Sanda

In a future where children are few and regarded as Japan's most valuable assets, Christmas has become a mere legend of the past. For the students of Daikoku Welfare Academy—a boarding school where they are educated, protected, and monitored—the mythical Santa Claus is a forgotten character of fiction. For the adults, Santa Claus is a very real menace that needs to be neutralized by the Saint Nick Pursuit Unit in case he makes an appearance.

Shiori Fuyumura, a student of Daikoku Welfare Academy, is determined to find her best friend, Ichie Ono, who has been declared dead after being missing for six months. One morning, Fuyumura summons her fellow class representative, Kazushige Sanda, only to attack the unknowing boy. She is convinced that Sanda is the descendant of the infamous Santa Claus—the only person who can make her wish of finding Ono come true—and is determined to force out his dormant true self by any means necessary.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Fuyumura, Shiori Main

Shouji, Umeka Japanese

Sanda, Kazushige Main

Murase, Ayumu Japanese

Amaya, Hitoshi Main

Shin, Yuuki Japanese

Kazao, Niko Supporting

Matsuoka, Misato Japanese

Yagiuda, Saburou Supporting

Hirata, Hiroaki Japanese

Ooshibu, Hifumi Supporting

Seki, Toshihiko Japanese

Tetsudome, Toyo Supporting

Nozawa, Masako Japanese

Ono, Ichie Supporting

Nagase, Anna Japanese

Musician Supporting

Hatori, Yuu Japanese

Itagaki Supporting

Itagaki, Paru Japanese

Kanbe, Shuuta Producer

Hyuuga, Yasutaka Producer

Adaniya, Yuuma Producer

Shimoyama, Tomohisa Director

Reviews

Dec 19, 2025

KANLen09

Recommended

Sanda - When Christmas isn't a thing anymore, you have to be its figure to show children that there's still hope in Santa Claus. So...a Merry (not so) happy Christmas, I guess?

I love it when personal inspirations can influence unique settings ever to grace the meaning of life, and that's not a skill that a lot of people have — to show that there's still an abundance of mystery behind it, even more so by translating that inspiration into a physical form, say, like a book or something. This is even more difficult when it comes to integrating both art and content together, which is ... something that most comic book authors try to do, no matter their origin. Regardless of the fame that comes around to gain publicity from the outside press, standing out is what ultimately makes or breaks the mould to achieve great success.

However, in the name of success, which when related to Japan alone, the oversaturation of the AniManga industry becomes quite the lowbrow when you have too much of the same thing and less of a personal vision that truly makes you and your content different. And different is what one author chose to do and to turn it into a wild and wacky mess that still feels great to anticipate more and more. AND...if you didn't know any better, from the brilliant mind that brought us Baki the Grappler...erm, nope...oh, that's right: Beastars, mangaka Paru Itagaki is once again back onto the anime scene, bringing us one of her most recent and completed works with Sanda, starring not a timid grey wolf, but a boy who has got quite the curse navigating around the themes of adulthood and maturity, with compliments as an action comedy series.

Declining birth rate, arranged marriages from infancy, near-total utilitarianism and restricted control of the people, and social status regardless of age — these are real-world problems that our modern society faces to this very day. Yet, in the world of Sanda, this isn't fantasy, it's reality slapped in their bare faces, as its alternate future of Japan has events like Christmas wiped off the calendar, never to be seen or realized again, and people live their lives as if it's just the mundane life on crack. Yet, for the 14-year-old short and young middle school boy Sanda Kazushige, who is said to be a descendant of the burly Santa Claus, he is the only one who still holds the tradition on its feet in a society that barely even knows what it is. However, that's not all lost hope on its feet, as one student would find out that by forcing Sanda to transform into his Santa Claus outfit as a request to find a missing person, it's not exactly great for first impressions, but the secret lives on, latching as both a friend of interest and to keep that secret from being exposed to the outside world. Together, both Sanda and the somewhat Legoshi-looking tall and lanky girl, Shiori Fuyumura, circumvent the true meaning of what it means to mature and make Christmas a reality once again.

