Sanda vol. 1 by Paru Itagaki - Blog Tour

 

'In a future where youth is preserved as a means of survival, there is no time for trivial celebrations like Christmas - until Kazushige Sanda awakens the legendary power of Santa Claus. He teams up with Shiori Fuyumura and Hitoshi Amaya to find their missing classmate, but they must keep his powers and their investigation a secret, all while navigating the terrors of middle school.'

In the UK Santa is something that most of us would take for granted. He's been a part of the mythology of Christmas for so long that it would be hard to think about the Christmas season without him; he's become so central a figure to the holiday that losing him would destroy Christmas more than losing the religious side of it. And this seems to be one of the key plot points in Paru Itagaki's Sanda. 

Set in the year 2080, we meet a group of young teens at the Daikoku Welfare Academy, a huge boarding school in Japan. In this future something has happened to decimate the birth rate, and we learn that there are less than 50,000 children under the age of fifteen, and that as such kids are kept in huge educational facilities to be kept safe, and are treated with so much care and concern that adults will pretty much let them do whatever they want. The reasons for this change aren't revealed in the first volume, but based on some other facts we could perhaps make some theories.

Another unusual thing about this future is that despite it being the middle of December there are no Christmas decorations, that the weather is warm instead of cold, and that the kids are at school as normal on December 25th. Christmas seems to be a thing of the past, a long forgotten thing that some of the kids are only vaguely aware of as a story passed down over the years. 

In the middle of this we're introduced to Sanda, a teenage boy who's one of his class reps, and has a crush on Fuyumura, the slightly odd, very tall girl in his class with some pretty spooky looking eyes. We're introduced to the two of them as Fuyumura is chasing Sanda around their classroom with a kitchen knife, threatening to stab him. It seems that Fuyumura is a bit unstable, and perhaps her creepy exterior is a sign that there's something a bit darker to this girl. However, she has a valid reason to try and kill Sanda; you see, she's convinced that Sanda is a descendent of the legendary Santa Claus, and that she needs Santa's help to find her missing best friend, Ono.

Through some schenanigans, Fuyumura is able to prove her suspicions correct, and reveals to Sanda that he is indeed a descendent of Santa, and when the young teen wears something red it transforms him in the huge, buff, bearded form of Santa (or Santa by way of a fighting game character). With Sanda's new power to transform into Santa unlocked, Fuyumura must try to convince the freaked out boy that helping her is the right thing to do. This proves easier said than done as Sanda has to contend with figuring out all of his strange powers, a terrifying old principal who may be sucking life out of students, and a shadowy conspiracy to hunt Santa.

Sanda is a hard book to describe. It's part high school drama, part dark comedy, with a mystery story focus, and transformation shenanigans and bizarre super powers thrown into the mix, all with a Christmas theme. It's the kind of book that when you hear it described sounds like some kind of fever dream, or a plot created by throwing random words together; and this was a big part of why I wanted to pick up a copy of the book because I had to see just how it all actually works. And despite how weird it sounds, Sanda is an incredibly charming, funny, and enjoyable book.

One of the things that instantly stands out about Sanda is just how different it looks. There is a lot of variety in manga art, and different artists produce some varied and beautiful work, but there's something about Sanda that stood out as different to others I'd read almost straight away. The first thing that made me feel that way was the eyes. Itagaki has a way of drawing eyes that gives the characters a spooky, sometimes crazy look to them that feels different to other manga characters. This slightly off kilter quality is present in other ways too, such as the overly creepy school principal, and the way that Santa is always presented on the page, looking over everyone, drawn as if the reader is looking up at him, with proportions feeling skewed and off. Sanda has a vibe to it that I think could be described as 'manga by way of Tim Burton'.

The tone of the story works wonderfully with this strange art, and there's a very dark edge to the events in the book. There's a violent stabbing, a classroom gets blown up, someone's face gets slashed, and there's an almost constant feeling of danger and unease, yet the book never goes into horror territory, and thanks to its humour lands more as quirky. Things are dark, but not made to frighten, it's silly but not slapstick. To make another comparison to a piece of western media, Sanda has something of an Addams Family kind of flavour to it where it has those darker trappings, but designed in a way to delight rather than to offput. 

