The first 6 episodes follows the original (source material) manga. The story, plot and animation is well designed and easy to follow. While the animation might not be for everyone, I personally loved it, the sound quality was a nice touch which gave the overall setting a real impact.
Without diving into any spoilers, the Manga was short lived, the whole concept originally started when Akira Toriyama drew a tank he loved and then later turned it into a Manga. The overall concept is very basic however loveable. I guess this is a mix of bad and good because it's a simple anime, nothing more, nothing less. You can clearly see after the 3rd episode that the story is wrapping up, it's quite predictable of how the story is going to end after the 6th episode. (part 1)
I give credit for Akira trying to expand on making a part 2 however I personally found part 2 quite bland and the characters didn't personally grab me. The main issue with Sand Land is there isn't any major character development, other then your main 3 characters, everyone feels they are just there for the sake of the story. With new original characters being designed for part 2, it feels like there's alot of missing development in the original characters from part 1. Sand Land feels like a big universe but isn't widely expanded on, I feel we only were treated a part 2 because Bandai was making a video game, a trading card game and expanding on their toy collection. There will be no season 2, even if Akira was alive right now, there never was enough source material to continue this Manga further. As I stated earlier in my review that the whole plot of Sand Land is around a tank that Akira drew when he was younger. I don't believe the manga was intended to be expanded on from the original source material and you can see that in the story.
While my review may sound harsh, by all means I am not calling Sand Land bad. I really enjoyed part 1 however, part 2 fell off for me and felt a bit forced. Overall if I had to combine my rating I would say it's OK at its best. I believe if you want the true Sand Land experience, just watch the movie that came out in 2023 or just watch the first 6 episodes of the 2024 anime and call it a day.
