Youjo Senki

Although Tanya has a interesting new take to isekia anime where it more civil rights war like ear I thought was very interesting right off the bat and no to mention the mc is a little girl, it is lacking in plot and just focuses on war. I understand Tanya existence is supposed to be a big f u to the being x and to live a comfortable life later on but that's what it really comes down to. Sure some antagonist is thrown in later on but that's how it feels, Just tossed in for the sake of it. Where supposed to be rotting for him too apparently because he has a family. That's the only reason they give to us to root for him. :T The Magic in the anime is kind of what's keeping the anime interesting in my opinion because magic like that where they incorporate a gun and flying before and it was favorable. Animations is well done and its clear they stick to a dark pallete of colors to represent the dark a deadness of war and the state of the environment so that was always a tell to keep the certain atmospheric vibe they were going for. Not much else to talk about other than the cast of characters are kind of bland expect of course Visha her second hand but that's the only memorable one. There should've been more to it other than being x being annoying and Tanya arguing with him. If you're looking for a civil war era like anime with magic incorporated then this anime is definitely for you especially again if you mainly like war. Also some cute girls to make it a bit better for this anime would be good to watch.

This show... might be the most boring show I've ever watched. Now, granted, the show did not OFFEND me in any way, which keeps it from being a lower rating. However, it was just... boring. That might be the worst thing a show can do. I don't have much to say, so let's get into this: Story (1/10): This takes place in a world similar to ours at the outset of WW1, but with magic and other slight geographical differences. Our protagonist was an arrogant, atheist salaryman who is punished by God, a being he calls "Being X", to be reborn as a super powerful magical loli in this new world to fight. ...Yeah, sure, okay, whatever. What strikes me about this is that the story can't seem to stay on track. In fact, the basis of the entire plot makes no sense. Essentially, Tanya has to either devote him/herself to God before she dies in this wartorn world, or else be punished for eternity. That, or she can just live until she dies of old age. Alright, this is fair enough, except God also decided to give her insanely powerful magical abilities and high intellect. At least, that's how it comes across, as there's no way a Japanese salaryman had naturally powerful magic or battle capability. So what's the deal? In standard Isekai, the hero being insanely strong is, while boring, at least somewhat understandable by the plot, as God's just a cool dude apparently. In this one, however, God is actively trying to punish Tanya, and yet she is somehow granted intense capabilities. Furthermore, Tanya chooses, in order to stay alive, to ENLIST INTO THE MILITARY. Her logic is that if she can get promoted through the ranks fast enough, she can get into a cushy commanding role in the safe central region of the Empire (AKA Germany), rather than fighting on the front lines. This motivation would make sense... if she were DRAFTED. But no, she willingly volunteers, rather than just... I dunno... becoming a baker in the capital or something. This makes no sense, and yet we have to accept it as the basis of the entire series. Art (2/10): For the most part, this anime is just... ugly. Sometimes, that's clearly intentional. Sweeping scenery shots of a shellshocked no-man's-land, or glimpses into the ruins of a city having been pounded by artillery are clearly not supposed to be very pleasing to the eye. However, it's not limited to that. The flying of the characters is downright ugly, with very clear and distracting CG landscapes being glided over by hand drawn (or, even more distractingly, also CG) characters being something you'll have to get used to if you want to watch the show. Furthermore, the character design... by god, the character design. These are some of the ugliest looking characters I've ever seen, even when it's clearly not intentional. Tanya herself looks... fine, I suppose. The eyes are a bit distracting, but nothing too awful. Everyone else, however, runs the gambit from forgettable to downright hideous. The worst offender of this is the clear waifu bait of Serebryakov. She might be a bit more successful if she wasn't painful to look at, from her oddly long eyes to her drooping face to her very pronounced lips (this show makes the curious and regrettable decision to draw their characters with physical but uncolored lips). This show is a chore to look at. Sound (6/10): The only moderately redeeming aspect of this show is the sound, and even then it's only for the OP and ED. The strange metallic chanting and yelling of the intro, and the harsh sounds of the ED are very unique. They fit the mood the show is TRYING to go for very well. However, other than that, I cannot say anything about the rest. I hardly ever even notice the music in this show, and certainly none of it is memorable. It's a shame that "the OP and ED are decent" is the best I can say about this show. Character (1/10): This show has a very large cast of characters. Too bad they're all awful. To clarify, I do not mean that they're awful as in they're bad people. That's to be expected in a show called "Tanya the Evil" (although we'll get to that in a moment). What I mean is that they're not memorable in the slightest. I can remember no one's name except Tanya and, on a good day, Serebryakov. They have no personality whatsoever. Everyone is only there to move the plot forward. Depending on the character, that might be by giving Tanya orders, listening to Tanya's orders, shooting at the enemy, BEING the enemy, or being Tanya. However, that's as far as anyone's character extends. More than anything else, a war story should make you love the characters. That way, seeing them go through the hell of war is legitimately worrying and you hope that everyone makes it out, even though you know they won't. This doesn't happen in Tanya. The worst offender of this is perhaps Tanya herself. She either has no character, or her character changes on a dime, and I cannot decide which. She is stated to be evil in the title, but she does a grand total of TWO evil things in the entire show, and one of them is just her character introduction so it hardly counts. In one scene, she's sacrificing the lives of some men for a small gain. In another, she's taking a hailstorm of bullets to save one random guy. In one scene, she's screaming about how awful God is, in the next she's praying to Him. Her character has no consistency to it, and it is infuriating to watch. Enjoyment (1/10): There are only so many times you can hear "woah, she's flying much higher than she's supposed to," followed by seeing Tanya shoot some planes and then shoot some people on the ground before it gets downright arduous to sit through. Yet another isekai that feels the need to make its main character the most powerful person in the universe, and it's infuriating. This show did something no other show has done. It made me cry actual tears of boredom and tedium. Only one other THING has ever done that, and this is the first show to do it. I can't adequately explain how boring this show is. It DOES pick up eventually, and the last three episodes weren't torture to sit through. If this were just the last three episodes, I would give it a 6/10 or so. As it stands though, the show as a whole gets a 1. It's just... It's so boring guys and gals. Overall (2/10): With this, we've reached the end of the review. I'm not going to sugarcoat it, I hate this show. It was miserable to sit through, and if I hadn't preemptively bought tickets to the movie so I could see it with my friends, I wouldn't have sat through more than two episodes. At its absolute best, this show gets painfully average. I could not recommend this show to anyone unless the idea of a loli shooting people is enough of a sell on its own to warrant a show.