The books central characters definitely create this feeling too. Sanda himself is a pretty normal kid for the most part. He has a crush on a girl, he enjoys sweets, and he's just trying to navigate school the best he can. He's a nice kid who finds himself in a weird situation. Fuyumura on the other hand is absolutely weird. She's always intense, she's fairly withdrawn, and she's quick to violence. She's the complete opposite to Sanda, and the two of them make a wonderful double act because of this. Introduced a little later in the first volume is Hitoshi, one of the other boys in their class who comes into the narrative somewhat antagonistic, but ends up a part of the team as we learn he's not all that bad, and that actual villains are around too. I think it's a bit too early to really know what kind of character he is and what his dynamic with the other two is like, but he's a pretty enjoyable character too.

Volume one very much feels like set-up, of introducing us to this odd future and establishing the rules for the Santa transformation, as well as setting up the pieces of the the initial mystery. There are hints at a bigger narrative to come that makes it feel like things could get even weirder, and definitely make me interesting in seeing what comes next. I also love that despite Sanda having a crush on Fuyumura in the beginning the book doesn't make anything creepy with that, especially when Sanda transforms into an adult, but also heavily hints at a queer romance dynamic in the series too.

Sanda is a weird book. Half the time reading it I had to make sure I was actually seeing what I was seeing because it felt so bizarre, but there wasn't a single time when I was bored with it. Paru Itagaki has created something that feels pretty unique, with some artwork that I find genuinely delightful in how boldly different it is. I'm looking forward to seeing the series continue, and to seeing buff, shirtless Santa Clause fight some villains.

Sanda volume 1 is available now from Titan Manga.

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Yan: Vol 2 by Chang Sheng - Manga Review

 

'Winner of the prestigious Golden Comic Award, Yan Volume 2 cements its place as a standout title in Taiwan’s rapidly growing manga and graphic novel scene. Acclaimed creator Chang Sheng continues his genre-defying series with even higher stakes, transporting readers between modern-day Taiwan and a bleak dystopian future.

'What began as a personal vendetta has become a race to save the world from an A.I.-ruled apocalypse. As the group leaps through time, they must uncover buried secrets from Taiwan’s past to alter a chilling future that looms just ahead. The resurrected Peking Opera performer Tieh-Hua—as deadly as she is enigmatic—is joined by a disgraced detective, a missing Go prodigy with visions of the future, and a suspicious time-traveller, each playing a role in this tangled narrative.

'Chang Sheng masterfully fuses science fiction with Taiwanese cultural heritage and supernatural mystery, accompanied by his opulently detailed artwork and worlds. Yan Volume 2 is a bold, visually stunning exploration of identity, justice, and fate—blending high-octane action with philosophical intrigue. For fans of Baby and The Hidden Level, this is Chang Sheng at his most inventive yet.'

The first volume of Yan was easily one of the most impressive books that I've read this year, and my excitement for the second volume was pretty high; and I find that this can sometimes be a negative thing as your expectations for what comes next can become too high for the final product to meet. It's why we can see fans of things complain about the latest instalment of a franchise if they've had too long to build it up in their mind. Thankfully, I didn't have too long to wait for the second volume of Yan, and that there was no way my mind could have exceeded what Chang Sheng manages to deliver with this brilliant second part.

The first volume of Yan very much felt like a mystery story. A young woman accused of murdering her entire family gets locked away for twenty years, but the place she's being held is destroyed in a massive explosion with no survivors. She shows up a decade later, having not aged, and begins a quest of revenge to find out who really killed her family and why. A retired cop comes back to work to try and solve the case. It's fairly simple, even with the hints at something larger moving the pieces from the background, and even with the introduction of a teenage girl capable of seeing five minutes into the future. The sci-fi elements were definitely there, but the book felt fairly grounded whilst being fantastical.

This shifts quite dramatically in the second volume, which opens with Yan Tieh-Hua running into a fight with a huge laser beam shooting robot in the opening pages. Where the first volume slowly introduces you to the story this one throws you into the thick of it, and gives you some of the best choreographed comic book action I've seen in a long while. Sheng understands how to make the images on the page feel full of motion and power, and a sense of urgency that makes each panel flow into the next. The action scenes scattered throughout the book are fantastic, and as the story builds and we get new, powerful players enter the conflict it really sells the idea that even this volume is just a preview of even bigger things to come. 

The story also opens up in some pretty interesting ways, and shifts the narrative away from focusing purely on Yan Tieh-Hua, and gives us instead a story that spans time, universes, and possibly even leads to the apocalypse. The narrative doesn't abandon Yan Tieh-Hua's tale to bring these new elements in, however, and instead makes her past a more important piece in the overall puzzle, introducing a tech mogul whose own tragic past and motivations to creating a deadly weapon might be connected to our central heroine in terrible ways. 

