Christmas comes early this year – Science SARU premiered the first episode of their latest anime series, SANDA, at Anime Expo 2025 to an impressed audience, including renowned manga artist and SANDA creator Paru Itagaki. Itagaki marked her first U.S. appearance alongside director Tomohisa Shimoyama and producer Kohei Sakita.
SANDA is a story set in the near future of Japan – a world where the magic and joys of youth and Christmas are long forgotten, but not for Sanda Kazushige, a small boy who secretly comes from an ancient bloodline of Santa Clauses, complete with Santa-powers, buff magical oji-san transformation sequence (alongside a roaring live audience cheers), and the natural Santa-instincts to protect the hearts and dreams of children. Sanda’s intimidating classmate, Shiori Fuyumura, seeks to unveil his secret by any means necessary to unravel a mystery. For fans of Itagaki’s previous work, Beastars, Science Saru is creating a true present with a delightfully chaotic and energetic animation that matches Itagaki’s work of this action-packed series full of heart, which was met with impressive audience reception, and was also Itagaki’s first time watching the finalized series live.
Anime Trending was excited to speak with Director Shimoyama and Producer Sakita in this interview to unwrap SANDA and the heart that is at the center of this series that we’re most looking forward to this season.
This interview has been edited for clarity.
Shimoyama-san, what were your thoughts when Science SARU approached you with the offer to direct SANDA?
Tomohisa Shimoyama: SANDA is unique, both in its story and the creatives behind it, so I was excited to make it happen in the actual anime! Dentsu and Science SARU offered it to me directly, saying, “This is something we want to make with you,” and that’s how it originally started.
The concept of a muscular Santa who fights against injustice in the world is hilarious, yet almost endearing. What were your thoughts when reading SANDA?
Tomohisa Shimoyama: A muscular Santa is not that rare, and I’ve seen that [before], but I think that’s a unique opportunity to see how it’s going to work in the story design. Another part that I’m looking forward to that is more unique in the storyline is that [contrast] where the main hero is both muscular and is kind of kawaii (childlike), [like] the spirit of children maturing to adults, and to see the growth of those two.
Kohei Sakita: My first impression was that a muscular Santa Claus is not rare in Japanese culture, since the impression of Santa Claus differs per person. One of the things I’m most excited for is Paru-sensei’s unique take where Santa looks older, but inside his heart is that of a child, which is more like the nature of a human being, and is close to the world we’re living in.
What are your favorite parts about working on SANDA? What are the most unique aspects of SANDA?
Tomohisa Shimoyama: As a creative individual, Paru-sensei’s images are really powerful and have many emotions and facial expressions. So those are some of the things I was excited to work with. In the story, Sanda transforms and looks older, but his heart is still a child’s. Those gaps in between how Sanda actually feels are something characteristic of this work, especially in the spirit where Sanda feels conflicted when recognized as an older man, so there’s a lot of growth in how he feels as a person.
Kohei Sakita: As a unique storyline in the world that’s happening in Japan too, the world lacks children due to the decreased birth rate. That’s something behind the story of SANDA as well. Sanda is going to have more conflicts between the differences of immature and mature, adults and children, and boys and girls; those kinds of conflicts within him are a unique point.
How did Paru Itagaki-sensei’s art style and storytelling for the SANDA manga influence your approach to the anime’s character art and visual direction?
Tomohisa Shimoyama: There are a variety of points I like as impressions, but the biggest part was that there are more emotions and expressions in the faces, so that was something I wanted to make sure was translated into creating the anime for sure.
In addition to that, when we work on animation for emotions and characters, we work with a team, and if it’s a bigger team, I get to see the changes get applied. But I wanted to make sure to focus on the emotions of the characters to have more direct emotions and expressions. So that was the biggest point I wanted the team to know so that everyone would be on the same page.
Kohei Sakita: As the producer, I wanted to make sure everything directly translates from the original manga to anime. Our character designer, Masamichi Ishiyama-san, is the one leading the character designs, and when we make more composite effects or something, that is something I want to make sure we translate all the details from the manga to the anime to align with the expressions that Paru-sensei wanted to do as well.
During the SANDA panel, Paru Itagaki-sensei commented on the transformation sequences in action for the first time, calling them “absurd in an exciting way.” SANDA is a high-energy series that focuses on nuanced themes. How did that feel, hearing Paru-Sensei’s thoughts, seeing the anime for the first time, and what themes stand out most to you about SANDA?
Tomohisa Shimoyama: My impression was that all the viewers and fans had fun! I was so happy to see people really excited for the animation, too. I had a conversation with Paru-sensei, and for example, the scene with Fuyumura in the beginning, or when he gets stabbed by Fuyumura before transforming — parts that Japanese audiences took more seriously — the fans in the US were laughing and having fun. It was a new finding to see the differences between different cultures and countries!
Turning the question back to you, these scenes were pretty violent and intense. How did you feel about that? Was it funny because something unexpected happened? What kind of feelings did you have?
The key thing is that SANDA is earnest, upfront, and genuine. We feel that the honesty and emotional transparency in the episode were receptive to American audiences. The heart of the series is the interactions between Furuyama’s intensity. When the height difference changes and Sanda’s looking down on her, she’s just a scared child, and there’s so much human emotion that gives meaning behind the action and violence that’s happening on screen. The laughter from the audience felt like an excitement and anticipation laugh since this is the starting point, and it’s only going to get crazier from here.
Tomohisa Shimoyama: I’m going to make sure to tell Paru-sensei what was happening there because we were wondering, “Why were people laughing at these serious scenes?” (laughs)
Kohei Sakita: It was a different series from my first impressions of the manga. And I expected reactions from the fans, but I’m definitely learning from your comments right now. At the same time, I realize that this was what impressed me from the beginning, and I found out that that’s probably what I like the most as well.
What parts of SANDA do you believe will make a lasting impact on viewers?
Tomohisa Shimoyama: First of all, the visuals, the music, and the creativity are all great in quality, so that’s something we want to cherish and make sure fans are excited for as well! I also want to make sure that people’s thoughts and wishes are going to be translated properly into the story so that it’s more human. [There are also] communications that I really want to make sure are translated into the anime directly from the original manga.
Kohei Sakita: As we’ve seen in the first episode of the premiere, in future episodes, there will be more unique characters. [There’ll be] more unexpected behavior and seeing the difference between what I feel and what’s expected, so those differences and gaps I’m more excited about, and also it’s going to be those expectations of characters of different genders, ages, and maturity levels. All those fan expectations and differences are going to be something I’m excited to see.
SANDA will begin broadcasting on October 3rd, 2025. Future streaming sites have yet to be announced. Please see the official website and Science SARU’s website for more information.
