History Characters / YoujoSenki

* CastFromSanity: In order to use her highly unstable Type-95 jewel, she has to pray. Problem is, every time she does so, her Atheist-persona gradually [[DeathOfPersoanlity erodes away]] in favor for a more [[JeanneDArcheType "Being X-friendly"]] personality in its place with more and more severe memory-blackouts as a consequence.

* JeanneDArchetype: [[{{Irony}} Hilariously enough]], Being X and and her own machinations make her into a model soldier, known as an Ace among Aces, leading her own battalion, who's even featured in internal military propaganda and is ''literally blessed by "God"'', despite being a preteen girl.
** In manga and Light Novel, her subordinates thinks of themselves as Vanguard for the Apostle of God. It didn't help that at one point, she started to wear a rosary she doesn't remember buying, and her need to pray before deploying large-scale spell with her Elenium-95 makes her extremely convincing to fill this trope.

* CastFromSanity: In order to use her highly unstable Type-95 jewel, she has to pray. Problem is, every time she does so, her Atheist-persona gradually erodes away in favor for a more [[JeanneDArcheType "Being X-friendly"]] personality in its place with more and more severe memory-blackouts as a consequence.

* RageAgainstTheHeavens: Tanya goes from being an atheist to full-on misotheist with some maltheist (belief that GodIsEvil or at least huge [[JerkassGods asshole)]], philosophy after being forced to pray to God in order for her Elenium Type-95 to work, calling Being X a [[PrecisionFStrike "vile piece of shit"]]. Later by the end of episode 12 Tanya is out to treat Being X the same way her previous incarnation did with the incompetent worker, she will fire it.
-->''"Our battlefield have no place for that piece of shit God! It's time we take over God's job, we soldiers will take God's place. Put the arrogant ass, God, out of the job!"''

* {{Androgynous}}: In the manga, the flashbacks to the life of the salaryman as a child show him as this.

* DudeLooksLikeALady: In the manga at least, Tanya's former life as a male usually looks fairly defined and obviously, well, male - until a flashback of his childhood is shown, where he pretty much ''was'' Tanya with short hair and glasses until his adult years.

* HollywoodAtheist: In her previous life (and her current one), Tanya was quite the bitter atheist. Her disdain for God was such that she refuses to address Him as "God", but as "Being X". She is determined to do whatever it takes to spite "Being X", even if the only way to stay alive in battle is to pray to Him to keep her SuperPrototype magical gem from blowing up on her. Subverted in the sense that he was not adamantly insistent on the nonexistence of a force comparable to God. He only believes that such a force could not be "God" as He is described in the Scriptures: omniscient, omnipotent and benevolent at once, and worthy of being worshiped.

* GenderBender: Tanya used to be a man in her previous incarnation. She doesn't let this bother her most of the time, since she prefers to focus more on building her military career. There are some hints that she still prefers to see herself as a man though. Her military uniforms give her some degree of masculinity and, in an [[BonusMaterial omake]] anime episode, she is disgusted at the prospect of having sex as a woman. She also felt humiliated when she had to wear a dress for a propaganda photo.

* AdaptationalAttractiveness: For both the anime and the manga. The anime gives her more cutesy features like overly large eyes, while the mamga has her more seductive with longer flowing hair.

* SavedByCanon: [[spoiler:Ugar appears in the Arene Memorial Service that occurs 40 years after the World War, so suffice to say he not only survives the war and is not sentenced.]]

The Empire's main talented (but mad) scientist, inventing many useful weapons during the war. He is the one who invented Tanya's quad-core Type-95 computation jewel and later, the production model dual-core Type-97. Formerly, atheist, he becomes devoted to God after Being X blesses his newest creation, the Elenium-95.

* EyesAlwaysShut: He is the only character in the anime series portrayed this way so far. He is generally cold and apathetic, and when Tanya asked for only a month to train her battalion, everyone was awestruck except him, giving full approval as long as nobody dies. But when confronted by Erich von Lehrgen on the matter that Tanya was the one who proposed ways to legalize city bombardment, he said that he is going to task Tanya with ending the war with the Republic, with eyes opened asymmetrically, giving him the same psycho look Tanya's sometimes shown within combat.

* WrongAssumption: While Erich always assumes the worst of her, aside from witnessing her way of disciplining subordinates, he is also highly suspicious of Tanya's "'''I don't have any choice.'''" lines she uses as her reason to volunteer at her age. In the Light Novel, originally Tanya was taken in by a decent orphanage that received enough donations. Which meant she wasn't abused nor suffered from starvation, and this lead Lehrgen to assume Tanya is a genuine psychopath who joined the military because it's the only career path where killing people is acceptable. The truth? Tanya's is being [[BrutalHonesty honest for once]]. She is a very talented orphan mage candidate so it would have been impossible for her to avoid conscription in the future. So she signed up to as a volunteer purely so she could get to officer school and receive better treatment than a conscripted soldier like Victoria.

* BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor: Despite his misgiving about her, Erich fairly assess Tanya as someone [[IdealHero filled with patriotism and the will to contribute to the nation, a soldier so ideal and talented, with the determination to train herself without rest]]. A soldier the Empire and officer in charge of human resources like him wanted in their rank and yet, when [[TheParagon all these qualities]] manifest on Tanya, he realizes the ideal talent the Empire was looking for would be a real monster in reality.

* ManlyTears: In the sixteenth chapter of the manga, in response to Tanya's show of patriotism and mercy for enemies[[note]]That rousing line is just her excuse for her tears, she is just touched she gets to drink wine at last in this reincarnation.[[/note]]

* NumberTwo: She serves as Tanya's adjutant after going through officer school, although she is not second-in-command of the 203rd Aerial Mage Wing, that honor belonging to 1st Lieutenant Weiss. In their first battalion, Victoriya still serves as her second in command and the one who leads the group whenever Tanya go solo.

* EyeColorChange: Notable in its absence. Despite being highlighted as one of the strongest and most skilled mages in the setting, her eyes don't change color when she uses spells. Everyone else's' does.

* ShroudedInMyth: In 1967, 40 years after the end of the World War, [[spoiler:which the Empire lost]], all official records of Tanya's existence are destroyed, encoded or classified, while the rest were lost the chaotic aftermath of the World War. Former enemies of the "Devil of the Rhine" [[WrittenByTheWinners still consider her a monster]] while Imperial eyewitnesses from the war often give conflicting, fantastical and/or wildly inaccurate accounts of Tanya's accomplishments, giving her something of a mythic status to military historians. A team of journalists dedicated to uncovering an objective historical record of Tanya have named her the "Eleventh Goddess", in reference to the eleven X's used to classify her name (DEGURECHAFF) on recovered World War papers and connecting that to the eleventh card of the Major Arcana Tarot, Justice. At an annual remembrace ceremony for the Arene massacre, Tanya (whose name remained unknown) was known the alleged "rational" leader of the mysterious Imperial battalion V-600 that committed the massacre. Despite having followed wartime protocols to the letter at the time, the battalion was remembered as the best (in combat ability), and the worst (in morality), of Imperial soldiers.

* CombatPragmatist: Played with, she will follow the rules and laws of International War to the letter, but she also emphasize those are "open to interpretation" and she is an expert at exploiting loopholes to win. Her strategic thinking also de-emphasizes [[GloryHound glory]] in favor of victory by any means necessary, a virtually unique trait in the Empire.

** One of the officers from her own military regards her as this due to her abnormal mentality and proposition of Total War as a doctrine. He was even more disturbed when found a work dealing with loopholes in international military law to legalize city artillery bombardment.

* TroublingUnchildlikeBehavior: Zig-zagged since she is not an actual child, but most adult view her pragmatic tactic and ruthlessness in battle as this.
* UnderestimatingBadassery: On the receiving end of this by her superior by episode 12, being called an arrogant soldier who didn't know when to stop. Tanya barely showed emotion, except from when Erich called her [[BerserkButton loved by God of War]] she then calmly explained why he and the Command HQ were wrong, explaining that HumansAreFlawed and will continue to fight beyond rationality.

* OnlySaneMan: Erich sees himself as one in a world of madness through war. As the story progresses, Tanya's war philosophies are gradually adopted by many Imperial officers. While these methods bring greater effectiveness and efficiency to the Imperial army, the officers are also slowly becoming more ruthless in their approach to war. While he cannot argue against the reasons behind Tanya's war methodology, Erich feels that there is a subtle madness behind said reasoning.

** Tanya is borderline obsessed with following rules and doing things by-the-book, and merciless towards those who fail to do so, Sue meanwhile is a loose cannon who puts her personal {{revenge}} against Tanya above direct orders. Tanya holds the belief that emotions have no place on the battlefield - disregarding some BloodKnight tendencies that are at least partially an act, and never get in her way of following orders. Sue on the other hand [[RoaringRampageOfRevenge fully taps into her absolute hatred for Tanya]] into a state of UnstoppabeRage that treats everything and everyone that isn't Tanya as if they weren't even there. Tanya holds Sue in absolute contempt for this, calling her an "[[TheBerserker animal]]". However, in regards to having a quest for vengeance they'll stop at nothing to achieve, the two are perhaps NotSoDifferent when you consider Tanya's visceral and absolute hatred for Being X.

* {{Foil}}: To Tanya, if we ignore the reincarnation bit. Their fathers were both soldiers who died on duty, and they were both raised in a religious environment. While Tanya joined the military purely for a pragmatic purpose, Mary is a patriot who inherited her father's ideals. Both of them are aces with the power of a [[ArtifactOfDoom blessed operational orb]] but unlike Tanya who uses hers cautiously and who is aware of the mental corruption, Mary, as a devout believer, completely gives in to its influence. Also, while Tanya is respected by both her superiors and subordinates, Mary is overall hated due to her naivete and recklessness.

->'''Voiced by:''' Creator/HochuOtsuka (Japanese), Mark Stoddard (English), Arturo Mercado (Latin American Spanish)

* ArmorPiercingResponse: Tanya has a flair for it, as [[JerkassGods Being X]], [[CluelessBoss the Norden front commander]] and [[ReasonableAuthorityFigure Erich von Lergen]] would be loath to admit.

