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Sanda TV Anime Casts Masako Nozawa

The official website for the television anime of Paru Itagaki's SANDA manga announced on Friday that Masako Nozawa, best known as the voice of Goku in Dragon Ball, is joining the anime's cast as the 95-year-old school chairperson Toyo Tetsudome.

The anime will premiere on October 3 and will air in the "Animeism" programming block on TBS, MBS, and BS-TBS. Anime Expo hosted the show's world premiere on July 4. Amazon Prime Video will exclusively  stream  the series worldwide, starting on October 4 at 2:53 a.m. JST (October 3 at 1:53 p.m. EDT).

The anime will star:

• Ayumu Murase as Kazushige SANDA
• Hiroki Tōchi as Santa Claus
• Umeka Shōji as Shiori Fuyumura
• Anna Nagase as Ichie Ono
• Yūki Shin as Hitoshi Amaya
• Misato Matsuoka as Nico Kazao
• Toshihiko Seki as Hifumi Ōshibu
• Hiroaki Hirata as Saburō Yagiuda

Tomohisa Shimoyama (Yurei Deco, Super Shiro) is directing the anime at Science SARU, and Kimiko Ueno (Delicious in Dungeon, Ranma 1/2) is supervising and writing the series scripts. Masamichi Ishiyama (Scott Pilgrim Takes Off) serves as the character designer and chief animation director, and FPM's Tomoyuki Tanaka (Superflat Monogram) is composing the music for an animated series for the first time.

yama will perform the opening theme song "Childlike Adults" and Soushi Sakiyama will perform the ending theme song "Diary." 

Titan Manga released the manga's first volume in English starting on September 9, and it describes the manga:

In a near-future Japan, Christmas has faded into myth, and the birth rate has dropped so dramatically that children are now the most precious commodity. Society has artificially extended adolescence to preserve their youth, and traditional holidays, like Christmas, are a mere legend of the past.

Volume 1 of SANDA introduces SANDA Kazushige, a middle-school student who unexpectedly becomes entangled in a strange and dangerous mystery. When his classmate, Fuyumura Shiori, accuses him of carrying a curse that could help find her missing friend, Ono Ichie, SANDA's life takes a dramatic turn. Together, they embark on an incredible adventure to unravel the truth behind Ichie's disappearance and uncover the hidden magic of Christmas itself.

As they delve deeper into the mystery, the duo faces external threats and internal challenges—questions about loyalty, courage, and the power of belief. Along the way, they confront the true meaning of friendship, trust, and the possibility of magic in a world that has all but forgotten it.

Itagaki (BEASTARS) launched the manga in Akita Shoten's Weekly Shōnen Champion magazine in July 2021, and the series ended in July 2024. The 16th and final volume shipped in Japan in October 2024.

Sources: SANDA anime's website, Comic Natalie