Youjo Senki was an uncomfortable anime for me to watch as a man of faith. Tanya's blasphemous rants against God were disturbing to watch, but I've heard worse in sharing the Gospel with others. However, I didn't find the anime itself to be blasphemous, rather a poignant look at the battle between a God who desires to be worshiped and unbelieving Man, who refuses to do so. I think it even gave a truthful look at how God reacts to those who rebel against him. While the Church teaches that God is only love, he does have wrath, and he has brought calamities to those who would not believe in order to get them to believe in Him. Which is the crux of what this anime is all about. I think you're going to have a different view of this anime depending on whether or not you actually believe in God. I didn't become a Christian until I was 20 and spent years refusing to live for God, until he brought calamity into my life like Tanya. I then submitted to Him, and realized I was a fool for not doing it sooner. But, from that perspective I understand Tanya's desire to ignore God and live the life she wants to live. But, as someone who found the peace in submission, I also felt like I wish she would just submit. The most irrational thing for her to do, in her mind, would be the only rational choice. She cannot win against God. It was immensely entertaining to watch her try, however. It made for a fantastic plot, especially intertwined with the horrors of war. As for the characters, this anime revolved completely around Tanya and her struggle with "Being X". As such, the entire cast was pretty much cut and paste military grunts and generals around her. The only other character to stand out from the pack was her assistant Serebryakova, a strangely bubbly character for the anime, that in spite of her persona, was able to get things done and not hesitate in battle. With Tanya being the primary focus, her character had to be excellent in order for this anime to shine, and it did. While the anime says it's "The Saga of Tanya The Evil", in reality, it's "The Saga of Tanya the Schemer.". Only twice in the whole anime does she do anything that could be described as "evil". A more apt description of her would be someone who was callous and calculating. She's no hero, to be sure. She's not even an anti-hero. She's basically a Nazi with villainous tendencies. But, she's not particularly evil. Although, you get the sense that she could become the Hitler of this world she's in and thus become evil. Another thing this anime excelled at was the battles. Tanya leads a battalion of mages, that fight similar to Strike Witches. These aerial battles are intense, especially each time she fights her nemesis, Anson Sioux. The final battle of the anime was particularly amazing. The animation style of this is similar to Full Metal Alchemist. Very good motion, decent character design, and full, rich European environments. I was particularly impressed with the drawings that came at the end of each episode. They were just photos of Tanya, but they were incredibly well done. Something else that stood out to me was the sound. The sounds of war were very realistic, especially the explosions. It's a weird thing to notice, but the sounds of the explosions were deafening. They sounded very realistic. Overall, I highly enjoyed this anime and am looking forward to a second season of it. Especially if it ends like how I anticipate it to end. I would definitely recommend it with high marks. Story: 10 Art: 9 Sound: 10 Character: 9 Enjoyment: 10 Overall: 9

cool animation gng bang bang war. I like the animation. Mage power rawrr. Isekai good. Mc is a trap hell naw dgaf cuz he & she stronk. I mean i aint got none to say. I just like it. No military anime like this. I think other doesn't like mc bein a trap maneee y'all trippin its cool yall just overthinkin ts is good 2nd episode was good. Also the being x thingy gimme that weirdly tingly ion know. Tanya cool. 203d battalion cool af stronk strategy war Ion know what them generals of the empire yappin abt but its strategy. overall cool anime its a 10 fr fr

Its bland, its tasteless, absolutely dreadful, nasty, heck it's fucking raw... and where's the f ing lamb sauce?? No no, Gordon chill we just wanted to review an anime here not bash on a dying restaurants dish. Wait what, you really tried to describe Youjo Senki? It can't be that bad, can it? Well it's a messy conundrum of wanting to be somewhat historic and blending in batshit stupid isekai elements like magic tech that are just horribly implemented. It's like serving salmon and bacon together in a dish. We get thrown into (a) great war and there's almost zero explanation. What's actually going on, who is the enemy (or better) which factions are involved and why? What's the state of the war? What are they aiming for? What drives them, what is their ultimate goal? None of the above is actually explained to a comprehensible level. This anime actually has the worst world building I have ever seen. You can't connect to anything let alone immerse or even understand. Not to mention that plot holes run through the story like the trenches on a battlefield. The isekai backstory (i.e. why MC got reincarnated) here is that apparently he is somewhat of an atheist sociopath who takes advantage of his fellows by only relying on logic and rational thought while strictly following hierarchy orders. So before his death a god like being sends him into a disastrous life situation to forcefully find a reason to believe in a higher being in his despair and to live a "better life" than he used to life. This philosophic backstory was something that hooked me in the first episodes. But even that element gets completely thrown out of the window after a few episodes. Although this story element is being refered to various times throughout the season it is not actively used as deeper writing element or put into a greater perspective. The whole anime would function the same way without it. The only good point the story has to offer is the presentation of strategic battle maneuvers and turning points which are heavily connected to both WW 1 and 2 warfare. They are easy to understand and logically explained and executed. On one hand this is a nice gimmick for history nerds but on the other it just adds to the overall setting conundrum the show suffers. Ah yes, characters always a great point of discussion, usually at least. In Youjo Senki it is what it is and as what it is it shall be described: Crap, utter garbage. From MC to what remotely can be viewed as a side cast. MC is constantly contradicting himself in his actions and statements over and over. He dismisses his goals coming into the new world throughout the show and just shits on everything his character his expected to achieve. There's no drive behind any of his actions, no meaning, no feelings, no purpose, no reason. There's basically zero personality behind MC and the other characters we remotely get to know. And why is MC a ducking Loli girl? It is completely unfitting and unsettling it makes absolutely no sense there's basically no more reason behind it other than being a gimmick to trick people into watching this. The story not once makes any use of this at all. Using a normal adult person would have made way more sense. Overall Youjo Senki scores with good background art. Besides the fact that most of the screenplay consist of showing a soggy gray cloudy sky or muddy battlefields which look decent but are highly repetitive there are a few good scenes which break that line. I liked the character design, above average IMO. Actions scenes look rather half-assed and are also very repetitively executed. The atmosphere delivered through animation meets the demand. Coming to notably the best thing about joujo senki: Sound. The OST really carries the otherwise tasteless experience to a somewhat watchable level. The merely intense combat has thrilling themes. Intense and chill dialogue is well rounded up with good background music. Every mayor scene is accompanied by a correspondingly fitting theme. Sound effects are exceptionally impactful especially in battles. However, just as the Ever-Given may have carried a lot of heavy weight through the Suez-Canal, it's of no use if it is piloted by a donkey. If you want to watch a show that somewhat depicts historic warfare this show is not for you. If you want to watch an isekai with an unconventional story and setting followed by reasonable characters this show is not for you either. Heck even if you think like the degenerate I am and just wanted to watch a Loli incarnation of Hitler this show isn't for you either. Clearly not recommended to watch. Besides its soundtrack this anime can legit only appeal to people who have as much taste as a leper who lost his tongue. Maybe some lamb sauce would have been the cutting edge.

