The official release date for Season 2 of The Saga of Tanya the Evil might still be a mystery, but fans can still get hyped for its confirmation. Adapted from the popular light novel series, this is a fresh, dark spin on the isekai genre. The story follows an atheist salaryman whose lack of faith sees him reincarnated as a nine-year-old girl in a war-ravaged alternate world.
With a main character as calculating and evil as Tanya, it might be hard to remember all she did in Season 1. Here's a quick rundown of what happened to get fans ready for Season 2.
The Saga of Tanya the Evil opens with Second Lieutenant Tanya Degurechov leading her platoon in the Imperial Mage Corps against the Francois Republic. After viciously annihilating the Republican mages, Tanya earns herself the nickname "Devil of the Rhine". Earlier in this battle, she sent three mages to the rear of the platoon, knowing full well they would die by enemy fire. It's instantly clear Tanya is a master manipulator, and the lives of others are entirely disposable so long as she gets her way. Tanya's chilling moniker foreshadows her capacity for brutality.
Through flashback, it's explained just how this nine-year-old came to be such a ruthless soldier. In modern-day Tokyo, an unnamed salaryman was pushed in front of an oncoming train by a disgruntled employee he'd just fired. In death, the salaryman met a mystical entity calling themself God. The atheist salaryman denies the existence of any godly being, and will only refer to the entity as Being X.
He is then punished for his lack of belief and is reincarnated as Tanya, an orphaned girl living in an alternate history version of Germany known as the Empire. The punishment of suffering a helpless existence was meant to instill faith. Instead, Tanya opts to rise through the ranks of the Empire's magic-wielding army to avoid the threats of the battlefield -- all without a belief in the divine.
Tanya's high achievements and conniving ways earn her safety and notoriety. She manipulates comrades, puts subordinates through deadly trainings and commands bloody offensives to reach her goal of a cushy position away from the trenches. Unfortunately, her renown as a highly-skilled leader inevitably leads her back to the frontlines. Tanya is masterfully adept at the game of war, and her heartless nature makes it easy to forget that living through the chaos of war was technically her punishment.
After all, only Tanya could find a way to weaponize the innocence of childhood to her advantage. She plays up her childish voice to broadcast an attack on an enemy arms factory, making the attack compliant with international laws -- even though the call was drowned out by sounds of warfare. Her high body count -- of enemies and comrades -- is a gruesome testament to how far she is willing to go to achieve what she wants.
Throughout Season 1 of The Saga of Tanya the Evil, Being X proves to be just as calculating as Tanya and uses their godly powers to alter the course of the war. Sharp as she is, it doesn't take long for Tanya to recognize these acts of divine intervention. The war's escalation parallels the increasingly tense deadlock between Tanya and Being X. As a result, Being X's methods of manipulation become more active, with the entity using their powers to control enemy soldiers. Lieutenant Colonel Anson Sioux of the Entente is one such pawn.
Originally left for dead following a confrontation with Tanya, Sioux was in recovery when Being X ordered him to kill the devil that is Tanya. Despite Sioux's best efforts, even going so far as to sacrifice himself in an explosion to stop her, Tanya survives. Undeterred, she continues her onslaught as the Empire begins its four-phase offensive against the Republic and its allies.
The success of the Empire's final offensive against the Republic sets the stage for what fans can expect in Season 2. In spite of a possible armistice, Tanya wants the Empire to be Europe's leading nation, and it's not long until the remaining world powers take note. Across the waters, Sioux's daughter, Mary, is plotting revenge against the person who killed her father. Will godly intervention be enough for Mary to succeed where her father failed? With the threat of new enemies and another war on the horizon, who knows what devilish tactics Tanya has in store for those who dare cross her path.
Season 1 of The Saga of Tanya the Evil is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.
