Itsudatte My Santa!
Itsudatte My Santa! (いつだってMyサンタ!?, translating literally to Always My Santa!) is a manga one-shot by Ken Akamatsu, published before his better known work, Love Hina, was serialized.
The story is about a boy named Santa who hates Christmas, due to being born on Christmas Eve; as a consequence, no one has ever celebrated his birthday because everybody is too busy with the holiday. Then one day he meets Mai, a girl that is one of the many Santa Claus Apprentices, who has the mission of cheering Santa up and changing his view of Christmas into a more positive one.
A two-episode OVA was released in 2005, introducing several new characters and being something of a Beach Episode.
Tropes used in Itsudatte My Santa! include:
- Accidental Pervert: It's not actually Santa's fault, but he does get to see Mai naked... and get punished for it.
- A-Cup Angst: Although not nearly as pronounced as other examples, Mai is offended when Santa teases her about her chest.
- Adaptation Expansion: The manga only tells the story told in episode one, and only has two characters, Mai and Santa. The anime adds a second episode and introduces the characters of Sharry, MaiMai, and Miss Noel.
- Annoying Younger Sibling: MaiMai.
- Beach Episode: The beginning of episode 2.
- Big Eater: Sherry (and MaiMai) devour a mountain of cantaloupes while Sherry Info Dumps she and Sherry's relationship.
- Bokukko: In the Japanese version, Mai uses "ore" when referring to herself in her adult form.
- Delinquents: A recurring group of characters are a gang leader and his entire gang, carrying food that inevitably gets smashed.
- Everyone Is Christian At Christmas: Even though they're native Japanese citizens.
- The Faceless: Mineko, the girl Santa has a crush on, is always shown from behind when Santa goes to her party, although this doesn't seem to be entirely intentional. There is one shot of her face, although it's from very far away and hard to make anything out.
- Fan Service: As this is an Akamatsu work, there is a lot.
- Shower Scene: Mai takes a shower when she gets to Santa's apartment, which ends with her bursting out and giving Santa a full view of everything.
- Gainaxing: Closely watch how Sherry's chest moves of its own accord, which shouldn't be hard.
- Genki Girl: Mai
- Hair of Gold: Sherry
- Hot-Blooded: Sherry, again.
- How Can Santa Deliver All Those Toys?: Turns out that pretty girls in Sexy Santa Dresses do the actual gift delivery. Isn't it awesome?
- Idiot Hair: Again, a staple of Ken Akamatsu's work, the female lead has a pair of antennae-like hairs standing on end.
- Incoming Ham: "Ho, ho, ho! Long time no see, Mai and MaiMai!"
- Manic Pixie Dream Girl: Mai to Santa.
- Paper Fan of Doom: Mai unleashes one of these at least once.
- Parental Abandonment: Santa suffers from this, to a certain extent.
- The Rival: Sherry to Mai.
- Santa's Existence Clause: Not only does Santa exist, but he is actually several hundred cute teenage girls!
- Sexy Santa Dress: Worn by Mai in her Santa form and in the Eyecatch.
- Shower of Awkward: Santa sees Mai completely naked during her shower (although he's fully dressed).
- Sugar and Ice Personality: The plot is partially centered around Mai getting Santa to come out of his shell.
- Transformation Sequence: When Mai transforms into Santa Claus.
- True Meaning of Christmas: According to Mai, this is a celebration of the birth of... the protagonist, Santa. To be fair, she arrived to this conclusion by pointing that Christmas is technically the birthday party of Jesus Christ so he just as well could re-appropriate that meaning for himself as well.
- Tsundere: Sherry. Mai also has shades of this.
- Tsurime Eyes: Sherry's eyes notably slant upward.
- Unlucky Everydude: Santa, as per the usual for Akamatsu's protagonists.