Tanya, the Devil of the Rhine!
Creative Staff
Story/Art: Carlo Zen/Chika Tojo
Translation/Adaptation: Emily Balistrieri
What They Say
After being reborn and becoming a magic wielding soldier in the Imperial Army, Tanya Degurechaff bemoans her fate of being placed at the very edge of the front lines instead of a comfy place in the rear. Swearing revenge on Being X, she plunges head-first into battle, dragging her subordinate along with her!
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
Volume 2 delivers three dense chapters from three different POVs. In Chapter 4, Tanya meets her very first subordinates, and these pages are written from the perspective of Corporal Viktorya Serebryakov. Unlike the anime, which gave Visha a somewhat dopey character design to match her dopey personality, the manga portrays her as a young beauty (even when she’s puking in the trenches). The manga also differs from the anime in that the two other cadets assigned to Tanya disappear without much fanfare. However, Visha stays close to Tanya as she does in the novel and anime, and through her eyes we see how Tanya inspires fear and admiration in ordinary soldiers. In addition, because Visha is a newbie to the Rhine front, we get to learn about the war theater and military tactics alongside her. And there is QUITE a bit to learn. Fortunately, the myriad personalities on the front keep the influx of information from getting dry.
Next in Chapter 5, the POV shifts to Tanya as her unit gets sent to engage an elite company of Republican mages. This one sortie provides a snapshot of her interactions with her superior, her peers, and her enemies as well as insight into the motives behind her actions. It’s interesting how coolly she calculates the quickest way to reward (i.e. a vacation) even in the chaos of the battlefield. However, Being X never fails to make her lose her temper, and the rage when she’s forced to use the Elinium 95 is a remarkable contrast to her usual level-headed demeanor. By the way, I especially appreciated the manga’s depiction of the chatter between Tanya and Schones’ unit. The way the novel presented the scene made it difficult to picture the conversation; the manga not only presented it clearly, it made it entertaining.
In this volume’s final chapter, we move away from the battlefield to a different set of players: the Empire’s top brass. The topic of discussion is Tanya’s candidacy for War College, and it ends up being a kind of employee review to determine whether Tanya’s achievements are worthy of promotion. Just as in Chapter 4, readers get a good sense of the impression Tanya makes on others even as we learn about the Empire’s military leadership and values. The exchange between generals and majors isn’t as colorful as that on the front, but it is engaging nonetheless.
Extras include detailed glossary of terms after each chapter.
In Summary
For those who want to dive deeper into Tanya’s war torn world, this volume does an excellent job of conveying both the terror and filth of the trenches as well as the geopolitics behind military strategies. Having also read the Tanya novel and watched the anime, I feel that the manga does the best job of the three at depicting Tanya’s tour of duty at the Rhine and the debate over her candidacy into War College. There’s aerial combat for action/magic lovers, tons of details on the Empire and its enemies for strategy geeks, and a whole lot of personality from the cast to make it a lively read.
Content Grade: A
Art Grade: A
Packaging Grade: B+
Text/Translation Grade: A-
Age Rating: 16+
Released By: Yen Press
Release Date: May 22nd, 2018
MSRP: $13.00
