Sanda – 02
After two episodes, I really have no idea what to make of Sanda. I know it’s not boring, which is obviously a good starting point. But it’s kind of all over the map. All the characters except the protagonist are completely unlikeable. Pretty much everyone seems a bit crazy. The premise is interesting for sure, but also kind of a hodgepodge of elements that may or may not ever fit together. At this point it still reminds me more of a Taizan-5 series that one that’s recognizably Itagaki Paru.
The big twist this week is the reveal that only 0.1% of the population of Japan is under 15 years old (less than 50,000 people). As such they’re fetishized and mollycoddled by society. A kid committing murder isn’t even a crime (unless they kill another kid). There’s definitely an element of social commentary (which I guess is textbook Itakagi) given Japan’s legendary population decline issues. This is exemplified by the 92 year-old headmaster, obsessed with looking youthful and a fetishist where children are concerned to an extremely creepy degree.
We also meet Amaya-kun, one of Sanda’s roommates who promptly joins the crazy parade by zapping Sanda with a taser and tying him (and Fuyumura) up in the destroyed science lab. He knows Sanda’s secret and taunts him over it, and tries to get Santa and Fuyumura to kiss (which is highly weird in and of itself). He has a reason – his family cake shop needs a revival of Xmas to revive its fortunes. But as with Fuyumura, are we supposed to condone psychotic behavior because the culprit has a problem they want to solve? There’s irony here of course – do we overlook terrible behavior by children because they’re children?
How Itagaki ultimately answers this question may be the barometer of whether Sanda works as a story or not. Is she fully aware of how awful these two are and using them to prove a point, or are we just supposed to fall in line? Complicating this is that the line between Sanda and Santa is blurring. Even in boya form Sanda feels the protective adult gene kicking in when dealing with these two nutters. There’s also a secret organization trying to hunt down Santa Claus, and a “semi-basement” in the school (which it turns out is in the Seiko Department Store building in Ginza) where the headmaster sends the kids who cross him. Sanda is a big who the hell knows at this point, but it’s certainly not generic.
Shabake – 02
They may both have one-word “S” titles, but these two shows could hardly be more different. There’s no difficulty whatever in seeing that Shabake is adapted from a novel. It’s a slow burn, to say the least. Which is fine in itself, provided the fire doesn’t go out altogether. It’s paced like a slice of life but is actually a murder mystery, which certainly presents an interesting contrast.
Measured and thoughtful it is, then. For a show with a deep fantasy element, it’s pretty exacting (so far) in the mechanics of its events. And Ichitarou’s situation is quite relatable. Everyone worries about him constantly, which makes him feel guilty every time he tries to live a normal life. But living under the thumb of his family and associates – and especially the two youkai guardians – is stifling and unbearable. It’s no wonder he’s sneaking out at night to meet “Matsunosuke” – though just who Matsunosuke is we don’t yet know, Somehow I keep thinking it’s the supposedly (or perhaps actually, given the premise) deceased older brother but I have no evidence to back that up.
It seems that Ichitarou has a love interest – Oharu, who works at the sweets shop that’s the one place he is allowed to go (but not alone). Eikichi is the son of that shop, which gives he and Ichitarou something in common. His problems are different – he’s a hack when it comes to cooking anything. We also meet the local police chief, who’s taking bribes from the Nagasakiya and probably lots of other people. In addition to inhaling an entire bowl of manjuu (that was oddly fascinating to watch) he shares the tidbit that the body Ichitarou found and left for a retiree to find and report was found with its head cut off. The mystery deepens.
This is all modestly interesting, and Shabake looks pretty nice on the whole. I can’t say anything is making much of a deep impression on me at this point, though. If I’m going to keep writing about it I’ll need more than I’m currently getting. But again, with novels you don’t always get a full measure of the material’s potential in one or two episodes.
