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

Ono, Ichie Supporting

Nagase, Anna Japanese

Tetsudome, Toyo Supporting

Nozawa, Masako Japanese

Abe-chan Supporting

Kamibayashi, Minami Japanese

Amagi Supporting

Yasuhara, Kouta Japanese

Choi, Eun-Young Producer

Kanbe, Shuuta Producer

Hyuuga, Yasutaka Producer

Adaniya, Yuuma Producer

Reviews

Apr 6, 2026

reilove69

Recommended

To its credit, SANDA is a very smart show. It explores a ton of concepts and themes beyond just being your average coming-of-age story: the interface between adulthood and childhood, gender identity, sexuality, perceived value of youthfulness, aging and death, declining birth rates, the responsibilities of adults. All of this is presented through a very clever reimagining of the Santa myth. It was a very interesting show to consume. At the same time, it was perhaps too smart for its own good? Its hard to put into words, but I feel like it needed to have more fun with itself. Not to say it ... took itself too seriously, or wasn’t silly, but I also felt like it could have been more playful with its concept. Suffice to say, I was never all that excited to watch the next episode, hence why it took me a while to finish it. It also sort of has a non-ending which essentially points you to read the manga…maybe we’ll get a season 2? 7/10

Reviewer’s Rating: 7

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Mar 12, 2026

Krohanar

Mixed Feelings

In short:
If you don't mind a somewhat melancholic and goofy anime, but one that also brings some fun and weird situations involving Santa Claus, this is for you!

Intro:
This anime is weird. I think the author tried to innovate, exploring something I've really never seen in anime before: the idea of an overpowered Santa Claus.
Without giving any spoilers, the story takes place in a school where getting old is seen as extremely bad. Because of a low birth rate and people living a long time, kids are treated almost like "demigods."
The author's attempt to innovate is really interesting, putting the MC in a lot of unusual ... scenarios and exploring themes like puberty.

Art: 5
It didn't really click with me. The art has a unique style, but I just didn't find it good-looking.

Story: 7
Look, the story is interesting, but honestly, I'm kinda sick of the standard weak MC who "gets strong through a power up" but is still naive, and the plot just happens to mature him in weird ways.
There were several parts that explored slightly more sexual themes, but it's kind of a double-edged sword because it just didn't hook me.

Characters: 6
Meh, average. It has everything a shonen has. A group of 3 friends where the protagonist has a burden to carry, and his friends are sidekicks with sad backstories that the MC tries to carry too. Besides that, the character development isn't that good.

Enjoyment: 5
Honestly, meh. It is bearable to watch because it entertains you more or less. The story is kinda cool, but honestly, it doesn't make you want to keep watching for a long time, and it didn't bring anything special. Maybe the next seasons will be better.

Overall: 6 (Average)
Nothing much to add here. Watch it for the experience of the author trying to do something different, but don't expect too much from this anime. It is really average, but okay to watch.

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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Apr 14, 2026

Ba-Cii10

Not Recommended

-🟠Fall 2025
Claus, but definitely not Santa

Sanda isn't the worst anime I've ever watched, BUT it's definitely the most exhausting anime I've ever watched. It took me literally two months to watch all 12 episodes, and it was pure torture.
Just as reading this far too long and overly chaotic review might be torture for someone.........



Plot:
"In a future where children are rare and Christmas has fallen into oblivion, student Shiori Fuyumura tries to find a missing friend. She believes her classmate, Kazushige Sanda, is a descendant of Santa Claus and can help her."
...

I don't even know where to begin because too many things in this anime simply seem poorly written.
The plot doesn't seem to have a sensible direction, the worldbuilding is flawed, and the characters, while mostly quite interesting, have numerous problems, ranging from one-dimensionality to inconsistent personalities. In addition, there's a disturbing thematic focus that seems out of place in an anime about children, their struggles, and Santa Claus wanting to help.
Namely, it's about the rather significant sexualization of the Santa Claus motif, which literally borders on pedophilia, and too much focus on the conflict, which can be shortened to "oh, I'm 14 and I like girls my age, but at the same time I'm also a grown man whose job is to protect children." Okay... this wouldn't have to be bad if it weren't for the fact that this particular plot doesn't really have much content, which is why it's repetitive and doesn't develop in any interesting way, it seems to be mainly a generator of disturbing scenes.


But from the beginning...
Let's start with the fact that the very premise of the plot makes absolutely no sense. In the face of a demographic crisis, the state, and therefore the institutions responsible for children, are taking no logical steps to save the economy. Instead of doing everything possible to ensure the birth of as many children as possible who would then grow up and contribute to society, their actions are focused on spoiling children, giving them absolute freedom in matters such as MURDERING ADULTS, and simultaneously controlling them at every turn. This isn't focused on making children as valuable to society as possible, but rather on keeping them in a childlike state for as long as possible.
Children can't experience trauma because it will change them emotionally, and they can't sleep because it will cause them to mature physically.
So, yes, the state wants children just for the sake of having children... bruh *nonsense*. This has no logical justification in the plot (it's just because...it is) and manifests itself only in the main antagonist's personal obsession with youth.
Additionally, what makes all these assumptions seem unreliable, despite determining many events, is the setting of the action, limited solely to a school whose rules are often unclear and unconvincingly expanded upon throughout the plot.

