A Very Anime Christmas Story!

Growing up, every Christmas Eve my family would watch the movie A Christmas Story together while eating holiday cookies. It was a very happy tradition that, unfortunately at some point, me and my siblings grew out of. For those that haven’t seen this charming film, A Christmas Story is a classic holiday movie about a little boy with a wild imagination, that all he wants for Christmas is a Red Rider Brand Bebe gun, and all the plots he devises to ensure that his Christmas wish comes true. But reaching his holiday goals certainly isn’t easy, from adults (including a mall Santa) that keep telling him that he’ll “Shoot his eye out”, to a school bully that chases him home from school every day, to a little brother that whines way too much, his holidays are full of trouble. My favorite part of the movie was always towards the end when the neighbor’s (The Bumpus’s) bumbling, floppy, slobbery hound dogs break into the main character’s kitchen and gobble up the Christmas turkey, leaving only wagging tails and hollers of out rage in their wake. The dogs wanted to have a holiday dinner too! That moment always cracks me up. Thankfully the family still manages to have a happy and memorable Christmas dinner even without the turkey. Remembering that fun holiday movie, of course I couldn’t help but wonder what anime characters would make a good cast for the movie! So, for your viewing pleasure, the new anime cast of A Christmas Story!

Main Character

The main character of the story (Ralphy) isn’t just an imaginative kid, he’s also pretty smart too. He’s curious, and is always seeing intrigue in the simplest events, not to mention he certainly has a flare for the dramatic. Is he as inquisitive and ingenious as a high school detective shrunken down into a highly condensed form? Maybe not, but Conan Edogawa from the anime Detective Conan/Case Closed encompasses many of the fun characteristics that make this character so likable. Though Conan might see being cast in the role of Ralphy as a step down, I still think he would fit the role quite well.

Little Brother

Naru from the anime Barakamon is a precocious kid that often pops up in the least convenient moment, comes to completely wrong conclusions, and likes making everything into a game, much like the little brother in A Christmas Story. Though it seems like the little brother probably whines more than Naru ever did, I think that Naru could whine it up if they put some effort into it! And even better, I feel that Naru could infuse some more energy into this rather lethargic and dull role.

Mom

Who could be more patient and mom like, with a rather grumpy husband, than Yuzu from the anime Taisho Otome Fairy Tale? Though she’s young and very sweet, Yuzu also has an inner strength and grit that would make being a mom in that hectic home possible without going batty. I could totally see Yuzu being firm enough to scold Ralphy after he was caught saying curse words, likewise she would definitely be kind enough to gloss over how Ralphy broke his classes after a confrontation with the bully.

Dad

It was hard to think of an anime character that had a bad temper and yet was still likable. In the end the only character I could think of was Bakugo’s mom (Mitsuki Bakugo) from the anime My Hero Academia. Bakugo is certainly not an easy kid to deal with, with both explosive powers and temper, but the one person that has no problem putting him in his place is his equally explosive tempered mom! Mitsuki Bakugo can out yell, out muscle, and out rage the best of them, and I’m sure she could definitely fill the role of the curse word slinging dad of A Christmas Story with out too much trouble!

Bully

There is a lot of good evil bullies in anime, it was actually tricky to think of just one! In the end I thought that Bakugo from the anime My Hero Academia would probably fit the role the best. Though the bully was a real terror in the movie, and seemed to revel in his evilness, there was that moment when Ralphy stood up to him and made the bully cry when the audience is reminded that the bully is just a kid too. It’s this transition between being a bigger than life scary bully to just a kid that got into trouble, that made me think that Bakugo would be just right for the role. At the beginning of the anime My Hero Academia, Bakugo was a really terrible bully with almost no redeeming qualities, but as the series progressed, we got to see more and more of Bakugo’s background and motivations, and he started to seem less like a bigger than life bully and more like just a kid that was trying his best.