Episode Rating: A
With its penultimate episode for this season, Saga of Tanya the Evil continues to blend in more elements from World War 2, and it uses those to help steer the story towards the painful inevitability it’s been facing towards for several episodes now: extreme measures are going to have to be taken in order to give the Empire an exit from this war, and that means that a major character is probably going to have to die – even if that means him being killed by a longtime friend.
The first WW2 incident being mixed in here is the Doolittle Raid. (For those who don’t remember it from history class, it was the first American air raid on Japan during WW2, taking place on April 18th, 1942.) Though that incident happened in the Pacific, many of the characteristics shown and described for the bombing incident in the Imperial capital more resemble that event than any actual bombing raid on Berlin, including the relatively light damage and how it wasn’t detected. Even the conversations in the one scene featuring Federation forces is a clear reference to the concept of shuttle bombing (i.e., bombing runs which start and end at different airbases), which was introduced to military tactics by the Doolittle Raid.
The second and more important allusion is to the infamous Operation Valkyrie, the secret plot by top German military officers to kill Hitler, seize control of the government, and end the war earlier rather than fighting out to the bitter end. This series is much more heavily modifying the circumstances in this case: rather than take over the government by removing the civilian leader, the conspirators are going to take out a top general committed to more fighting and use his death (and the supposed scheme he was pursuing) to purge the military “legally,” thus allowing them to direct the winding down of the war. And rather than use a briefcase bomb, the target is going to be shot down while flying. In other words, the ultimate goal hasn’t changed, but how it’s going to be achieved is.
Even ignoring the historical allusions, that Zettour is the one who came up with the idea of assassinating Rudersdorf is actually not surprising. He’s always been the more pragmatic one of the duo, and while he respects things like military honor and national pride to a degree, he’s always focused more on practicalities than emotions, even going as far as to use himself as bait. That he would call upon Tanya to do the dirty work is also part of that pragmatism: he knows she’s skilled enough, not averse to using extreme tactics, and well capable of appreciating the Big Picture, too. Was he surprised that she actually suggested improvements on his plan? And does he, perhaps, feel like he’s just made a deal with the devil? (He did say he felt he’d be going to hell, but his expression in the screen shot below suggests that he may be taking Tanya’s nickname of “The Devil of the Rhine” more to heart than ever before.)
What I find most interesting about all of this is that none of it is from Tanya’s perspective. After only minimally seeing her viewpoint last episode, we see none of it here, only an outside look at her from Zettour’s viewpoint. Who wouldn’t look at Tanya’s behavior as villainous based on this episode alone? Of course, anyone who’s watched earlier episodes knows that Tanya is purely doing this in service of her own interests, rather than as part of a grand evil scheme, but that makes her statements and intent here all the more credible, too. I’ve become convinced over the course of both seasons that part of the point to Tanya’s portrayal in the anime version is to show how callous, selfish pragmatism can easily seem like true villainy, and this episode illustrates that particularly well.
In all, this is an episode which gives this series further separation from most other anime titles out there. Its grand strategic machinations, motivations borne more of sheer survival than aggressive intent, and careful control of tone and perspective without being needlessly dramatic all contribute to a potent and impactful story. We’re now beyond the point where I’ve read the source material, so I am eager to see what kind of stopping point the series comes to next week.
USA Anime 