History Main / FestivalEpisode

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** The [[Anime/SailorMoon 90s anime]] includes a festival organized by Rei in the second season, as well as a Sakura Festival episode, which is also where Chibi-Usa returns as Sailor Chibi Moon. In a later episode, there is a Lantern Floating Festival, probably.

* ''Anime/SailorMoon'' includes a festival organized by Rei in the second season, as well as a Sakura Festival episode, which is also where Chibi-Usa returns as Sailor Chibi Moon. In a later episode, there is a Lantern Floating Festival, probably. Finally, in the manga, the Tanabata is the focus for one side story.

* ''Anime/MegaManUponAStar'' has Japanese holidays in episode 2, and the Obon festival in episode 3.
* ''Manga/SailorMoon'' includes a festival organized by Rei in the second season, as well as a Sakura Festival episode, which is also where Chibi-Usa returns as Sailor Chibi Moon. In a later episode, there is a Lantern Floating Festival, probably. Finally, in the manga, the Tanabata is the focus for one side story.
* ''Manga/LoveHina'' has a Festival Episode about two-thirds of the way through the initial series; the manga shows several.
* ''Anime/MazingerZ'': Episode 29 happens during a festival that TheHero Kouji and his friends were participating on. Unfortunately, the appearance of [[{{Robeast}} Mechanical Beast Grengus C3]] put a damper on the festivities.
* ''Manga/RanmaOneHalf'':
** When Ranma is stuck in female form during the "Cat's Tongue Shiatsu" arc, a summer festival both helps cheer him up and lets him discover a way to train a technique he needed to learn.
** One chapter has a Festival Episode involving a panda doodle with a crush on Ranma.
* ''VideoGame/SakuraWars'':
** Early on in the first [=OVA=] series, the multinational cast wear kimonos during a local festival.
** In the [[Recap/SakuraWarsTheAnimationEp4 fourth episode]] of ''Anime/SakuraWarsTheAnimation'', there is a spring festival held at Shinonome Shrine, where Hatsuho serves as its local shrine maiden.
* ''Anime/MyHime'' subverts this somewhat, in that the "Festival" is something much, much darker.
* Genzo and Megumi spend most of the ''Manga/CheekyAngel'' Festival Episode on the run from the police.
* ''Manga/BlueSeed'' actually has a Festival Episode GrandFinale.
* ''Anime/{{Kamichu}}!'' had a lot of festival episodes, most in Yurie's honour.
* ''Anime/TheBigO'' features a Christmas episode in which the hero unsuccessfully battled a giant mutant Christmas tree called Demon Seed.
* One of the most important parts of ''Manga/ElfenLied'' takes place in a festival of this kind. [[spoiler:After finding Kouta hanging out with his cousin Yuka, Lucy starts her second gruesome killing rampage.]]

* ''Manga/MermaidMelodyPichiPichiPitch'' uses one early on in the summer, and the manga has a few more, usually New Year's things.
* Episode 8 of the ''Manga/StrawberryMarshmallow'' anime and episode 27 of the manga have Nobue escort the four little girls at the summer festival. In both, Ana is lacking a yukata, so Nobue "borrows" one off of Miu, who ends up wearing Nobue's old one.
* ''Manga/LuckyStar'':
** Episode 5 features the characters going to a festival. Konata observes how if this was a DatingSim it would trigger an EventFlag, seeing as they are wearing yukata and outdoors. Kagami also manages to scoop a goldfish.
** The "7-5-3" is mentioned by Kagami when she says that Konata wearing a long-sleeved kimono to her coming-of-age ceremony would look like she's celebrating ''that'', instead.
** Also, Golden Week is mentioned; Tsukasa and Konata fritter it away instead of finishing homework, while Kagami is almost done by the time it's almost over. And in the OVA, while the Hiiragis and Konata go off on vacation, Kuroi-sensei gains several levels in an MMORPG...
** The Izumis do their first shrine visit of the year (following a day at Comiket that was quite harrowing for the twins, who have to work as ''miko'' at the shrine that evening) and draw opposite fortunes. Of course, one of Soujirou's reasons for going was to see the ''miko''...
** And the four go for ''Hanami'', where they discuss the disparity between what you feel like you should be able to wear and the reality, and Kagami's plump goldfish; Konata asks Kagami if she's going to scoop up a skinnier replacement (she didn't realize, as she was thinking, that she was facing the appropriate booth for it).
** And again; but first, when Konata wants to show exchange student Patricia some Japanese culture, she calls Miyuki, who says they just put away their princess dolls, but suggests inviting her to a flower-viewing party. Patricia's mind automatically goes to the drinking and eating aspect.
* Risa Koizumi first confesses her love to Atsushi Ootani while watching fireworks at a festival in ''Manga/LovelyComplex''.
* The "7-5-3"-festival is referenced in the song played during Kozue's duel in ''Anime/RevolutionaryGirlUtena''.
* ''Manga/{{Yotsuba}}'' features the eponymous Yotsuba learning about display fireworks at one of these; she also plays the GoldfishScoopingGame and wears a yukata that is just so goddamn {{Moe}} it's mind-breaking.
** In a later festival episode for a local shrine, Yotsuba is happy in a [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Happi happi]] as she helps pull a portable shrine through the streets.
* ''Anime/ThisUglyYetBeautifulWorld'' has an Obon festival episode, to be more precise. It's made plot relevant since it is during this festival which people honor the deceased that Hikari first comes to understand death.

