天下制覇

This may be the least Santa Santa I've seen.

Impressions:

It's probably cultural, but there's something really weird to me about the show. It's very much like bad improv, or the 'good' seasons of Aquarion, that it starts talking and clearly doesn't actually know where it's going or what it's talking about, but it's going to barrel ahead. But at the same time, it's both not barreling ahead because it's shounen and so has to overexplain everything with at least three times as much detail as is necessary, and because it's making up weird rules about a well-known piece of western culture, Santa Claus. And the origin of Santa is already some crazy-ass wilderness druid, so is it even necessary to make up a completely different set of rules that he's not just obligated but cursed to bring gifts to not good children, but sad children, and only gains his true form when parts of his clothes are red which turns him into true Santa, a buff body builder built like a brick house, things are feeling a bit hard to keep a grasp on. Where's jolly and plump? Broad face and round belly? To say nothing of the attempt at "ho ho ho." How do you screw "ho ho ho" up? I guess by Santa being a completely foreign cultural icon that you're not actually really going to try to understand. It's very uncanny valley Santa.

At least the artistic direction is indeed very Science Saru'y. I hesitate to say that it's visually fun or exciting, because there's not actually all that much animation on display. Definitely not one of their headline projects, or even to the level of Yuurei Deco, but still not the norm. It's dragged down by the same sins that most shounen is though, the godawful pacing and characters who can't help but narrate not just every single thought that enters their heads and explain every single thing that is happening to them, but to 'humorously' misconstrue what is happening in order to then explain that as well.