LogFAQs > #967860577

(This was a tough one to write because my main problem with it is so petty)

162. Saga of Tanya the Evil
https://myanimelist.net/anime/32615/Youjo_Senki
Winter 2017 (12 episodes)
My Score: 4/10, MAL Score: 7.97/10
Best Character: Tanya Degurechaff

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fggISqEyuew

Premise: Tanya Degurechaff is known for her ruthlessness in battle while fighting for the Empire. What no one realizes is that this little girl is a reincarnation of a man from another world.

The Good: Saga of Tanya the Evil is a war anime. It's basically World War I but with magic, which is an interesting era compared to the standard fantasy setting most isekai use. I enjoyed watching Tanya do her thing, even if I wasnt a huge fan of her abilities stemming from being a reincarnated Japanese businessman. She puts everything she learned from the other world into advancing herself and her new nation. Its fun watching a little girl be so calculating and ruthless.

The Bad: My main problem with Saga of Tanya the Evil is one that I acknowledge is silly. This didn't need to be an isekai. It didn't add anything worthwhile that I can remember. It felt like a thing the author shoehorned in because isekai are popular. Tanya shouldve just been a prodigious young girl who came up with all her tactics on her own. Even if nothing else changed, that alone would've improved this for me.

Overall: As I admitted above, my main problem with Saga of Tanya the Evil is petty. Its a fine war anime that probably shouldve ranked a bit higher. Ill also credit it for using her memories from another world to influence Tanyas successes. However, she couldve easily just been a genius young girl who deduced those lessons herself. The fact that such an otherwise fun and original story is made an isekai for little reason is, to me, a symptom of one of my least favorite trends in anime. I know its unfair, but I cant help it if my opinion is soured by it.

(In the interest of full disclosure, when I looked for my old post for this on the archive website, I also found a response from the user Wanglicious defending the isekai aspect as a good thing that added a lot. I'm of the opinion that anything it adds could be worked in somehow without needing to make this an isekai, but he made some good points. I'm not calling this a bad anime. It just hit one of my pet peeves, and I'm sure we all have a few of those!)