Christmas has come early for Manga Mavericks, as we’re celebrating our 250th episode with a special gift from Titan Manga, the first volume of Sanda, Paru Itagaki’s crazy dystopian manga about a kid who can transform into a buff, hot Santa Claus investigating the conspiracy behind the disappearance of his classmate! You know a manga by Paru Itagaki’s gotta be wild even without featuring horny-hungry anthropormophic animals, and we talk about everything that makes Sanda the gift that keeps on giving, from its insane bordering on psychotic characters, intriguing world building, and hilariously over-the-top interpretation and application of the Santa Claus mythos for battle manga powers. Sanda is everything that we love about manga and a wonderful way to ring in and commemorate our 250th episode! 

Thanks so much to Titan Manga for inviting us to participate in the blog tour for Sanda! Check out more coverage of Sanda at the outlets listed here! 

We also have another occasion to celebrate, because we’ll be exhibiting and hosting a panel for Manga Mavericks Books at New York Comic Con! It’s our first time hosting a table for Manga Mavericks Books at a convention, and we’re excited to be able to showcase our books and interact directly with fans at the show! Our booth number is 2242, and we’ll be sharing our booth with B!Juku, one of our digital manga distribution partners, and we’re located right to the left of the Viz Media booth in the small press section of the Exhibit Hall! We’ll have copies of Alternative, Bonds, and Zigoku’s Foreman volume 1 for sale at special discounted prices and free bookmarks for Alternative and Zigoku’s Foreman and a convention exclusive print for Zigoku’s Foreman, alongside other surprises and goodies available for sale and being given away at the booth! 

PODCAST BREAKDOWN:

00:00  - In Memoriam: Matt Haasch 

• GoFundMe for Matt’s Family

• Lum and VLord’s Reflections on Matt 

10:30 - Introducing Sanda

13:45 - Celebrating Manga Mavericks’ 250th episode! 

14:55 - We’re going to be Exhibiting and Hosting a Panel at New York Comic Con! 

18:03 - Sanda Review 

1:00:10 - Wrap-up

1:03:56 - Shout-Outs: 

• Manga Machinations’ 11th-Year Anniversary Episode 

• Evan Minto’s In Memoriam for Matt Haasch

• Matt Haasch Memorial organized by Evan Minto

• Kanzenshuu Podcast on Bonds! 

• Lum's Guest Appearances on Manga Tak

• Senpai no Kohai

• The Guy She Was Interested Wasn’t a Guy At All

• She Loves to Cook, She Loves to Eat 

• Demon Slayer Podcast episode on the Infinity Castle movie 

• Lum's Guest Appearances on the Toonami Faithful Podcast:

• Anime Expo

• San Diego Comic Con 

• Colleen Manga Recs’ Video on Anime NYC 

• ANN on the The Legal and Soft Censorship of Manga panel at Anime NYC

• VLord presenting the Best New Edition of Classic Manga Award at the American Manga Awards 2025 

• Check out recent Interviews posted on the site!  

• Check out our manga trailers for:

• Alternative

• Bonds 

  
  

Enjoy the show, and follow us on Twitter at @manga_mavericks, on Bluesky at @mangamavericks.bsky.social, on Instagram at @mangamavericks_official, and on Youtube. You can also follow the hosts on Twitter at @VLordGTZ and @lumranmayasha. If you’d like to help support the show financially you can pledge to our Patreon or our Substack and receive some awesome rewards like our exclusive Bonus pods. Don’t forget to also like and subscribe to us on Youtube and Apple Podcasts and leave us reviews to help us curate the show and create better content. If there are any topics, series or mangaka you would like to see us talk about on the show, drop us a line in the comments below, or email us at [email protected]. Thanks for listening.

LINKS:

• ⁠Pre-Order our Manga Mavericks Books titles on our online store⁠!

• Find us on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to podcasts!⁠

• Subscribe to our Manga Mavericks + Newsletter on Substack! 

• ⁠Support us on Patreon!⁠

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• Read more of Lum’s reviews on the Manga Mavericks website!