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「狂気の幕開け」 (Kyouki no makuake)
“Beginning of Madness”
For better or worse (mostly better), Youjo Senki seems to have found its groove. It’s a foregone conclusion that Tanya will end up obliterating something in any given episode, with the only surprise being who and in what capacity. This week of course saw the Scandinavian stand-ins wind up as the designated punching bag, and was it ever a one-sided ravaging. I mentioned it before, but what makes Tanya’s antics so amusing is her external (i.e. visual) attitude. Yuuki Aoi’s voice acting and Tanya’s facial expressions complement each other so well you can feel the anticipation and excitement just before our little loli engages the overdrive. Tanya’s demeanour likewise transforms otherwise typical war scenes like the mission briefing from easily forgotten buildups into entertaining interludes.
The one noticeable concern I have now, however, is Tanya’s lack of clear weakness. Others have pointed it out before, but I think this episode highlights the Mary Sue (Gary Stu?) issue the best. We had the first serious talk on mage limitations in the form of altitude, which Tanya (and her battalion) of course are not bound by. Combine that with the godly magic device our little loli possesses, her ability to crush everything she comes across, and a newfound magic tracing power, and I’m hard pressed to identify something actually holding her back. Yes we can go into personality and Tanya’s inability to think beyond rational models, or even Tanya’s subordination to the Imperial General Staff, but so far these elements have not provided any significant consequences beyond stalled staff promotion. It seems whatever situation Tanya is thrown into, she comes out relatively unscathed.
Thankfully though we have the ever trusty God Being X to fall back upon as a source of pain. God seems to have abandoned the carrot in favour of the stick, possessing dead bodies to malevolently let our little loli know he is done waiting. Nothing is off the table apparently as God has deemed it worthwhile to use peoples and nations as pawns in the struggle for divine supremacy. Literally moving heaven and earth in the name of religious conversion is a new one, but definitely opens doors for throwing something interesting and challenging at Tanya. My hope is this new development yields a situation Tanya cannot solve by simply blasting her way through it by herself. Introducing personnel deaths, giving Tanya the taste of defeat and/or calling her skill into question would let us see how well she performs under pressure, plus make these well-choreographed battles even more interesting. Doubly so if Tanya encounters an enemy who is as every bit skilled as she and potentially as ruthless to boot. Considering the focus on the earlier enemy captain, we might not have long to wait.
While some interesting pieces have now emerged here, looks like we will have to wait a bit to see how it all plays out. Next week is a recap episode, which means a two week break before we see what crazy shenanigans Tanya gets up to again. Might seem bad on the surface, but trust me, the anticipation will make Youjo Senki’s return all the more better 😛
Preview
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How did you know it’s a recap pancake?
Announced on the official website, plus the MAL forums have a thread on it. It makes some sense too because this episode was supposedly finished late, resulting in the delayed subs.
https://randomc.net/image/Youjo%20Senki/Youjo%20Senki%20-%2006%20-%20Large%2011.jpg
Anyone can identify this heavy bomber? Is it a Tupolev TB3? If we can nail that, we can determine what year the series is in at the moment.
I really felt that Tanya was trolling us by not getting the Luftwaffe interceptors up in the air. That’ll definitely nail the year or at least, narrow down which year(s) it might be.
Right now, not-Germany is at war with not-France, not-England and not-Russia right? What are the odds of not-USA joining the war?
Not russia – has a non-aggression pact with the empire
Officially it’s not-france and not-sweden that are at war with the empire
Not UK – is still officially neutral but sending support in form of spying and volunteers and supplies
Hmm… I just checked out Wiki and yea… Not-Russia is now not-Soviet Union. So that rules it out as a Tupolev TB3… that’s puts this at what, 1917 – 1918 time frame?
So than, which not-Royal Flying Coprs or not-French Air Force bomber than?
I recall someone mentioned the bomber is similar to a Blériot 127 except it has a co pilot seat (pilot+ co-pilot+ 3 gunners) vs the real bomber (pilot+ 3 gunners)
I agree on Blériot 127 but that plane also had interior bomb bay not external. And this is a between the war design fitting the date in the story. The Blériot 127 had a 24,000 ft top hight. But I now recall a good reason the bombers were so low, they were having fun firing down on the poor mages to support their sides mages. So the bombers in this story might have been to high for Tanya to get to if they had not been shooting mages.