If you have seen or watched Beastars in that regard, the practicality and stark contrast of an anthropomorphic world that still lives by the society of the animal kingdom is already weird to begin with, and for the daughter of one of the most iconic mangaka of all time (Baki's mangaka, Keisuke Itagaki), this is truly her lifestyle: creating works that are, simply put, unorthodox, unique, and mesmerizing to experience. In fact, with Sanda as her newest creation at the time since the serialization of Beastars came to an end, Paru Itagaki was already sought after for her next work, which surrounds Christmas as its overarching theme and a human-focused story that would just be as divisive as her former series. However, after turning that story into a one-shot, which garnered quite the negativity, the mangaka herself was not fazed and continued to find an alternate direction to pivot to, this time targeting the younger audience with her desire to continue using Santa Claus as a narrative. And when you combine the younger generation with something like Christmas and Santa Claus, it naturally gets their attention as an appropriate season that creates an enjoyable timeframe for the story to flow better, and of all places where it could've been set, it's a renovated version of the Isetan Shinjuku department store as a tell-tale sign of her closely knit family. Therefore, the Christmas season set with her character of choice, Sanda Kazushige, being "a boy who believes in kindness, even when the world doesn't," sets the precedent of her series featuring the likeable protagonist that doesn't bow down to stereotypical traits, with his Santa Claus self being able to interpret people as children, and his transformation metamorphosis being based on the influence of the below-average crappy 2010 film, The Wolfman.

The mind of a boy and a man that's all-in-one—it's very hard for one to live life in a normal state, let alone Sanda, who has to deal with his transformations, thanks to a seal that was once there but broken by Fuyumura when he comes into contact with something red (which blood is always a recurrence). As if that's not enough, the world that's diminished to censor the underlying truths, for someone with a small body and a big heart for the people around him, the notion of "childhood and adulthood" becomes quite the prominent aspect of play when it comes to Sanda's struggles, as well as the antagonists who are after his life. It's always a circumvention for Sanda when he either evolves or devolves into his child or adult self, as although he can certainly go back to his child self munching down jellybeans, it's the world around him that is in total darkness — the friends and enemies that he would make over the course of his lifetime, despite him having a golden heart and entrusting himself not to get violent against minors.

And what a setting it truly is for the people that Sanda will meet in the course of the anime. Fuyumura, for one, is quite the whiplash; she's closer to a bona fide terrorist to get her way, but that's because the school that they're in, Daikoku Welfare Academy, has seen a disappearance case of a female student. And with Fuyumura having close ties towards her, it's natural that she would come to find Sanda by hook or by crook in order to find her best friend, Ichie Ono, who seemingly has violated one of the school's foundations to hit puberty and is on the target reticle of its commandeering headmaster, Hifumi Oshibu. As if that's not enough, with one of Sanda's roommates, Hitoshi Amaya, accidentally discovering the truth about him, alongside other characters that would come to thwart Sanda for his Santa Claus self. Amidst a crucial identity crisis, Sanda really has his hands full just trying to stay the hell alive in the Academy, where living the normal human life without the chance to hit puberty strikes a fear within him of ever seeing the light of day, where Christmas can be a thing once again.

You know it best when Science SARU gets the opportunity to showcase their finest production work again and again, and although it hasn't been long since Dandadan Season 2 finished its run last season, any work that they have their hands on is a certified winner. Led by in-house director Tomohisa Shimoyama, the anime is an ooze in both action and expression, and no other studio does it like Science SARU, who is literally "monkeying around" in their creativity and intuition to deliver works of fine art. And for the director who expressed his fascination with the mangaka herself in terms of her artistic style, as well as legendary animator Yoshinori Kanada (who passed away in 2009 and from whom animators like Hiroyuki Imaishi and Masami Obari take inspiration), as a major inspiration, you'll instantly know that the series is given a lot of love, and for a very good reason: to deliver Sanda to none other than a pristine quality, because good is not good enough.

To add to the allure of the anime, the music department, led by musician and DJ Tomoyuki Tanaka (better known as Fantastic Plastic Machine), I can't emphasize how much I like the undertones when it comes to the OST. It's just an otherworldly experience to hear such a well-composed score work so well from a musician that had, up to that point, worked on high-profile projects of his own with some of the best DJs on the planet. And with Sanda being his first stint at an anime OST, it's just remarkable how it was done. Add Yama's catchy OP and Soushi Sakiyama's ED together, and you have a brilliance in anime sound design.

