ThatAnimeSnob

This anime is hailed as one of the best isekai ever made, when in reality it’s only standing out by not following the usual formula of the fad. So it’s more different than it is better, and it came out at a time when people got really fed up with the checklist of what is going on in typical isekai. They would like anything that strays off from the norm, so when they watch the first episode they instantly get hooked with the premise:

Ah, finally, an isekai that is not about a self insert loser, who is a gamer, who gets killed by a truck, and who goes to a fantasy world that functions like a videogame and forms a harem! Tanya is different and that makes it better.

No it’s not. Different does not mean better. You can break the norm all you want and it will mean nothing if the execution is crap. And in Tanya’s case, it’s actually not that bad, because it’s not betraying its premise, like most isekai do. Your average series will give the illusion of the protagonist being weak and useless at first, before quickly turning him to an unstoppable force that makes every female to wet herself. The protagonist here doesn’t magically change when he gets isekaied. He was successful on our world and he remains successful on the other world.

Or should I say, she, because he gets reincarnated as a girl. Ah, such a subversion; he’s no longer male in the same way the Slime isekai is a subversion because he becomes a slime, or the Spider isekai is a subversion because she becomes a spider. And let’s not forget that other bullshit where they become vendor machines and hot springs… Non-subversions aside, the concept of transforming the protagonist is supposed to be done for powering down what he can do in the other world. It’s an illusion for making you think he is being punished instead of rewarded, although it is quickly proven to not be a problem because he levels up ridiculously fast and becomes overpowered anyways. Tanya is not different in this regard. Despite being a little girl, she possesses magic that can do stuff most adults can’t.

Speaking of magic, the setting is often hailed as different for not being a generic western medieval fantasy. It’s closer to early 20th century and people are using guns and tanks. And no, this does not make it sci-fi, because they still use magic for flying and firing energy beams, thus it’s again not that special. It’s about the execution in terms of worldbuilding and lore, and in that regard it’s nothing special. It feels like an imitation of Germany during the world wars. And if you think that means a lot of politics and war tragedies, it doesn’t because there aren’t enough episodes for elaborating on many things, and most of the screentime is taken up by the protagonist.

And here is the biggest problem with Tanya. The setting and the support characters don’t matter in the longrun, because the focus is given almost entirely to Tanya and her selfish goal to become successful and prove to some godly entity that she doesn’t need help from anyone for becoming great. She is the only character that is psychotic, merciless, and willing to destroy anyone standing in the way to the top. Everyone else is just average people who don’t do something significant and become forgettable early on. Therefore the setting goes to waste since its people and locations are there just as a personal playground for the main character. The world could have been medieval China or some futuristic base on the Andromeda galaxy and the result would be the same. That’s a big no-no when it comes to good writing.

The fact that it’s also a short series and an incomplete adaptation doesn’t even give you a twist or a solid finale. You are left wondering if Tanya remains undefeatable or if she reevaluates her way of thinking, or if that god-thing does anything to stop her, or if someone else does something worthwhile for a change.

Essentially, there is not much plot progression. Tanya going up the military ranks by winning battles doesn’t mean much. Without something to flavor this single idea, she became a meme and now everyone remembers the anime simply as ‘the one with the psycho loli Hitler’. It’s monotone without an actual challenge to stand in the protagonist’s path, and quickly gets boring. It eventually becomes no more than a sadistic power fantasy. All you get is Tanya doing crazy facial expressions, steamrolls her completely defenseless enemies in cruel ways, and then returns to base so she can be praised by her fellow soldiers for the superb psycho loli Hitler she is.