10 anime to watch if you loved the Sanda anime premiere

Sanda
Sanda (Image Credit: Science SARU)

The Sanda anime premiere has been taking the place by storm with a combination of mystery, mysticism, and emotional storytelling. The anime is about young people, belief, and hidden magic in a future Japan where Christmas is just a legend.

If the first episode leaves you wanting more, here are 10 anime like it.


List of anime like the Sanda anime

1. Blue Exorcist (Ao no Exorcist)

Blue Exorcist (Image Credit: A-1 Pictures)
Blue Exorcist (Image Credit: A-1 Pictures)

If you loved the Sanda anime, Blue Exorcist is a nice follow-up. It has a similar mixture of school life and supernatural concepts. Rin Okumura is a normal teenager. That's until the day he is attacked by demons. He then learns that he's Satan's son, sent from the demon world of Gehenna to the human world of Assiah.

Satan is planning to use Rin as a means of invasion into Assiah, but Rin refuses to join him. Rin decides to join the True Cross Academy as an exorcist to battle his father. With his own brother, Yukio, by his side, he faces both human and natural enemies in an effort to control his family's abilities. The Blue Exorcist anime blends action, emotion, and fateful ghosts of fate against the freedom of will.


2. The World’s Finest Assassin Gets Reincarnated in Another World as an Aristocrat

The World’s Finest Assassin Gets Reincarnated in Another World as an Aristocrat (Image Credit: SILVER LINK. and Studio Palette)
The World’s Finest Assassin Gets Reincarnated in Another World as an Aristocrat (Image Credit: SILVER LINK. and Studio Palette)

Fans who enjoyed the Sanda anime’s themes of fate, identity, and hidden power will also love this. The world’s greatest assassin is betrayed by the organization he served and meets his end. After death, he encounters a goddess who offers him a second chance at life in a world filled with swords and magic.

His new mission is to stop the world’s destruction by killing its hero. Reborn as Lugh Tuatha Dé, son of a noble family of assassins, he trained under his father so that he could learn any skill he could. As he gains allies and power, Lugh realizes that taking down a legendary hero will require perfect clarity and planning.


3. Guilty Crown

Guilty Crown (Image Credit: Production I.G.)
Guilty Crown (Image Credit: Production I.G.)

The Sanda anime has a unique balance of mystery and emotion, which Guilty Crown captures beautifully. Japan fell into chaos after the Apocalypse Virus swept across the country on December 24, 2029, a day remembered as “Lost Christmas.” To stop the spread, the UN sent the GHQ to restore order, but instead, they took away Japan’s freedom. Ten years later, a resistance faction known as Funeral Parlor battles for its recovery.

When a quiet student named Shuu Ouma discovers a power known as the “Power of the Kings,” he’s thrown into the rebellion. If you enjoyed Sanda, you will enjoy Guilty Crown. Its combination of revolution and emotional tension was done very well. Both are about how power can be a curse, particularly when heroes must kill to live and struggle with questions of identity.


4. Zetman

Zetman (Image Credit: TMS Entertainment)
Zetman (Image Credit: TMS Entertainment)

If the darker tone of the Sanda anime intrigued you, Zetman is a must-watch. Zetman begins with two heroes, ZET and ALPHAS. The two were fighting when we got taken into a flashback. Jin Kanzaki, a man born with the power to transform into the superhuman ZET, tries to understand his purpose. Then there is Kouga Amagi, a tech genius with a strong sense of justice, who fights as ALPHAS using advanced technology.

Their paths align as they take on monsters called Players, each with their own idea of what it means to be a hero. Fans of Sanda will find Zetman just as thrilling with its mix of tragedy and moral conflict. Both stories dive into what happens when humans are pushed beyond their limits.


5. Nura: Rise of the Yokai Clan

Rikuo's youkai form on the sakura tree (Image Credit: Studio DEEN)
Rikuo's youkai form on the sakura tree (Image Credit: Studio DEEN)

For fans of the Sanda anime who liked its focus on youth and hidden heritage, this series offers a similar vibe. The anime is about Rikuo Nura. He is a boy who’s part human and part youkai, who grew up surrounded by friendly monsters in the Nura Clan. But most humans see youkai as dangerous beings. Wanting to live a normal life, Rikuo tries to hide his supernatural side.

