Saga of Tanya the Evil

Plot

An atheist Japanese salaryman, in the moment of being murdered, is confronted by a self-righteous entity he refers to as "Being X" who condemns the man for not believing that "Being X" is God and sentences him to be reborn in a world that is similar to WWI Europe mixed with early aspects of World War II and magic, in an empire torn apart by countless wars with all nearby countries. The salaryman is reborn as a girl, Tanya Degurechaff. According to "Being X", if she's not able to die a natural death, or she refuses to have faith in Him, her soul will leave the circle and be sent to hell for the countless sins that Tanya has committed in her previous life. In search for an escape, Tanya decides to enter into the Empire's Mages Division and fight in the world war, hoping to reach a high enough rank as fast as possible to remain far from the battlefield and in this way avoid the risk of being killed. Even if she's now forced to speak with a young girl's lisp, Tanya soon turns into a ruthless soldier who prioritizes efficiency and her own career over anything else, even the lives of those beneath her, especially those that get on her bad side.

Empire

Tanya von Degurechaff (ターニャ・フォン・デグレチャフ, Tānya fon Degurechafu)

Voiced by: Aoi Yūki (Japanese); Monica Rial (English) Tanya is a young blonde, blue-eyed girl who is the reincarnation of a cold-hearted, atheist and social-darwinistic Japanese salaryman. She is a mage with magical powers that enable her to fly and fire explosive bullets. Compared to others, Tanya has a high latent magical ability, and is the only one capable of using an experimental Type-95 operation orb due to Being X's interference. She controls a battalion of elite mages whose main purpose is to overwhelm enemy forces while also remaining highly mobile and relatively small. Tanya is quite ruthless and intolerant of failings in others, much the same as in her previous life, and employs several extreme punishments and training methods. After she graduated from the War College as one of the Twelve Knights, she was granted the title of von. Currently her rank is Major.

Viktoriya Ivanovna Serebryakov (Visha) (ヴィクトーリヤ・イヴァーノヴナ・セレブリャコーフ (ヴィーシャ), Vīkutōriya Ivuānovuna Sereburyakōfu (Vīsha))

Voiced by: Saori Hayami (Japanese); Jeannie Tirado (English) Viktoriya is a Second Lieutenant in the Imperial Army and serves under Tanya Degurechaff, and later becomes her adjutant. Different from other characters from the Empire, Viktoriya is a refugee from the Revolution of the Rus' Union and her family was originally a member of the Rus aristocracy. Having served under Tanya during the Battle of the Rhine, Viktoriya is more familiar with Tanya's true personality, to which she shows fear, but also respect. As a result of knowing Tanya, Viktoriya is more able to keep up with Tanya compared to her other soldiers. However, despite knowing Tanya's side character, Viktoriya seems to believe that Tanya actually cares for her subordinates and her harsh treatment of them, is to ultimately ensure their survival. In the manga, Viktoriya's "particular" point of view of Tanya's character, seem to have started when Viktoriya, during her first true battle, is saved by Tanya at the last second, who (to hide her enjoyment in killing the enemy soldiers) quoted General Robert E. Lee, saying to Viktoriya "It is well that war is so horrible, otherwise men would grow fond of it", starting the misunderstanding.

Erich von Rerugen (エーリッヒ・フォン・レルゲン, Ērihhi fon Rerugen)

Voiced by: Shinichiro Miki (Japanese); J. Michael Tatum (English) He is a Lieutenant Colonel in the Imperial Army and has known Tanya since she joined the military. He has seen Tanya's true nature during her time in training, and views her as a monster in a little girl's form.

Kurt von Rudersdorf (クルト・フォン・ルーデルドルフ, Kuruto fon Rūderudorufu)

Voiced by: Tesshō Genda He is the Deputy Chief of Operations in the Imperial General Staff Office.

Hans von Zettour (ハンス・フォン・ゼートゥーア, Hansu fon Zētūa)

Voiced by: Hōchū Ōtsuka (Japanese); Mark Stoddard (English) He is the Deputy Chief of Logistics in the Imperial General Staff Office.

Legedonia

Anson Sioux (アンソン・スー, Anson Sū)

He is the captain of the 5th Aerial Mage Wing. He has a daughter called Mary Sioux. He is later promoted to the grade of Colonel after the death of his superior officer. In the anime, he is believed to have been killed in battle by Tanya, during the Battle of the Orse Fjord. Later it is revealed that he actually survived and had vision of God("Being X") who told him to kill the "Devil". In order to achieve his objective, he accepted to be part of an Allied Kingdom mage special force, managing to corner Tanya and her battalion over the sea. However, though in the end, he almost succeed in killing Tanya, even willing to blow himself up to kill her, through Viktoriya's intervention, Anson failed to kill her and eventuallty died in his own explosion.

Light novels

The novels are written by Carlo Zen and illustrated by Shinobu Shinotsuki. It was initially serialized on the web novel hosting website Arcadia, before Enterbrain's acquisition. The first volume was released on October 31, 2013, and as of December 28, 2016, seven volumes have been released. A drama CD was released with the third volume.

Anime

An anime television series adaptation by NUT premiered on January 6, 2017. Funimation has licensed the series in North America. The opening theme is "JINGO JUNGLE" by Myth & Roid and the ending theme is "Los! Los! Los!" by Aoi Yūki as Tanya Degurechaff.