English Dub Review: Sanda “Charred Fruit Tastes All the Sweeter”

OVERVIEW (SPOILERS)

Sanda gains a new lie detecting ability, which Fuyumura takes as a chance to ramp up the search for Ono. Later, an impromptu funeral for Ono is used as a chance to smoke out Santa with trained marksmen.

OUR TAKE

On the third week of Sanda, my true love gave to me: three detected lies, more supporting cast, and a buff Santa in his undies! With that out of the way, things continue to escalate as Sanda learns more about his Santa abilities, the newest of which being that when people lie around him, objects fall from high places. They try to explain how this is loosely connected to Santa Claus lore but I don’t know if that’s a real thing, though the point is that this ability helps them confirm that SOMEONE in their class knows that Ono is not dead, encouraging Fuyumura to keep looking. This is then helped further when Ono herself appears late at night in the school, but disappears soon after when chased. If we didn’t know before, we sure do now: something is up with what happened to her. But that won’t stop the school, and Headmaster Oshibu, from holding a sudden funeral for Ono, which naturally gets Fuyumura ready to go full terrorist to stop it from happening. You know, I’m starting to get the sense that everyone here really needs to take a chill pill, because these are really drastic measures they’re all taking.

But the crazy doesn’t stop there, as Oshibu has also hired a literal band of Santa hunters, among whom is Saburo Yagiuda, who seems to have made it his life’s mission to track down and capture Santa Claus. Man, the things people aspire to when the birth rate is low. This soon brings him into contact with Sanda and company, leading to a fight that we’ll see more of next time. What’s clear to us now is that this world clearly has it out for Santa Claus, though considering he’s supposed to be someone who HELPS kids, you would think that a society that now holds children in high regard would revere him. Something more is going on here, and this folklore character turned Coca Cola mascot is more connected to it than we may yet know. Plus, there’s still the matter of Sanda being a DESCENDANT of Santa Claus, meaning his own family is connected to this in some way as well, though who knows what we’ll have time to get into with the remaining nine episodes of the season. Whatever the case, this is already a pretty damn good and damn crazy show so far, and I look forward to where it goes next!