In the past few years, we have been watching many anime with the isekai theme. It is a very interesting concept in which the main character is mysteriously or accidentally die and is reincarnated into a different world. It’s either a fantasy world or is like the real world which is seen in Youjo Senki (light novel written by Carlo Zen).
Saga of Tanya the Evil is about a workingman in Japan who is reincarnated as child, named Tanya Degurechaff who is orphan. Tanya is recruited as a soldier and soon reach the high rank due to her brutal but tactical methods.
An individual called Being X is the guarding the reincarnation and provides Tanya choices to either naturally die or find peace with the life been given or would go to hell to pay for the sins that Tanya committed in the previous life. Being X shows up very often to have arguments with Tanya when there is some difficulties or a challenge that Tanya face and can’t seem to find a way out.
The story is intriguing as it depicts the harsh reality of war. There are many scenes that gives the glimpse of World War I and World War II and we also get to see some meetings held among the military men where they make strategies and plans while they also care about the solidity of their country.
What makes it different from the real world is the fictional elements that shows it is set in the future world with the advancement of technologies used by the soldiers. For example soldiers can be seen fighting in the sky with the hover boots and flying motorbikes instead of planes.
Talking about the characters, the characters other than the main character have poor development except for Viktoriya who is properly introduced with a sad backstory and is friends with Tanya. Some characters are pointless with no solid backstory or role in the series. The only main focus in the entire series is Tanya. She is has a very interesting personality and also funny in a negative way as she has endless determination to end the task assigned to her in the best as possible even if she has to kill someone who comes in her way without even thinking twice. This dark personality seems funny as the actions are being done as a young and cute young girl.
She uses her innocent looks to betray where needed like behaving like a cute and sweet little child making someone anxious with her looks to make them inattentive. She uses these deceiving methods to make her way up and that’s what makes her character the most interesting the anime series. This also makes the anime hilarious and entertaining.
As far as the animation goes, Studio NUT has done a great job as the battle scenes were very powerful and the expressions of Tanya was flawless. There are some points when characters seems a little off-model but that doesn’t make the overall animation any flawed. The character designs are not very impressive other than Viktorya and Tanya as they are the main focus. Their lips and eyes are makes their design stand out from others.
The distributors Manga Entertainment has made Saga of Tanya the Evil available on Blu-ray. The picture quality is great especially the action scenes are fun to watch. The special elements of the On-disc are Commercials, Trailers, Promo Video and Closing Themes.
It is available in both Japanese and English dubbed audio. The English dub is provided by Funimation but the Japanese version is more suitable is appealing the English dub.
In the Japanese version, the role of Tanya is played by Aoi Yūki who has done an impressive job of portraying a merciless and evil killer in a voice of an innocent child. While Viktoriya is played by Saori Hayami who has also done a nice job in portraying a friends role who oversees Tanya’s hideous actions as a method to survive.
The background music is provided by Kenta Ihara. The score perfectly complements the tensed scenes of war. But in my opinion the opening theme “JINGO JUNGLE” performed by Myth & Roid and the ending theme, titled “Los! Los! Los!” performed by the voice actor Aoi Yūki, were not that good and didn’t go well with the theme.
All in all Saga of Tanya the Evil is an interesting anime with the isekai theme in a warzone and the innocent looking girl being the evil protagonist. The success of this anime series led to a movie which came out in 2019.