Took a quick check and yes it’s a Blériot 127.
The Armee de l’ Air flew it in mid 20s to 1934. So can we guesstimate that it’s mid 20s in the anime?
perhaps blowing this hut up, is the point where “official” not-uk Joins the War. Like sinking an Passenger Ship, let US joint the War in our History
@Velvet Scarlantina: “The Armee de l’ Air flew it in mid 20s to 1934. So can we guesstimate that it’s mid 20s in the anime?”
Ep 04 opened up with the heading “Unified Year 1924…”. Not sure if that is supposed to precisely match some corresponding RL timeline, but seems to be pretty close.
I totally missed that
Not England and Russia not in the war. England’s observers were in the shack Tanya blew up.
On the funny note I found out that the newly promoted Norden Colonel is named Anson Sue and his daughter’s name is Mary XD
So god is basically creating more work for himself by accelerating the world war scenario (more people getting killed / need to reincarnate) all in the hopes of making tanya acknowledge him as a divine being.
Tanya was right in refusing to acknowledge such an irrational being.
Yep and Anson Sue will die by Tanya’s hand so later second or third season Mary Sue, better in every way to Tanya, will come on the scene. Only way they get away with this plot is it sounds like something being X would come up with to really rub it in that X was behind creating a Mary Sue.
With that family picture focused on so intently, I think the implications of inevitable death are clear 😛
Welp…. looks like we can see a foreshadowing on who’s gonna be the rival of our little devil xD
Although to be fair to Tanya, she always had that magic detection ability. Part of the reason why enemy mages find it so hard to hit her (other than being a small target) After her training stint in Norden she learned how to notice the targetting spells being cast on her.
Granted the anime does a poor job of showing it earlier vs the manga and light novels
Yeah that part definitely wasn’t highlighted until now in the anime. It makes sense given everything else going on, but it probably irked me here because it popped up out of nowhere this episode.
I have not been worried about a Mary Sue situation because named mages has been discussed for the allies too. This is war the other side will come up with something to counter you if that side is big enough to hang in and make it. The world wars are full of Tanya like situations, one side comes up something that allows them to trash the other side bad then the trashed side matches it or comes up with an alternative. Modern Infantry tactics almost allow German Stormtroopers to win the war countered by the deployment of the tank. Air power not so decisive as it was to primitive and both sides had it.
Hey the Red Barron went on a tear for quite awhile, took a few vacations even, before they brought him down. Can’t Tanya have string of victories before she meets hardship? I have been confident Tanya would crush for awhile and then second half of season maybe near the end hit a set back. Otherwise you get a grind of despair type of story as the hero keeps being defeated so you have to have patience and savor the build up. This story more real war like with hero going quite awhile before the first real challenge.
The altitude in this story is probably poorly translated. Every battle seams to be fought under the first layer at clouds with Tanya going to the top of the cloud. I not a expert but the clouds look like Stratocumulus usually between 6500 and 8,000 ft which fits this battle with the bombers up at 9,000 ft. 9,000 meters is a tad under 30,000 ft and that oxygen mask work. Short search shows that 15,000ft was a common level that some planes flew at. A very common French bomber toped out at 19,000ft so the bombers in the story were still on the low side off doing things. Short look seams they might be in between the wars craft as cockpits were not enclosed but they were single wing aircraft. Like to get this clarified sometime.
I’m not so sure. I’m pretty sure by this point in the LN she’d fought a battalion called ‘the Named killer’ (might have been that Sue guy’s battalion, or one of the other early ones) and spanked them.
I’d prefer it of course if enemy Named started putting up more of a fight, but I don’t really see it at once. I think her trials will be more in the sense that she can’t be everywhere on multand the top brass are going to work her unit like draft horses, as she said in her speech.
‘I think her trials will be more in the sense that she can’t be everywhere on multiple fronts and the top brass are going to work her unit like draft horses, as she said in her speech.’, excuse me.
@Guile
Even giving her a challenge is enough IMO, Tanya doesn’t need to lose, just not simply roll over the competition with ease. For all it’s fun watching her break stuff, eventually it will grow boring without something to spice it up.