* The [[AllThereInTheManual last Sound Stage]] of ''Anime/MagicalGirlLyricalNanohaAs'' takes place in a Hanami Festival that nearly the entire cast attends.
* ''Manga/KashimashiGirlMeetsGirl'':
** The anime has a festival episode that serves to heighten the tension between the all female LoveTriangle. Bonus points for having the whole cast wearing yutakas, even the tomboyish girl.
** They have had quite a few different summer festival chapters in the manga. However, none of these festivals really do anything to the hardly visible tension in the manga.
* The last episode of ''Manga/NatsumesBookOfFriends'' revolves around a festival that the entire cast attends.
* In ''Manga/HidamariSketch'', the Festival Episode has a backstory about [[AsianFoxSpirit Kitsune]].
* Yamazaki is asked to go to a festival by a girl in his school in ''Anime/WelcomeToTheNHK''. He initially dismisses it, due to a childhood memory of seeing a girl he liked with another boy at a festival, but in the end, ends up going.
* ''Manga/SayonaraZetsubouSensei'':
** The cast visits a festival and meet a group of people with a penchant for hyping anything. They end up taking several students on platforms and chanting their prominent features. Including "[[BerserkButton Normal]]" for Nami.
** There have actually been numerous festival episodes, including a Tanabata episode in which Kafuka convinces everyone that the wishes they hang on bamboo trees will come true in the next life. (Which ends predictably for Nozomu). Another episode has aliens invade during a festival, forcing a Giant, Kimono-Clad Chiri to fight them off.
%%* ''Manga/DamekkoDoubutsu'' had one of these.
%%* ''Manga/NinjaNonsense'' had one of these in episode 5.
* In ''Manga/AssassinationClassroom'', the day before the beginning of the second semester, Koro-sensei and some of the Class-E students visit a summer fest. The kids, thanks to their assassination training, turn out to be far too skilled at the game booths. [[ColdSniper Hayami and Chiba]] in particular end up getting banned from the shooting range after practically robbing the stand of its prizes.
* ''Manga/NegimaMagisterNegiMagi'' has both a festival episode (the summer festival) and a festival ''arc'' earlier. That ''arc'' lasted around [[SerialEscalation 7 volumes]].
* ''Literature/HaruhiSuzumiya'':
** Part of the second episode ([[GroundhogDayLoop and the third, and the fourth, and the fifth...]]) of Season 2 takes place during the Obon festival and the group, among other things, plays with fireworks. Yuki [[ChekhovsGun buys a mask]].
** Also, the first episode happens on Tanabata (well, except the part Mikuru sends Kyon back in time with her).
* Both versions of ''Manga/LivingForTheDayAfterTomorrow'' have one of these. They both advance the plot, but in slightly different ways.
* ''Anime/PokemonTheSeries'':
** The episode "The Ghost of Maiden's Peak".
** And the Twinleaf Festival miniarc in Sinnoh.
** And the Kanto festival in Unova, attended by Ash, his friends, and N.
* ''Anime/DigimonAdventure02'': It turns out that Mimi's first visit with the new Digidestined team takes place during Golden Week, and when she, Yolei, and their Digimon defeat the Roachmon brothers, Digimon Kaiser Ken declares that his Golden Week has just become dull. The dub treated this day as an ordinary Saturday; call it a {{cultural translation}}.
* At the end of the first arc, ''Manga/FushigiYuugi'' features the fictional Stargazing Festival, which Miaka attends with Nuriko and Tasuki.

* ''Manga/{{Karin}}'' has the typical school festival arc.

