Right off the bat, a girl who looks like a character straight out of a Tim Burton movie threatens a boy with a knife. Her name is Fuyumura, and she hasn’t been the same since her best friend Ono disappeared over six months ago. Ono has been declared dead, but Fuyumura isn’t convinced. She thinks her bestie is still out there waiting to be found, and she knows exactly how to do it: ask Santa for help. Santa just happens to be the boy she’s threatening to stab. What a strange concept for an anime. I’ve never heard of the original source material. I simply wanted to watch this show for two reasons: 1) the premise is weird, and 2) Science SARU is producing this show.

Our story seems to take place in an alternate universe where Christmas is all but dead, and Japan no longer experiences all four seasons. Are we in a dystopian world? And has it been irreparably marred by climate change? In any case, even though few people believe in the existence of Santa Claus anymore, he actually still exists. Somehow, he lurks within a 14-year-old delulu boy by the fitting name of Sanda. Why is he delulu? Well, people don’t usually ignore red flags like a girl coming after them with a knife, but Sanda is convinced that Fuyumura is just going through her awkward puberty stage. Sure, he legitimately has a crush on Fuyumura, so he’s willing to see her through rose-tinted glasses. But when a girl is primed to stab you and the first thought to cross your mind is how her ass feels, you’ve got problems. Everyone wants love, but why does he want it so badly that he’s willing to put himself in danger? Is he lonely? Are his parents neglectful?

Well, Sanda isn’t the only one yearning for love. Fuyumura is so desperate to find her friend that she would risk killing her classmates. Initially, she tries to get Sanda to wear red, because this would complete his transformation. When he refuses, she doesn’t hesitate to stab him through the chest and paint his clothes red with blood instead. Even when it looks like Sanda might die, she seems primarily concerned about not being able to use his powers. This isn’t the only time the girl seems to blithely ignore the simple morals and ethics of don’t go killing people. In order to test Sanda’s capabilities, she later tells him that she’s hidden a bomb in their class. If he doesn’t jump into action, all 22 of their classmates will die. She isn’t bluffing either; she literally has bombs strapped to her body. How does a middle schooler even know how to make bombs? Who is this girl? And either Fuyumura is really confident in what she believes or she just doesn’t care about other people. Maybe a little of both. It makes me wonder if her desperation to find Ono is born from something more than a mere love for one’s best friend.

More than that, how does Fuyumura even know any of this stuff? Why does she even suspect Sanda to begin with? What led her to believe that Santa Claus is lurking within her classmate? How does she know the conditions for breaking the curse? Sanda flat out questions Fuyumura about this, but we don’t get any answers. Not yet, I suppose. Maybe never. But at least she’s right about Santa. Yup, Santa’s real, kids. Santa even ho ho hos like you would expect him to. Santa has a beard as well. It’s a little shorter than what I’m used to, but meh, close enough. And most of all, Santa… has rock hard abs? Wait, what? Since when is Santa a super tall dude with chiseled pecs? Where’s the jolly fat belly? Where are the rosy red cheeks? And why isn’t he drinking a Coca Cola? It’s just that if you tell me Santa’s hot, but then show me this guy’s picture, I would be so confused. Even though I don’t want to gatekeep, I’d have to ask, “Where’s Santa?” But hey, what’s important is on the inside. As long as he still cares about children and their happiness, then fine, it’s Santa…ish.

But that’s our show. Santa’s a hulking specimen of a man, and he’s going to fulfill his promise to Fuyumura by hopefully locating Ono. Because I can’t bear to see kids die, I hope the bestie is still alive. As for who ends up with whom, I don’t really care about that right now. So far, I’m not particularly fond of either character. I’m also not sure what to make of the smirking boy at the very end of the episode. And how’s the animation? It has some of Science SARU’s flair, but it’s obviously not as flashy as some of their bigger projects. It’s still pretty entertaining to watch from a visual standpoint, but I don’t think this show will blow me away if the first episode is anything to go by. To sum things up, this is not the best thing I’ve watched this week, but it’s certainly… unique.