Yojo Senki: Saga of Tanya the Evil

Saga of Tanya the Evil takes something silly and absurd and makes it work. And though the use of absurd ideas is nothing new in anime, the protagonist Tanya von Degurechaff makes this show much more lovable with her twisted personality, albeit one grounded in logic and reality adapted from her previous life, only amplified this time.

Well-thought-out and creative mixture of some humor and subtle antiwar sentiments in its plot. This makes it all the more interesting with the chosen inspiration for the nation and protagonist from whose POV we see the war unfold. The supporting characters add value and conflict to warfare and combat tactics applied in the series. Seeing different mindsets and ideologies collide enhance the realities of war and the unforgiving physical and psychological toll it causes on civilians and the military personnel in combat. The magical aspect also adds another layer to the conflict, one that does not take time to explain and blends very well with the story.

Saga of Tanya the Evil is definitely worth a watch and is one of the stand-out anime series from the isekai sub-genre that has a lot of energy, personality, and madness to its name.

While the first episode may make you think this is going to be another shallow Japanese adventure story featuring a lolly, by the end of the 2nd episode you are confronted by its actual depth. The name is misleading, as the Japanese name is "The Military Chronicles of a Little Girl" and boy is it's a roller coaster Chronicle. This is not a simple story, its very complex and the war that Tanya is involved in is only secondary to the real conflict, between Tanya and being X. Tanya may be talented, but against being X she is puny, yet her spirit and drive to survive is breathtaking. Her acts of heroism brought a tear to my eye in one episode, yet she is not perfect and a real SOB. This is a complex and rich story and a massive fun ride.

Many years ago, I read a book called "People of the Lie". This book examines evil in its different form. Relevant to this discussion is the notion of institutionalized evil. What if the organization, in this case, the military is evil, and you are just dutifully following orders? Are you evil?

If you examine the deeds of Tanya in the TV series, she has pretty much done everything in accordance to regulation, at the same time trying to look out for number one. She is no different from many if not most of my coworkers in a big corporation. In some sense, she seems to show some genuine concerns for the welfare of her command. This is not really expected of her. The expectation is that she only need to feign concern. My feeling is that Tanya is not really evil, she is just a bureaucrat.

The TV anime has great sound effects. The artillery and aerial battles are accompanied by earth shaking acoustics.

The songs were amazing. I can listen to Jingo in the Jungle repeatedly.

I greatly recommend that you give this anime series a try.

I had a blast with this series. And that's because this is an example of genre "stuck in another world" done right. No gamer/comic reader/underachieving student/dreamer/unemployed/etc. as main character who would pander to us audience. Yeah, I'm boring guy who watches anime, I don't need such uninteresting character to go on adventure where he usually just gains harem of various anime girls and then saves the world to show how awesome he was all along.

Main protagonist of this anime is heartless businessman who doesn't care about other human beings and his only goal is climbing corporate ladder to the top. Almost sounds like antagonist, right? He is punished for his lack of faith to absolute bottom. Stuck as poor orphan girl in a world on brink of world war.

And it's endearing to watch this essence of "I'm not locked in here with you, you are locked in here with me" in a form of small girl. Tanya as a character is main asset of this show. Her main goal is to get to the top and safety far away from frontlines in a world that is specifically design for her not to get it. She is perfect mix of defiance and frustration slowly boiling as she faces unending hurdles in her way.

In animation department it has some really nice air battles. Everything else is pretty much good standard. With one exception. Faces of Tanya and second female in her unit. Tanya is drawn differently from rest of anime and so it was kind of unsettling in first episode. I guess it was intended as contrast for her being partly psychopath. But I got used to it rather quickly since she has whole palette of facial expressions which were just fun to watch. Second female looks just weird. And even after whole series, she looks weird. It just doesn't fit the style for me.

If we talk about sound. Guns, explosions, battles just sound engaging.

In summary, this anime is worth a watch. If you don't have a problem with the fact that main character isn't good person.

Tanya's got guts to do this stuff... Anyway, I really enjoyed this Isekai and Military anime. It really was a blast! It's probably the first dark anime of this kind, and honestly, I have to say, I'm impressed! Definitely worth watching!