Youjo Senki is a good choice for you if you'd enjoy watching an isekai that uses its setting to explore the mentality and goals of a selfish protagonist with self-preservation as their only goal. The goal of the main character is not to save the world or change it, but rather just to live a life in the safest and yet lucrative way available for them. It doesn't make any huge arguments or portrays any traces of wish fulfillment, unlike other isekai. However, this series becomes a bad choice if its main character which lacks moral fiber, will not have any compassion for anyone and has no intention of acting in the best interest of anyone other than themselves is something that can cripple you from enjoying the show. Truly the one thing this series presents and does well, is its main character, and the amount of other flaws the show has cannot draw anyone in unless Tanya is someone you can enjoy. Not tolerate, enjoy. Characterization: “A middle aged man that has psychopathic tendencies dies and then reincarnates into another world as a little blonde girl with magical powers, who then joins that world’s equivalent of the Nazis” Now, from just reading that description, I assumed that this is just going to be one big excuse for the show to constantly be edgy as fuck and just present constant over the top moments which may or may not be considered incredibly stupid. But frankly, I found that this show is not at all either of those things and the biggest tipping point in shattering that prejudice was the main character of the show, Tanya. You see, that description doesn’t capture the core of who the character that has been presented actually is, but rather just the elements that are out of the ordinary about the character. Tanya prior to her reincarnation was not just some old loser that happens to be a psychopath, but rather, an office worker that was career driven, that has the mentality of a pragmatic corporatist. sHe was tasked with laying off any worker that doesn’t deliver any results and aren’t efficient in the company. His approach was without sympathy, and the only thing that sHe considers is how sHe can benefit the company, acting in a way that seems to be devoid of empathy because the fact is, what sHe’s doing is going to deliver better results and the other party’s feelings are not going to help the company sHe is a part of. After this event, sHe then reflects on how his life should be a smooth ride because of how well he has integrated himself into the system, using it as a tool to have a comfortable life. This background has shown me that Tanya is a character that vows to have a comfortable life and is only as ambitious as the system sHe is a part of demands. Her main and only concern is herself but will play the part sHe’s asked to play within that system. sHe will fulfill her duties diligently with the hopes sHe will become important enough to the system to be given an important enough position to make her indispensable but not involve herself further than “all my needs are met right now and I feel safe because the system values me”. Eventually, one of the people laid off by Tanya kills her and that prompts Being X (God) to put Tanya through the process of reincarnation. Being X is unsatisfied that humans started lacking the morals instilled by the universe and their lack of faith is a concern. Given that Tanya tells Being X that sHe rejects its existence from both a realistic and rational point of view and sHe sees no need for the concept of God in his life, this makes Being X feel challenged. Due to the fact that Tanya outlines what made him feel secure in his life and not need faith in anything but what was in front of him, this prompts Being X to force Tanya to get reincarnated into a life where all the commodities he’s had are stripped away. So she’s reborn as an orphan and lives a life under more dire circumstances, with the hope that these circumstances will cause her to finally have faith in Being X. Naturally, Tanya will aspire to reclaim the sense of security and comfort she once had, so when the army discovers she has high potential for magic, she takes that opportunity to join the army, and treat it as an organization that can guarantee her safety and comfort. Most of the conflict she has to endure in the series is often not actually an immediate threat, as much as it is what the system demands of her, and how Being X tampers with the world to make sure she will never have a comfortable life again, not allowing her peace of mind or physical safety and manipulating circumstances for that very end. As her only career path available is “War”, she has never been allowed a dull moment. What I have expected out of the characterization of this series prior was seeing an edgelord living his wet dream of destroying the world and ruining people’s lives. Edge for the sake of edge. But what I found was something entirely different, as the character’s concern is not to use the world as an outlet to their unyielding rage, but rather, the world is an obstacle to their own safety that they try to overpower to the best of their abilities. Tanya’s selfishness and lack of sympathy for the world at large, which should make for an unredeemable edgelord, instead further accentuate Tanya’s motivation and what lifestyle deems would be best for her. Her flaws made her an interesting character for me, and her characterization has mostly been solid, save for a few pointless decisions taken in the process of adapting the anime. However, she is the only worthwhile character to see within the series, as the other characters are merely pawns that merely exist to move things along. They aren’t written to be foils or to challenge Tanya in any way. They just exist so they can be used to make Tanya’s circumstances either more difficult, or for Tanya to use as some sort of resource. They are sheets of paper with just a few scribbles on them. In the future I hope there will be more active participants in the story that have at least half as much identity as Tanya does. Execution & Appeal: One of the choices the anime has taken is to make Tanya take some more cruel acts and be more ruthless than she was in the source material. I assume this is for shock value and attract as many edgelords as possible, but I don’t believe making a character even more unsympathetic is a particularly good decision. I get that a lot of shows bank on the show being an edgy cool thing, please be shocked at how much blood is spilling from my wrists. But shock factor is at the very best one tool to engage the audience to be used in moderation. The series seems to have enough meat without needing to make the show more bombastic through such elements. If anything, the show for me would’ve been more interesting if it simply focused on Tanya’s thoughts and mental state consistently, and displayed further the type of person she is. You can display ruthlessness without unneeded cruelty. Now I do not want you to misunderstand. It’s not that Tanya’s ruthlessness is not a core element of the character. But the reasoning behind that trait can be misinterpreted due to its execution. Tanya is not ruthless because she takes sadistic enjoyment out of being cruel. Tanya is ruthless because she is selfish and she doesn’t have empathy for the people around her. This might sound like it should have the same result but it does not. Not caring means that you have no qualms with using people for your own ends and if they suffer for your selfish goals, be it physically or emotionally, so be it. That’s a neutral stance on it, because while that is an option, it brings no joy to the character. However in the show, Tanya acts crueler and seems to take even more enjoyment out of other people’s suffering, even forcing two subordinates within a role she was sure for certain they would die while fulfilling. It’s one thing to find unsympathetic a character that does not care because they are just not capab…