* ''Manga/HayateTheCombatButler'' has a festival happening at Riza's house, the characters continually mention that it doesn't resemble a shrine festival.
* Episode 19 of ''Manga/SgtFrog'' has the frog invaders running a series of stalls as part of their latest scheme to raise invasion funds, and Natsumi getting them to leave by meeting their [[GoldfishScoopingGame turtle-catching]] [[CookingDuel challenge]]. It even featured a [[SpecialEditionTitle new ending credits sequence]] with a new song, "Pekopon Invasion {{Ondo}}"
* ''Manga/OuranHighSchoolHostClub'' has a festival chapter in the manga. A few chapters prior to this a new female character named Yasamura Mei was introduced. The boys, Haruhi, and Mei attend a local summer festival in Haruhi's area and all are wearing proper yukata. Much to the boys' delight, Haruhi was wearing an exceptionally beautiful yukata made by Mei (who was more than happy to brag about how well it turned out).
* In ''Manga/GreatTeacherOnizuka'', upon finding that a matsuri is going on at a local temple, Anko suggests to Noboru that they check it out. She uses it as an excuse to change into her yukata and spend the evening with him without actually calling it a date.
* ''Manga/MyBrideIsAMermaid'' has one of these early on; with the added twist that San's family has taken over most of the booths with the intent of killing Nagasumi, using such methods as putting a shark in the GoldfishScoopingGame.
* There's a horror manga titled ''Manga/TanabataNoKuni'' which involves the traditional festival of a TownWithADarkSecret.

* Episode 7 of ''Anime/TenchiUniverse'', which included Ryoko manning a GoldfishScoopingGame - with fish the size of minivans - and Washu testing out a fun house that lead to a variety of dangerous landscapes, including a field of crystal and the surface of a star.

* The closing credits for the last episode of the first season of ''Manga/SquidGirl'' sees some of the characters at a Bon festival for a few seconds.
* In ''Manga/KOn'':

* More than one murder in ''Manga/CaseClosed'' takes place in the middle of festivals.
* One chapter in ''Manga/GakuenBabysitters'' has the Kashima siblings and Kamitani siblings go to a summer festival together.
* In ''Manga/MarchComesInLikeALion'', one story arc takes place during the three-day Obon Festival, where the central focus is on how the Kawamoto are coping with the death of their parents as they pay their respects and reminisce.

* ''Manga/BlueExorcist'':
** The big school festival that everyone gets dragged into becomes important briefly. And when the word big is used it means '''big''' with big businesses take part, lots of big balloons, and a concert involved. And [[LargeHam Mephisto parachuting in to start the festival]]. It's so big and vibrant that just putting it under a SchoolFestival heading doesn't quite fit. Plot wise, this is also when the first WhamEpisode happens and thus the Festival ends on a sour note for the main cast.
** TheMovie also centres on a festival that only comes around every 11 years and celebrates the legend of the sealing of a demon long ago that destroyed a village. This being [[DemonSlaying Blue]] [[AllMythsAreTrue Exorcist]], the demon accidentally gets unsealed by Rin and the previous disaster almost happens again.
* ''Anime/{{Free}}'' has one. In other series, boys in festival episodes tend to not dress up however as this is a series that thrives on having a CastFullOfPrettyBoys Rei and Nagisa wear kimonos.
* ''Manga/ASilentVoice'' has a cute festival chapter that turns out to be a WhamEpisode. [[spoiler:Shouko [[DrivenToSuicide decides to kill herself]] afterwards, only for Shouya to [[InterruptedSuicide save her]]. He however ends up in a coma when he falls instead of her.]]
* Episode 5 of ''Manga/YouAndMe'' takes place during a festival. Chizuru is the only one to wear a kimono.

* ''Manga/KaguyaSamaLoveIsWar'' has the two-parter "I Can't Hear the Fireworks" that follows [[LonelyRichKid Kaguya's]] desire to see a fireworks show with her friends.
* Episode 5 of ''[[Literature/WashioSumiIsAHero Washio Sumi Chapter]]'' manages to [[MoodWhiplash be both]] a sad [[spoiler:funeral]] episode and a fluffy festival episode. After [[spoiler:Gin's funeral]], Washio and Sonoko go relax during a festival.
* The ''Anime/{{Tamagotchi}}'' episode "Let's Celebrate! Tama-Beans Festival" has the characters celebrating a festival similar to the Japanese holiday of Setsubun, where those celebrating the festival throw beans to ceremonially expel evil spirits from their house.
* In Chapter 23 (Episode 8 in the anime) of ''Manga/UzakiChanWantsToHangOut'', Shinichi and Hana go to a festival where he embarrasses her by complimenting her too much. She ends up giving him a concussion with her purse.
* In Chapter 34 of ''Manga/WhyTheHellAreYouHereTeacher'', Tanaka and Tachibana are both at a New Year's festival making wishes. They end up winning a pair of tickets to Ishigaki Island in a raffle.

