Sanda
Entry updated 2 March 2026. Tagged: TV.
Japanese animated tv series (2025). Science Saru. Based on the Manga by Paru Itagaki. Directed by Tomohisa Shimoyama. Written by Kimiko Ueno. Voice cast includes Hiroaki Hirata, Mariya Ise, Ayumu Murase, Anna Nagase, Masako Nozawa, Toshihiko Seki, Umeka Shōji and Hiroki Tōchi. Twelve 24-minute episodes. Colour.
When Kazushige Sanda's (Murase) classmate Shiori Fuyumura (Shōji) repeatedly tries to stab him on 25 December , his 14-year-old libido wants to interpret this as an expression of romantic interest. But her intent is to break his family curse, and as he refuses to wear red, staining his clothes with blood will have to suffice. And so it proves: Sanda transforms into a tall, buff young man with a short white beard ... Santa Claus (Tōchi).
It turns out that a brand of sweets reverts him to his young self and wearing red brings back Santa; he also has Superpowers inferable from this character: impervious to fire, super-strength, far-sightedness and being virtually indestructible, and perhaps less predictably, blade-like sleigh runners appearing on his feet (see Weapons). The gangly, androgynous Fuyumura wants Santa to find her friend Ono (Nagase), who is missing, presumed dead: unable to bear seeing an unhappy child, he agrees, but wonders: "Is this Santa's instincts talking or just simple ethics?"
The year is 2080 (see Near Future) and only 0.1% (50,000) of the Japanese population are under 15; those at the Daikoku Welfare Academy are treated as "national treasures" (even if they kill an adult they will go unpunished). The headmaster Hifumi Oshibu (Seki) is 92 years old, but to stay "young" has become a Cyborg, with artificial legs, eyes and heart, use of near-lethal levels of hyaluronic acid and collagen injections on his face, and full-body plastic surgery; only his hands look their age. On seeing Santa Claus, Oshibu notifies the St Nick Pursuit Unit, since by encouraging dreams and hopes he threatens society's compulsion to completely control the children's lives. Saburo Yagiuda (Hirata) of the Unit discovers Sanda's secret identity (but does not tell anyone as he wants the credit of catching him) and becomes a teacher at the school; however, he ends up helping Sanda and his friends.
Children in 2080 do not dream because they cannot sleep but lie in bed, awake, and will not reach puberty until eighteen, both due to medication. Oshibu is most insistent his pupils will not suffer the traumas of growing up whilst in his care. Unusually, Fuyumura does sleep, with Ono lying beside her – but one night the latter drifts off and has an erotic dream (see Sex) about her friend (of whom she says "the Gender I was crazy about was the one that's unique to Fuyumura") and wakes to find puberty has happened overnight. Worried about Oshibu's reaction she goes into hiding, but eventually does reveal herself to Fuyumura, who is distressed by the change: her mindset is a child's, Ono's now an adult's. At the end of the season Santa and Oshibu fight, though the result is inconclusive, and the insecure Fuyumura is finally able to tell Ono she loves her. However, sleep and puberty in one night had put an immense strain on Ono's body and, having heard what she was holding on for, she dies. When Fuyumura finally weeps, Sanda comforts her.
Episode twelve feels more like the end of part one than the end of a season, as much is left unanswered: we can infer a recent world Disaster which presumably affected the birthrate; there is also a Climate Change element as the seasons are now fairly uniform. A cult of youth has arisen, and though Oshibu is an extreme example, adults have surgery and medication to stay young-looking; an exception is little old lady Toyo Tetsudome (Nozawa), the Academy's chief director – though she is clearly not what she seems, having superpowers and training Santa to fight. Children's futures are meticulously planned out – including a state-arranged fiancée – and Santa is virtually unknown to them: when the pupils first see him they assume he is a god (we also learn the Unit nearly caught him 20 years ago).
At one point Sanda asks himself "What does it mean to be Santa Claus? What does it mean to be strong? What does it mean to be ... a grown man?" The nature of childhood (see Children in SF) and adulthood – in particular the change from one to the other – is the main focus of this Anime. One important plot strand involves traumatized pupil Fumi Namatame (Ise), whose mother's operations to appear younger led Namatame to believe she had lost her parent, and killed her. Gender, LGBTQ+ and sex issues are also broached. Santa is an adult who can be trusted by children, being incapable of harming them (though when the pupils placed in the adult-killer class try to murder him they are incapacitated by hugs that render them unconscious). Like Paru Itagaki's other manga turned into an anime, Beastars (2019-current), her ambitions sometimes lead to mishits, but also like that series Sanda is an impressive and notable work; there is also Humour and the art style is interesting. As yet, a second season has not been announced. [SP]
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