Review for Saga of Tanya the Evil otherwise known as war chronicles of a little girl. Narrative The story is not necessarily about the war chronicles of a little girl, actually the show is about a Japanese business man who works as a HR manager in the year 2012. He dies an expected death when one of the employees in the company he works in pushes him in front of a train to kill him but before the business man dies god stops time moments before his death to start lecturing him about faith and morality moments before his death. God wills him to be reborn in the body of a little girl named Tanya in an alternate history ww1 in the not German empire. In the show you get to see a very interesting alternate history of ww1 where the show explores philosophy, atheism VS theism, science, war tactics, the reality of war, and various sociological concepts like using economic theory to determine people’s actions, signaling theory, Stanford’s prison experiment and you will get to live though other interesting topics through the protagonist. Animation The animation of the anime is excellent and very high quality and only a few shows I have seen have better animation. Studio NUT has really done a great job with this show, the show has a little bit of CGI but so little it is hardly noticeable 3D graphics and it seems like everything was animated in 2D. the action and fight scenes in the show are well scripted and look amazing. Recommendation Do I recommend you buy, rent or pass on watching this show? I would suggest that you buy this show its first season and look forward to its second season as there are very few shows like this being so interesting going over various things with such interesting, well developed characters. Most shows you will see don’t stand out and don’t have anything interesting to say and fall under typical tropes like good VS evil, a love story, a drama or a comedy but saga of Tanya the evil is a interesting story rarely if ever been done before quite like this about person VS god while exploring in depth the choices the character makes and why they do what they do and think what they think and know what they know. If you really enjoyed the anime I would also suggest you read the manga and the light novels by Carlo Zen. “Any literature that refuses to step in line with science and philosophy, is homicidal and suicidal literature” Charles Baudelaire Quote Posted 3 March, 2018.

miracles are just illusions caused by insufficient observation and understanding. they are just........glorious misunderstanding. make way for the next generation isekai! its actually been a long time since i have seen an anime that builds its society in such a deep level. if you write this anime into a book, it might even look like a history book in some section. with the combination of politics, military, magic and loli. i will recommend the anime to anyone who likes op and straightforward MC who is pretty much a villain in the core. XD story - 9/10: the story is based on the context of WWI, as evidenced in the anime, they still uses trench method of fighting, but all side have already developed Gatling machine guns and long range artillery. on top of that, there are a group of people who can use their mana to use charged weapons, which they are called the mages. the story was how Tanya, the MC, used her cursed power which was given or 'blessed' by the God to create a storm in this bloody battlefield, which ultimately made the Empire where the MC belongs to the strongest country mankind have ever known. as a finally-passed-newbie state MAL user, i liked the story quite a bit even though i wasn't expecting too much out of it at the beginning, but one can not only judge from its cover, after the first episode, it really made my heart race from just seeing those epic battle scenes. Art - 7/10: well, the art is actually not too bad if you are talking about everyone and everything about the anime except the MC and her assistant who are actually meant to be cute and charming looking, especially the assistant. but the result drawing was just unbelievable, i don't know if they purposely did that because its a shonen or they just don't want any ultra cute soldiers in their anime. but despite the art for women, every male character looks pretty damn likeable. every single one of them have completely unique feature and they all look powerful and cunning which gave the anime a completely new feel. sound - 9/10: the OSTs in this anime was absolutely brilliant. there are always a blood pumping orchestra playing in the background whenever a battle is going on, and they did a really good job of knowing when to pause the music. unlike comedy, this dark themed series dosent always need music, a silence in some part can be really dramatic and suspenseful, which i think they did a really good job on it. characters - 8/10: Degurechaff Tanya was unarguably our lead female MC in this series. despite having the appearance of a 9 years old girl, she earned the title of 'devil of the Rhine' for her ruthlessness and total invincibility on battlefield. which led to our suspicion of her actually been the antagonist of the anime. this however was quite a enjoyable point in the setting. apart from the MC, the first support came down to her assistant, who compare to Tanya, was like angel in the battalion. with her supposed cute appearance, kind heart, and the blush when scolded. she was simply the the best female character of the serie. overall, i gave the anime a 9/10, which in my opinion is a reasonable number. people says that this is really similar to overlord, but i just cant imagine what are the similarity apart from both MC been the 'villains'. rather in here, she's meant to be protagonist and we the audience suspect her to be a villain and in Overlord, the skeleton dude was supposed to be a villain but he did nothing but helping villagers. again, i thought this is a really well-made anime which everyone should spend some time and have a look.