What more can I say? For as weird as Paru Itagaki may be, her works, starting from the lineage of Beastars getting Studio Orange's adaptation way back in Fall 2019, have created quite the cult following for anime-onlies who are just beginning to experience how wacky chicken-headed mangaka can be and the lengths they go to to make their stories truly sing. Beastars for one, and Sanda for two, with a difference of 6 years, everything that Paru Itagaki does, regardless of time apart, is simply gold.

Thanks to Sanda, Santa Claus, and everyone else in Science SARU's staff team for celebrating Christmas with us at the utmost right time!

Reviewer’s Rating: 8

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Dec 19, 2025

Tkit

Mixed Feelings

Well-written

Sanda is like a headless chicken, shitting out golden eggs and walking around in confusion. There are a ton of very nice ingredients here but the cook doesn't really know what to do with them.

Sanda presents you a very interesting setting exploring a very Japanese problem. The big idea behind this story is fresh for anime while fitting in the larger shonen formula by adding themes that make sense for this concept. Declining birth rates, adolescence, coming of age, confidence and becoming reliable for others. All in a world that is wonderful in its exaggeration of problems related to said ideas. The production is also ... stellar. Science SARU known for its bold style visually made Sanda into one of its kind looking anime, as if to match the interesting foundations of the story. The art style is wonderful, with fun character designs that may be off-putting to some, but are well executed and animated. The music is probably my favorite part. It is done perfectly, with some tracks fully embracing the connection to Santa Claus and Christmas. Of course voice acting is highly competent as well.

Reading all this, you might think this will be great, they have high creative vision both visually and conceptually. Unfortunately outside the realm of concepts Sanda suffers quite a bit. Sure anime indeed delivers some nice explorations of maturity and adolescence but that is about it. The plot meanders slowly and aimlessly with a story that forces the main antagonist to be weirdly passive and lacks any sort of concrete long term goal. Believing in yourself and gaining the belief of others is basically the driving force behind this show which is unfortunate. World is interesting sure, but it is also very small. We have a school designed to hate Sanda while also having artificial roadblocks in the direct confrontation between hero and the villain. The whole school, besides the evil headmaster, lacks any teachers making that one character the source of all conflict which is weird. Only one out of three adults in the school is evil leading to this conflict being shallow. The fact that antagonist is outnumbered in his own school and is forced to be the lone force driving this struggle undermines the goal of making the place normal. This also extends to the students, with no teachers in the school it is really hard for the anime to show real effects of the flawed ideology governing their education. Sanda’s conflict is also hurt by this. He is forced to fight with temporary bad guys while prevented from actually fighting them (I will get back to it). This is why, when Sanda fights the headmaster, no one can ever really win. If hero wins he solves main problem of the show and headmaster can't really win cause this anime doesn't have anyone else who could fight against this system. It all would have benefited from this school being larger, having more bad teachers as well as giving more agency to the other characters.

Speaking of characters, beside Fuyumura who is interesting and actually contributes to the fights this really isn't an inspiring sight. Even the protagonist isn't very interesting in terms of personality. It is important to mention here the vital mechanic that prevents Sanda from harming psycho kids. Where I am from Santa gives a stick instead of a present to naughty kids, but here it isn't the case and it is worth looking into. Show criticizes adults overprotective of children but does the same with Sanda for a long time. One could assume the idea anime points towards is that you need some balance in this spectrum but if so it fails at presenting this. Any kind of message of an adult that is supposed to take all of the children's anger and listen to them isn't worth it and if it was intended I fundamentally disagree. It may be controversial to say but hear me out, if a kid killed countless adults and intends to do the same with you… I won’t judge you for resulting to violence. I know, crazy stuff. Obviously this is fiction and you could point towards the above goals behind this no harming kids policy but there is one more big flaw coming with this approach. It creates a flood of fights where Sanda just stands there being shot. It's awkward, weird and boring beside two real fights that end with no interesting conclusion anyway. This weird conflict combined with the inability to fight the school system seriously makes most of the characters useless in actual fights. They have basically an assassin in this anime that can’t do anything. Fuyumura is carrying for a lot of the run time. As I said she sometimes contributes her character is interesting and she has a relationship with real drama! Basically the only person here who does.

