© Paru Itagaki (AKITASHOTEN) /SANDA Project

It’s been said over and over throughout these past few months, but god SANDA is a slick anime. In a season of a series that’s been defined by visuals that go way harder than you’d expect for an anime about a kid that can transform into Santa Claus, episode eleven takes the cake. The team at Science SARU has once again outdone themselves and made what’s set to be this season’s capstone fight as visually impressive as it is emotionally touching.

Virtually all of this episode is dedicated to the brawl between Namatame and SANDA, which has spilled out from the alleyway of the previous episode and overtaken the entire festival. While subtextual in previous episodes, the emotional struggle that this fight represents is brought to the surface here. Namatame is desperate to reject Santa’s affection (via his incapacitating hugs), as doing so will force her to begin to process and move on from the self-destruction motivated trauma inflicted to her by her late mother, whom she reluctantly still loves. SANDA, meanwhile, is having his body destroyed over and over again as he tries to help Namatame resolve her trauma without compromising too heavily on his internal values. While Nameatame’s story is definitely affecting, seeing SANDA go through the process of becoming his ideal self by continually swapping between an idealized version of adulthood to both children and adults in buff Santa is really good in a “hell yeah!” kind of way.

The swaps between SANDA and Santa are also some incredible bits of animation. While plenty of anime hide these kinds of transformation sequences behind stock footage, flashes of light, or other obfuscating measures, Science SARU goes above and beyond and depicts all the fleshy details. The way SANDA’s body balloons and his muscles wriggle into greater definition when he turns into Santa is both gross and obviously looks like it was a lot of fun to animate. Similarly, the way his body compresses when he transforms back and how his limbs expand and contort randomly when he begins to lose control of his powers is equally effective.

Personal growth is a really hard, painful, stupid process, and this is perhaps the most fun depiction of it I’ve ever seen put to screen. It’s also incredibly sweet to see SANDA embrace, support, and protect Namatame after she accepts that she can’t keep living in the shadow of her mother’s influence if she also wants to have a life and other relationships. This episode is both blunt in its themes and silly in how it explores them, and that makes it the epitome of what makes this big, ridiculous story about becoming an adult so special.

**Rating: **

As a lapsed Catholic and fan of hot dudes, Lucas DeRuyter was born to review SANDA and similar works. You can get into the holiday spirit with him on his Bluesky account, and read through his naughty and nice list by visiting his portfolio. When he isn’t spreading holiday cheer, you can find him contributing to ANN’s This Week in Anime column.

• SANDA is currently streaming on Amazon Prime. *