SANDA

SANDA is a TV anime adaptation of the manga by Baru Itagaki, blending mystery, fantasy, supernatural thrills, and school-life action into a compelling shounen experience. The series centers on Shiori Fuyumura and Kazushige Sanda, and is brought to life by the acclaimed animation studio Science SARU. With director Tomohisa Shimoyama at the helm and series composition by Kimiko Ueno, SANDA delivers a stylistically bold and genre-defying animated work.

Set in a future Japan where children have become an endangered rarity and are treated as the nation's most precious treasure, SANDA paints a world where Christmas is nothing more than a faded myth. At Daikoku Welfare Academy, a boarding school that educates and closely monitors its students, the legend of Santa Claus is little more than a forgotten fairy tale—though the authorities take the matter far more seriously, maintaining a dedicated unit to intercept any potential appearance of the legendary figure. Into this tightly controlled world steps Shiori Fuyumura, a student consumed by grief and determination. Her closest friend, Ichie Ono, vanished six months ago and has since been officially declared dead—a verdict Fuyumura refuses to accept. Convinced that her classmate and fellow representative Kazushige Sanda carries the bloodline of Santa Claus himself, she believes he alone holds the power to reunite her with Ono. Driven by desperation, she sets out to awaken whatever lies dormant within him.