Saga of Tanya the Evil - the Movie -

Saga of Tanya the Evil: The Movie came out in Japanese theaters on February 8, 2019. It runs about 115 minutes. Studio NUT, which made the first TV season, made the film too, and Yutaka Uemura directed it. The movie is a direct sequel to the 2017 series. It picks up the story of Tanya Degurechaff and her soldiers, so it is best to watch the TV season first.

The year is 1926 in the story's world, a version of Europe where armies fight with magic as well as guns. Tanya is a young girl on the outside, but inside she is a former Japanese office worker who was reborn after an argument with a being who calls himself God. She is now a skilled and very cold officer in the army of the Empire. She leads the 203rd Aerial Mage Battalion, a group of elite soldiers who fly and fight with magic.

At the start of the film, Tanya and her battalion have just finished a hard mission against what is left of the Republic's army, and they come home. They hope for a short rest. It does not last. News arrives that the Russy Federation, a huge country to the east, is gathering troops near the border. The Empire's army must get ready for a new front. Tanya, who always wants a safe post far from danger, is once again pushed toward the fighting. At the same time, other nations join together. A group of countries led by the Allied Kingdom sends soldiers to help the Federation.

The movie also brings in an important new character, Mary Sioux. She is a young woman whose father, Anton Sioux, died in the war against the Empire. Mary has great magical power and a strong desire for revenge. She joins the enemy side with one goal: to make the Empire pay for her loss. She sees her fight as a fight for justice. This makes her the perfect mirror of Tanya. Tanya fights for her own career and survival. Mary fights from pure feeling and faith. Their clash is the emotional center of the film.

Fans of the series will find what they liked before: big air battles, careful war planning, and Tanya's dark, dry humor. Old faces return too, including Tanya's loyal helper Viktoriya Serebryakova and the clever general Hans von Zettour. The action moves across the eastern border and even to Moscow, the Federation's capital.

The film did well in Japan, earning about 400 million yen at the box office. Many critics gave it good reviews and praised its big final battle. Some felt that a few of the earlier fights were less exciting than the ending. Overall, it is a bigger and louder chapter of the Tanya story, and it sets the stage for the conflicts that the second TV season continues.