Episode 8 – Saga of Tanya the Evil II

While I’ve kept these reviews mostly about the story, characters, and themes of The Saga of Tanya the Evil so far, I have to admit, I’m more than a bit of a World War II buff. Moreover, I absolutely love historical fiction—especially when it comes to the tiny changes that have major implications.

If you want to compare the state of the war seen in this episode to the real world, there are both interesting parallels and differences. We’re basically in mid-to-late 1942 if this were our world. The Imperial forces are caught up in Stalingrad Josefgrad and the British Commonwealth has air superiority in the west. America The Unified States have yet to enter the war and, facing supply issues, the Empire is pulling out of Africa.

However, there are a few major changes as well. The most obvious is the fact that neither Italy Idola nor this world’s equivalent of Japan has allied with the Empire militarily—leaving the Empire isolated and low on troops. Another is that the Battleship Bismarck was never built—or at least never put to sea—meaning that the Commonwealth maintained superiority at sea and it was never even challenged. All this leaves the Empire in an even worse state than Germany in the real world had been.

But all is not doom and gloom in Tanya’s world war—and almost entirely due to her actions in this episode. Rather than a quarter of a million soldiers being trapped in Africa, they are able to retreat to the European continent unmolested—with the brilliant general Rommel still in command. And as icing on the cake, Tanya herself fills in for the Bismarck, sinking the Hood and several other Commonwealth ships—and with seemingly no casualties on her own side whatsoever.

And as a cherry on top of the sundae, we have the political situation. The Idolan, after doing the Empire dirty by not allowing Rommel’s troops to use their roads to return home, has allowed one ship of sailors into the country as a mea culpa. Tanya rides into the Idolan port waving not only the flag of the Empire but of all the countries currently under Imperial rule. She’s hooting and hollering, making it anything but a quiet visit.

To any spy, this paints one heck of a picture. After claiming neutrality, Idola publicly welcomes the attackers who just sunk several Commonwealth ships. If I were the Commonwealth, I’d just been the victim of a trap—that the whole not allowing Rommel’s troops to retreat through Idola thing had been designed to gather the Commonwealth navy in one place to be destroyed. In the best case, Tanya may just have brought Idola into the war—whether they wanted to side with the Empire or not.

Rating:

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

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