Saga of Tanya the Evil

In 2013 of modern-era Tokyo, an unnamed atheist Japanese salaryman, in the moment of being murdered by a disgruntled subordinate who he had fired due to poor performance at work, is confronted by an entity that declares itself to be God who condemns the salaryman for not having 'faith'. The salaryman disbelieves in its existence, criticises its various statements from his perspective as an atheist and mockingly terms it as 'Being X'. The entity decides to reincarnate the salaryman into a world where he would face sufficiently difficult circumstances to turn to Being X for help.

The salaryman is reborn as Tanya Degurechaff, an orphaned girl in an alternate reality's equivalent of Imperial Germany, known as the Empire. According to Being X, if Tanya either does not die a natural death or refuses to have faith in it, her soul will leave the cycle of reincarnation and will be sent to hell for the countless sins that Tanya has committed in her previous life. In search for an escape, Tanya decides to join the Empire's Mage Corps and fight in the 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 lips, 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.

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

Voiced by: Aoi Yūki[4] (Japanese); Monica Rial[5] (English)

Tanya is a young blonde, blue-eyed girl who is the reincarnation of a cold-hearted, atheistic, and social-darwinistic Japanese salaryman (briefly voiced by Kōsuke Toriumi in Japanese, and Josh Grelle in English). She is a mage with magical powers that enable her to fly and fire explosive bullets from guns. 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. By the end of TV series her rank is Major. At the end of the movie, she finally gets her dream job working with an office job in the rear for 2 months with a promotion to Lieutenant Colonel, much to her joy and triumph against her hated enemy, Being X. But that joy was short lived when she received a phone call from General Zettour, who informed her that he had put her proposal, titled "Unit Usage and Operational Maneuvers in the Current War" to use and organized a Kampfgruppe codenamed "Salamander", which consisted of infantry, armor and artillery, gave her command of the special army and wanted to see her research in action by having her and the 203rd mage battalion return to the front lines once more, much to her shock and horror.

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[6] (Japanese); Jeannie Tirado[5] (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) / Erich von Lergen

Voiced by: Shinichiro Miki[6] (Japanese); J. Michael Tatum[5] (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.

His last name is spelled "Lergen" in English light novel translation.

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

Voiced by: Tesshō Genda (Japanese); Greg Dulcie[5] (English)

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[6] (Japanese); Mark Stoddard[5] (English)

He is the Deputy Chief of Logistics in the Imperial General Staff Office.

Weiss (ヴァイス)

Voiced by: Daiki Hamano[6] (Japanese); Mark Stoddard[5] (English)

Grantz (グランツ)

Voiced by: Yusuke Kobayashi[6] (Japanese); Mark Stoddard[5] (English)

Anson Sue/Sioux (アンソン・スー, Anson Sū)

Voiced by: Kenyuu Horiuchi (Japanese); Jarrod Greene (English)

He is the captain of the 5th Aerial Mage Wing. He has a daughter called Mary Sue. 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 eventually died in his own explosion.

Mary Sue/Sioux (メアリー・スー, Mearī Sū)

Voiced by: Haruka Tomatsu (Japanese); Tia Ballard (English)

Only daughter of Anson Sue. After her father's death by Tanya, she became rather more vengeful and serious in nature. Her hatred grows when she hears the name "Devil of the Rhine," she will begin to rage but resulting exposing herself in a uncontrollable side. She became the counterbalance of the main protagonist the series.

Being X (存在X, Sonzai Ekkusu)

Voiced by: Hideaki Tezuka (Japanese); Bill Jenkins (English)

An entity that claims itself to be the Creator (創造主, Sōzōsha) or God. After a philosophical argument with a Japanese Salaryman, it reincarnates him into Tanya in hopes that he will come to believe in God. The name "Being X" is designated by Tanya who does not believe in the existence of God. It is characterized as being frustrated with the increasing faithlessness in the modern world. Occasionally, it converses with Tanya to taunt her or see if she has come to believe.

The novels are written by Carlo Zen and illustrated by Shinobu Shinotsuki. It was initially serialized on the web novel hosting website Arcadia,[7] before Enterbrain's acquisition. The first volume was released on October 31, 2013, and as of February 20, 2020, twelve volumes have been released. A drama CD was released with the third volume.[8]

A manga adaptation with art by Chika Tōjō began serialization in Kadokawa Shoten's Comp Ace magazine from April 26, 2016, and twenty volumes have been released.[9][10]

An anime television series adaptation by NUT aired from January 6, 2017[11][12] to March 31, 2017. Crunchyroll and Funimation has licensed the series in North America.[13] The opening theme is "JINGO JUNGLE" by Myth & Roid and the ending theme is "Los! Los! Los!" by Aoi Yūki as Tanya Degurechaff.[6]

An anime film based on the franchise was announced in January 2018.[14] The film saw a number of the staff and cast of the television series reprise their roles,[14] and was a direct sequel to the series.[15] The film premiered on February 8, 2019.[16] The film received a limited U.S. theater release on May 16, 2019 by Crunchyroll.[17] Crunchyroll and Anime Limited screened the film at MCM London Comic Con on May 26, 2019.[18] Crunchyroll also screened the film at Supanova Expo in Sydney and Perth in Australia on June 23 and June 30, 2019 respectively.[19]