SANDA

Episodes 1-3

The thing that always impresses me about any work originally drafted by Paru Itagaki is how I manage to be completely bought into a ridiculous premise by the time the opening pitch for the series ends. Riverdale but with furries? Sign me up! Ghost cuckoldry? Say no more! Drug dealer Tim Allen's The Santa Clause but as a high concept vehicle to explore adolescence and how society fetishizes youth? Sounds pretty weird, but 'aight!

SANDA is about the titular fourteen year old SANDA, who's revealed to be the descendant of Santa Claus and therefore able to transform into a musclebound version mythical figure when his classmate, Fuyumura, requests help looking for her looking for her lost friend Ono. Granted, Fuyumura makes this request by stabbing SANDA and forcing him to turn into Santa Claus because the blood on his shirt means he's technically wearing something red, but I've long sense learned to focus on the thematic meaning of a Paru Itagaki joint rather than the nitty gritty details.

While there are definitely some fun takes on the Santa mythos in SANDA so far — like Santa being fire-proof because he comes down chimneys or that things fall around him when people lie to him so he can determine naughty children from nice ones — I'm more interested in the near future world that this story takes place in. While we don't have many details so far, this story takes place in a world where children are almost worshiped and their development heavily scrutinized because of declining birthrates. The head of the compound-like school that SANDA and Fuyumura attend and the apparent main villain, Oshibu, is a 92 year old man whose body largely looks like that of a young man, minus his withered hands, thanks to advanced plastic surgery.

SANDA opens with some big ideas steeped in some of the most complicated cultural issues of our age, and I am so curious to see its thesis take shape in the episodes ahead.

I should also note that Science SARU's brilliant animation makes it so much easier to get into even the furthest flung elements of this story. It's a lot easier to accept buff Santa being immune to fire damage when the animation team makes him surviving an explosion look cool as hell. The animation team behind SANDA also uses Paru Itagaki's famously expressive and minimalist art style to great effect and manages to make the characters react as big as the impossible events happening on screen.

I also watched these episodes in the English dub and, while I found the performances to be a bit over-the-top even for an anime, this direction worked well in the BEASTARS anime adaptation and I think the same will prove true here. Shout outs in particular to Ben Balmaceda for giving buff Santa just the right amount of Foxy Grandpa energy. All in all, the first three episodes of SANDA perfectly set up the premise and tone of this anime and, while it's certainly not going to be for everyone, it's going to hit hard for the people who do vibe with it.

Rating: 4

As a lapsed Catholic and fan of hot dudes, Lucas DeRuyter was born to review SANDA and similar works. You can get into the holiday spirit with him on his Bluesky account, and read through his naughty and nice list by visiting his portfolio. When he isn't spreading holiday cheer, you can find him contributing to ANN's This Week in Anime column. SANDA is currently streaming on Amazon Prime.