Yaguida and his ilk are after Santa not because the jolly fat man is evil, but because they don’t want the figure of legend to give kids hope. That’s right, this fictional society coddles kids so much that we’ve looped right back to being horribly abusive. So how does this logic even work? Well, kids need to follow their marching orders. In other words, learn what we tell you to learn, marry whom we tell you to marry, do whatever job we tell you to do. But if they have hope, they might push back on said orders. They might try to achieve their own dreams and ends, and thus not do what the government tells them to do. If you want to be charitable, you could argue that the world is in such a precarious situation that it’s all hands on deck. If kids start acting out, the whole house of cards will come tumbling down. Basically, crushing kids’ hopes and dreams is just a necessary evil.
Oshibu even argues that this is why we have a dystopian world in the first place. People had too much freedom growing up, and thus… the world is shit? I’m sorry, I feel like I’m missing a few steps in the middle. But even if we pretend that the creepy headmaster has a point, do we really think Santa of all people would kickstart this… juvenile “delinquency” that we’re afraid of? Do we really think believing in Santa is going to inevitably lead to kids disobeying the adults and refusing their arranged marriages? Really? Santa? The jolly fat man? Bro, he just gives out presents. It’s not that deep. Plus, anything and everything can give me hope. Waking up and seeing the sun makes me hope for a good day. Telling humans to not have hope is basically telling them to not be human. The argument is just patently ridiculous. You might as well forget about coddling and managing kids. You might as well start building a fleet of soulless robots to do your bidding, which is what our dystopian world is actually doing. Take notes, losers.
As Fuyumura watches a nude Santa fight from the sidelines, something awakens within her. After all, she’s never seen an actual naked adult body before. The most she’s ever glimpsed are pictures of Michelangelo’s “David” in a book, and it wouldn’t surprise me that such materials are considered pornography in this dystopian society. In a flashback with Ono, we learn that even something as innocent as kissing is frowned upon. It’s funny, isn’t it? Society despairs over the fact that there are few kids left, but they also repress any form of physical intimacy or experimentation before marriage. But I guess this is a reflection of how things are right now. Have babies! Please, please have babies! But don’t you dare try anything at a young age. Don’t even think about it until we tell you who to marry. Then you can have all the bad sex you want with someone whom you might not even be compatible with! Yay! Sexuality is repressed so much that Fuyumura used to think of naked adult bodies as nothing more than a myth.
In the ensuing scuffle, Santa ends up literally crashing Ono’s performative funeral. He then does exactly what Oshibu doesn’t want the kids to do: he claps his hands together in prayer and hopes that the very much alive Ono is doing well where she is. He’s also still buck-naked and thus flashing the entire student body. But instead of being shocked or afraid, the kids are entertained. They are amused. For once, they have some stimulation in their dreary lives. They think they’re seeing “God-pa.” In the aftermath, they’ve even started making merchandise for said “God-pa,” and it all makes sense. Of course they wouldn’t recognize Santa, because the myth is all but dead. But more importantly, the naked body is just that: naked. These kids aren’t even allowed to kiss, so a naked body has no sexual context or meaning.
But while everyone else is having a blast, Sanda suffers from yet another panic attack. Last week, he was afraid to find out how people really felt about him. This week, he can’t deal with the fact that people thought they just saw a god. Ultimately, Sanda is having the identity crisis we could see coming from a mile away in previous episodes. He’s a 14-year-old boy who just wants to stay a 14-year-old boy. He doesn’t want to be Santa, and he certainly doesn’t want to be God. But all of a sudden, there’s all this pressure heaped onto his tiny shoulders. He needs to become a hero. He needs to give kids hope. He needs to solve a mystery. He needs to fight against this soul-crushing dystopian society and it’s weird obsession with children and youthfulness. It’s all too much for a teen boy to handle. Before all this happened, he was just another dork crushing on a classmate.
Fuyumura suddenly takes Sanda aside and gives him a hug, but this is less about giving him the support he needs and more about her and her needs. In other words, she can’t solve his problems. The hug itself is the most physical intimacy we’ve seen between any two characters so far. The problem, however, is who she actually wants to hug and for what reason. Sanda is just another kid to her, and she’s surrounded by them. Losing her friend has been tearing her up all this time, but she can’t lean on her peers for support. On the other hand, Santa, the mythical adult that she can rely on, can give her hope. He can tell her that it’s all going to be okay. He can fight the battles that she can’t. As such, she would rather hug Santa and not Sanda.
Unfortunately, this isn’t really fair to our boy. He still exists within that beefcake exterior, and that comes with all sorts of complications. On the lighter side of things, he still has to fight his teen urges while Fuyumura embraces him. But more important than that, who’s going to support him as his persona slowly ebbs away — as he becomes more and more Santa by the day? Who’s going to tell him that it’s okay to be himself? Fuyumura literally tells him that she prefers him as Santa, and the last thing Santa wants to do is let a kid down. So it’s a full blown identity crisis. Sanda’s only solace is that he feels a sort of kinship in Fuyumura. In her, he sees another kid who has to walk the fine line between being a kid and being mature like an adult. But let’s say our heroes succeed and Fuyumura gets her bestie back. Where does that leave Sanda?
Stray thoughts & observations:
- Even when Santa fights back, he worries for his opponents’ well-being. He doesn’t want to use too much force lest he actually kill someone. I get it. Killing people is traumatic even if you’re just defending yourself. Still, with evil people like Oshibu around, you might be doing more harm than good if you let them survive.
- This episode constantly references his dick and how “adult” it is. I get it, you’re attracted to Santa, but can we… not make this feel so fetishy?
- These crotch shots, man.
- Yeah, I’m gonna press x to doubt on Santa having a large mistletoe downstairs. Even if he’s bizarrely erect in this exact moment, where are the jingle bells?
- Speaking of destroying kids’ hopes and dreams, these children are apparently supposed to look dead on the inside.
- Fuyumura is so freakishly long.
- Ah, Fuyumura and Ono would’ve kissed, but the former shied away.
- Though to be fair, sexual freedom won’t necessarily lead to a higher birth rate. No one’s going to have kids if they can’t afford to do so. But giving money to the 99% and not the filthy rich? Heavens forbid!
- Right before the episode ends, we meet yet another character who might have a thing for the old man. Geez, is Santa going to have a harem?
