REVIEW: ‘Sanda’ Episode 3 — “Charred Fruit Tastes All the Sweeter”

Kazushige Sanda (Ayumu Murase), Shiori Fuyumura (Umeka Shouji), and Hitoshi Amaya (Yuuki Shin) discover a new Santa Claus power in Sanda Episode 3, “Charred Fruit Tastes All the Sweeter.” With most of the first arc’s main characters settling into their roles and introducing their motivations for the series, a shocking reveal comes this early on in the season. Even though there’s a major setup for action and getting the plot moving from the school headmaster Hifumi Ooshibu (Toshihiko Seki), there are still plenty of chemistry-building moments between the trio.

Sanda gains a lie-detecting power when someone lies around him; an object breaks around him for every lie. For example, one of Sanda’s classmates tells him she thinks he’s so kind. But then, a book falls to the floor. Funnily enough, Amaya and Fuyumura test out Sanda’s newfound lie-detecting power for themselves. Fuyumura tries to use it to find her missing/presumed dead friend, Ichie Ono (Anna Nagase), but ultimately overwhelms Sanda for overusing his new power.

The second half of Sanda Episode 3 predominantly follows Headmaster Ooshibu, who’s using Ono’s death as a way to lure out Santa so the St. Nick Pursuit squad can catch him. This also introduces the leader of the Santa Claus-catching task force, Saburo Yaguida (Hiroaki Hirata), who is described as a 51-year-old man who was a former Red Leader.

Sanda Episode 3 highlights a brand new power for Sanda, offering a world of hilarious possibilities.

The coolest part about Sanda Episode 3 is how much lore is already established, and it all makes sense in the grand scheme. Even Sanda’s Santa powers and transformations are easy on the eyes now, not taking the full Sailor Moon transformation time out of the main plot anymore. Every awesome action show could use a suit-up moment, but it eventually loses its charm.

When Sanda is chasing down what the three of them saw as Ono running away, he easily busts out his feet skis to quickly chase her down. The fluid animation proves Science SARU nails transformations, whether it’s for this anime or DanDaDan. From a character-building aspect, this is also a great way to show that Sanda is getting comfortable using his powers, too. It shows Sanda is learning.

Based on these first three episodes, Sanda’s core is these three high schoolers. Much like DanDaDan, Sanda and his two friends are just high schoolers trying to accomplish something meaningful to them while navigating various strange circumstances. To make these great action anime series beyond good is to bring a lot of heart to them. My Hero Academia is one of the major recent anime that successfully pulls this off, but DanDaDan as well. 

The writing and direction never forget that these high schoolers are actually kids.

In a similar fashion to MHA and DanDaDan, Sanda Episode 3 shows how Paru Itagaki and Kimiko Ueno’s writing and Tomohisa Shimoyama’s direction don’t forget that its characters are still high schoolers dealing with high school drama. After Sanda fails to catch his prey, he, Amaya, and Fuyumura have a heartfelt moment to recuperate, have a drink, and bond through conversation. It’s cute when Amaya coins Sanda’s Santa form as “Sand-pa.” 

Sanda Episode 3 stands out from the other two episodes because it gives the main cast some downtime to recover from the chaos. This is the first episode Sanda and Amaya see Fuyumura smiling and laughing, which sounds perfectly awkward for her character—but is expertly executed by the voice actress Shouji.

Saburo is a great addition to the cast as the half-serious Santa-hunting antagonist. He has an endearing, hilarious moment when he overhears Sanda professing his feelings to Fuyumura, but at the expense of revealing he’s Santa. However, Saburo silently eggs Sanda on and almost makes the audience think Saburo will overlook what he heard about Sanda being Santa. Hirata’s suave, semi-deep voice sells the character a lot, especially since he’s also the voice of Sanji from One Piece. The voice is too iconic and too cool not to appreciate it during a comedic story beat.

As the adult of the group, Saburo is completely unserious.

One of the suspenseful beats Sanda Episode 3 continues to keep hidden is what Headmaster Ooshibu does to misbehaving kids. This is the second time the principal almost reprimands Sanda, Amaya, and Fuyumura. Aside from this, Sanda’s fate is undetermined from the cliffhanger at the end of this episode. While nothing spectacular stands out in this episode, the story and character-driven moments carry a lot of the emotional investment to keep watching and wanting to know more about this world and story.

Sanda Episode 3 expands the world lore but sticks to developing its lead characters, too. The animation, music, and audio design continue to breathe more life into the show—apart from the great line deliveries. With a big reveal and a huge cliffhanger, the story leaves audiences wanting to know more about Sanda’s powers, where Ono is, and what Headmaster Ooshibu and the St. Nick Pursuit squad intend to do with Santa. 

Sanda Episode 3 is streaming now on Prime Video, with new episodes every Friday.

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