First off, again want to comment on the general visual quality. Thought some of the backgrounds were nice, and still appreciate the darker grey-brown tones for the battlefield. Really do set the right atmosphere. That being said, while I know some are enjoying the show (which is cool – everyone has different tastes, etc.), I’m really starting to struggle here.
For one, Tanya and/or the evil loli concept doesn’t do much for me as a hook. As far as evil loli’s go, visually the style is fine/fits with the overall tone (eyes still bug me though) and the voice acting is good, but setting up any “anticipation”? Not really. Certainly no tension. IMO, how much one likes Tanya/evil loli concept is a key part to this show (LN might be better, wouldn’t doubt it). If it works, great, but if not… *shrugs*
So not all that into Tanya and zero tension for me. Frankly, the “threat” of Being X right now is anything but. Sorry, but for me Being X just acts stupid. For starters, recall the point Pancakes made in Ep. 03 review about trying to force belief, but “almighty” Being X is too stupid to realize that. Not only that, up until about 2/3 into this episode, he’s done nothing but ENABLE Tanya. Yeah, “carrot”, but how well has that worked and see point above about trying to force belief. Is ANYONE surprised the “carrot” didn’t work? No. Why would you given Tanya’s personality? This result was utterly apparent from their first meeting when he (at the time) died.
Now, we add some taunting. OK, the “world” (minus the empire of course) is against her, and…? Again, Being X not only reincarnated her as a totally hax/op mage (IS there anyone close to her in this world?), but then inspired mad scientist to make her a hax/op jewel to increase her powers even further. Good… job? Here’s an idea, if we are going with “stick” now, why doesn’t Being X simply take away Tanya’s magic powers completely. Now THAT would create some struggle for Tanya. Instead, even her own troops are starting to become hax/op to the point they can spout quips during battle or as they stand in a hail of rifle fire (last episode). Did her troops have a single casualty this episode?
So… IDK. Military + fantasy is right in my genre, but there’s no real hook here for me beyond a general war setting. Visuals & voice acting add a little, but not into Tanya and the rest of the characters for me might as well not have names. Being X has been stupid (and TBH, I have more questions/issues about Being X beyond what I mentioned). MAYBE things ramp up with sort of actual challenge for Tanya later this season (or perhaps in the LN past were this adaptation end). Hope so, but don’t know. Right now there’s little here for me. :/ Evil, cackling loli runs amuck isn’t enough. Again, JMO, and if others like the show – that’s cool.
have you watched the episodes and paid attention like at all?
Why did God give Tanya powerful magic? So that she would be conscripted into the military with no choice on her part. Its very much said by Tanya herself that all mages are drafted. He gave her that OP jewel so that she would be forced to pray and see his power in action. And what happens? She is praying. Whether she means it or not, at least she is praying which is more progress then before. And the purpose of this is that eventually she will be filled with faith.
Now in the LN, apparently the jewel starts brainwashing Tanya or atleast makes her act very faithful when she prays and better yet, more people become faithful after watching her cause what they see is a loyal patriot full of faith girl who always wins, ergo god exists. The mad scientist and even Viktoria say this.
The war between NotGermany and World is irrelevant to God. Its all about it and Tanya. Also, this God clearly does not understand humanity. This has been shown countless times since the anime began.
@Space Penguin: First of all, I’m anime-only. As I wrote in my comment, the LN may very well be better and/or fill in gaps. Seen it before, but anime-only here and my comments pertain to the anime. Yeah, I have paid attention & watched. Thanks for asking. In Ep. 02, Tanya says: “The army always conscripted those with aptitude as mages.” That means Being X did NOT need to make her so hax/OP to get her into the military. Remember all the OTHER non-hax military mages in the story – some of which got killed off this episode with normal bullets because… hell if I know, but they are not hax/OP. Easily and wisely could have made Tanya an average mage with enough magic to be sent into battle.
Since this is quite long I’m putting the rest in a spoiler tag though no spoilers. Again, anime-only here.
Show Spoiler ▼
This is further shown in Episode 3 where Tanya first prayed to God. She didn’t do it voluntarily. God did it for her. God aka Being X can at absolutely any time kill Tanya or mind control her but he chooses not to as that would remove the point of the whole exercise.
