Danica Davidson
December 26, 2024 
Yesterday was Christmas, so the people behind the upcoming anime SANDA decided it was the perfect time to drop a trailer. The trailer shares info about the cast and crew, and reveals that the series will debut sometime in fall 2025. You can take a look at the video here, which has the song Silent Night juxtaposed against bloody Christmas mayhem.
SANDA Trailer
According to the trailer, Ayumu Murase has been cast as main character Kazushige Sanda, and Hiroki Tōchi will voice Santa Claus.
SANDA is being made at Science SARU, with Tomohisa Shimoyama of Yurei Deco helming the project as director. The person penning and looking over the series scripts is Kimiko Ueno, whose credits include Delicious in Dungeon and Ranma ½. The tasks of character design and chief animation are both being filled by Masamichi Ishiyama, who has worked on Scott Pilgrim Takes Off.
This visual was also released.
SANDA started out as a manga by Paru Itagaki, who has also published BEASTARS, Beast Complex, and Drip Drip. The series began in Weekly Shonen Champion in summer 2021, and concluded earlier in 2024. So far the series has not been published in America.
It’s been described as an “unconventional Santa Claus hero action.” It takes place in the future, in a world with a waning birth rate. Sanda, the main character, discovers that someone is attempting to murder him. This is partly because of a curse Sanda has.
VIZ Media publishes Itagaki’s other titles BEASTARS, Beast Complex, and Drip Drip. It gave this description for the first volume of BEASTARS:
BEASTARS Plot
One night at Cherryton Academy, an herbivore student is brutally murdered. Among the members of the Drama Club, the herbivores’ suspicions naturally turn to their carnivore classmates… The prime suspect? Gray wolf Legoshi. But he wouldn’t hurt a fly. Or would he? Will dwarf rabbit Haru bring out the beast in him? Or are his feelings for her…something else?
Source: ANN
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Danica Davidson is the author of the bestselling Manga Art for Beginners with artist Melanie Westin, plus its sequel, Manga Art for Everyone, and the first-of-its-kind manga chalk book Chalk Art Manga, both illustrated by professional Japanese mangaka Rena Saiya. Check out her other comics and books at www.danicadavidson.com.
