Based on a children's picture book of the same name. A Christmas tale about a bird who was raised by tree after it was abandoned. The tree was then cut down for people in the city to use for Christmas celebrations. The bird desperately is trying to find its adoptive tree mother with the help of Jeremy, a penniless orphan, who heard her story so they go and search every tree being used in town. The search in the cold takes a toll on Jeremy until Santa Claus appears, but is it really him?

Jarinko Chie is a movie directed by Takahata in 1981. Based on the very popular manga by Etsumi HARUKI, it is about ten year old Chie, "the most unfortunate girl in Japan," who manages her family diner while her unemployed yakuza father and her mother are separated. This sounds really depressing, but it's actually a very funny comedy. The story is set in Osaka, which has a totally different culture from Tokyo. After the success of the movie, a TV series was made, and Takahata worked as the chief director. (Source: nausicaa.net)

A devil-girl with the face of an angel and a heart of gold, blond Betty falls in love with an earthbound gangster, Danpei Kimogawa, when they meet in a rainstorm. They end up living together in a Tokyo highrise apartment, though Danpei has trouble coping with his new witch and demon in-laws dropping in at inopportune moments. Betty has actually been sent to the human world on a mission to defeat the demon Lutan. While Betty continues her task, her skeletal grandmother sends nubile nymphs to tempt Danpei and see if he is suitable husband material.

The Underground People desire to leave their overcrowded cavern and seize control of the surface world, but they never quite succeed. A second episode, Christmas Aid, soon followed, in which the brainless Undergrounders' second futile escape attempt is set to music by the popular group Yukadan. The first volume also included two unrelated stories by Ishii: 101 Ninja and Ken-chan's Space Exploration Adventure.