Maybe in the LN, but in terms of the anime, I addressed the “involuntary” aspect of that scene from Ep. 03 in my reply above.
— “Being X can at absolutely any time kill Tanya or mind control her but he chooses not to as that would remove the point of the whole exercise.”
First, also in my above reply, you wrote “Now in the LN, apparently the jewel starts brainwashing Tanya or at least makes her act very faithful…” That is mind control. Maybe not full on “robot” mind control, but magic brainwashing/MAKES her do something? Yeah, mind control.
Second, so Being X is unwilling to kill Tanya!? Welp, there goes any tension. Empty threat (from Ep. 02) of “If you die again there will be no second reincarnation” is empty. If you counter with “she could die just not directly by Being X”, then Being X surely will give Tanya an out since her dying means, as you say, “that would remove the point of the whole exercise.” Now being saved probably requires some “prayer”, but I still contend so what? Tanya can just continue to give lip service and take advantage of Being X’s generosity.
I think Being X is trying to make Tanya a Saint by making her very powerful and as soon as she gives in she will use her fame to lead a massive religious movement and maybe have her take over the world as well to insure conversion. Why not do this to a believer instead? I figure Being X is frustrated and bored so wanted to have a challenge.
And Tanya has been fighting for a comfy rear job and seeing how everything goes against her dream has been fun.
I love the concept of what if god is not good?
I agree. He has multiple plans for what to do with Tanya, break her and then use her to spearhead religion as you said and if she still stays defiant. Her actions will still cause more people to become faithful so he still wins there and continue to plague her.
Remember in episode 2, Being X was bitching about people’s lack of faith and then Mr. Salaryman went on a spiel about modern life and science and comfort and no suffering meant no need for god. Being X went, oh really. Ok, lets put that to the test.
Or as tvtropes says:
The plot circulates around a suggestion Tanya’s previous incarnation made to “Being X” upon explaining the reason of lack of faith in the world and how to restore it, prompting “Being X” to test out the theory of “Faith through Hardship” with Tanya as the test subject. If it actually turns out as a legitimate success and manage to reform Tanya’s faith, what’s stopping “Being X” from applying the “Faith through Hardship” approach on a global scale afterwards?
Global? Try multi-dimensional! (It did send Tanya’s previous vessel’s soul to a whole different world after all. How many worlds and realities is “Being X” actually in charge of again?)
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Fridge/YoujoSenki
Not sure if a saint, but he clearly wants to make her a believer. Of course the problem with God’s actions is that they do the opposite of what he intends them to accomplish.
I find it interesting that the anime/manga makers have all these old fat cat officers sitting in these gorgeous rooms full of awesome looking furniture smoking cigars, eating good food, and drinking like fishes while the folks doing the actual fighting barely have enough supplies to eat or keep fighting.
It’s actually pretty realistic all things considered. Most staff officers in World War I were the definition of puppeteers in well-supplied, smoke-filled rooms. You can probably count on one hand the number of senior officers–from both sides–who actually visited the front.
Now you know why Tanya volunteered. She was always going to be a soldier. Being X made sure of it. If she had been conscripted, she would be one of those how have nothing to eat but she volunteered and is now an office directly under Strategic HQ meaning her and her troops have it good.
Quote:
Third Ypres was the battle that gave rise to the story of Haig’s chief of staff being driven to the front and, as he viewed the muddy wasteland, breaking into tears and saying, “Good God, did we really send men to fight in that?”
“It gets worse,” his driver said, “farther on up.”
Chateau Generalship at it’s finest. At least Not Germany is more competent in his case.
Even if this Backgrounds are CGI’s
https://randomc.net/image/Youjo%20Senki/Youjo%20Senki%20-%2006%20-%20Large%2002.jpg
https://randomc.net/image/Youjo%20Senki/Youjo%20Senki%20-%2006%20-%20Large%2027.jpg
https://randomc.net/image/Youjo%20Senki/Youjo%20Senki%20-%2006%20-%20Large%2034.jpg
They still do not make them for free you know. So perhaps this kind of “blink blink” is one of the tolls on their Budget.
