From the creator of BEASTARS comes a series about the mythological creature known as Santa Claus. I didn't know what to expect when I read that out loud, but it's about as wacky and zany as you would expect from the very interesting mind of Paru Itagaki. We have some social commentary, we have some very expressive character designs, and we have quirky characters who straddle the line between being endearing or creepy. A lot of her staples are here, and while there definitely is a sense of whimsy, the first volume gets off to an incredibly rocky start.

This is a story about children. Or more specifically, this is a series about how the innocence of children has become so coveted to the point of becoming perverse, so what better person to set things on the right path then Santa Claus himself? But we can't have any Santa Claus, he has to be some deeply established family lineage curse that can only be unlocked with specific requirements that are met like some kind of superhero secret identity! There's a lot of time established in setting up this character. There are rules in place and powers to unlock. If I didn't know any better, I would think that this was some kind of twist on a typical superhero story like Superman. In fact, even the whole idea of Santa being used as a fictional legend meant to protect the innocence of children does feel weirdly appropriate.

The problem is that while Kazushige as a character is interesting and the manifestation of his Santa form leads to some standout scenes from a comedic and philosophical standpoint, the world building suffers as a result. There are a lot of context clues that give us an idea of the type of world this takes place in. The children are put in schools that act almost like mini sanctuaries and their relationships with adults are questionable at best. There are a lot of cult analogies here, and when we do actually get introduced to one of the few adults in the actual series, it's creepy. There's this sense that the adults are jealous of the youth the kids still get to experience, and so one adult tries to maintain their own youthful appearances through dangerous surgery/chemicals, but the disconnect between how they look and how they act can make things feel uncanny. It's arguably my favorite idea that the manga plays with, and I want to see more adults in this world. The implication of what we see is good, but there needs to be more, especially when Itagaki is trying to establish that Santa is a character who almost needs to exist for the sake of confronting a problem that I don't see enough of.

Finishing volume one, I couldn't help but feel like there were a lot of moments that could've been cut shorter. The establishment of some characters could've been tightened, and some gags went on for a little bit too long like Kazushige constantly misreading situations for the sake of just making him feel bad. In fact, it's strange that the story takes so long to establish certain characters and yet aside from Kazushige, I don't find myself being attached to any of them. Their involvement fluctuates from being too sporadic to the point where I can't get a solid grasp of their characters. Shiori in particular just comes off as very unlikeable in her desperation. She needs Santa's help so much that she's even willing to kill him, but she also disregards him as a person to the point where it's hard for me to want to see her get what she wants. The "gag" of her not really treating him well and forcing him into comedically dangerous situations just for the sake of testing him got old very fast, especially when there wasn't even a punchline.

Sadly, this sloppiness isn't just a narrative problem as it also translates a little bit to the presentation. A lot of attention went into the design of Santa Claus. It's a very simple design, but through Itagaki's striking expressive work and exaggerated angles, he commands a lot of presence when he finally does come on stage. I like that a lot, but in terms of the panel-to-panel storytelling, things are a little bit hard to follow. Sometimes the book will jump cut to another scene before it feels like a previous one actually finished. I can't tell how much time has passed sometimes in between a location change, and while there isn't a lot of action here, the action that is present feels very weightless. There are maybe one or two impact frames that really leave an impression, but aside from that, it does feel like the characters are both literally and figuratively bouncing off the walls without a lot of coherent direction.

It isn't until the end of the first volume that it feels like things begin to focus up in terms of narrative and presentation. Overall, Itagaki once again takes a very out there concept and tries to tell a hyperrealized story with very grounded themes. However, unlike other work that I've read from them, the execution is not as strong. In some ways this unfortunately feels like a first draft for a much better story, and I feel bad critiquing it in the form that it is in now. I hope I'm proven wrong in reading subsequent volumes and that the upcoming anime adaptation focuses on those good points instead of exacerbating the bad ones.