The very theme of child control and society's obsession with youth doesn't resonate because the plot and worldbuilding don't sufficiently broaden our perspective on the topics discussed and often even sabotage them.

Perhaps the worst part is that this supposed control of children is completely absent throughout the anime, which translates into a nonexistent tension in a series that attempts to be a kind of dystopia. Let's start with the fact that children in this anime are supposedly the most important treasure, there are few of them and despite supposed control, there is no care for their safety at all, absurd events where one of the students literally blows up the entire class (twice) and yet the world ignores it and it carries no consequences, the unrealistic scenario makes suspension of disbelief seem impossible and sabotages the themes of the series.

Another thing that makes the events in this anime unengaging is the lack of sufficient adults and their related subplots to convincingly underpin all the themes surrounding the fear of puberty and hatred of adults.
Instead, however, this anime often limits itself to exposition, where characters demonize adults, or worse, the school principal, who is truly the sole antagonist and "evil adult" who is the source of all evil and adult oppression. (Not counting the pseudo-antagonist, who, aside from a single fight, poses no threat because he gets an obvious but quite cool redemption arc.)
Apart from the fact that this again simplifies the world, limiting it to a single antagonist wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing if it weren't for the principal's shallow, over-the-top nature (for someone who carries most of the series' themes on his shoulders) and his strangely/inconsistently absent presence in the plot.
He's absent, completely posing no threat or representing this mythical control of children; the stakes are zero, and thematic credibility is severely limited.

Anime often doesn't focus on believably addressing its themes. This manifests itself in plots like "Children are genetically modified and don't need to sleep, yet they have to lie on a bed in the dark and pretend to be asleep" because children grow up while they sleep. They can even grow up in a single night of sleep. xDD It's unbelievable absurdity, and handled poorly.

Because this anime has zero stakes and crappy worldbuilding, these kinds of rules, so crucial to some plots, are completely disregarded. Literally nothing stops children from sleeping, and as I mentioned earlier, when the characters are supposed to be pretending to be asleep, they can do whatever they want at night. We literally get a plot where our characters shoot guns all night long and no one does anything about it, because in a world that supposedly keeps children under a shelter, no one is watching over them. Another absurdity is the main principal's character. As if the credibility of the plot in this anime weren't already lacking, there's also the fact that a character has absolute power over the school, is a "reasonable adult," yet does nothing to combat the "cruel system." The anime completely ignores this and doesn't even try to explain this character's passivity.

Plot consequences...
This anime has a truly strange tendency to maintain the status quo at all costs despite constantly provoking situations that should change it.

Let's assume the principal is a real threat and the issue of hiding the MC's identity from him is important. Every confrontation with him that leads to the MC's identity being exposed is saved by a Deus ex machine or simply completely senseless decisions by the principal. One time, his artificial eyes fall out seconds before he's supposed to see the MC's child form, and the next time, he defeats the MC in a fight and then completely gives up, forgoing the attempt to finish him off without any justification. All this nonsense is a significant part of the plot, but it doesn't accomplish anything beyond the confrontation between a boring, one-dimensional antagonist and the MC's boring slogans, only for everything to return to square one, which is most evident in the final episode.

Furthermore, there's no significant development because I'm tired of it...
There are no stakes because the MC is immortal, the world is empty in the sense that children, despite the dystopian and absurd realities, are "normal," and most children don't see the consequences of all this nonsense (of course, apart from a group of isolated or otherwise psychopaths who appear in the second half of the anime), adults are practically nonexistent as characters, the most important systemic limitations are absurd, and the rest is simply exposition that doesn't really mesh with the content this anime offers.

Finally, three final issues...
The MC, the rest of the characters, and the irresponsible/disturbing pedophile vibes are what make this anime seem like something worthwhile to me.

So...
The main character, who is the core of the story, is unfortunately also the hardest to watch because his writing is truly irritating. The vast majority of his dilemmas appear suddenly and without a solid foundation. These dilemmas repeat themselves after they've already been resolved, or some are resolved without any real path forward. What I mean is, for example, that after transforming into an adult, the MC immediately has a dilemma about his body, which he resolves within five minutes and forgets about. Then he starts to fear his powers, but that resolves within five minutes, and everything is fine until an episode later, when the MC has the same dilemma again, again fears and doesn't accept his body, and again just as quickly accepts it.
And there were at least a few such situations in this anime. The series doesn't pay enough attention to them, making it seem like all these dilemmas are just there to give the MC something to think about other than his sexual attraction to children.