Do you really need this much CGI’s effects to show the world what you are capable of?
less animate smoke at the end perhaps? Do you really want this girl to cry?
https://randomc.net/image/Shirobako/Shirobako%20-%2024%20-%20Large%2001.jpg
Those backgrounds are handpainted, I can affirm since there’s too much personality touch in it compared to 3D CGIs. I’m also a painter and I see there’s a lot of little details that strayed out from completely rational computer generated effects.
Though there’s probablity they’re using 3D models as reference for quicker works.
Yep, that you said is true and still…
Show Spoiler ▼
Curious…
Kinai.
A big reason for the Germany’s loss in WWI is that by 1917, the economic collapse of Germany was already in writing on the wall. The blockade by the Royal Navy prevented imports such has copper (for brass shells) and nitrates (for explosives), not to mention food needed to sustain the wartime economy. Germany was able to find ways around the problems, but they could not sustain it. Which was why Lunderdorff et al took the gamble for the 1917 offensives to knock out France and Britain out of the war before the Americans can fully mobilize.
So far, it looks like none of the powers involved have fully mobilized yet. Not Britain has not imposed a blockade. If I was a diplomat, now is the time to hold peace talks while war has not gone total. Because if it becomes total war, only total victory will do.
Don’t see it happening cause for 1] The allied powers want to break NotGermany. 2] Being X won’t allow it. He took control of Tanya’s body during Episode 3 and can affect people’s dreams. He can easily make sure the war gets worse or peace never happens.
Oh I agree on both counts. Being X is the unseen hand between both sides.
Right now Tanya’s bn is a strategic asset, but next step right now is to expand the organization into a brigade/division status.
On the diplomatic front, keep Not Britain neutral.
Without the USA entering in the war, I am not sure that Germany would have lost the war.
While it may be cliché, it’s ‘Being X’ that’s holding her back.
That is, she doesn’t want to be an overwhelming force in the war,
she really wants to pursue a quiet life. It’s her willingness to think
that each obstacle (that she believes Being X is responsible) put in
her path and she overcomes, will allow her to pursue that goal.
Now, the whole “world” knows about her, and is out to get her.
If she refused (early on) to play along with the circumstances
(too smart for her own good) put in place by Being X, she would
have got what she wanted and he would have lost to her. Being X
is going to continue to support her strength, but not for her goals.
At least that’s how I see the story play out…
I like how the story is pushing Tanya to not have any weakness. Its kinda like a modern/fantasy retelling of Moses and the Pharaoh. Its like a direct confrontation between what man would consider powerful and divinity. Eventually Being X will throw the weight of a world war and watch to see if the burden breaks her.
Halfway in and the main failing of the show is its inability to present a compelling conflict. The only thing that’s given Tanya a pause is Being X, and as Daikama has so eloquently pointed out above he’s as much a cause of her success as he is her trouble. Tanya is a better antagonist than X, as watching her own abilities and philosophy get her into trouble is a far more compelling story than watching a supposedly omnipotent asshole clumsily try to make her life miserable. The story badly need a human antagonist for Tanya, either someone on the Entente that gives her a run for her money in combat, or someone in not-Germany that is able to challenge her.
Tanya is not succeeding at all. What she wanted was to be away from the front lines. That will never happen. What you and that other guy failed to understand is that Being X is not stupid. He knew what he was doing when he gave Tanya uber abilities. He doesn’t care about NotGermany or the world. Let millions die, who cares. The world will get over it and there are other worlds as long as he breaks Tanya and now believes he has a way to restore faith. Its all good.
Its hilarious how you guys say he’s not an antagonist when another poster on youtube said that Being X is quickly jumping up his rank of villains.
Remember, Being X is accelerating WW1 and ensuring it will happen just to punish Tanya. This is petty as hell. For all we know, he started this whole WW1 mess by causing the Entente brinksmanship.
I seriously don’t understand some fans, if the 1st Gulf war was an anime, plenty of people would be calling the US to be sues and shit.
>Its hilarious how you guys say he’s not an antagonist when another poster on youtube said that Being X is quickly jumping up his rank of villains.
Well if some guy on youtube says it, it must be true.
Not that I particularly disagree about Being X being a villain or anything, but that is a piss poor attempt at convincing anyone of anything.
@SpacePenguin: Chill mate, grab a snickers or something.
Sure Tanya’s not succeeding at her self-proclaimed goal to sit in the rear doing nothing. But since she succeeds at everything else; i.e. beating the crap out of every foe, this goal feels meaningless to the viewer. The only fight scene where she legitimately was endangered was her first mission, which we knew she’d survive since it was in a flashback. Aside from that she’s just been playing the nasty drill instructor and singlehandedly taking out squads of Entente mooks with uber-powerful hax magic. Not only is such one-sided slaughter poor spectacle, it makes it very difficult for the viewer to connect to her desire to stay away from the front lines.
As for Being X, if you re-read my original post I did not say that he was not an antagonist, rather that he was a poor antagonist that was less interesting than Tanya herself. Also, it’s had to say that he’s “accelerating” WWI when they’re in the 20’s and haven’t even gotten the World War proper started. Really, the entire political setting is ludicrous. In real life a union between Germany, Austro-Hungary, Denmark, and the Low Countries would not have been tolerated by the rest of Europe, and would have come with its own set of serious internal challenges instead of being a hypercompetant seemingly monolithic block. Furthermore, no way in hell would most of Europe sit on the sidelines for years while Mega-Germany beats the crap out of France and Sweden, nor would both nations be able to resist Mega-Germany for such a long time on their own.
A show about the Gulf War would be kinda boring because said war was so one-sided. Like Tanya there’s plenty to admire about the execution of the war, but a truly great story needs a good conflict to make it so.
@Dr. Hochmeister: Agree with both of your posts. Tanya would make a good/better antagonist IMO as well. If she’s going to be the protagonist, then IMO the problem is with making supposed all-powerful “God” Being X the antagonist. Realistically, the story when they first meet would be: Being X (“God”): You have no faith, even now?” Tanya: “Screw you, asshole”. *Being X wins*. So you have to dumb down Being X for this to work at all = Being X bumbling around, doing things unwisely and half-ass (so far at least IMO), being petty, etc. for some “struggle”.
Honestly, I question the “struggle” Tanya’s has had so far unless “struggle” = having to do something (and again, Being X enables her massively to succeed). So she had to go through basic training – like every other soldier/mage. Hell, her own troops suffer/struggle more than Tanya did with her over-the-top sadistic training. So she has to fight – like most soldiers (some may be supply/logistics) and all mages… with hax/OP abilities which means she effortlessly wins apart from the first time as you note.
Frankly, I submit that thus far, a lot of others in this story struggle more than Tanya who has flown up the ranks + all sorts of decorations… at age 11 (or 12)! Compare her situation to an infantry soldier on the front lines stuck in a trench fighting for survival along with probably dysentery and/or trench foot. Frankly, that situation has more struggle to me. So yes, the cushy job in the rear isn’t obtained immediately (by age 11 or how ever old she is >_>), but is that so abnormal? I just don’t see any real struggle with Tanya, and in large part that’s due to Being X as her supposed antagonist.
Maybe that changes. Hope so, but at any rate I agree with you that Tanya needs some worthy human adversary (or plural). JMO, but the less Being X in the story, the better it is.
As for your RL history comparison, agree as well.
Agreed, it’s my main worry at this point. We have the setup for something to happen, we just need an enemy of some kind. These one-off episodes aren’t really cutting it, nor does God serve the function because by his nature he’s only doing the manipulating. Tanya cannot be sustained simply by her comfy living desire because that’s boring without struggle. I like watching overpowered characters destroy things as much as anyone else, but we are quickly approaching the point where it becomes stale without something more.
Sure Tanya’s not succeeding at her self-proclaimed goal to sit in the rear doing nothing. But since she succeeds at everything else; i.e. beating the crap out of every foe, this goal feels meaningless to the viewer. The only fight scene where she legitimately was endangered was her first mission, which we knew she’d survive since it was in a flashback. Aside from that she’s just been playing the nasty drill instructor and singlehandedly taking out squads of Entente mooks with uber-powerful hax magic. Not only is such one-sided slaughter poor spectacle, it makes it very difficult for the viewer to connect to her desire to stay away from the front lines.
