Name: Spoiler-free Review of Sanda: The cost of youth.
Item: SANDA
Rating: 80
Author: Benkei

Spoiler-free Review of Sanda: The cost of youth.

════ ⋆★⋆ ════ Considerations ════ ⋆★⋆ ════ ● This is a spoiler-free review. ● 80+ in my rating means really good. ● I've added one of the anime soundtracks (ED) to the sound section. If you wish, scroll down, start it, and use it as your background music while you read.

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Story ════ ⋆★⋆ ════ In a universe in which youth is regarded as the most important thing, in Daikoku Welfare Academy things wouldn't be different. One morning, Fuyumura calls Sanda, the class representative, to talk about Ono, a girl who's missing and now considered dead. She attacks Sanda as she's convinced that he's a descendant of Santa Claus, the only being who can make her wish true.

The story is both good and bad. I love the world-building that they've done, the idea is really good. There are several scenes that really show how youth is the most important thing, allowing drastic surgeries and such, but for me the anime was confusing, not in a sense of confusing story per se, but at all times I didn't knew what this anime was looking to be... Was it a serious anime that is going deep in the broken minds of kids born in this universe where beauty is the most important thing or is it about super power, villains, heroes etc. While I enjoyed the anime, the universe, and several other aspects, I don't know which genre of anime this is and who I can recommend it to. Ultimately I'd recommend that you should watch a few episodes and see if you want to keep watching.

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Art ════ ⋆★⋆ ════ The art is outstanding. From things such as the opening being drawn in a style that resembles charcoal (Santa reference), to extremely fluid animations and an overall art style that is somewhat unique, with especially heavy lines. I can say that years will pass and whenever I see one screenshot of this anime, I'll be easily able to pinpoint that it came from Sanda.

They changed styles at times, they were bold with angles, artistic concepts, and everything worked incredibly well. If you're someone who enjoys a well-drawn anime, you should definitely watch this just to see how the studio (Saru) did it.

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Characters ════ ⋆★⋆ ════ There were a small amount of characters in this anime. From the top of my head, besides Sanda, I can think of around 5 more characters. It's fine for the most part since the story focuses more on the psyche of the students rather than the entire world.

As I always like to talk about the main character, Sanda was okay. He had some growth towards the season, but I feel like Fuyumura pulled the story way more than him, which put him in a weird slot, but nothing exactly that I think would ruin the anime for someone.

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Soundtrack ════ ⋆★⋆ ════ The soundtrack is extremely good. I know it's rare for me to say this, but there's no point in which it went down. Opening? Good. Ending? Really good. I especially like when a studio brings sounds that aren't usual for certain scenes. With Sanda, they bring some Latin-styled music within combats that works so well. Sadly I couldn't find that specific OST to put here so everyone can enjoy, but I leave you with the amazing Opening.

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Conclusion ════ ⋆★⋆ ════ If you're like me, you skip everything and read only the conclusion because you don't want to get spoiled with other themes. So I will try to be brief on this point:Try it. Sanda is a complicated anime to review, because it is childish and serious at the same time, it might not be for everyone, but the art style and the sound (OST/OP/ED) of the anime by itself deserves all the praises, even if the story is "weird" for the lack of a better term. I'd watch a second season.