We also get a new ally added to the rag-tag band of heroes in the form of Herlock, who was seen briefly in the first volume as a helmet wearing portal hopper who seemed to be travelling through time. Introduced fully here, we discover that his actual origin and abilities are much bigger than you could have theorised, and his addition brings some pretty cool new abilities to the team. All of this comes in handy as volume two seems to introduce the big bad for the story (at least I hope it is because it's already pretty scary and powerful) in the form of Thirteen, an AI that might just bring about the end of the world.

Thirteen makes for an amazing antagonist in the latter parts of this volume, posing a physical threat that's able to push our band of heroes to their limits, which considering the group consists of someone with super strength, someone who can teleport and has a gun that erases things from existence, and a girl who can see the future to predict all your moves, is a hell of a thing. This volume ups the ante in such a way that I have no idea how our protagonists are going to manage to come out on top; which makes things incredibly exciting.

Yan volume two answers a load of questions, it provides new pieces of the puzzle, and explains some big questions from the first book; but it also poses way more questions than it answers. The book ends in such a way that you're going to struggle to predict what comes next, where you feel no closer to solving the mystery, and you've got less of an understanding of our heroine than when it began. But, the experience is so damn good that none of that detracts from the quality, and just makes you want to see what comes next even more.

Yan has managed to not only keep its quality into this second volume, but has upped it. I gave the last book a five star rating, and this gets the same because that's the maximum I go to, but in truth this one is even better. If you're missing out on this series you're going to regret it some day, so do yourself a favour and jump on board now.

Yan: Vol 2 is out now from Titan Manga.

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Somnium - Film Review

 

Racheal Cain's directorial debut, Somnium, is an interesting piece that tries to blur the line between dream and reality, but one that pushes the science fiction and horror elements into the background far enough that those coming looking for something special might be left a little disappointed.

Somnium tells the story of Gemma (Chloë Levine), a young woman from a small town in Georgia who moves to LA to pursue her dream of becoming an actress. She moves her small pile of possessions into a run down apartment, and begins hunting for jobs, both acting and not. Her desperate need for work eventually leads her to Somnium, a building with a help wanted sign hanging out front. With no knowledge of what the place does, she walks inside and manages to sweettalk herself a job; she's desperate for money after all, so why be picky about where you're working?

Gemma learns that Somnium is a special sleep therapy centre where people pay to be put into sleep states for weeks at a time and to have the staff at Somnium pump their brans with specially crafted dreams. The aim is to shape their perception of reality and give them their desires, whether that's money, fame, or love. What does this mean, do these dreams become fake memories, does it drive their new waking life like hypnotic suggestion, does it alter reality? The film never really goes into this, nor does it explain how a small four person team in a kind of old looking private clinic in LA has such advanced, potentially world changing technology. All that Gemma, and the audience, need to worry about is her night shifts baby sitting the sleeping patients.

Whilst spending her nights alone in the clinic with the sleepers, Gemma focuses her days on her own dream, and attends auditions. From what we see of her she's a great actress, and her auditions go well, but ultimately don't seem to go anywhere, and she's soon running out of money, and losing out on hope. She finds potential help in the form of Brooks (Jonathon Schaech), an older man 'in the business' who says he can help her career. The initial reaction of expecting Brooks to be some kind of predator, either trying to pressure Gemma into sex or some other dark path, never really materialises, and the film instead leaves you to make up your own mind about whether or not he should be trusted.

During these scenes Gemma begins to notice strange noises in her apartment, and begins to see a monstrous, twisted figure in the dark rooms of Somnium in the deep of night. Sadly, these elements are mostly secondary for much of the film, and whilst Gemma's journey and experiences in LA are entertaining enough, and played wonderfully by Levine, they're not exactly what the film was selling itself on in trailers. I was honestly pretty surprised and disappointed at how few and far between the horror elements were in the actual film, and pretty much ever moment in the trailer is what you get in the final film. It feels like Somnium sold itself as a horror piece, only to pull the rug out and give viewers a drama instead. 

There are some great performances in Somnium, and the film is both competently written and shot, but when I spend the entire film thinking 'the horror stuff must be coming soon' only for the end credits to roll I can't help but feel somewhat disappointed. And maybe that's just me, and other people will get on much better with it than I do; especially if you know these elements are going to be light going in. Somnium labels itself as a science fiction film, but the sci-fi is more of a seasoning to the main course.

Somnium is available on digital download now.

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