Sanda

This episode is the first one to showcase two of my favorite things in the season: The fantastic dynamic between the main 3, and everyone's favorite character, Yagiuda. It establishes how the three of them tackle Santa related issues as a team and they bounce off each other very well, with Amaya's groundedness, Fuyumura's... creative thinking, and Sanda's wish to just be a normal kid. Yagiuda on the other hand is the first real insight at what adulthood looks like in the Tenshi era for someone that doesn't have access to deaging operations like Ooshibu. He hangs onto his credibility as "the secret weapon" to try and still have a dignified life, and he does so effectively, I must admit. It's also worth mentioning that Itagaki still creates very compelling internal issues for Sanda with the reveal of each new Santa related power, pushing him further away from his ambition to just be a regular teenager. Now that Fuyumura, the girl he likes, is asking for his help, he continues to set his desire aside for the sake of seeing the girl he likes smile once more. Like in my Beastars review, it bears reiterating: Saru Science is the right animation studio to adapt Itagaki Paru's work, with how faitful the style is and how flashy the effects are. 10/10, no notes.

Lorem Ipsum

Episode twelve marks the end of this wild ride of an anime, Paru Itagaki is a mangaka who really knows how to play with your expectations. It was a heartbreaking ending, after everything they've been through and it wasn't enough, I really hope we get season 2 eventually.

In episode eleven Fuyumura does what Santa couldn't and fights Namatame, although she let Ono go to rescue Sanda, I really didn't expect Ono's story to unfold like this I really hope Fuyumura tells her how much she loves her before something worse happens.

Episode ten gives us action scenes under a beautiful twilight sky, Sanda's story is getting good development but I feel like Ono's and Fuyumura's relationship could've been handled better. Hifumi really sent Namatame to die, there's no way he thought she could defeat Santa.

Episode nine shows us Tetsudome is even more brutal than Hifumi despite being an old lady. The Peak of Youth Ceremony is a very sad concept despite how it's framed, thinking your life peaks at fifteen is depressing. Black Santa is such a strange but good concept.

In episode eight Fuyumura keeps blowing things up, although we never learn how she got so good at making bombs. I like how Sanda is dealing with being an inexperienced Santa, since he can't fight children it's fun watching him handle the situation with class 10.

Episode seven and Hifumi is as crazy as always, while I think Fuyumura's character development is going in the right direction I feel like they spent too much time building her relationship with Ono only to have her not care at all. Science Saru always delivers peak scores.

Episode six starts right where the last one left off, Fuyumura and Ono being in love instead of having some vague friendship will allow for plenty of character development later on. Paru Itagaki is one of the few mangakas who can mix Santa, adolescence and toxic yuri perfectly.

In episode five Sanda is trying to fight his feelings towards Fuyumura, even when he's already engaged to someone else. We keep learning more about this world's setting but it's still unknown if something big happened for Japan to worsen this much.

Episode four gives us Sanda's first actual fight, he's defininitely more in control of his power but he's still too afraid to hurt anyone. The animation is good, and the pacing is fast during action scenes but reserved when needed.

Episode three turns Santa into a more reliable character with his new abilities, Fuyumura's desperation to find Ono is actually endearing even if she can be too over the top. I've said it before but the animation fits Paru's style perfectly.

Episode two expands upon the bond Fuyumura and Sanda have, despite acting like a psycho she really cares about him just like he cares about fulfilling his promise. The animation is a not as good as the last episode but it's still pretty good.

Episode one starts by introducing one of our main characters trying to kill the other, this will be a fun show mixing comedy and serious moments in a way Paru Itagaki always nails perfectly. The animation is great and perfectly fits Paru's Style.

The whole thing with Sanda and his fiancée was pretty weird; the ending just had me going wtf? Would I watch this anime again? Probably not, it had a bit of vision, but the plot just sorta falls through like they didn't really know where to take the story. W animation though.

Bro, they just left that class 10 kid out in the open like that? She needs a therapist... and a therapist for her therapist, and probably a therapist for that therapist. This episode was slow but lowkey kinda funny.

"There's not one good thing about becoming an adult. To be an adult is to know nothing but pain" sounds about right. The fight scenes were mid. Go Santa! Namatame really freaks me out. And yes, children can be horribly cruel.

The whole Namatame lore... makes a bit of sense, I guess, Ofc there are disturbing themes. Sanda being a complete tank again, good luck Sanda... break a leg.

Definitely funnier than the rest... with the whole thing between Niko and Sanda. And ofc the two creepy characters are in cahoots with each other.

I absolutely love the character development of Ayano. He cares about his friend so much, glad they didn't break up. Headmaster is being creepy as usual, yet again. Love Niko's character, she's great.