All this comes out around Christmas one year when he's a teenager, as a loud, perky girl his age approaches him in the mall and tells him they should spend the night together. Then she slaps him for possibly misinterpreting that statement. Then she's arrested and dragged away by the cops, presumably for public solicitation. But two seconds later, she's mysteriously back and telling him that she's Santa Claus, and it's her job to make unhappy people happy. While he dismisses her as a flat-chested adolescent with the body of a toddler, she assures him that her true form is a voluptuous blond Santa Claus, and that the stuffed reindeer named Pedro that she carries everywhere also has another form. She just needs Santa to believe in her to activate her powers, which apparently happens rarely these days, since so few people believe in Santa.

Over the course of the first half of My Santa, the girl—who turns out to be "a" Santa Claus named Mai, not "the" Santa Claus—convinces Santa-the-boy that Christmas isn't so bad if someone else shares it. She also proves that his peers don't hate him, that his life could be better if he'd let it, that his parents have their reasons for leaving him alone all the time, and that she isn't lying about the voluptuous-Santa thing. Six months later, in the second half, Mai's voracious little sister Maimai and a super-competitive friend/rival ("Shally" in the subtitles, "Sherri" in the dub) arrive to complicate things, and to tell Mai that she needs to pack up and leave Santa and head back to Santa Claus school, which sends Mai into despair, because she's found that he makes her truly happy.

Too many panty shots, not enough Santa

My Santa is unfortunately vague about the life of a Santa—Mai drops brief references to her village, her school and her training, but apart from the fact that she can magically manifest anything that has "san" in its name, it's pretty unclear what being a Santa actually means. Which is too bad—the idea of hundreds of junior Santas of both genders running around sharing gift-dispensing duties and taking on special holiday-hating cases is one of the series' more interesting quirks.

But My Santa isn't really about Santa life. It's a standard cute boy/girl story, pitched somewhere between Oh My Goddess (for the plot) and Excel Saga (for the comedy). There's a message in there about being happy on the holidays and loving and trusting your fellow man, but it's just as much about the copious panty shots (and a surprising number of naked breasts) and the over-the-top silliness. In particular, a running gag about an odd thug and his legion of suit-and-sunglasses-wearing followers who all talk loudly in unison has no connection to anything, but it's pretty funny. So is the way the characters do a sort of Swan Lake dying-swan dance while weeping glistening, floating tears whenever their feelings are hurt. The plot is pretty thin, especially in the second half, which recycles a lot of gags from the first half, then spends forever on Mai and Santa's long, emotional goodbye speeches, but as a holiday special, it's mostly lighthearted fun.

It's also reasonably pretty, in an unchallenging way: It's sharp and dynamic, with a lot of quick movement, extra-bright colors and sight gags galore. If not for the repeated boob shots and the big emotional drama of Mai and Santa's parting, this would seem like a fun holiday romp for kids; as it is, it might be best suited for adolescents who've hit the post-Santa stage and could use a little reminding that the holiday season can still be magical. My Santa is more goofy than convincing in that regard, but like Mai herself, while it's pretty simple-minded, it's still mighty adorable.