Meeeeh! Baaah! In Japan, it’s tradition to send friends and family New Year’s postcards called nengajo, thanking them for everything from the year before and wishing them well in the year to come. The cards often feature the animal of the new year’s zodiac; if you haven’t guessed yet, 2015 is the Year of the Sheep.
While usually sent in the mail, with the onset of the digital age, many people are turning to the non-traditional medium of social networking to deliver their nengajo. This year, some ever-creative manga artists took to Twitter to share their hand-drawn New Year’s greetings with fans around the world. Join us after the jump for a look at the best.
▼ Artist Ume Aoki (author of Nekoneko Soft and character designer for Puella Magi Madoka Magica), apologizes for her improvised message, in addition to her greeting.
▼ Koge-Donbo‘s drawing features a cute sheep-girl, similar to her Di Gi Charat cat-girl characters. She wishes everyone a Happy New Year and hopes she’ll get more work done this year.
▼Masakazu Ishiguro, creator of And Yet the Town Moves, explains that his cute girl-in-sheeps-clothing is making a peace sign to imitate sheep hooves! Creative!
▼ The Omuro Family, from artist Namori‘s manga Yuru Yuri and Omuroke, wish you a Happy New Year while pounding mochi rice-cakes, another Japanese New Year’s tradition.
▼ Midori Hagi, illustrator of Hajimete no Senshado – WoT for Beginners, drew the tank driving girls of Girls und Panzer on her nengajo.
あけましておめでとうございます。去年はウォーゲーミングジャパン様と
ガルパンには大変お世話になりました。
今年もよろしくお願いします。 pic.twitter.com/tgbfjTBdyc— 葉来緑@『お人好し職人のぶらり異世界旅』５巻発売中！ (@hagimidori) December 31, 2014
▼ Masahiro Anbe, turned his famous Squid Girl into a cute sheep girl for 2015.
今年もよろしくお願いします！ pic.twitter.com/FmmOHx4mpc
— 安部真弘＠ふし研⑱発売中 (@masahiro_lemon) December 31, 2014
▼ Famous in the 80s and 90s, Mutsumi Hagiiwa wishes her devoted fans a Happy New Year with cute characters in traditional Japanese garb.
▼ Hatsume-chan and her robot Hako offer you and artist Daioki‘s other characters some New Year’s mochi.
▼ Tsubana, artist of Dainana Joshikai Houkou, made a card that is simple, but cute!
▼ Hentai manga artist, Keishu Ando, doesn’t stray from his explicit style when wishing you well for the new year.
▼The very accomplished all-female manga artist group Clamp have a variety of their characters celebrating the New Year on their card. (Notice the sheep clouds!)
▼ Famed artist Hiro Mashima‘s Fairy Tail character, Happy, looks so cute in a sheep outfit!
▼ Akizuki Ryo, artist of Stellvia and the Universe and the currently running Kill la Kill, drew an extremely cute card that features sheep carrying a grill, cooking up some yaki-mochi (grilled rice-cakes).
▼ Known for her manga Thermae Romae, Mari Yamazaki brings you an ancient Rome-esque sheep and gives her greetings in Latin.
▼ Kenichi Yoshida, animator for Gundam Reconguista in G (G-Reco), wanted to share his New Year’s Eve meal of soba with his fans.
▼ Jiro Taniguchi‘s Sakura, from currently running Monthly Girls’ Nozaki-kun, wishes you a Happy New Year with her sheep friend.
▼A decked-out Suzuka Ashina, from the manga Suzuka, stars in Kouji Seo‘s nengajo.
▼Miki Yoshikawa‘s card features her characters from both Yamada and the Seven Witches and Yankee-kun to Megane-chan.
▼Akira Sugito uses his main star Mizuki from Boku Girl, to give his fans a short-skirted New Year’s greeting.
▼ The girls from Kin-iro Mosaic, help their designer Kazuyuki Ueta wish fans a Happy New Year!
▼Artist Ryoma Kitada was too busy to make a card this year, so he reused his 2014 card with star character from μ&i.
▼ Majo no Shinzou artist Matoba‘s card features a beautiful sheep-woman.
▼ Norio Sakurai shows his characters from Mitsudomoe enjoying winter comforts. Yoi otoshi o! (Have a good year!)
▼ Isobeisobee Monogatari～ Ukiyo hatsuraiyoauthor Ryo Nakama sends a quick doodle of his characters to wish his fans a good year to come.
▼Although artist Napata usually draws hentai comics, his New Year’s card is fully covered in a festive kimono.
▼Souichirou Yamamoto‘s card features Fudatsuki no Kyoko-chan‘s Kenji watch Kyoko use her vampire superpowers to pound mochi.
▼ Kosuke Fujishima, artist of Paradise Residence, drew a sexy sheep girl for his fans for the New Year.
▼ Artist Mao Morishita draws one of her characters scantily clad in sheep’s wool to celebrate 2015.
▼ Artists Nagian‘s card features a sheep warrior woman to bring in the new year.
We may not be manga artists, but we are so thankful to our readers. Here’s to a great 2014 and an even better Year of the Sheep!
Source: Hachimakikou, Baka Updates Manga, Twitter