The MC combines the child and the adult. As a child, he's ordinary but clearly more mature. The series pretends this is because of Santa's powers, but it's never shown, only explained in exposition. On the other hand, as an adult, he's mature and caring, but his maturity as Santa Claus and what he represents is limited to platitudes like "children should have choices," "children should be loved," "growing up isn't a bad thing," blah blah, he's just extremely good, the opposite of the antagonist, who is extremely bad... nothing interesting because he doesn't go much forward in a sensible way on this issue, but nothing bad either. He's a symbol of hope for children, he faces certain dilemmas that, despite not being well-developed, are still there... the problem is that they are neglected, they appear and disappear randomly, and the MC as a symbol of hope and kindness towards children seems too limited and completely inconsistent, considering that at one point the MC doesn't want to hit a child because it's not allowed, but he has no problem traumatizing a child by making him shoot himself with a gun all night long (and it's not shown as a mistake because "he's still learning"). This is probably all just for fun. That for some reason, the author focused on the most disturbing thread, which is also the most consistent thread for this character: that MC, as Santa Claus, can't kiss children but really wants to... bruh.

I won't go into as much detail about the other characters, but they also have some problems, ranging from being one-dimensional caricatures like the school principal to being irrelevant fillers like MC's friend who rounds out the main trio.
Even those seemingly well-written characters fall apart at some point or have undeveloped and abrupt personality changes.

-The character spends most of the series obsessed with a single missing person, until, for some reason, he completely ignores them. He has no thoughts of wrongdoing and doesn't fight it until the final episode, where he suddenly realizes, without any direction, that he was stupid and did the wrong thing... a fake drama 2/10.

-The character is so crazy that he wants to commit suicide with the person he loves because... half an episode without any direction... the character is as docile as a puppy and his psychopathic personality has vanished.

Generally, some of the characters have a lot of good in them, they are interesting and charismatic, and despite their problems, they simply function. BUT, despite all this, the main character is the MC, who is simply... I think I've already explained how.

Finally, the icing on the cake, an issue that seems too ignored in other reviews, but for me, it's crucial...

Anime fans have a hard time criticizing the medium's problematic "pedophilic elements," but unfortunately, I have to say this because, considering what it is, this series is particularly repulsive.

Yes, other anime series also often feature the old pervert trope and sexualize teenagers, but these series usually don't draw much attention to it. Sanda, on the other hand, is aware of how disturbing what she's doing is and tries to justify it narratively by combining all these disturbing elements from a coming-of-age story about 14-15-year-olds.

After the first episode, I already had the title of my review in mind: "Shazam, but it's Santa Claus." However, over time, the sheer number of pedophilic elements changed my mind.
Some reviews say that this series wanted to show what the spirit of Christmas is really all about, and that this is why it works as an anime about Santa Claus, despite the series' limited connection to elements associated with Christmas.
However, my perspective is different. To me, it looks as if the author looked at the story of Santa Claus and thought, "Oh, an old man walks into a house at night where children are sleeping?" and then came up with the idea of ​​a story about Santa Claus who has to restrain his sexual urges towards children... that's how it had to be. XD

Getting to the point.

The problem is that we get scenes like:
- The MC, as an adult man, stands in a room full of children, completely naked and completely unconcerned.
Simultaneously, during this scene, a child, with clearly strong emotions, looks at the adult man's penis and This is how he learns about his own sexuality.
-In the next scene, the same girl, after all these events, feels the need to hug MC, but she transforms him into his adult form, hugs him half-naked, and says she prefers him like this (more sympathetic readers will say the girl needs adult support, but after the storyline about her sexuality, the scene is clearly suggestive). In the same scene, MC, in his adult form, has to contain his arousal.
-MC in Santa Claus form, after all the episodes where he was only in his underwear in the presence of children, finally gains clothes until the moment where he discovers a way to fight children, which involves hugging them tightly. Then, however, after all the episodes of fighting while clothed, his clothes are ruined, and he hugs the children half-naked... bruh.
-When a child tries to kiss him, MC in his adult form has thoughts like, "This is disgusting, it's a crime, and it's punishable by death, but I can't reject her because then he'll fail as a man and as a woman." SANTA CLAUS" bruh...the series at this point focuses on the theme of Santa granting children's wishes, and of course, as a pedophilic deconstruction, it has to ask the question "what if a child wanted to be kissed?" Yes, this is only a responsible coming-of-age series. XD
-At the end, we get a direct scene where the MC, in Santa Claus guise, kisses a child. His doubts have disappeared, he no longer cares that, as Santa, he feels sexual arousal towards children because he himself is actually 14 years old.
Then he remembers the words of his mentor: "Do you want to become a good and righteous adult who hasn't hurt anyone?" You're such a moron" and thinks she already knows what she meant... bruh

In summary, everything I've written is clearly disturbing, disgusting, and is to some extent the author's fetish, a fetish for a muscular old man who's naked in the presence of children. At the same time, the author wants to tell a story about children growing up, but it doesn't connect.
From my perspective, the concept for the MC thread looks like an attempt to present the perspective of a pedophile, because, you know, "I still feel like a child, that's why I like children," not to mention how often the MC has thoughts about how mature children are for their age, which, for me, is the icing on the cake.

A concept that could have been an interesting representation of the dichotomy of a child and an adult in one body focused too much on things the author doesn't want or can't present responsibly.




I don't have the energy to summarize, so...
(mainly because this "adventure" was so tiring)

Rating: ⭐⭐❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌

Reviewer’s Rating: 2

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