This anime is honestly really sad. There is an atheist who is murdered.¹ Before he can die, time freezes, and supposedly, God spoke to him via different bystanders. God tells this man that He is "overworked" (as if that were possible). The man says that only those who need help reach out for God, so God reincarnates the man in a time of dire straits to awaken the man's faith.
He is reincarnated as a baby girl named Tanya. She dedicates herself to gaining precedence within the military to win, and subsequently, be prosperous and use that as revenge against "Being X" (the nickname she gave to God¹).²
Fighting Against God
This anime portrays God as some sort of terrible being. Tanya is dead set on fighting against God. For example, Tanya says:
"Oh God...I'll slice you into tiny pieces and feed you to the pigs!"³
"We don't need a God!...so let's cut God out and take over His glorious work ourselves! We soldiers are going to take His place! We're going to put that arrogant [God] out of a job!"⁴ (censored for bad language)
We should not fight against God. To fight against Him is great wickedness. As it says in the Bible:
"And, behold, God himself is with us for our captain, and his priests with sounding trumpets to cry alarm against you. O children of Israel, fight ye not against the LORD God of your fathers; for ye shall not prosper." (2 Chronicles 13:12)
The Lord promises you will not prosper if you fight against Him. Tanya is even called a "devil" in the show.⁵ Does this not resemble Lucifer?
"[12] How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! [13] For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: [14] I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High." (Isaiah 14:12-14)
Satan is still trying to be like the Most High, to defy Him. This is perfectly represented in Tanya.
Magic
Magic is present throughout the series.⁵ The LORD tells us many times in His Word that witchcraft (magic) is wrong and sinful. In Galatians 5:20, in the midst of a list of sins, Paul puts "witchcraft." Magic is wrong.
Profanity
There is profanity in the show.⁶ It makes sense that a show fighting against God would use language He does not approve of.
"Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers." (Ephesians 4:29)
The language we listen to will affect us. Paul states that "evil communications corrupt good manners" (1 Corinthians 15:33).
Conclusion
This anime contains content that is not pleasing to the Lord, the pinnacle of such being it fighting against God Himself. We should not fill our minds with this sort of wicked content.
Sources:
1. "Saga of Tanya the Evil." IMDb, imdb.com/title/tt6455986. Accessed 31 Jan. 2025.
2. "Youjo Senki." MyAnimeList, myanimelist.net/anime/32615/Youjo_Senki. Accessed 31 Jan. 2025.
3. "Youjo Senki - Tanya's Oh God." YouTube, uploaded by Arcwin Olivirus, 1 Apr. 2017, youtu.be/PtdfHkuTH-Y.
4. "The Saga of Tanya the Evil." Tvtropes, tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Quotes/TheSagaOfTanyaTheEvil. Accessed 31 Jan. 2025.
5. "Tanya von Degurechaff." Youjo Senki Wiki, youjo-senki.fandom.com/wiki/Tanya_von_Degurechaff. Accessed 31 Jan. 2025.
6. "Saga of Tanya the Evil: Parents guide." IMDb, imdb.com/title/tt6455986/parentalguide. Accessed 31 Jan. 2025.