (Keroro Gunsō/Sgt. Frog). MangaCast's Ed Chavez posts the nengajō from the Kodansha BOX staff, as well as 15 manga magazine covers with a New Year's theme. Shuchung posted a link to drag11's comprehensive listing (mirror site) of New Year's greetings from Japanese computer-graphics artists.
Update 9: Hiroki Ugawa (Shrine of the Morning Mist) and Kazuo Umezu (Drifting Classroom) added.
Update 10: Shintaro Kago (Punctures) added.
Update 11: Spice and Wolf added.
this article has been modified since it was originally posted; see change history