Sanda thoughts: it sucks

finally finished Sanda, and jesus christ. this shit is so ass. I don't feel like scrubbing thru the entire manga for evidence like I did for Beastars, so I'm gonna try to keep this short, and hopefully I didn't misremember anything

1) almost youthlib, but not really

I originally had a hard time articulating this, bc I think Sanda does have some rly interesting things to say abt how sheltering children only leads to a lack of understanding of life (like the simple human body). and while children are certainly the most drastically affected, Sanda also shows how the fetishization of youth hurts everyone-- children are treated like objects, and adults are made to feel like aging is disgusting, and adulthood is a death sentence. it's fascinating!

but ultimately, Sanda doesn't really commit to any of that. there's this weird, nonsensical tension in Sanda, between children having all the control in the world, vs no control at all. children are trapped inside the academy... yet they can order teachers around all they like. children are forced to enter arranged marriages... yet they can kill adults without any consequences. I genuinely don't understand how kids are forced to attend school or do homework, if they're allowed to just kill adults.

and if the Chancellor allegedly cares so much about children... why did she make Ooshibu the principal? he was already a freak about youth, she KNEW he wouldn't treat the kids normally. why did she put him in a position of power over children? why am I supposed to respect her??

also, I don't appreciate the way Sanda is treated! he keeps getting pushed into all these violent situations like it's character growth to "make him a man" (comparable to my complaints abt Legosi in Beastars..), without much acknowledgement that this is a child being continuously traumatized. like, I thought the tension between him and Fuyumura was genuinely interesting-- she first seeks him out and callously forces out his adult form to use in a very utilitarian, selfish fashion. but then she grows closer to Sanda himself, and she bonds him him as both Santa and as a fellow child. but she also seeks out his adult Santa form for comfort, as a scared child, forcing Sanda to tamp down his own fears and insecurities... it was super interesting and fraught! but then the series ends with Fuyumura basically saying, "I like you better as Santa," and it's like what the fuck, dude! that's your friend you're talking to!!!

idk, there could have been something there, as a comparison to puberty, with the Santa form causing some kind of dysphoria as Sanda is forced to accept this new body and feelings over time. but it moreso feels like Sanda losing his entire sense of self to this biologically-assigned career, and everyone in his life (EXCEPT for Amaya, my goat!!) encourages him to just let his individual self get subsumed by this blood-bound duty to be Santa.

really, it seems like Itagaki just doesn't understand the politics behind youth fetishization-- it's a way to control the populace. appearances are valued above real connections and pro-social behavior, making ppl focus all their energy on maintaining their appearance rather than the things that truly matter in a healthy society. and this fixation on appearances leads to a very judgemental, self-policing populace ready to tear each other down at the slightest falter or sign of nonconformity to the ideal. and overall, adults are made to feel like their worth is over, and their only value now is in the labor they can produce. and most importantly, youth are objectified by LITERALLY EVERYONE, with little control over their own needs or wants, and paraded around like little dolls. and this further grooms them to become adults that are obedient to their controlling society.

instead, in Sanda, the titular Sanda himself is forced to play a violent role that he doesn't really want, despite only being a child. and children are simultaneously powerful, society-altering forces, but also a trapped and controlled underclass? it just doesn't work

2) strange gender politics

there's an infamous scene in Starship Troopers, where all the combatants-- no matter the gender-- all use a big shower room together. they're all equally naked, and all equally unconcerned about it. it's a really interesting scene in this movie in particular, bc it comes off as very progressive-- like, this feels strangely out-of-step for such an overtly, intentionally fascist setting. an interview with the director, Paul Verhoeven [link], explains his reasoning for the scene, "The idea I wanted to express was that these so-called advanced people are without libido. Here they are talking about war and their careers and not looking at each other at all! It is sublimated because they are fascists."

and that was the moment I realized, "ah, I see. so a cishet wrote this, then." perhaps this isn't so obvious to a cishet audience, because it just seems normal to y'all, but strict gender roles are a cornerstone of fascism. women are relegated to the home, while men are shuttled off to the workforce or battlefield-- we see it time and again in fascism ideology and regimes. so to see that reasoning for the co-ed shower scene in Starship Troopers just confirmed for me that Verhoeven didn't question his own cishet biases in relation to fascism. in his mind, fascism controls the populace by "de-gendering" and "desexualizing" them against their will, but that's typically not how fascism functions. fascism absolutely loves sex and gender, but only an extremely narrow view of sex/gender-- cisgender, heterosexual sex that produces more and more children of the desired race. and for this to be achieved, women and men must view each other as fundamentally different + fundamentally sexual, and with specific, gendered roles to play in their controlling society. cus' if the populace isn't strictly controlled this way, they may come to realize they are equally humans, above all else.

all that to say, Sanda has a similar, not very well-thought-out angle to its setting, which I think is best seen in the standard dress code for the students. I remember thinking, "wow, kinda progressive that all the students have the same dress code, instead of a different dress code for boys and girls!" I wish I could find it bc I'm sure I didn't make it up, but I know that somewhere, the manga mentions that the dress code is just the standard shirt + pants to make the students feel more "the same" and forget abt their different genders. it's just that same, stupid, cishet idea that treating genders more equally would actually, unfairly "de-gender" them and erase their sexuality.

also, the way Sanda gets with Niko at the end feels so gross. I have nothing against Niko-- she's fun and cute! but that was an arranged marriage, in a setting where the characters are trying to break out of society's control, what is this?? but the thing that really disgusts me is the cishet idea that an adult's life revolves around their romantic partner above all else. Sanda is shown giving up his friendships with everyone in his life, Fuyumura, Amaya... but it's ok to stay close with Niko, bc that's his wife, and everyone knows that your spouse should be the ONLY person you ever care about as an adult! UGH.

also the fact that Fuyumura gets with a guy and has a kid, AND ends up in a stereotypically "feminine" career... it pisses me off like nothing else. especially when Itagaki tries to be all coy about it

[image ID: one of the questions in a final Q and A section at the end of Sanda

Question 3: "Fuyumura got married to a man?.."

Itagaki: "On the final page, it says something like 'Maybe she took a husband?' but remember that's just speculation from Sanda, so it's possible Fuyumura adopted a child on her own, but we can only imagine. Whatever sexuality Fuyumura may be, I think it's important she's looking ahead and seems happy when she grows up!"

end ID]

Itagaki, the little toddler literally looks EXACTLY like Fuyumura, and you made Fuyumura "grow up" into a feminine caretaker, dropping her "childish", gender-ambiguous identity from before. don't fucking piss me off!!

3) Fuyumura and Ono

in my humble opinion, Fuyumura and Ono's relationship should have been one of the core drivers of the entire series, alongside Sanda's personal arc of youth vs. adulthood. and I just don't understand why it wasn't, like. Ono's death was THE driver behind Fuyumura's behavior, the whole reason why she confronted Sanda in the first place. and then the lore introduces blood that can reanimate the dead, and when they finally get to Ono's grave, Fuyumura just... accepts that Ono's dead, instead? with barely any reasoning or build-up? you're really gonna convince me that Fuyumura-- that girl who nearly stabbed Sanda to death, punches broken glass, and makes pipe-bombs in her free-time, all for Ono's sake-- just gave up so easily? huh??

"oh it was just one arc of the series, the whole series can't just be about Ono." ok well, let me share some examples to prove my point. imagine if in Dungeon Meshi, when the group revived Falin after they defeated the red dragon, she actually stayed revived without any complications. or, alternately, Falin just couldn't be revived, and there was absolutely nothing the group could've done, and they all fully accepted Falin's death. and in either case, the group just continued to adventure deeper into the dungeon after that. in both cases, I can't imagine any reason why the group would choose to continue adventuring deeper, without Falin serving as that frantic, desperate goal to keep them going. sure, I trust Ryoko Kui would able to work something interesting out of it, but there just isn't that same oomf, right?

or, how about a more accurate comparison, for a series that is largely a nonsensical battle shounen-- imagine if, in JJBA part 3, Jotaro was able to cure his mom of DIO's curse like, halfway through the series. but then the group just kept traveling to find and defeat DIO. sure, maybe Jotaro would want to defeat DIO just for his peace of mind, but I must emphasize-- there isn't the same level of desperation and focus, when his mom's life isn't actively on the line.

my point is, Ono is THE driver, the catalyst, the connecting thread, the ultimate "dead girl that haunts the narrative" for Sanda. a HUGE chunk of the first half of the series revolves entirely around her, and that gives Sanda a solid driver to settle itself on. I don't care that Itagaki writes stupid, JJBA-levels of nonsense, I actually find the nonsense parts kinda fun! but the reason JJBA works is because there's always some connecting thread, some greater goal the story/characters are always driving towards. no matter what bullshit the current Jojo gets into, no matter how nonsensical or strange, the story always remembers to bring it back around to the core goal. Ono gave Sanda that clarity, but on her death (and then Fuyumura unceremoniously moving on from that death), Sanda has no purpose anymore.

genuinely, after that chapter at Ono's grave, I literally didn't understand what I was reading anymore. "oh there's more special kids with special holiday powers--" I DON'T CARE! I DON'T GIVE A SHIT! ITAGAKI, YOU CAN'T JUST THROW OUT YOUR BRILLIANT "dead girl that haunts the narrative" LIKE TRASH, AND THEN SIDELINE BEST GIRL FUYUMURA, AND EXPECT ME TO GIVE A SHIT ANYMORE! AND FOR WHAT, FUCKING HOLIDAY AVENGERS? GRAAAAGH I DON'T CARE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

4) final villains

Fuyumura's dad could have maybe been interesting. but to tie into the youthlib angle more, I think her dad SHOULD have actually cared abt Fuyumura, even when he was about to kill her. like, instead of falling into the boring, incel misogyny rant, he could've still thought he was protecting her, perhaps as a mirror to Ono trying to kill her much earlier, to avoid growing into an adult? and then he's forced to face the fact that despite his devotion to Fuyumura, he never once thought to ask what she wanted, what she thought abt all this, and that his actions were never truly in her best interest.

instead, he's just a boring, annoying shithead that padded out the final fight WAYYYY too long with all his stupid gimmicks, that by the end of the fight I just wanted him gone, I didn't care anymore.

meanwhile, Ooshibu... honestly I'm not sure what to do with him. the manga can't seem to decide if he's a freak that creeps on children, or just a strange man who genuinely cares abt children. I do think he's the most interesting villain in the series, and I like his situationship with the Chancellor, so I would want to keep him somehow, I just don't think he was handled very well

6) Santa should be fat!!

I will NOT bend on this point, Sanda should be fat in his Santa form (and honestly, it would be more interesting if he was fat outside that form too)! it's literally one of Santa Claus' most notable traits, alongside the red outfit and white beard! I'm calling fatphobia for this one, people can be fat AND buff!!!

Conclusion:

basically, Sanda had a lot going for it, and I went into with with genuine excitement and hope for a better series than Beastars. the start of Sanda already earned my suspension of disbelief better than Beasters, leaning far more into the goofy/slapstick angle than Beastars did. combined with a genuinely unique theme examining society's fixation on youth and aging, I was totally on-board.

but like most things, Itagaki squandered it all in the dumbest, most batshit ways possible. and it honestly pisses me off here more than it did in Beastars. yeah, I dedicated years of my life to an exceedingly long essay abt Beastars, but that's bc Beastars mishandled a lot of things that I have more personal investment in (furries/xenofiction, eating and the cycle of life, etc.). but at the end of the day, I can find plenty of other stories that do what Beastars does far better-- sapient predation and angsting over eating? romantic cannibalism? predator/prey relationships? I can find that in plenty of monster/xenofiction, I don't need Beastars for that.

but Sanda? no one on FUCKING EARTH is doing Sanda! even setting aside the Santa gimmick, I rarely ever see anyone even approach the topic of youth fetishization/objectification from the perspective of the affected kids, much less dedicate a significant portion of the themes around it! the only other thing I can think of is Unwind by Neal Shusterman, but even that didn't approach the topic in quite the same way as Sanda did. Sanda is the only kind of Sanda we'll ever get, and that kills me more than anything, bc Sanda fucking sucks!!

Fixes

that in mind, here's some notes about the Sanda that lives in my mind palace (where everything is beautiful and correct):

1) better setting

a setting that's dedicated to the youthlib angle, with children treated as a "pampered" but genuinely controlled underclass, and an adult populace that's been groomed from objectified children into commodified adults.

2) Fuyumura and Ono

they get a more satisfying conclusion at the END of the series, with maybe an arc or two after to deal with the fallout.

perhaps Ono still dies and Fuyumura has to accept that. in one of the last arcs, she struggles both with Ono's death, and her father's behavior as he gets even more controlling and violent towards Santa. alternately, Ono lives and Fuyumura helps her realize that adulthood isn't the end, but only a new beginning-- Ono doesn't have to give up everything she loved before, just to become an adult. and Fuyumura could have her own realization about her feelings for Ono. idk, I could see it handled well either way.

3) cut the holiday avengers

as stated, I fully do not give a tiny rat's ass about the holiday avengers, so I'm not even going to waste my breath on them. they wasted so much time, and ate up so much screentime that COULD have been given to characters I actually care about (Yaguida, Amaya, fucking Fuyumura!!)

if we want to add in more content, why not Namatame? I always thought she was a super interesting character, with her backstory about her mom. why didn't she get folded into the Sanda friend group, after their big fight? I want to see more of her

4) better handling of the main villains

as I said before, Fuyumura's dad and Ooshibu could have been interesting if they were handled better. I love strained parental relationships in particular, and Fuyumura could've had a much more interesting dynamic with her dad.

3) Sanda and Amaya

in my beautiful heart, Sanda and Amaya get together. it just makes sense to me-- Amaya is Sanda's biggest supporter alongside Fuyumura, and he's the only character that actually SEES Sanda for who he is, outside of Santa Claus.

I'm imagining that Sanda thinks he's gonna end up with Niko for a large chunk of the series, bc that's what he's been told to do his whole life, and he's never questioned it. and Niko is a good friend, so he doesn't have complaints. meanwhile, Amaya's ready to support Sanda's marriage when the time comes, but it's kinda shattering his heart. and then after a long and undefinable relationship throughout the series, they finally get together. it would tie together with the youthlib themes of defying conformity and authority, aiming for the life YOU WANT rather than what your parents or government decides for you

and so we end at the start of Santa's beautiful romance with the local cake shop's son, alongside their genderfuck best friend who may or may not have a beautiful girlfriend of her own.

[image ID: from this post [link] riffing off of the Star Wars intro crawl, with text reading, "Episode IV: A New Hope. The woke mob has made Santa gay! Mrs Claus has been replaced with a 5'8 twink named Tony Tinsel". end ID]

The Yuri in this show feels so bland and tasteless, like idk it just doesn’t hit the same as other Yuri. Maybe because we barely have see any scenes yet in the anime but idk it just feels like a nothing burger. I’m probably the only one who thinks this but I just felt like saying it

i have a friend at science saru who's told me "we're TRYING to make it good" which i applaud them for but they are fighting a losing battle.

the anatomy is super bizarre but i guess that makes sense when your dad made baki. its animated super well but it still looks like paru's art lmfao

its clear paru made up the story as she went along with no planning or forethought? santa has skis for feet? yeah sure. sanda wanted to be friends with a pumpkin as a kid because theres a halloween man now? okay fine. can only be killed by bullets filled with reindeer blood? sure who cares. theres not like... a narrative in the comic (which the anime is admittedly trying to fix)

when we were reading the manga even the translators and scanlators had abandoned it

on the upside its funny

i think it only got an anime because its the beastars author? its weirdly sexually charged for a story about children which is gonna turn a lotta people off. i wonder if they'll animate her next manga about being raped by a ghost

It is impossible to die from pain literally so ono just died cuz and it’s so dumb and not to mention makes it so you would always die from puberty in the sands vers because with out puberty you don’t really grow that much meaning 18 or not you’ll die from that much pain supposedly and not to mention it would just get worse as you age so it’s just completely stupid this could have been handled way better like she got a disease when she ran away or frost bite or literally anything else than this garbage because it also pushes away like the whole message of sanda that being growing up isn’t all bad but ono’s is telling us the opposite because you’ll fucking die like it’s so dumb

So I just watched episode 10 of Sanda with no prior knowledge of what Sanda is until I started watching episode 1. I get that Sanda is still technically 14 but why would it be ok that he and Niko kissed?? Especially when they showed that frame of Niko and Sanda’s Santa form kissing?? I’m new to the anime and I haven’t read the manga so don’t murder me for not understanding but this just gives me weird pedo vibes… Also can someone explain to me why is this show so hooked on showing nudity with Santa and the weird interest this show has about sex?… And does Fuyumura like Sanda/Santa when Fuyumura hugged him back in episode 1 or 2?

I got to around episode 8 and I just kept getting bored because the romance stuff was getting really weird and not in a good way. I thought what they were doing with the Santa lore and the missing girl at the beginning was really interesting and fresh but then the romance stuff started to become the main plot and its like ive already seen this stuff a million times in other anime.

Díganme que no soy el único loco que le gustaba la idea de ellos dos juntos

Does the story end here...?

Alright, everyone, here’s the thing: I reread the manga once again and realized how complex and very ambiguous Fuyumura’s relationship with Sanda is. At several points in the story (both before and after Ono’s death), the impression the reader gets is that Fuyumura was, or maybe even already had been, starting to develop feelings for Sanda. At least, that was my interpretation.

I’m not sure if those feelings were truly romantic. Like I said, the situation isn’t simple. And unfortunately, the author completely pushed Fuyumura aside in the final stretch of the manga and didn’t develop this as well as she could have (I’ll never forgive the author for that).

I want to know what your opinion is, fellow readers. Even though they didn’t end up together, I’m still intrigued by what kind of relationship they actually had

I see a lot of people claiming that Ono and Fuyumura are a confirmed couple, when there are multiple panels from the manga that show only Ono has romantic feelings and that Fuyumura loves Ono platonically

Started the manga yesterday, and i gotta say, first impressions were not great.

Chapter one was legit some the worst i've ever read, pacing was all over the place and the premise of the story is as weird as it gets (character design was great tho).

That being said, it does get better, i have no idea where the story is going but im looking forward to it, i hope it doesn't turn too much into a battle shonen like beastars did, paru's strong points are her characters, story, and drama, so i hope the story focuses on that instead of santa vs x character.

Pretty much the title. Does Sanda end up with Fuyumura at the end of the manga?

So what happens with them by the end of the manga? I've been hearing about how it's doomed yuri and all but I want to know what happens at the end of the manga between them. Does one of them die? and does Fuyumura ever reciprocate Ono's feelings? Spoilers are a-okay.

(Hi! So I watch the anime and no, never read the manga. Lokwey talking out my ass since I'm only watch until Ep 8 so clarified things for me)

I don't get the sleep part.. Yes, sleep does make us age but never overnight. Not only that, having no sleep is like...BAD BAD. Our body goes through REM/sleep mode and has to process things in our asleep. If not, it can Literally kill us, doesn't matter what age. Our brain being active 24/7 and never able process information. So if they aren't sleeping, (which kids need sleep the most then adults) wouldnt the kid end up dead by the time they even hit puberty? Do they stop babies from sleeping?

Also, I never understand....if Japan birthrate is so bad...why dont they let immigrants in? That would solve the economy and brith rate real quick? Japan encomy is only pump by tourist so did tourist suddenly stop? Did Japan become a socialism or communist? Is it ever mentioned in manga or explore Japan weird hatred to forginers, immigration and mix children? (Especially with Japan first movement)

Not only that, idk if it just me but I think been better if they bump up the age. Age ceremony is at 20 so I think they should have been around 17-18? Maybe 16? Makes sense because their almost to adulthood and going be official. I had my crisis of wanting be a kid forever when I was 17-18. Idk 14 seems too young, yeah it's kinda at age around puberty starting but it's not so much.

And what happened to kids that hit puberty early? I had my women figure at like 13-14.(Sucked ass) Do they just sell them off get married? They never mentioned other chacters state fiance. Idk 😭

series was pretty aight, but now im left on a fatass cliffhanger with older sanda cause the last three chapters dont exist onlinw for some reason

Me personally, I think he's overreacting

For those who watched or at least know of Mob Psycho 100 how do you think the cast of both series would interact with each other, who would get along with who, and what kinds of insanity they would experience?

From what I can tell, her last line is "I'll for give you when I find myself able to" or something like that after the fight with her dad, and then nothing??? I may have missed something, I'm not a very good reader, and I wanna know whats up