Saga of Tanya the Evil II

Episodes 1-3

If these first three episodes are about one thing, it's about Tanya misreading situations—and the consequences that come from that. This is far from a new problem. Tanya has always had problems when it comes to understanding people on an emotional level—even back in her pre-isekai life.

In fact, her first death was a direct consequence of this. It never occurred to the onetime salaryman that a recently fired employee would lash out in revenge. Logically, it made no sense. Tanya was just a cog in the machine—made no actual decisions about the employee and just relayed the decision handed down from on high. Moreover, as bad as the fired man's life was, adding a murder charge and almost certain conviction would only make things exponentially worse. Yet, emotions are anything but logical.

Now, that's not to say that Tanya herself is an emotionless being. In these episodes we see her go from elated to depressed, angry to utterly baffled. She simply lacks empathy and bases her own emotional reactions on the facts (as she sees them). That said, it's important to note that she knows that she does not see the world as others do—and as a result has learned how to manipulate the emotions of others. To Tanya, both dressing down a subordinate and acting like the innocent child she is supposed to be are ways of control—an emotional version of the carrot and the stick. We see this quite clearly in the first episode as she deals with all the new soldiers under her command.

With the second episode, we see how Tanya's own biases and emotional reaction to them blind her to a truth until it's almost too late. A hold over from her first life, Tanya sees communism as an illogical cult—the exact opposite of a meritocracy where one holds their own fate in their hands. To her, anyone who lives under such a system is a fanatic who can't see reason.

It's only when sitting in on a POW interrogation that she realizes the truth: The average soldier of the Russy Federation doesn't give a crap about communism. They are fighting because the Empire is invading; they are fighting to protect their homes and loved ones. It's not a war of ideology and fighting it as if it is one is the worst possible of all tactics. But while Tanya is able to see her mistake in time—and with Zettour's commendable oration skills turn it into a strategic boon—the same cannot be said for the next situation she completely misreads.

Tanya is a stickler for the rules—and terrifyingly, they are the basis for her morality. As long as you follow the letter of the law, you can throw the spirit right out the window. She has used this time and again to commit some of the war's greatest atrocities. However, when she gets an order she disagrees with (and can find no loophole to get her own way) she follows it—no matter how angry such an order makes her. After all, those who do not follow the rules are punished by the rules. But just because she can put her own feelings aside if logic demands, that doesn't mean other people can—or even want to.

As has been clear since midway through the first season, this World War the Empire has stumbled into is doing no one any good. The Empire didn't set out to unify Europe under a single regime or anything so grand. A series of border conflicts have basically run out of control with the Empire completely overrunning several major countries in hopes of ending the war—and have drawn new and greater powers into the fight as a consequence.

Anyone can logically see that the best thing for literally everyone is peace—for the Empire to take it's ball, go home, and pretend none of this ever happened. This is what the Kingdom of Ildoa (and seemingly the Unified States) want to broker. Since it's impossible for everyone to win, the best possible option is for no one to lose—to just reset the map to before all this nastiness started. The problem is, while those like Tanya and Zettour (who can see the big picture well enough to know just how much worse things can get) are able to set aside their pride, the average Imperial citizen cannot.

The Empire has conquered both the Republic and the Entente Alliance—not to mention Dacia. And what's more, they payed for those victories in blood. To give it all up and just go home? In that case, what did your son, your neighbor, your friend die for? Yes, peace prevents any more deaths but all the deaths so far have to have been for something. If not, how do you look at yourself in the mirror knowing you're alive while so many are not.

And therein lies the true message of Saga of Tanya the Evil: War is the ultimate sunk-cost fallacy—and, in the end, everyone loses.

Episode 1 Rating:

Episode 2 Rating:

Episode 3 Rating:

Saga of Tanya the Evil II is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.

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