Review: Sanda Vol. 1

#review #manga August 29, 2025

by Brett Michael Orr

In 1994, Tim Allen's The Santa Clause became a seminal Christmas classic for an entire generation. The family film is a playbook of yuletide cheer and Christmas tropes that further cemented Haddon Sundblom and Coca-Cola's overweight, rosy-cheeked representation of Saint Nicholas.

Paru Itagaki's SANDA does not care for your generational knowledge of Santa Claus. Its off-kilter humor and pervasive sense of unease are giving Bad Santa more than any Hallmark film. Even so, beneath the twisted art style and deranged characters, there's some good old-fashioned Christmas charm perfect for an increasingly cynical generation.

Join us today on Anime Atelier as we review SANDA, Vol 1, available from Titan Manga on September 9, 2025.

Sanda

Paru Itagaki

From the publisher:
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.

In the year 2080, Japan's population has fallen to record lows, with only 50,000 children under the age of 15. The very notion of childish, yuletide joy has vanished, and Santa Claus is nothing but an old, half-remembered myth. Kids are sponsored by the state and protected in dormitories, prevented from sleeping in an effort to prolong their adolescence. The setup comes off as a more grounded version of Darling in the FranXX, just without the deadly robot battles.

Enter Sanda — a naive 14-year-old who mistakenly thinks his classmate, Shiori, has a crush on him. His suspicions are rudely disproven when Shiori stabs him in the chest, breaking the curse on his bloodline and awakening his dormant powers as Santa Claus.

As Santa, Sanda feels compelled to help Shiori find her missing classmate, presumed dead by almost everyone. In his newfound body, Sanda is transformed from shrimpy middle-schooler to (quite frankly) a completely shredded Gramps.

Sanda's true powers don't stay hidden for long, however, and his roommate, Amaya, strongarms him into helping his family's cake shop get more business by bringing back Santa Claus. Meanwhile, the school's slippery principal sets Santa worrying, and in the background, a "Saint Nick Pursuit Unit" is mobilizing!

Artistically, seeing Paru Itagaki draw human characters is a welcome surprise, and SANDA's visual design incorporates a pervasive unease that draws favorable comparisons with Mochito Bota's Coffee Moon, or Tim Burton's A Nightmare Before Christmas.

Shiori and Amaya's actions are completely deranged, seemingly illustrating how the loss of innocence can lead to overall societal decay. Shiori straps a bomb to herself and threatens the entire classroom just to reveal Santa; Amaya Tasers and kidnaps Sanda simply to prove he can. Still, Santa believes in children and in resurrecting lost innocence and forgotten Christmas faith!

Final Thoughts

SANDA Vol. 1 by Paru Itagaki strikes a perfect balance between yuletide trappings and dystopian decline, with absurdist humor offsetting just enough of the dark undertone to create an engaging first volume that's perfect for Christmas lovers who've lost some of their own innocence.

We're looking forward to seeing the anime adaptation of SANDA when it debuts on October 3, 2025.

SANDA, Vol 1, is available from Titan Manga on September 9, 2025.