A new anime titled SANDA, based on the manga by Beastars creator Paru Itagaki, is set to release in Fall 2025. The show will be animated by Science SARU, the studio behind Dandadan.
The story is set in a near-future Japan where the birth rate has dropped drastically, and children are heavily protected.
It follows a middle-schooler named Sanda, who learns about his connection to Santa Claus after being attacked by a classmate. Together, they search for a missing student, trying to find what is really going on!

The anime will be directed by Tomohisa Shimoyama (Yurei Deco), with Kimiko Ueno (Delicious in Dungeon) handling the script.
Character designs are by Masamichi Ishiyama (Scott Pilgrim Takes Off), and music is composed by Tomoyuki Tanaka in his first anime project.
The second teaser visual shows two characters, Mita, an innocent-looking boy, and Santa Claus, who looks powerful and heroic.
Santa, please find my friend.
╭━ ⋅🎅🏻🤜🏻━ ✶ ━🤛🏻🎅🏻⋅ ━╮
— TVアニメ『SANDA』公式 (@sanda_anime) December 24, 2024
TVアニメ『SANDA』
ティザービジュアル第2弾解禁
╰━ ⋅𖥔⋅━━━✶━━━ ⋅𖥔⋅ ━╯
━━サンタさん、友達を見つけてください。━━
2025年 秋 放送決定!
アニメーション制作: #サイエンスSARU
公式サイト:https://t.co/rpIW0lOCzP#SANDA pic.twitter.com/aqg1Hx4PVF
The cast includes Ayumu Murase as Kazushige Mita and Hiroki Tochi as Santa Claus. Both actors shared how much they enjoyed working on such a unique and thought-provoking story.
SANDA was first announced in July, and it’s shaping up to be a mix of action, emotions, and a unique twist on the Santa Claus story. MyAnimeList describes the story as:
The story starts with Sanda, a second year middle school student, getting attacked with a kitchen knife by his classmate Fuyumura. While Sanda couldn’t make sense of the situation at first, he gradually came to believe that Fuyumura’s actions were just mean acts stemming off from the latter having a peculiar puberty phase.
But that was all actually a misunderstanding. Fuyumura is seriously questioning if Sanda is actually the descendant of a certain family…

For more details, check out the official website: sanda.red.
Source: Comic Natalie