]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]] I feel differently. Plus it makes perfect sense. She has uber magic and uber jewel specifically made by God for her which means yeah she does have the ability to screw everyone over.
As for Being X, if you re-read my original post I did not say that he was not an antagonist, rather that he was a poor antagonist that was less interesting than Tanya herself. Also, it’s had to say that he’s “accelerating” WWI when they’re in the 20′s and haven’t even gotten the World War proper started. Really, the entire political setting is ludicrous. In real life a union between Germany, Austro-Hungary, Denmark, and the Low Countries would not have been tolerated by the rest of Europe, and would have come with its own set of serious internal challenges instead of being a hypercompetant seemingly monolithic block. Furthermore, no way in hell would most of Europe sit on the sidelines for years while Mega-Germany beats the crap out of France and Sweden, nor would both nations be able to resist Mega-Germany for such a long time on their own.
]]]]]]]]]]]]]] Alternate world and history meaning your complaints are invalid. Also, your complaints are even more stupid when it comes to germany beating france. have you paid attention to the latest episodes? Its why a World war will erupt cause Germany is kicking the crap out of france. And france was the agressor in this conflict. And hypercompetent? have you seen the first and second episode and the 6th episode? They are having logistical problems and were close to losing the Rhine front. I could go on.
A show about the Gulf War would be kinda boring because said war was so one-sided. Like Tanya there’s plenty to admire about the execution of the war, but a truly great story needs a good conflict to make it so.
Ok, just got back
I won’t be responding to certain people who responded to me cause this comment system is terrible. So I will be responding to certain points
1] World setting
Some have whined about the setting being unrealistic. Where has this anime ever claimed to be realistic? No where. The author is a paradox game fan. In said games, we have the Aztec’s invade Europe and empire named khanate band, (sounds like a music band, right?). This is an alternate history/world.
2] Nobody in Europe would let Notgermany beat up france
Where have you guys been? This is the very reason WW1 will erupt. Lets make things clear, in this world. Its 1923 and no WW1 has happened yet. Entente alliance which seems to be some sort of union of Scandinavian countries or some such gets a new government who decides to do some brinkmanship and march into disputed territory in Notgermany and Notgermany responds by bombarding said force to death which we saw in episode 2 and both countries presumably declare war on each other. Notgermany invades Entente lands and is kicking ass.
The Replublic aka Notfrance invades western NotGermany which we saw in Episode 1 and was kicking major ass but stubborn resistance by the Notgermany armies in the area and Tanya’s mages allowed Reinforcements to arrive which caused that entire front(Rhine front) to end in a stalemate and this had the effect of also causing the Entente front to become a stalemate.
The Reinforcements aka central forces IIRC were the linchpin for plan 315 and this plan when put into action turned into a farce as its failed due to wars on 2 fronts and plans being all well and good but they don’t always reflect the reality on the ground as they took a long time to arrive at the Rhine front. This debunks the competence BS people state.
Anyway, Tanya in episode 4 pretty much flat out states that nobody is every going to let Notgermany beat Notfrance and thus will start assisting Notfrance and Entente which we see in Episode 6 and in Episode 5 we see Notfrance assist Dakia
3] Why were Dakai so weak
Dakia was meant to be a representation of the nations or armies who had not updated themselves or were incompetent during the beginning years of WW1. For Christ’s sake, we had a General in WW1 who blamed all his failure on is troops lacking morale when they lost due to being made to charge against Machine guns and heavy artillery. Of course, the troops would have won if they had better morale.
4] God aka Being X
This is the most ridiculous of complaints. God is illogical and stupid and incompetent cause he does not understand humanity.
Very little of fictions Gods are truly Omnipotent, Omniscient and Omnipresent cause if they were, there is not story or plot at all or any were are used to. Its only gods will. And its not like God of the bible is particularly logical as we need only look at the old testament for this: The action with the pharaoh where as some like to snark, he made pharaoh not believe in him so he could punish the pharaoh for not believing in him or what he did to the Israelite’s for their actions on the Mountain where he had them wander all over the place instead of just marching straight to the promised land or the whole debacle with Adam and Eve. Since if you go with Omnipotent, Omniscient and Omnipresent GOD, this meant he always knew the eating of the fruit was going to happen and maybe even let it happen or wanted it to happen. And finally there is the whole Job debacle.