The diabolical ball of joy that is Tanya, see as she reins in the very heart of the skies as she battles for the "GLORY TO THE FATHERLAND". I wish this was a game like Valkyrie chronicles, its so good... I was entertained as she used nothing but wit and the good graces of god of war to rise threw the ranks, to become a feared as well as well respected solider. what really intrigued me the most of all while watching this very strongly narrative driven ensemble of amazing characters, was here sheer genius and ingenuity, is her countless conversations displaying a high level of intellect. that is simply "delicious" It was a joy to watch as a rag-tag cast of characters slowly meshed together in the fires of war, ah, so sweet, ah, so exquisitely delectable, what a fine meal, this 12-part anime was. It takes more than a keen mind to flow threw the politics of war on and off the battle filed, it becomes naught but a tribute, a testing ground to the greater question that races threw, many an intellects mind, upon examining the human condition. bravo, an excellent piece.

Youjo Senki is a twelve episode anime from earlier this year. It was brought to us by NUT. So far, this series and its recap episode are NUT's only aired productions. It's based off of an ongoing light novel by Zen Carlo. So, we have an anime from a new studio based on a light novel I've never heard of with an author I know nothing about. How exciting for us. Story: The series opens with Tanya, our protagonist, leading a squadron of mages in the Rhine in some bloody skirmishes. We then go back and see that our narrative opens properly with a salary man firing someone for incompetence. It's clear from the narration that he has no sense of empathy and he's just coldly doing his work. Just when you're wondering how this remotely connects to the stuff from earlier, he's pushed in front of a train. Time stops and he starts talking with Being X, a powerful creature who claims to be god and in charge of the cycle of reincarnation. X sends our protagonist to another world, saying that he will make him acknowledge him as god by making his situation desperate. Our protagonist becomes Tanya, with his personality and memories intact. Tanya's magical potential is quickly discovered and she joins the military. At least this series gives her an early childhood to get used to a drastic change in gender and uses reincarnation as the tool for it instead of having her be changed by aliens and instantly okay with it for no adequately explored reason, looking at you, Kashimashi. Of course, this series does have some issues. Being X's interest in this one person doesn't make a whole lot of sense. Yeah, they won't acknowledge you as being god. Why not find some people who will instead of wasting a bunch of time on this one person? Is it because you consider it a challenge? Also, if you wanted to make things desperate for her then why did you give her a massive amount of magical power? Is Being X a part of the Q continuum playing a game with a different member of the continuum where they each take turns using their powers to do different things to this poor girl to see how she'll respond? One reincarnates her as a little girl in another world, the next comes in and gives her a lot of magic to undermine the first and so on. Maybe it's explained in the light novels that go beyond the anime, but it seems kind of flimsy here. The narrative itself also follows a rather predictable path. Once they introduce a situation, it's pretty obvious where they're going to go with it. There's never a point where they subvert your expectations and do the unexpected. Except in terms of the military allowing a little girl to join. That's pretty bizarre. That being said, it is still kind of compelling to watch. This series borrows a lot from all of those JRPGs where your party has to fight against the arrogant god-figure who sadistically toys with ordinary mortals. Which I'm okay with because I like a lot of those games; FF Tactics, Breath of Fire, Xenogears, FF Legend, Shin Megami Tensei. Etc... So, it's kind of interesting to see a lot of their basic tropes converted to a different medium. The series is good at setting up parallels between this world of magic and our world and of having Tanya use our strategic history to her advantage. And the strategies she suggests are kind of clever. They aren't basic nonsense that any grade schooler knows like disguising yourselves as the other guys nor do they only work because the enemies act like morons. Ginga Eiyuu Densetsu should take notes. Characters: This is one of those series that tries to make its characters both pretty unsympathetic & complex. Like Dune or Watchmen before it. Does it succeed? Kind of. Tanya is a character who's motivated entirely by self interest. If she does something for one of the troops under her command, it's probably so that she looks good. It's established right from the beginning that she doesn't much care for them or their lives and she will send them to their deaths without any real concern. The main thing that makes her kind of interesting is her feud with Being X. You would think she'd be willing to acknowledge him as “god” just to make things easier for herself, given her general outlook. But she steadfastly refuses and defies him at every turn. We see her stubbornness come into play a few other times too but never to the same extent. Being X is pretty much the standard god-figure from those aforementioned games. An arrogant prick who toys with mortals and demands praises. The various supporting characters vary. A lot of them don't have much in terms of personality. Some of them are about as developed as you could reasonably manage for a side character in a twelve episode series. Art: The art style in this is kind of interesting. The facial designs are really expressive. I particularly like the way they do Tanya's smirk. The series is also good about creating an otherworldly atmosphere when Being X shows up. The only real issue I have is that there are times when the characters look like they're superimposed over the backgrounds instead of blending in. It's an effect rather like looking at a part of a film where it's really bloody obvious the actors are in front of a green screen. Sound: They got some pretty good actors. Yuuki Aoi takes on the role of our heroine. Hayami Saori voices our most important secondary character and the Being X vocal effect is pretty grandiose. I have more mixed feelings towards the music. The incidental music tends to be decent enough but I kind of really dislike the theme tunes. Most of them have that heavily synthesised quality you tend to get when someone can't sing and is relying on auto-tune to make it sound like they can. Ho-yay: There isn't really any romance in this series, ho-yay or otherwise. Final Thoughts: Youjo Senki is one of those series that's interesting enough for me to want to see a follow up but not strong enough for me to call it good. It's all right and if NUT does a follow up I'll definitely review that when it's finished but, for the moment, there are too many unaddressed questions. Especially Being X's motivations behind this level of interest in one person. It's also a tad too predictable. It's a decent start, but it needs to do some more work on developing its ideas. My final rating is going to sit at a respectable 6/10. Next week we'll look at Arion. I don't think the film is actually about the immortal horse, but we'll see.

