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幼女戦記 [Youjo Senki] Manga #4
幼女戦記 4 [Youjo Senki 4]
なんで私が大隊長に!?
絶対に応募者が来ないように募集文を推敲したのに――なぜかターニャの大隊には全国から有望な若者が続々志願してきてしまった。エレニウム九五式による精神汚染もあいまって、気づけばなぜだか大隊長でした!?
絶対に応募者が来ないように募集文を推敲したのに――なぜかターニャの大隊には全国から有望な若者が続々志願してきてしまった。エレニウム九五式による精神汚染もあいまって、気づけばなぜだか大隊長でした!?
160 pages, Paperback
First published April 10, 2017
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121 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
February 5, 2019
In Summary
Those who’ve missed watching troops in life-or-death situations will once more get to see imperial soldiers fight to stay alive. And the funny thing is that they’re not even on the front. Dark humor abounds as little Tanya puts battalion candidates through a modern-era Hell Week. Even if you’re familiar with the novel or anime, the manga provides such a rich, detailed, and entertaining perspective of Tanya’s messed up life that you should still pick it up.
The Review
A recurring theme of this series is that, in spite of Tanya’s best efforts, nothing ever goes the way she wants. Thus, upon graduation from war college, instead of the cushy desk job she’s been striving for, her orders are to form a new mage battalion destined for the front. Shortly thereafter, her ploy to scare off prospective candidates results in a literal avalanche of applicants. Despite this continuously repeated pattern of attempt and failure, it doesn’t get old. That’s partly because the manga, unlike the novel, allows readers to see the disconnect between Tanya’s thoughts and those of the people around her, and mangaka Tojo skillfully uses those situations for maximum hilarity. And it’s partly because Tanya’s refusal to let fate (and Being X) get the better of her leads to amazing creativity.
In the case of Volume 4, most of those creative efforts are aimed toward a nightmare of a training regimen designed to weed incompetents out of Tanya’s battalion (i.e., her personal shield). The manga, like the anime, takes this opportunity to show off Tanya’s wicked side, and because the novel doesn’t provide much detail on Tanya’s boot camp, the manga and anime each have different versions of the pint-sized commander kicking her subordinates into shape. However, the manga version goes into more detail about the rationale behind Tanya’s intense regimen, and the manga’s explanations of the different combat formulas are vastly clearer than what’s provided by the novel.
Tojo-sensei definitely has a talent for taking what’s in the novel and bringing it up to the next level. In Chapter 11, Tanya’s concerns about her stunted physical development take her to the doctor. In the novel’s account of the doctor’s visit, we’re so much in Tanya’s head that all we see is her worry. The manga, on the other hand, shows how the adults perceive Tanya’s concerns, which makes for a livelier and more entertaining scene. Tojo-sensei has been doing this consistently, and I look forward to more of her work.
Extras include battle log so far, character introductions, detailed glossary of terms after each chapter, and interviews with cover designer Toshimitsu Numa and scriptwriter Satoshi Oshio. While the interviews are interesting, Yen Press used a teeny font for those pages, so reading is hard on the eyes.
For more manga and book reviews, drop by my blog Keeping It In Canon!
Those who’ve missed watching troops in life-or-death situations will once more get to see imperial soldiers fight to stay alive. And the funny thing is that they’re not even on the front. Dark humor abounds as little Tanya puts battalion candidates through a modern-era Hell Week. Even if you’re familiar with the novel or anime, the manga provides such a rich, detailed, and entertaining perspective of Tanya’s messed up life that you should still pick it up.
The Review
A recurring theme of this series is that, in spite of Tanya’s best efforts, nothing ever goes the way she wants. Thus, upon graduation from war college, instead of the cushy desk job she’s been striving for, her orders are to form a new mage battalion destined for the front. Shortly thereafter, her ploy to scare off prospective candidates results in a literal avalanche of applicants. Despite this continuously repeated pattern of attempt and failure, it doesn’t get old. That’s partly because the manga, unlike the novel, allows readers to see the disconnect between Tanya’s thoughts and those of the people around her, and mangaka Tojo skillfully uses those situations for maximum hilarity. And it’s partly because Tanya’s refusal to let fate (and Being X) get the better of her leads to amazing creativity.
In the case of Volume 4, most of those creative efforts are aimed toward a nightmare of a training regimen designed to weed incompetents out of Tanya’s battalion (i.e., her personal shield). The manga, like the anime, takes this opportunity to show off Tanya’s wicked side, and because the novel doesn’t provide much detail on Tanya’s boot camp, the manga and anime each have different versions of the pint-sized commander kicking her subordinates into shape. However, the manga version goes into more detail about the rationale behind Tanya’s intense regimen, and the manga’s explanations of the different combat formulas are vastly clearer than what’s provided by the novel.