Its quite clear God is both vindictive and an full of Ego and wanting that ego stroked. Very much like Being X.
Being X has played Tanya like a fiddle.He wanted her in the army. She’s in the army. He waited 10 years for Tanya o change, she didn’t and thus he “blessed” her Type 95 and thus made it so she now needs to pray and she does which is more progress done in a day then in the past 10 years. Being X knows Tanya’s prayers are not faithful and actually meant. But so what? Tanya is still praying and fully hating it which soothes Being X’s ego and pleases his vindictiveness and he believes that eventually Tanya will be filled with faith and as been shown 2 times in the anime, Tanya blacks out and the jewel takes over and makes her do things. The manga is even more explicit about this. Tanya’s actions also cause people around her to become more faithful as look at the mad scientist, through the computation jewel mess he is now faithful where before he was an atheist and so is Viktoria who is now faithful.
5] Mage Battalion OPness
The manga goes into more details of the training Tanya put her battalion through. And its basically special forces training. The anime changed artillery barrage training and the snow march but those were still the training in the manga and now in the anime. In the Youjo senki shorts, we see they mention counter interrogation training which we don’t see in the anime but is shown in the manga. So barring some differences here and there, its the same special forces training.
Along with all that, Tanya’s battalion are not newbies! They were already mages now armed with a brand new, state of the art Computation Jewel based off of Tanya’s and have special forces training. And yet despite all this you want them to be weaker then the enemy!
How many battles has Tanya’s battalion actually fought? 2. One was as Tanya said a Live fire exercise and the other was a true battle and yet you already want the enemy to have a counter? How the hell can the enemy develop a counter this quickly? Is the enemy omniscient?
By your logic, if an entire US army tank division of M1A2 Abrams fought against Nazi tanks. You would demand the nazi’s be able to beat said tanks after they first encountered them!
And finally, Guys, WW1 has yet to even begin. The LN which is still ongoing is all about WW1 and apparently this worlds WW1 becomes kinda like a combination of WW1 and WW2 just without Nazi’s. I expect Tanya to have a rival or a worthy opponent. Just have patience.
Holy BiBle Exodus 34:14 for you shall not worship any other god, for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God–
Exodus 20:5 “You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God
Deuteronomy 4:24 “For the LORD your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God. Joshua 24:19 Then Joshua said to the people, “You will not be able to serve the LORD, for He is a holy God. He is a jealous God 1
Kings 14:15 “For the LORD will strike Israel, as a reed is shaken in the water; and He will uproot Israel from this good land which He gave to their fathers, and will scatter them beyond the Euphrates River, because they have made their Asherim, provoking the LORD to anger.
Ezekiel 23:25 ‘I will set My jealousy against you, that they may deal with you in wrath. They will remove your nose and your ears; and your survivors will fall by the sword. They will take your sons and your daughters; and your survivors will be consumed by the fire.
It’s clearly not humanity that’s gonna take down Tanya. It’s lung cancer.
Hilarious. I mean look at that room. Its filled to the brim with smoke. Jesus.
I am actually totally in love with this show despite it floundering a bit with having a tangible conflict. There is just something really enjoyable about watching Tanya massacre things.
Just noticed, Anime Viktorya looks better with her dress uniform on, than her mage flight suit.
So can I ask, are you looking for an immediate conflict where Tanya and her battelion need to feel a sense of Danger or one that is gradual?
Nothing needs to be immediate, but we are at the stage in the show where the big baddie typically makes an appearance. Having Tanya encounter a serious threat soon would introduce tension and conflict which otherwise has been papered over by pretty visuals and the machinations of God.
I see, but it is very funny because the one fated to challenge Tanya has already appeared in this episode and it is not Being X.
Also keep in mind Tanya is the big baddy in this world because of Being X. So it is the hero we need to find to defeat her in the name of God not the big baddy.
I really feel that the manga is superior. Seeing everyone’s internal monologues really helps drive home how badly Tanya is misunderstanding everything. She’s trying to apply modern psychology to people brought up with a hyper-nationalistic mindset and it’s failing big time.