Review up to chapter 21 (ongoing. will update rating if necessary):
From the creator of Beastars comes another wacky story with hidden depths.
The year is 2080. Japan's low birth rates have reached new lows, and society has changed in response. Children are now highly valued, resulting in all sorts of measures to keep them safe and free from trauma. Children are free from most legal consequences, including the murder of adults. They are given drugs to replace sleep, not because it allows for more waking time but because it slows both growth and puberty.
Meet Sanda, a fourteen year old and a descendant of Santa Claus, who has the ability to turn into "Santa form" whenever he wears something red, turning into a near-immortal muscular Santa with an assortment of special abilities (I swear I'm not making any of this up). Santa's role is the protection of children, but also helping them grow up into adults; it's the second part which makes him into an enemy of Japanese society, which has become obsessed with keeping children as children.
On the surface, the story is the usual silly shounen battle manga. But much like in Beastars, the author uses the unique setting to explore childhood, puberty, and many aspect of Japanese society. The story also explores the usual teenage stuff, such as romance, sexuality, and gender, but in a slightly different (and interesting) way.
I love the character writing. There's a certain honesty to Itagaki's depiction of crazy teenagers which feels fresh to me, similar to what she did in Beastars.
The story is still in its early stages, so I decided to give it three stars (which is what I think it deserves at this point), but I won't be surprise if it gets upgraded to four stars as the story progresses.