However, with school and new enemies, his life soon takes a turn. If you liked the Sanda anime, this series offers a similar blend of family heritage, hidden abilities, and the struggle of living between two worlds. Like Sanda, Rikuo faces the challenge of accepting his identity while protecting those he loves.


6. The Twelve Kingdoms

Youko (Studio Pierrot)
Youko (Studio Pierrot)

The Sanda anime draws you into a world that feels mysterious, and The Twelve Kingdoms does the same. The Twelve Kingdoms follows Youko Nakajima, a top student with red hair who never quite fits in. One day, a man named Keiki appears in her classroom and calls her his master. Before she can even process what’s happening, monsters called youma attack, and Youko is dragged into another world with two classmates.

Fans of the Sanda anime will recognize the common theme of being thrown into an amazing world and having to become stronger. Just like Sanda, Youko deals with complex situations that challenge who she is and her bravery. Youko questions her role in a world that feels confusing to her.


7. Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Children

Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Children (Image Credit: Actas and Studio Comet)
Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Children (Image Credit: Actas and Studio Comet)

If you liked the way magic and mystery were mixed in the Sanda anime, you will like Devil Children. The anime follows Setsuna Kai, a boy whose new apartment is destroyed right after he moves in. Then, he meets Dr. Hiromi Kaname, a scientist who reveals that a “Devil Child,” meaning part demon.

When demons begin to invade, Setsuna teams up with the scientist’s granddaughter, Mirai, to fight them. If you enjoyed the Sanda anime, you'll find this familiar. Each story follows young heroes with secret origins and powerful hidden bloodlines. While battling to save humanity from extraordinary threats, they must also fight to discover their place across two worlds.


8. Bokurano

Bokurano (Image Credit: Studio Gonzo)
Bokurano (Image Credit: Studio Gonzo)

The Sanda anime deals with serious ideas beneath its magical surface, and Bokurano does the same more darkly. Bokurano begins with fifteen kids enjoying a peaceful summer camp by the sea when they discover a hidden cave. Inside, they meet a mysterious man named Kokopelli, who asks them to try out a “game” where they take turns controlling a giant robot to defend Earth from alien invaders.

Thinking it’s just a virtual game, all but one of them agree to play. But things turn terrifying when the robot actually appears, and they find themselves inside it, fighting for real. Sanda anime fans recognize the same combination of mystery, sacrifice, and moral struggle. The two anime deal with young people facing enormous responsibility and learning that saving the world isn’t as simple as it seems.


9. Now and Then, Here and There

Now and Then, Here and There (Image Credit: Anime International Company (AIC))
Now and Then, Here and There (Image Credit: Anime International Company (AIC))

Fans of the Sanda anime who liked its emotional storytelling will find this series wonderful. Now and Then, Here and There follows Shuu, a boy who loves kendo and has a normal life. This was until he met Lala-Ru, a girl with blue hair and a strange pendant. Their encounter is suddenly interrupted when soldiers appear from nowhere to capture her.

Shuu tries to protect Lala-Ru but ends up pulled into a world ruled by war and despair. There, water is rare, and Lala-Ru’s pendant holds the power to create it, making her the target of brutal forces. Like the Sanda anime, this story shows how innocence clashes with a broken world. Both follow young heroes thrown into dark, adult conflicts where courage is tested to its limits.


10. Kaiba

Kaiba (Image Credit: Studio Madhouse)
Kaiba (Image Credit: Studio Madhouse)

The Sanda anime explores memory, emotion, and the worth of a life, just like Kaiba. Kaiba takes us into an astounding, surreal world. Kaiba is set in a future time where memories can be stored and transferred using chips. In this reality, the rich never die. The rich swap bodies to live forever, while the poor sell theirs to survive. Kaiba wakes up with no memory, a hole in his chest, and a picture of a woman he doesn’t recognize.

To find out who he is and who she might be, he travels across planets in search of the truth. The Sanda anime and Kaiba are each journeys of what it means to be human in lost worlds. All of these stories blend emotion, mystery, and sci-fi ideas to challenge identity, memory, and the soul.


Conclusion

The Sanda anime premiere opened the door to a new kind of story. It blends the ordinary with the extraordinary. If you enjoyed Sanda’s combination of mystery and magic, here are 10 anime series to make you feel the same way. Whether you want action, drama, supernatural intrigue, or mystery, these shows will keep you company until the next Sanda episode.

Edited by Zainab Shaikh