It has been a shade over five months now since "Cel Shaded" moved to its new home on Thursdays, but today’s more special than many that have come before. It’s the first time this column has been published on Thanksgiving.

So I’m going to concede that anime and manga probably aren’t the main things on your mind today. And while Thanksgiving conjures up images of yummy turkey dinners and getting ready for what I like to call "melee Kalikimaka" and the rest of the nation calls "Black Friday," it’s also a day to give thanks for what we have and a launching point for a season to help others.

It’s in the interest of the latter that I’m pushing up a column that usually runs in mid-December, just because it feels right for Thanksgiving. It’s the annual appeal from tag-team partner in fandom Wilma Jandoc and myself to help the Child’s Play charity and the Kapiolani Medical Center for Women & Children.

Child’s Play is an annual worldwide charity drive for children’s hospitals, led by Jerry Holkins and Mike Krahulik, co-creators of the Internet comic "Penny Arcade." Holkins and Krahulik started Child’s Play in 2003 as a way to counteract negative media stereotypes of video game enthusiasts.

Just as in previous years, Child’s Play is partnering with Amazon.com to host hospital wish lists. And that’s where Kapiolani comes in — as of Monday the hospital had a list of 151 DVDs, video games, toys and assorted electronics posted. (This is easily the most diverse list I’ve seen in the six years I’ve written this column.) You can start at amzn.to/9RdFhK and go from there.

Depending on how generous you feel, you can buy them anything from a Sassy Ring O’ Links Rattle Developmental Toy ($2.99) to a 160 GB Sony PlayStation 3 (for 100 times the cost of that humble rattle). Click on the items you want to buy, pay for it through Amazon and they’ll take care of the rest. Simple.

Returning for a second year is an option to buy items from somewhere other than Amazon. So, for instance, if you can find somewhere on this island that’s selling the Savvi Mega Fairies and Butterflies Art Pack — currently listed as "unavailable" on the site — you can instead click on the "Buying this gift elsewhere?" link and fill out the relevant contact information.

Want to learn more about the cause? Visit www.childsplaycharity.org.

Pups on the Road

Audra Furuichi and Scott Yoshinaga, co-creators of the online comic "nemu*nemu," will be stopping by one of the biggest craft fairs of the season, the 24th Islandwide Christmas Crafts and Food Expo, at the Blaisdell Center. As of now it’s their second-to-last appearance listed for this holiday season, so if you want to get your plush pup swag from them in person, now is the time.

The expo is open from 5 to 10 p.m. tomorrow, 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday … but prior experience has shown me the sooner you can get there to find parking and battle the crowds, the better, because things can get insane. General admission is $4, while seniors and those with military IDs can get in for $2 and children under 12 are free. Visit www.nemu-nemu.com.

Anime around town

» MangaBento: This group of anime- and manga-inspired artists meets from 1 to 4 p.m. Sunday at the Academy Art Center, 1111 Victoria St., Room 200. Visit www.manga-bento.com.

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"Cel Shaded," a weekly look at the world of Japanese anime and manga, appears every Thursday. Follow Jason S. Yadao on Twitter at www.twitter.com/jsyadao or e-mail him at jyadao@staradvertiser.com.