Sanda Anime Prime Video Evaluate: Bizarre, Wild, Fantastic

In manga circles, Paru Itagaki is affectionately revered as an authorized weirdo. Since her debut, the Beastars creator has constructed a fame for crafting fearless, genre-bending tales which might be unapologetically offbeat, exerting a magnetic pull that’s daring and weird, but unimaginable to faucet the glass and see what wonders won’t ever stop.

Science Saru, in the meantime, has rapidly change into an anime darling due to its personal model of visible chaos and thematic daring, with titles like Devilman Crybaby, Maintain Your Fingers Off Eizouken, and Dan Da Dan on its glittering resume. So when these two inventive forces collided for the newly launched anime adaptation of Itagaki’s manga, Sanda, it was much less a query of “Will it’s bizarre?” and extra “How bizarre are we speaking?”

Seems: very. Sanda doesn’t simply flirt with the weird—it makes an attempt to out-freak Nightmare Earlier than Christmas by pile-driving right into a snowbank and daring to declare itself the brand new cross-holiday anomaly.

A chaotic mix of Christmas cheer, slasher horror, and gag comedy, Sanda delivers all the above at a breakneck tempo that looks like opening each door of an introduction calendar directly, revealing a contemporary, unhinged shock with each scene packed into its premiere episode.

Sanda facilities on a baby-faced center schooler named Sanda Kazushige (Ayumu Murase), whose hapless, strange life takes a pointy flip when his crush, Shiori Fuyumura (Umeka Shoji) discovers his weird secret: he can rework right into a burly Santa Claus each time he will get “purple on him”—a loophole she gleefully exploits by stabbing him.

What unfolds is a chaotic mix of Shazam and The Santa Clause, revealing Sanda bears a hereditary curse as a descendant of Saint Nick, magically compelled to grant youngsters’s needs each time snow begins to fall (and the circumstances above are met).

Shiroi’s want isn’t some twisted, yandere-coded romance with Sanda—it’s a heartfelt plea to assist her discover her lacking pal, Ichie Ono (Anna Nagase), who has been presumed useless. With Sanda’s assist, Shiori hopes to reunite with Ichie in time for Christmas, honoring a promise they as soon as made.

To check Sanda’s resolve as Shiori’s reluctant, underwear-clad Santa superhero, their first outing entails thwarting a college bombing (that she’s the mastermind behind). All of which is delightfully underscored with the mushy, menacing hum of vacation carols.

Visually, Sanda stands out as one of many fall season’s most hanging oddities, equal components weird and magnetic. Itagaki’s aptitude for offbeat rom-coms and immediately legible character designs shines by, with every determine telegraphing their persona from the second their faces seem on display (which is particularly useful given the brisk tempo of its premiere episode!).

From outsized saucer eyes and twitchy beady pupils to jagged silhouettes and wildly different physique sorts, each design—brilliantly realized by Science Saru’s Masamichi Ishiyama—seamlessly reinforces the present’s razor-thin tightrope stroll between horror and slapstick, the place each thrown glare could possibly be a menace or a punchline.

What’s extra, Sanda’s daring use of purple—splashed throughout scenes like a visible siren—amplifies its off-kilter appeal, pulling the viewer’s eye right into a world nonetheless wrapped in thriller. Because the story tiptoes deeper into its cursed Santa lineage, wish-granting compulsion, and surreal dream logic, every crimson accent looks like a breadcrumb main us by a vacation fever dream and a homicide thriller that’s solely simply begun to unfold.

As a result of, in fact, there’s a homicide thriller brewing beneath Sanda‘s unsuspecting premise. If Beastars taught followers something, it’s that Paru loves herself a superb whodunit, in addition to scenic lengthy walks by her enchanting, imaginative storytelling.

But, for all its aesthetic extra, Sanda’s ensemble channels the scrappy, chaotic appeal of basic ragtag anime misfits, reminiscent of these in Akira Toriyama’s Dr. Stoop or Rumiko Takahashi’s Urusei Yatsura. From what little its premiere showcases of its assortment of quirky “what’s-their-deal” characters gloriously make each kinetic interplay, be it comedic or menacing, pop with as a lot unpredictable delight to match its beautiful visuals.

Itagaki could also be pigeonholed as manga’s eccentric inventive, however she doesn’t get sufficient credit score as a deeply humorous and emotionally resonant storyteller who is aware of tips on how to construct worlds that tickle your sides, punch you within the coronary heart, and scratch your mind. And Sanda appears poised to unwrap its personal darkish secrets and techniques one episode at a time.

It additionally doesn’t damage that Science Saru’s adaptation amplifies that ethos, turning Sanda right into a sequence that feels tailored for Grownup Swim’s Toonami anime block. It’s refreshingly unorthodox and hilarious, and simply unsettling sufficient to maintain viewers tapping their fingers to see what it’ll do subsequent. And if its premiere is any indication, viewers are in for a chaotic, spellbinding experience.

Sanda is streaming on Prime Video.

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