Youjo Senki has an interesting and relatively new premise for me, where an unbeliever is reincarnated in a troubled world in which he needs to turn around, as a trial of a deity who wants him, a cold, calculating man, to gain faith in divinity. His reincarnation in this peculiar world where magic is part of the military makes things much more interesting, giving a mystical touch to war. The narrative of the story, unfortunately, dragged itself for some time, making an exercise of the protagonist simply being invincible. This only came to change from episode 6 onwards. The studio, NUT, founded by former members of the Madhouse, encountered a number of difficulties throughout the adaptation. This, unfortunately, has disrupted the experience of many viewers. However, far from it means that the studio is bad, it was able to stand out and recover from episode 7 onwards. Youjo Senki ended up with our protagonist seeing to what extent the "Existence X" would go so that he could have faith in him for the first time. Beyond, of course, the world war that would follow from then on because of the weakness and stupidity of the high echelon she served. Youjo Senki is a medium-sized work with an interesting proposal. The play has a series of imperfections and problems in the middle, yet it managed to finish decently. In my analysis, it is a good work.

[6.5/10] _____________________________________________________________________________________________________ The year of surprises. Recently, both western media and anime have been surprising me, usually in a good way. From Kong to Dragon Maids, I've found shockingly enjoyable entertainment in places where I really wouldn't expect it to be. Maybe i'm becoming softer, as the escapist entertainment slowly drags me through the depths of "why don't you just have fun!" and "just turn your brain off, dude!" and whatever other insipid statements tend to spring from the bad taste crowd. I'm not above making fun of someone for the kind of shit they watch, so when i'm conscious of the kind of shit i'm watching, well, it creates a whole new self-aware dynamic within my mind. I think that's my own idiosyncrasy though. I try to be as tepid as possible whenever introduced with an outlandish concept, like a salary man-turned loli in an alt-world war 1 with magic. Maybe that's why I've been getting surprised more and more. Gauging how excited you are can possibly salvage an iffy premise. Youjo Senki, or Saga of Tanya the Evil is one of those premises that becomes synonymous with stereotypes in anime. I'm prone to indulging in those stereotypes too. Whether it be laughing at blunt storytelling, bad character chemistry, or more vague things like farcical story concepts, like meeting a dragon while drunk and having it turn into a cute girl who is also a maid. Concepts that are generally reserved to this kind of escapist entertainment also known as anime. Senki is no different. But surprisingly, it does have some pretty awesome and memorable qualities about it. I feel like this is what some action fans may be looking for. As someone who has come to the conclusion that action anime isn't all up my alley simply due to the way the way it is very often constructed. Senki surprised me. It's strange because I am definitely a huge action fan in the live action medium, as well as a huge horror fan (anime doesn't really have much horror, though), yet the kinds of shows I've seen within this animated medium haven't done all that much to impress me with the action itself. Maybe i'm being overly cynical since I really dug Kill La Kill, and thought Mob Psycho 100 was pretty solid recently, as well, and while Mob definitely excelled in its action, Kill La Kill was more interesting to me with its characters. I guess what i'm saying is that my experience with the actual action in action anime has been rough. Here is where Youjo Senki comes in. While not something that is revolutionary or particularly awe-inspiring, there are elements here that any action fan can really get behind, not another dragged out twenty episode Shounen. _____________________________________________________________________________________________________ [The War] As I briefly explained, a salary man gets murdered by a co-worker he just fired and gets reincarnated into a German loli who tests positive for "magical capabilities" and becomes a powerful, yet very young battle mage in what can only be described as World War 1 Alt-Germany. With all the other parallels to other countries landing square in the "tasteful" zone. This salary man-turned-loli is incredibly cynical. Of humanity, faith, and just about anything in between. He gets greeted by a "god", which he aptly refers to as Being X who gives him the opportunity for reincarnation but only if he takes up the name of the lord, pretty much. Of course this cynical guy doesn't want to do that, hence getting transported into wartime. The interest here stems from his relation with this pho-God and how this "God" is portrayed. Greedy, unfair, and somewhat petty, similar to some of our gods, but not all-knowing. So a battle begins. Being X fights for this salary man's faith, and the salary man, who is now Tanya Degurachaff, fights with all her will to never bow to a being like this. A fight of faith versus humanity, with the humanity being cynical of humanity. Interesting, but may straddle the line of pettiness. Thankfully, Senki never journeys deep into that rabbit hole, and apart from a very well-placed monologue towards the end of the show, this show stays preach-free, which is a big thumbs up. Again, that stereotype of "moralistic anime preachiness" is, maybe not subverted, but surprisingly not all there. Tanya rises in the ranks, trying to establish a comfy space in the back-lines, but gets constantly thrown face-first into the brunt of the action. She ends up commanding a battalion of semi-forgettable characters that follow her headlong into battle. Her stature (and age) are questioned, but only lightly, creating a very strange verisimilitude within this world. On one hand this is absurd, on the other hand this introduction of magic can actually excuse their recruitment of such a young officer. She's prone to incredibly powerful magic, but not powerful enough to be some overpowered main character, which prevents this show's Shounen-action roots from showing at all. Senki feels more of a globe-trotting adventure with a lot of very colorful pit-stops. Very similar to something like a Call of Duty campaign. Not necessarily a bad thing, especially since this show puts a lot of effort into creating political conflict which ends up being back-ended by the action. Not every episode ends with action, and not every episode really needs to. Tanya, and her VA, Aoi Yuuki, do an outstanding job in conveying this persons feelings as the show progresses, even if sometimes I could do without the constant introspection. It always feels as though the war is bigger than Tanya herself, even if she is responsible for a very powerful battalion of mages. Which is great. This is a massive war with a lot of political ideologies colliding and it really wouldn't make sense to put this character at the forefront of it all, even if her eventual influence on a lot of the leaders who we see constantly sitting around important tables talking politics and smoking cigars feels a little too easy. The technology of this war is confusing, but I suppose it ought to be. Being X is constantly interfering with other people, giving them advice and occasionally even empowering them with more powerful magic. The progression of technology is sudden and important, as years pass in the blink of an eye. I think Senki is at fault with not showing character growth as these years pass, which is unfortunately up to the artists to do, by aging Tanya accordingly. While she definitely matures in the sense that she becomes more seasoned to the war, no character feels different after the multiple-year conflict, visually. No scars, nothing. _____________________________________________________________________________________________________ [Presentation] The presentation is a bit of a mixed bag, however, there is definitely more positives to be said. The best thing I can say about Senki is how breathtaking its sound design is for a low budget TV anime. The gunshots, explosions, and everything in between sound crisp and powerful. Some moments truly stand out due to the sound, here. The OP and ED aren't too bad, inhabiting a grunge-rock base with some more pop-oriented elements thrown in during their chorus. I think they are good enough to be memorable. The OP itself is somewhat disappointing, with boring imagery and overall not too much creativity injected in it. The sequences where new-comer studio NUT put visible effort into turned out awe-inspiring. Especially a prolonged ten-minute battle sequence near the end of the season was truly one of the better sequences in recent memory. However, there is some really blatant and unfortunately bad use of CG throughout the shows less-than-exceptional battles. One glaring moment was with a battleship cruising on what I believe was 'water' but the rendering was so hideous that it looked like a PS1 game. There is some frame rate issues with s…

