KiritoNarukami

Creepy looking girl in a Nazi-like uniform, using magic in a WW2 type era? YES PLEASE. As strange as that last sentence may sound, Youjo Senki is actually quite good! NUT, the studio animating this dark anime, did an excellent job considering that this is their first anime production! Kudos to them and I’m looking forward to what that have in store for us!

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It’s been a while since I’ve enjoyed an anime with an anti-hero main character (last one I remember was Death Note!), and it’s so good to be on the bad side again! The story has a nice twist, where you don’t usually get what you see! Tanya may look like a loli, but she’s so much more, her past life being an elite salary! If that’s not creepy enough, we can add in the Being X, or God, into the fray. Tanya defies God time and time again denying his greatness which leads this Being X to test her with a variety of obstacles. Tanya is set back in time to a WW2 time era where she/he is forced to fight on the front lines as a mage. Elite soldiers that use magical technology. We see war through Tanya’s eyes as an unforgiving wastelands. but also full of opportunities. Using the war as a steeping stone Tanya rising through the ranks, to be able to transfer to the backlines and live carefree life, but of course Being X won’t be allowing that. The supernatural factor up the unpredictability of the show and gives it some presence because you never know when Being X will show up to try and dethrone Tanya! Anti-hero type anime are hard to watch because usually they end up losing and that’s not fair. LET THE BAD GUYS WIN TOO.

Absolutely stunning, to be adapted from it’s source material, a light novel, it’s great to see the world come alive with the technology, weapons, armies and so forth. NUT did an excellent job with the character design, there were a lot of different body types depending on the age, gender, nationality etc. That makes for very diverse and visually attractive cast. Animation is extraordinary, from hair movements during flight to explosions, everything is animated with extreme precision.

As mentioned before in the artwork section, each character has his/her own distinct “look” and I reall love that. And there’s a personality to match with the great artwork as well! Each character are diverse enough to have their own sort of thought process about the war and the thing that are happening around them. No character in this show is too minor. Tanya, as the main character of the show, get the most development. It’s interesting to see the conflict between Tanya and Being X and how Tanya begins to lose her mind, little by little.

Aoi Yuuki, a veteran voice actor, does a phenomenal job in bring Tanya to life! Voicing a monster that lives inside of a young little girl is hard to pull of, but her voice sends shivers down my spine! OP and ED are also fantastic, Myth & Roid got some recognition from Re:Zero with their high energy but dark tone. And their style fits perfectly here as well!

Youjo Senki is fantastic, it was a thrill to venture through the dark and bloody battlefield through the eyes of Tanya. It’s alright to enjoy being a bad guy every now and then!

Youjo Senki is an excellent first production from NUT studio! The dark and bloody story is bound to tell you in and keep you wanting more!