Santa Company (サンタ・カンパニー) is a 2014 Japanese anime short film that follows the story of a girl, Noel, and her friends as they deliver presents on Christmas Eve. The film was directed by Kenji Itoso through his own studio Kenji Studio.
Synopsis
The story revolves around Noel, a young girl to whom Christmas is a particularly lonely time, as her mother left long ago and her father is too busy at Christmas time to come home. One day when she's heading to her apartment, the elevator instead opens into "Santa Company", the headquarters of all Santa's operations, in Finland. After some confusion she is brought into the introductory class where she learns how the company works, and then meets her father who works at the company as head of the present department. She decides to become an apprentice Tonttu, which here is an assistance role helping wrap and prepare presents for delivery. She has until dawn of Christmas Day to become a full-fledged Tonttu, but if she screws up she will lose her job and have to leave her new friends behind. Unfortunately, no one can tell her how one graduates from apprenticeship, except that she needs to be able to "pass the exam" and be able to say just what the most important task of the Santas is.
Late on Christmas Eve, a single request is received, but it is too late to deliver the gift. Desperate to be sure that child's present is delivered, Noel pulls her friends together for a desperate mission, taking the last remaining sleigh with her friends, at risk of her job and her whole life at the company. They recruit Rudolph III, the grandson of the original Rudolph and the only reindeer that hasn't been dispatched due to his disposition: years ago an incident happened with the woman who used to ride with him, and since then he's refused to work; on top of that, the females don't pay any attention to him, making him even more grumpy. However, when he meets Noel, who on top of being cute is almost identical to his former partner, he quickly agrees to help. Along the way, Bell gives Noel a bell he picked up as a protective talisman.