There is a lot of soul in Sanda and I really admire the originality, the looks and the soundtrack but at the end of the day writing did not deliver anything matching the potential behind this concept.

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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Feb 8, 2026

MonteMonte

Not Recommended

Sanda is an anime that tries too hard to be something it isn’t. It attempts to explore deep themes of adolescence through an interesting near-future setting, while simultaneously presenting itself as a shounen action series whose protagonist is a 14-year-old boy who can transform into Santa Claus with superpowers. Originality isn’t the problem here, but the execution absolutely is. The concept doesn’t come together, and you’d honestly be better off watching something else.

Before watching the show, I struggled to understand what it was even about. Santa? A murder mystery? A dystopian future? After finishing it, I understand why the premise was so unclear: the plot ... itself is a jumbled mess. The anime starts in one direction, then introduces new characters, factions, and goals, only to change direction again and again. As a result, it leaves behind countless loose ends. Many of these abandoned ideas could have been interesting if they had been explored properly and used to enrich the world-building. Instead, the series feels rushed and incomplete. Perhaps a 24-episode season would have helped.

Additionally, the contrast between the anime’s ambitious themes and its utterly ridiculous core concept is jarring. The clash between thoughtful world-building and an absurd plot contributes heavily to the show’s messy identity. The central theme of “growing up” is also handled poorly in my view; it comes across less as introspective and more as a fetishization of children and their “beauty,” which made the experience uncomfortable and, frankly, off-putting.

The main characters themselves are not terrible. Sanda is a fun protagonist, and there’s some entertainment to be found in watching his thought processes as a child forced into the role of Santa, and Santa forced into the body and mind of a child. While he isn’t particularly deep, he does effectively represent the idea of being caught between adulthood and childhood, which ties neatly into the anime’s themes.

Fuyumura, however, is by far the strongest character in the series. She’s the only one whose thoughts, actions, and internal conflicts feel grounded and believable. Like Sanda, she embodies the burden of existing between childhood and adulthood, but does so in a far more compelling way. Unfortunately, many viewers on this site seem to dislike her, or even the anime itself, because of her character. This is largely due to her gender dysphoria and gayness, which some dismiss as the show being “too westernized.” I strongly disagree. These traits, unlike in western media, aren’t forced onto the viewer, instead they serve a clear narrative purpose. Fuyumura exists between identities: male and female, child and adult, which mirrors the show’s core themes remarkably well.

The main antagonist, Ooshibu, is entertaining but shallow. He’s amusing, but completely underdeveloped. The rest of the cast fares worse: characters are either introduced as if they’ll be important, only to become irrelevant almost immediately, or they fall into the category of irritating, unhinged psycho-kids.

The anime’s single saving grace, and the only reason I can justify giving it even a passable score, is its art. From the very first episode, the visuals are striking and consistently impressive. Character designs, facial expressions, backgrounds, framing, color usage, and animation quality are all excellent. The art perfectly establishes the dark, unsettling tone the series is aiming for and does a fantastic job of reinforcing each character’s personality and mood. It’s unique, stylish, and genuinely fantastic.

Unfortunately, the sound design doesn’t live up to the same standard. The voice acting is serviceable but occasionally undermined by poor audio mixing. The OST has a few strong moments, mainly during action scenes, but is otherwise forgettable. I can’t recall noticing it outside of fights, which suggests either a lack of presence or poor implementation, neither of which is good. The soundtrack in episode one stood out to me initially, but it failed to maintain that level of impact later on. Ambient sounds and background audio were also unremarkable. One bright spot, however, is that both the OP and ED are bangers.

Despite all of this criticism, I really enjoyed the beginning of the show. The first episode left me excited to see the rest, and the series maintained a decent standard for a short while before collapsing into the rushed, child-loving, and thematically confused mess it ultimately became. Finishing it left me with a sour taste, largely because the potential was clearly there.

So, would I recommend Sanda? No. Unless you’re specifically interested in its art style, your time is better spent elsewhere. I won’t be watching a second season or picking up the manga. In the end, this anime is not more than a hard-to-follow, ridiculous story that takes itself far too seriously.

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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