Tojo-sensei definitely has a talent for taking what’s in the novel and bringing it up to the next level. In Chapter 11, Tanya’s concerns about her stunted physical development take her to the doctor. In the novel’s account of the doctor’s visit, we’re so much in Tanya’s head that all we see is her worry. The manga, on the other hand, shows how the adults perceive Tanya’s concerns, which makes for a livelier and more entertaining scene. Tojo-sensei has been doing this consistently, and I look forward to more of her work.
Extras include battle log so far, character introductions, detailed glossary of terms after each chapter, and interviews with cover designer Toshimitsu Numa and scriptwriter Satoshi Oshio. While the interviews are interesting, Yen Press used a teeny font for those pages, so reading is hard on the eyes.
For more manga and book reviews, drop by my blog Keeping It In Canon!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 24, 2023
So this is the most "trans experience" volume of the series, because, even though they refer to Tanya as "she" even in the bonus interview, Tanya spends a quiet moment reflecting on the way people have been treating her as a young girl and proclaims, "BUT I'M!!! A MAN!!!"—cursing "Being X" for adding this additional psychological damage on top of everything else.
But, I guess even the creators (or, translators?) consider Tanya the identity rather than the soul operating Tanya's body, in calling her "she." I mean, it really is such a small part of the story, and even "Tanya" doesn't really think about it much outside of this volume. (For now, anyway?)
Also somewhat the trans experience. Or *a* trans experience, at least, one who decides it's not worth trying to come out.
Otherwise, even Tanya notices that the story is a very large amount of "I interpret 'A + B = AB' while the other person thinks 'A + B = C', and that is where so many of my problems are coming from!" It's the best part of the series (other than the fact it's mostly a military-oriented story, which I theoretically want to like/understand, but it's always just slightly outside the scale I can grasp), and it's probably the reason the creators think it's a comedy more than dystopian war horror. For instance, when Tanya bemoans not getting any taller, the doctor thinks what she is feeling is due to being an orphan having all these burly men around her as "father figures" in addition to the onset of puberty, so she prescribes Tanya some (unspecified) medicine for that.
Recommended for fans of the series (either one). Not recommended for newcomers—too much happening to really follow along, especially readers who have trouble following military tactics and whatnot.
But, I guess even the creators (or, translators?) consider Tanya the identity rather than the soul operating Tanya's body, in calling her "she." I mean, it really is such a small part of the story, and even "Tanya" doesn't really think about it much outside of this volume. (For now, anyway?)
Also somewhat the trans experience. Or *a* trans experience, at least, one who decides it's not worth trying to come out.
Otherwise, even Tanya notices that the story is a very large amount of "I interpret 'A + B = AB' while the other person thinks 'A + B = C', and that is where so many of my problems are coming from!" It's the best part of the series (other than the fact it's mostly a military-oriented story, which I theoretically want to like/understand, but it's always just slightly outside the scale I can grasp), and it's probably the reason the creators think it's a comedy more than dystopian war horror. For instance, when Tanya bemoans not getting any taller, the doctor thinks what she is feeling is due to being an orphan having all these burly men around her as "father figures" in addition to the onset of puberty, so she prescribes Tanya some (unspecified) medicine for that.
Recommended for fans of the series (either one). Not recommended for newcomers—too much happening to really follow along, especially readers who have trouble following military tactics and whatnot.
October 19, 2024
I'm happy to say this series has gotten back on track after the strange way volume 3 ended. Tanya has been given her battalion, and is pulling out all the stops to make her training regimen so brutal that nobody in the piles and piles of applicants should be able to finish it. But the series being what it is, it's a safe bet that things don't go entirely as planned.
The war itself has also kicked into overdrive, and the stage is set for it to turn into a truly global conflict after all. In the end, volume 4 was much more true to form than the previous one, and with the hostilities mounting, I can only imagine the difficulties Tanya is going to face from here on out.
The war itself has also kicked into overdrive, and the stage is set for it to turn into a truly global conflict after all. In the end, volume 4 was much more true to form than the previous one, and with the hostilities mounting, I can only imagine the difficulties Tanya is going to face from here on out.
January 5, 2022
This volume of the manga appears to be run up to the end of the first light novel. I enjoy the artwork and Tanya's expressions are even better than anything I could imagen as I listening to the audiobook. The manga follows the light novel fairly well and doesn't seem to leave any major plot points, the idea what Tanya is constantly talking to her self as she plans how to live a life of luxury on the rear line of the war if comically when presented in Manga form. Can't wait to read the rest of the series.
November 20, 2023
I don't like the pacing
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews