Episode 5 – SANDA – Anime News Network

God, this is it man. This is why I love Paru Itagaki! Episode five of SANDA combines some of the most unhinged bullshit I’ve ever seen with deeply affecting explorations of identity and sexuality to a tremendous effect. Even if it took a beat to rev up, I am now imploring everyone who likes stories about fighting to become yourself in a world that despises you and seeks to control you to watch this anime.

To back up a bit, this episode begins by introducing SANDA‘s so far unmentioned fiancee, Kazao Niko. For as strange as it is for a fourteen-year-old to have a fiancee, apparently that’s commonplace in SANDA‘s near future setting as a measure to combat declining birthrates. This lore detail also further establishes the show’s exploration of adults and society controlling children, robbing them of their agency, and conditioning them to fit into a “productive” mold. The presence of functional child brides and grooms in SANDA is both super gross and brilliantly hammers home the barely subtextual themes of the series.

Niko is also a delight in that she is an actual chaos gremlin. While this character archetype has become more common in media lately, the women who fall into it are usually still made to be appealing to a presumptive cishet male audience, and as such feel pretty one dimensional. Niko, though, is actually crass, does not care at all about social etiquette, and arguably bullies SANDA in all of her exchanges with him. This kind of attention from a girl, of course, causes some deeper feelings to stir within the fourteen-year-old boy, and he begins to have trouble transforming into Santa Claus as Santa isn’t supposed to fall in love with anyone.

This creates what’s set to be a very interesting dynamic between SANDA and his main foe from the previous episode, Santa hunter Saburo Yagiuda, who’s now working undercover at the school as a teacher; but has been left with no way to prove that SANDA is Santa Claus.

The focus on Fuyumura is what elevates this episode from good to great, though. Despite being the most “mature” and adult presenting member of the main cast, this episode reveals that she’s deeply uncertain about both her sexuality and sexual identity. Despite her height and thin frame being her most defining features, they’ve given her a deep seated sense of body dysmorphia and her fondness for Ono is a result of those insecurities melting away when she’s with the smaller girl.

And then Ono shows up again and confronts Fuyumura with a knife. Now looking more like a young woman than a child thanks to undergoing a rapid puberty after falling asleep for the first time (evidently children in this show don’t sleep thanks to drugs meant to extend childhood), Ono is terrified of becoming an adult and threatens to kill both herself and Fuyumura so that the two can be together and unchanged forever. We also see Ono’s wet dream where she and Fuyumura have a very tender as well as earnest first sexual encounter and, while I could poke holes in this scene by noting that I don’t think kids in this universe would know what wet dreams are, this moment is so perfectly executed in terms of performance and feeling that I can’t bring myself to critique it.

Abby Trott‘s performance as Ono in the English dub also brings a lot to this third act. Beyond tweaking her performance ever so slightly for the pre-and post-pubescent versions of her character to match how a child’s voice changes as they become an adolescent, she also gives Ono a deep vulnerability in the dream sequence that really elevates the moment.

Especially in a day and age where it feels like there’s more scrutiny than ever over how children mature and in what way, I am so impressed with SANDA for exploring these deeply personal ideas so completely. Beyond increasingly feeling like it’s filled with real people, SANDA manages to perfectly capture all of the fear, anxiety, and messiness that goes into a young person discovering their sexuality in a way that is nothing short of beautiful. I was not expecting to see so many of my own experiences around becoming a sexually minded individual displayed in a show about a kid who can turn into Santa Claus, but I’m so glad these moments are here.

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As a lapsed Catholic and fan of hot dudes, Lucas DeRuyter was born to review SANDA and similar works. You can get into the holiday spirit with him on his Bluesky account, and read through his naughty and nice list by visiting his portfolio. When he isn’t spreading holiday cheer, you can find him contributing to ANN’s This Week in Anime column.

SANDA is currently streaming on
Amazon Prime.