* ''Manga/DontToyWithMeMissNagatoro'': Episode 7 of the anime has Senpai waiting for Nagatoro to invite him to the festival, before eventually going on his own and running into Yoshi and Gamo-chan. They send Nagatoro a picture of him with a dog collar on, prompting her to [[ClingyJealousGirl run over and defend her claim on him]]. The two of them end up watching the fireworks together, but are too embarrassed by all the other couples making out to get close to each other.
* ''Literature/{{Higehiro}}'': In Episode 8, Yoshida and Sayu go to a summer festival, where she uses the excuse of not getting lost to hold his hand.
* ''Manga/{{Hyakunichikan}}'': Chapters 31 and 32 have Shuuto, Aoki, Chiho, Kanami, and Tanaka going to a summer festival. The girls wear child-sized yukata. In Chapter 46, they all go to a fireworks festival with Masaki, Ishima, Komugi, and Hatayama, and everyone (except Tanaka) wears a yukata.
* ''Manga/HitomiChanIsShyWithStrangers'': Chapter 30 has Hitomi, Yuu, and Kaoru go to a matsuri, and Hitomi catches Yuu's eye in her yukata.

* One chapter of ''Manga/AyakashiTriangle'' has Matsuri's household observing [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsukimi Tsukimi]], where people view and make an offering to the full moon in autumn. Suzu's presence causes ayakashi from the moon to actually visit--not to take her away, as Matsuri thought, just to eat the food.

* In ''VideoGame/EnsembleStars'' there are a number of holidays in which every unit participates, making them essentially annual events which every unit will get one for eventually. Aside from Halloween, Christmas, Valentine's, and White Day, they also have a number of festivals: the [[SchoolFestival Cultural Festival]] which occurs early in the school year, Tanabata which occurs in July, and the Sports Festival which happens in Summer. Events centering on other events such as New Years also exist, but aren't a fixed part of the event schedule and so don't happen every year.

* ''VisualNovel/AmnesiaMemories'' plays with this trope. There's always a fireworks festival going on during the first half of August, but several routes downplay the location itself. The heroine doesn't make it to the festival location itself in Shin's and Ikki's routes, and the fireworks don't occur in Kent's route because of bad weather.

In some series the resident [[WholesomeCrossdresser crossdressers]] will still wear the appropriate outfit of the other sex.

You often see the GoldfishScoopingGame and {{Kimodameshi}} at festivals.

%%* ''LightNovel/ShakuganNoShana''. [[MemeticMutation "It's a school festival. It's a festival organized by the school."]]

* ''LightNovel/HaruhiSuzumiya'':
** Part of the second episode ([[GroundhogDayLoop and the third, and the fourth, and the fifth...]]) of Season 2 takes place during the O-Bon festival and the group, among other things, plays with fireworks. Yuki [[ChekhovsGun buys a mask]].
** Also, the first episode happens in Tanabata time (well, except the part Mikuru sends Kyon back in time with her).

* Episode 5 of ''[[LightNovel/WashioSumiIsAHero Washio Sumi Chapter]]'' manages to [[MoodWhiplash be both]] a sad [[spoiler:funeral]] episode and a fluffy festival episode. After [[spoiler:Gin's funeral]], Washio and Sonoko go relax during a festival.

* ''LightNovel/{{Higehiro}}'': In Episode 8, Yoshida and Sayu go to a matsuri, where she uses the excuse of not getting lost to hold his hand.

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** A festival helps cheer up Ranma when he is stuck in female form during the "Cat's Tongue Shiatsu" arc.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSmurfs'': The planning for the Spring Day Pageant is in focus in the anti-drug episode "Lure Of the Orb."

* In Chapter 2 of [[https://www.deviantart.com/slifofinadragon SilfofinaDragon]]'s ''VideoGame/SengokuBasara'' fanfic ''Finally Home'' (starting off in [[https://www.deviantart.com/slifofinadragon/art/Finally-Home-Ch-2-Pt-4-854196179 Part 4]]), there is a festival held in a village that's boarded on [[{{Pirate}} Chosokabe Motochika]]'s ship; the Fugaku.

* Chapter 48 of ''Manga/MissKobayashisDragonMaid'' had the cast attend a festival together, with all the dragons (except Ilulu) in kimonos. The anime partially adapted it as part of the [[NewYearHasCome New Year's episode]].

* ''Manga/NegimaMagisterNegiMagi'' has both a festival episode (the summer festival) and a [[UpToEleven festival ''arc'' earlier.]] That ''arc'' lasted around [[SerialEscalation 7 volumes]].

* In ''Manga/HidamariSketch'', the Festival Episode has a backstory about {{Kitsune}}.

* ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}'':

* ''Anime/GhostInTheShell: Innocence'' has Batou going into New Port City, which ''might'' be located in China (it has very distinct Chinese atmosphere). And a festival/carnival is going on, it's like something you can expect in local chinatown during certain time, but... {{Mind Screw}}ier. For starter, everything seems HUGE, including the statue/balloon/hologram of [[Literature/RomanceOfTheThreeKingdoms Guan Yu]] that's being paraded around town.

** The anime has a festival episode that serves to heighten the tension between the [[SchoolGirlLesbians all female]] LoveTriangle. Bonus points for having the whole cast wearing yutakas, even the tomboyish girl.