Sanda

By 2080, Japan has so few children left that they're basically treated as national treasures — locked away in boarding schools, monitored around the clock, and shielded from anything the government deems dangerous. Including, apparently, Santa Claus. Christmas doesn't exist anymore, and the adults have an actual military unit dedicated to neutralizing Saint Nick if he ever shows up. That's the world Kazushige Sanda and his classmate Shiori Fuyumura live in at Daikoku Welfare Academy. When their friend Ichie Ono goes missing under suspicious circumstances, Shiori starts digging and stumbles onto something wild: Kazushige is a descendant of Santa Claus, and the adults running their school might know a lot more about what happened to Ichie than they're letting on. Science SARU handles the animation, and their style gives the whole thing this slightly off-kilter, kinetic energy that fits the tone perfectly — it bounces between genuine suspense and these warm, funny moments between the kids that keep it grounded. The mystery at the center has that slow-burn paranoia quality, where every adult feels like they could be hiding something. If you liked the societal tension and "something is very wrong here" atmosphere of Beastars or Paranoia Agent, this scratches a similar itch but through a shounen lens. And if Dandadan proved you're open to anime with completely unhinged premises that somehow work, Sanda earns that same trust across its 12 episodes.