'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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