Youjo Senki asks the question “If the reason for lack of faith in a higher power is the lack of need to yearn for the peace of mind granted by the concept of a higher being that will see you through the tough times, how far can you break someone before they start seeking comfort in a higher power? A greater purpose? A deeper meaning?” It then follows it up with the question “How much of the story can you sacrifice for the sake of spectacle?” The answer apparently to the last question is “pretty damn much”. But first, the watching order for Youjo Senki. Start with Episode 2, then Episode 3. Episode 1 occurs in the middle of Episode 3 but I recommend watching Episode 3 first and then go back to Episode 1. You can skip Episode 1 but it does provide a good spectacle. And ultimately, that’s what the show is despite its great concept: a spectacle. I cannot ultimately judge a show by its first season alone though but judging the first season’s ability to stand on its own is not without merit, no? Let’s get right to it. Youjo Senki lacks sufficient character development given that it desires character-driven drama. That problem is the most glaring. The most painful part is that the show tried. It just didn’t do so well. We see Tanya scheme and we see the scheme backfires at her. We see her plan based on the knowledge she retains from our world. We see her develop a sense of camaraderie with the men under her command. We see her rage as events beyond her control cascade around her. It makes for a fun watch. But it ultimately does not advance her character in any significant way because the need for spectacle supersedes the need for character development. Tanya is grounded to a world she is not invested in. She only cares about herself. She has nothing to lose and that gets in the way of tension. Without risk, there is no drama. Being X is simply a monster generator at this point, creating more and more powerful enemies for Tanya to overcome with no rhyme or reason. Their dynamic is ruined because the show forgets that love is an emotion just as strong as hate. The show taps on to hate and threatens to leave the viewers detached as Tanya's proverbial hate-boner stiffens because the only reason we have to be even invested in her is because she is the MC and by extension her enemies are ours too. Well it's not. Love and hate are two sides of the coin that is the basic currency of drama, the currency of investment. Love a character and you'll inevitably despise her enemy. But Being X is now merely a phenomenon, not a character. And with nothing to lose, Tanya is virtually without weakness. It’s for that reason that the fights are just purely spectacle instead of a narrative. The battles that should have developed the character and the story became a sport of how fast and how spectacularly can she mow down her enemies. Good rule of thumb: “A fight must not break the narrative, but rather reinforce it. If the story has to be put on hold for the fight to occur, that fight shouldn’t occur at all.” But for what it’s worth, this show is enjoyable. And we don’t know to what heights it can truly soar until its story ends. So for now, enjoy. This is Studio Nut’s first splash and I must say they did a splendid job, my complaints notwithstanding.

Saga of Tanya the Evil (Youjo Senki) is a very original and memorable isekai. But first things first. The setting is very original for an anime, and there more so for an isekai. An alternate Europe during the time of the first world war. I'd say it's like a mixture of World War I and World War II. And the main feature of this world from ours is magic. It makes the battles more colorful. The protagonist is not a typical good guy, but completely the opposite; this breaks the cliches of isekai. The cliches of typical isekai are broken here in general. True, I would not call Tanya the incarnation of evil either, as they try to present it to us. This world is full of wars, and everyone kills each other. On all sides. Everyone has a family, and soldiers are driven, as it seems to them, by the defense of their own family and the country where they were born and raised. Tanya is a soldier for the Empire, and she's doing what anyone else would do. Actually, the positive thing is that we are not shown everything in such a way that there is good and there is evil. We are shown that on the other side of the soldiers also have loved ones, and so make us sympathize with them, too, reminding us what war is really like. There is no good side here. The visuals are good. Action is good. Also, from the positives, I would like to note details, such as the Palace of the Soviets, that in this world it was built, and it reminds us once again that this is an alternative world, that the actions take place in an alternative world line. It's a very nice detail. (This scene comes after the series in the following movie, but it's worth mentioning in the context of the whole anime). So, we can move on to the negatives. Tanya's entire battalion is completely unmemorable and has unremarkable characters. I can only note Lieutenant Serebryakova, and that's because she is just very cute. And Tanya herself, of course. And the main problem here is the central conflict on which the anime stands. The conflict between a God and a random atheist is just stupid. God cared so much about the opinion of a random atheist, and he was so hurt by it, he decided to punish him by reincarnating him in the body of an orphan girl in a world full of war and also giving her super strength, which is illogical on his part. And the fact that Tanya is forced to praise God shows that almighty herself is offended by that. He doesn't have to be that way. God is literally forcing an atheist to praise him this way while knowing that he doesn't recognize him anyway, and this is so important for him. It's nonsense. That's the main problem, and that's what the conflict of the entire anime is based on. Youjo Senki is problematic because of its stupid conflict between God and person, and this is the basis of the whole anime, but it's a very original issekai, with a very interesting and original protagonist who breaks stereotypes and cliches, and stands out from the other protagonists of other isekai animes, also very original and interesting setting in the form of an alternative Europe, with good action and visuals. Overall, I liked it. Good show.

a military anime that actually focuses on strategy, the horrific realities of war, and political maneuvering. the animation is some of madhouse’s best work and in tandem with the orchestral soundtrack it really draws the viewer in. if you’re a military history buff you’re going to like it as long as you recognize that it takes elements from multiple wars and isn’t just an alternate history story about ww2. Even strictly shonen watchers will be get a lot out of this short series, as the action sequences are some of the best. and if you’re not into a lot of military fiction you can still enjoy the political intrigue and interesting characters.

