Winter is the favorite season of many people, you have Christmas, after all. Japan takes this season seriously as the rest of the globe, and its cities have lights and a special romantic vibe.
With many festivals and events, it’s evident that anime have to inherit some and represent them. Shows with a pronounced winter setting are usually sad and melancholic, as Tokyo Godfathers and Steins;Gate 0 can prove.
Let’s see what are the best anime for winter lovers and why we recommend them.
This listicle ranks shows based on our opinion, so it’s subjective.
Table of Contents
10. Kanon
In 2006 the 24-episode anime of Kanon, based on the visual novel of the same name, was adapted.
Yuuichi is a high school student who has to move to a town where, until seven years earlier, he used to vacation. Much to his surprise, the boy seems to have no memory of the people he had known there. But different encounters with girls who seem to belong to his past will bring back his memories.
Being set in Hokkaido, an island in northern Japan characterized by its cold weather, the anime is marked by snowy, and very distinctive settings.
9. White Album 2: The Other Side of Happiness
An anime from different genres, such as dramatic, scholastic, and sentimental with the addition of music that hinges on everything.
The main character is Haruki Kitahara, an amateur guitarist and one of the two members who make up the light music club.
While the two are intent on strumming a song, the two hear the same song being sung by a boy. This is Setsuna Ogiso, who will join the club as a singer along with the tenebrous Kazusa Touma.
An anime to watch for several reasons, ranging from the excellent love subplot to the equally excellent handling of the theme of music, which unites the excellent characters.
The winter setting then helps to create a warm and intimate setting.
Nonetheless, we recommend you just play the visual novel if you can, as the anime glosses over a lot of material.
8. 5 cm per Second
Directed by Makoto Shinkai, Five Centimeters per Second is a poignant work about the passionate relationship of the two main characters. Their bond will be tested by distance and the inexorable passage of years.
Divided into 3 parallel stories whose main characters are Akari and Takaki, who have been lovers since childhood but due to the flow of life events are unable to fall in love to the end.
Each story is about a different moment in childhood, adolescence and adulthood.
The first story, the one where they are children, will be marked by winter and icy weather. A must-see movie, capable of making you feel very strong emotions.
7. Super Cub
A slice of life/scholastic with a special feature of being motorcycle-centered.
The main character Kogume attends high school and her days slip away empty and monotonous, with no friends. One day, she buys a used Honda Super Cub and uses it to ride to school.
Thus begins a series of small adventures, where she will have fun and finally make new friends thanks to the very motorcycle.
A peculiar slice of life, with its passage of time telling the story of Kogume’s daily life, also reaches the winter, giving ever-changing settings.
6. Kimagure Orange Road
A cult romance series that is credited to be the archetypical shonen romantic comedy. Its anime adaptation is gorgeous and features the protagonist Kyōsuke Kasuga as the only one able to use psychic powers.
This is slightly inaccurate as all of his family has such powers, but Kyōsuke uses them more often.
Kimagure Orange Road is one of those romcoms that inspired many other future works and is based on the love triangle trope. Madoka Ayukawa and Hikaru Hiyama are best friends and in love with Kyōsuke, and the boy will play along with this dangerous game.
Among the settings, there are cold and snowy scenarios too, contrasted with the other seasons.
5. Laid-Back Camp
An interesting slice-of-life anime that does not focus as usual on school or city lives, but rather on travel, with ever-changing locations.
Rin loves to go on lonely camping trips around lakes from which there is a beautiful view, while Nadeshiko has a hobby of taking bike rides to various places from which to admire the view.
At one point, the two girls meet and begin making trips together, eating ramen and admiring the scenery.
An anime with many location changes, with which to admire ever-changing and new landscapes, sharing the journey with the two protagonists.
Of course, in their travels, as time passes, we will also find ourselves in winter, changing the atmosphere.
4. Erased
Erased is a fully immersive 12 episodes anime that merges Mystery/Crime, Psychological, Supernatural, and Thriller elements.
The main character is Satoru Fujinuma, a 29-year-old mangaka without any success, mostly due to suffering from the notorious “writer’s block”. However, following mysterious events, he obtains a power called Revival that allows him to go back in time just enough to save people’s lives.
During his far from a happy childhood, one of his classmates had been murdered, and this is where his mission begins. What does this have to do with his mother’s murder?
In addition, the dark winter setting with the presence of snow that will make the setting colder, gloomy and sad will contribute to the atmosphere of this anime.
3. Steins;Gate 0
Steins;Gate 0 is the midquel of Steins;Gate, a famous anime adaptation that is part of the SciAdv universe.
The plot follows Rintaro Okabe, after the failed attempt to save Makise Kurisu. The vibe of this series is right away sad and gloomy and winter is ideal to represent this mood.
While Steins;Gate focused more on spring and summer, we can notice how Steins;Gate 0 is set near fall and winter, which is quite an interesting choice.
Characters have indeed winter clothes to be consistent with the season.
2. The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya
This movie is one of the most iconic anime of the 2000s, continuing the story of the almost eponymous anime “The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya.”
Since it is directly connected to the series by serving as a true sequel, we can’t go into too much detail regarding the synopsis.
Suffice it to say that at Christmas time, the SoS Brigade led by Haruhi is set to commit one of its strange deeds, but something doesn’t go as planned.
A movie that is almost the emblem of the winter and Christmas season, and that you should watch in its entirety, main series included.
1. Tokyo Godfathers
Among his masterpieces that have earned him the name of one of the best directors in the field in history Satoshi Kon also packed Tokyo Godfathers, a film released in 2003.
Three homeless men find on Christmas Eve a baby abandoned in the garbage. After some discussion, they decide to return him directly to his mother, without going through the police.
With a few clues, the search begins, in which the protagonists will end up confronting their pasts, reflecting on the life they have now lost while still maintaining happiness in their hearts.
Being Christmas then the winter setting comes to be very pronounced and present, with a very incisive cold weather that will take its toll.
