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Though nowhere near as influential or popular as Dragon Ball or Dr. Slump, Sand Land is essential to the late Akira Toriyama’s body of work – after all, it was the final serialized manga of his storied career. The Sand Land anime that recently premiered on Disney+ and Hulu marks some of his last creative output, period: Its first six episodes may just be a re-edited version of the feature-length adaptation released in 2023, but the seventh episode is an original story written by Toriyama himself, and that alone makes the series a must-watch. It helps that this is a stellar adaptation, with truly astonishing 3D, vast worldbuilding, and complex themes that support a fun, post-apocalyptic road trip that’s pure Toriyama.
Consider it a cross between early Dragon Ball, Fallout, and Mad Max. In a world ravaged by war and natural disasters where humans and demons live side by side, water is a precious commodity. One of those humans, Rao, is a grizzled sheriff struggling to maintain security in his small village. The water-rationing and price-gouging of a cruel king is only contributing to that chaos, so a fed-up Rao sets off to find a rumored spring – and potentially quell a brewing human-demon conflict.
The marketing (or a simple familiarity with Toriyama) may have you believe the protagonist of this tale is the spiky-haired purple demon Prince Beelzebub. He’s not: Beelzebub is a scene-stealer, and part of Sand Land’s core trio – but this is Rao’s story. Alongside the prince and his advisor, the elderly demon Thief, Rao comes to terms with his past and decides he’s done fighting on others’ orders and fights for the sake of all.
This is the balancing act at the core of Sand Land. On the surface, it seems like an all-ages comedy adventure – not unlike Goku and Bulma’s initial search for the seven Dragon Balls – with a clear quest, wacky villains, and cool vehicles. But while the tone is consistently light and fun, and Beelzebub is a hilarious little rascal obsessed with video games and making sure people know he’s the most evil person around (despite being a good-hearted kid), Sand Land goes deeper than that. Beneath the hijinks, there’s a complexity that could satisfy fans of both Avatar: The Last Airbender and the recent Pluto anime.
You see, before being a sheriff, Rao was a commander in the king’s Royal Army, and he was involved in several major atrocities, the weight of which still haunts him. Throughout the first six episodes, Toriyama and scriptwriter Hayashi Mori explore the trauma of war and genocide, and how they impact individuals as well as entire populations. Corporate greed and even environmentalism are all expertly woven into the story in a way that never undermines or overcomplicates its message.
Nevertheless, this is first and foremost a short, tightly constructed adventure, one told beautifully through 3D animation. While 3D has a bad reputation, particularly in anime, Sand Land is a great case for the use of the format as a tool for storytelling, helping deliver stunningly choreographed fights that display Toriyama’s endless imagination. It also enhances the portrayal of the fourth main character in the story — the stolen tank that carries Rao, Beelzebub, and Thief around.
Toriyama’s greatest contribution to anime and manga design are the pointy locks of Beelzebub, Goku, and their ilk, though his renderings of machines are equally transcendent and important – and Sand Land pays great tribute to it. There are plenty of tank-centric action scenes, and close-ups of the intricate engines and inner workings of the tanks and other vehicles, which are all animated with an eye for the smallest details reminiscent of ’90s animation like Magnetic Rose and Ghost in the Shell.
It’s hard to recommend this anime to anyone who’s already seen the Sand Land movie – there’s only a handful of additional scenes fleshing out the first two episodes. Just don’t jump ship before Episode 7, which kicks off a brand new story written and designed by Toriyama. Featuring even more wild character and creature designs, as well as new vehicles and a tremendous expansion of Sand Land’s world, the arc will continue in the next batch of episodes (premiere date TBD). Judging by the first episode, this is the beginning of what could be Toriyama’s final masterpiece.
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