🎄SANDA (2025) – Santa Claus Meets Dystopia & Jellybeans in a Wild New Anime from BEASTARS Creator | Cast, Plot & Release Date
- Boxofficehype
- Jul 16, 2025
- 3 min read
SANDA: Santa Claus, Dystopia & Jellybeans — A Wild New Anime from the Creator of BEASTARS
Mark your calendars: October 2025 brings one of the most unexpected anime of the year. From the mind of Paru Itagaki, the visionary behind BEASTARS, comes SANDA, a genre-blending, dystopian action-fantasy that reimagines Santa Claus as a shōnen superhero in a future where Christmas is all but forgotten.
Produced by the acclaimed Science SARU (Dandadan, Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken!), SANDA is shaping up to be one of the most original and socially provocative anime premieres of 2025.
🎁 What Is SANDA All About?
Set in a chillingly plausible Japan in the year 2080, SANDA presents a society where children are overprotected, adults are marginalized, and the birthrate has plummeted to near extinction. In this world, Christmas is a forgotten myth, and Santa Claus is considered a fairy tale—until he suddenly reawakens.
At the center of it all is Kazushige Sanda, a quiet middle school student whose body harbors a long-dormant magical secret. When his eccentric classmate Shiori Fuyumura breaks the seal on his powers, Sanda transforms into a teenage Santa Claus, complete with magical abilities and a mission: to rescue a missing classmate and reignite the spirit of Christmas in a world that has buried it.
But the price of magic is high. Sanda must eat jellybeans to return to his human form, and the moment he wears red—bam, Santa mode. Quirky? Absolutely. But beneath the comedy and fantasy lies a sharp commentary on control, tradition, and childhood autonomy.
👤 Main Characters & Voice Cast
Character | Voice Actor |
Kazushige Sanda | Ayumu Murase (Shoyo Hinata – Haikyuu!!) |
Santa Claus | Hiroki Tōchi (Abel – Re:Zero, Cross Marian – D.Gray-man) |
Shiori Fuyumura | Umeka Shōji |
Ichie Ono | Anna Nagase |
Hitoshi Amaya | Yuuki Shin |
Nico Kazao | Misato Matsuoka |
This dynamic cast brings together rising talent and veteran voices, perfectly suited to the emotional and fantastical tones of the series.
🎨 The Creative Team Behind the Magic
Original Work: Paru Itagaki (BEASTARS)
Director: Tomohisa Shimoyama
Series Composition & Script: Kimiko Ueno (Space Dandy, Little Witch Academia)
Music: Tomoyuki Tanaka (FPM) – known for blending jazz, funk, and techno.
Character Design & Chief Animation Director: Masanobu Ishiyama
Studio: Science SARU
With Science SARU’s signature fluid animation style and Itagaki’s offbeat storytelling, SANDA promises to be both visually mesmerizing and emotionally resonant.
🎄 Themes: Santa Claus with a Sci-Fi Spin
SANDA is far from your typical Christmas tale. It’s a dark, witty, and sometimes heartbreaking look at what happens when tradition is erased, and children are commodified by a government trying to fix society by force.
From arranged marriages at birth to sleep deprivation policies for kids, the story tackles themes like:
Declining birth rates & population collapse
The mythologization and erasure of culture
The reclaiming of childhood joy and identity
The power of memory and celebration in the face of oppression
🌟 Why You Should Be Excited
From the creator of BEASTARS – You already know the storytelling will be complex and beautifully bizarre.
Studio Science SARU – Visually bold, narratively daring.
A Santa Claus anime that’s part Mirai Nikki, part My Hero Academia, and part Children of Men.
Unique premise with unexpected emotional depth.
📺 Release Info
Title: SANDA
Premiere Date: October 2025
Broadcasting in Japan: Various networks, including TV Tokyo
Global Streaming: TBA (Expected: Netflix or Crunchyroll based on previous Science SARU titles)
🔔 Final Thoughts
Forget everything you think you know about Santa Claus. SANDA is ready to twist it into a wild, thoughtful, and action-packed ride that you won’t want to miss this fall. With a strong cast, top-tier studio, and one of the boldest stories in recent shōnen history, this is anime’s most unique gift of 2025.
🎅 “In a world where Christmas is fiction… only one jellybean-eating Santa can save the spirit of joy.”