This is a fairly unique type of isekai anime that includes war, death and insanity, without feeling overly dark or dramatic. Which is why it's understandable how most mellow sheep who enjoy anime along the lines of "Kenja no Mago" and its tropes feel put off. Youjo Senki is unique in a haystack of mediocre isekais with brain-dead MC's, two-dimensional storylines full of side-branches without an ending existing, and humor that makes anyone with half a brain cell frown. Not even cringe at the stupidity, just frown at how dumb the author takes its audience to be, which from the results of all those isekais shows there's an actual audience for it. Go figure. Youjo Senki's visuals are amazing, the soundtrack gets your blood pumping, and the side characters have a depth beyond being an accessory to elevate the MC's power, intelligence or just being there for a simple side quest. This isn't an anime where you can just shut your brain off or go do something else, missing half the season, and not actually losing anything vital for understanding the show. Tanya's insanity is a bonus that I personally greatly appreciate. If you want something that's actually worth a watch, give this a go.

Honestly I really enjoyed it. I was worried the 35 year old man in a loli's body was going to be weird but you get over it pretty quickly and thankfully no lewd and uncomfortable jokes are made about it. Story's top notch for an isekai, art is amazing, sound is great (ending theme is straight fire). Over all I'd give it a 9. This only thing that bugs me is Viktoriya's character design. It's so bad, and is the sole reason I didn't give this a 10. Beginning of the anime your immediately thrown into a very brutal representation of WWII. No mans lands, artillery, machines guns, barbed wire, mud, the whole shabang. It was ART until Viktoriya appeared. Right before a German solider gets blown to smithereens, in comes anime girl from Japan saving the day! What the hell? She looks so out of place! No other character has a design like her. Everyone, with the exception of Tanya, looks like a normal human being. Tanya's character model work well since she's a child and the main protagonist but Viktoriya's just constantly looks fake and out of place with her big skyscraper eyes and smooth featureless face. Her design kills the vibe and there's no way I could ever tolerate those sideways eyelashes. Rant aside, I really fell in love with the show. I watched the anime first, read the manga second. The manga is reads completely different than the show. I really liked both of them and even though they are vastly different, I can't really decide which is better. For example, the anime has a better portrayal of what Being X's is but the manga explains God's involvement and motivations better. If you really liked the anime, you should give the manga a read to see just how different things are.

This is a gem of a show. Few animes are able to take historical wars and add "magical/supernatural" elements that make it still feel historical and appealing. I went into this blind only seeing maybe 1 minute of footage beforehand and I greatly enjoyed it. The use of mages as airborn troops/scouts/artillery kinda made sense in the way that they never felt truly overpowered just in special division of their own. Kinda like how ships fight ships, planes fight planes, and sometimes they fight eachother. Mages are just weapons of war and Tanya is one of the most vicious tools of war the Empire has at their disposal. The battles are very well drawn and the sound effects added to them make each fight feel unique. There is no recycled footage for the most part every fight is one of kind in the series. The one drawback is that obviously the show is named after the protagonist and she is built up as an overpowered character. There's no sense of "will she lose" only "how will she win?" Though the 12 episode series ended well to where they could do a 2nd season showing how Tanya could fall and end the series for good. I'm not sure if there a manga that continues this but i really hope that this show gets a movie or two or a 2nd season because when it ended i just wanted more!

Tanya the Evil is a really good military movie with the lesson of the story being fu*k god. The animation most of the time is smooth but at times the cg is too much and for a second takes you out of the scene. The story being overall solid with some pacing issues that took me out of the story and making me check my phone. Tanya is the highlight of the series and easily the most memorable while the side characters can be easily forgettable. I still firmly believe that the title of the anime should have been "The Saga of Tanya the Devil" rather than "The Saga of Tanya the Evil", cause more or less Tanya hasn't really done anything evil and the title Tanya the devil emphasizes the nickname that was given to her in the series being The Devil of the Rhine. The most disappointing character of the series is being X, i hope that he was developed better because he felt like a plot device to enhance the antagonist of the series.

Am I the only one here who do want to see Tanya Degurechaff grow while hoping she stays at the same age? Yes? No? Well... Youjo Senki or Saga of Tanya the Evil is a story of reincarnated salaryman who wakes up inside a blonde baby girl in a German-ish country right in the middle of a stagnant war. I was captivated with this anime by how it bring us the strategies within the war and not just that "they attack, I defend" kind of thing. Yes, war strategies with a little spice of politics and "Being X" mixed inside would be the best to describe Youjo Senki. They never describe mages as the strongest forces in the world but a quick and fast to react force that could be used as a new way of strategy. In this anime, I could say that mages is some kind of their Scout class. They are the first one to be out of the gate to wreak the havoc behind the enemy's line while the others progress at the front line. Youjo Senki's writer really optimized that and wrote the strategies based on those ground. For me, Tanya while being branded as evil from everywhere, she is not so evil as what she wants is living safely and peacefully. She tried her best to stop the war as she has that dream and obsession to beat Being X those drive her to do so. I love how they made Tanya frustrated over not being stop the war for good. I know from many books and websites of histories, that it was a mistake to overlook French Navy's escape to Africa and Tanya, who knew that from her previous life, took that to heart and fell into frustration as she was just a soldier who must obey the higher-ups. Her dream and obsession are two kind of thing that drives the character of Tanya and made her a very solid character. While watching this anime, I have a good advice for you all. Don't watch this anime on full volume if you are wearing a headset. While the soundtracks are brimming with that military vibes, the sound effect will definitely make you deaf if you listen on full volume. While it is bad for your ear, I think it is a good way to immerse the war vibe in this anime as every bullet and shots being thrown must be deafening in real life, too. If you are not bothered to hurt your ear just to immerse yourself, don't say that I did not give you any warning. Overall, I really enjoyed this anime being a tactical military drama that rarely I found in an anime with mages involved. With how the anime ended, I really look forward its movie and wish for another season for this anime.