* BloodKnight: What Lergen and her enemies think about Tanya. [[spoiler:She eventually does become this, becoming a freelance mercenary years after the war, simply to alleviate the monotony of everyday life.]]

* TheCorrupter: Although unintentional on Tanya's part, her proposed ideas, strategies, and philosophies based on modern warfare (written during her time at the Imperial military academy) are gradually being adopted by many Imperial officers. These new methods are practical and efficient, enabling the Imperial army to recover and strike back at its enemies effectively after being on the verge of defeat. However, because these same methods encourage a cold, calculating mindset like Tanya's, Imperial officers like General von Zettour are slowly becoming more ruthless than before. This is one of the reasons why Lt. Col. Erich von Lergen fears Tanya's influence over the Imperial army.

** Finally, she points out to Erich von Lergen that while the Empire has the right to logically conclude that the war had been won, people as a whole are not entirely logical creatures. Those that the Empire defeated will definitely come back and fight again, even if there's no logical point in doing so, for no other reason than because they want revenge. Tanya wanted to continue the war to ensure that their enemies are completely crushed in order to put an end to the CycleOfRevenge caused by the war.

* MaskOfSanity: Tanya is capable of pretending to be a capable and loyal, if brutal, officer as well as a sympathetic human being who cares for others. Only Lergen and those unfortunate enough to end up as her subordinates have been able to see past her mask thus far (some enemy soldiers also, but they don't really count, since their lifespan from the time they see her can be counted in minutes on one hand at most).

** One of the best example was her emphasize on how much Norden Theatre's commander underestimate their strained supplies. Since Norden Army is so sure they have enough supplies, she could be excused for some GuiltyPleasure. So she poured generous amount of milk to her coffee,[[note]]Tanya drinks her coffee black, the milk most likely served for her under assumption a young girl would like her drink sweet. Making it even more apparent to Lergen who knows her taste.[[/note]] spilling it everywhere.

* SociopathicHero: One interpretation of Tanya's character and what she arguably becomes by the end of the World War. Despite her [[MoralSociopathy lack of morals]], Tanya is a ruthlessly pragmatic, logical and worldly-wise war veteran with a strong sense of order and ethics. While she [[LackOfEmpathy lacks empathy to others]] for the most part, she has a pragmatic understanding of social behavior, enabling her to predict the actions of others with unnerving accuracy. Because of these traits, as Erich von Lergen eventually realizes, Tanya could very well be the embodiment of how to survive and succeed in the madness that is war.

** [[ZigZaggedTrope Zigzagged]] due to the fact that she possesses Visha and other soldiers as MoralityPet and that she actually feels guilty for troubling Lergen, implying that she might have a very low sense of empathy, rather than a complete lack of it.

* VillainWithGoodPublicity: Tanya is this to Lt. Colonel Erich von Lergen. Having once seen Tanya's ruthless nature, he sees her as a monster who could potentially lead the Empire to ruin one day. However, most of the Imperial upper military echelons are prepared to ignore Tanya's quirks due to her great abilities and deeds as a soldier. In addition, the Imperial army and the citizens of the Empire see Tanya as a national hero.

* BadassCrew: After they completed Tanya's training program that made even veteran soldiers pause, officers in charge of human resources like Lergen remarked that they're the best batch of Flight Mages the Imperial Army has ever seen.

* TrainingFromHell: Tanya's special menu that Lergen summarized as ''Stalked by death for a whole month.''[[note]]A hell week, a demanding training in anti-interrogation and wilderness survival (SERE) followed by a long distance marching exercise through the alpine mountains while prohibiting magic use. The last one was done under extreme conditions of half a bottle of water and no food provided, with a knife shared in pairs as their sole tool.[[/note]] And by the author, ''Booted off of Alpen.'' which is literal to some of them, who were unfortunate enough to fall off when scaling said mountain, Victoria included. No one died, but whoever lost consciousness was kicked awake by Tanya, or in Victoria's case [[GetAHoldOfYourselfMan slapped awake]].

[[folder:Erich von Lergen]]
!![[spoiler:Colonel]] Erich von Lergen

* WrongAssumption: While Erich always assumes the worst of her, aside from witnessing her way of disciplining subordinates, he is also highly suspicious of Tanya's "'''I don't have any choice.'''" lines she uses as her reason to volunteer at her age. In the Light Novel, originally Tanya was taken in by a decent orphanage that received enough donations. Which meant she wasn't abused nor suffered from starvation, and this lead Lergen to assume Tanya is a genuine psychopath who joined the military because it's the only career path where killing people is acceptable. The truth? Tanya's is being [[BrutalHonesty honest for once]]. She is a very talented orphan mage candidate so it would have been impossible for her to avoid conscription in the future. So she signed up to as a volunteer purely so she could get to officer school and receive better treatment than a conscripted soldier like Victoria.

* EyesAlwaysShut: He is the only character in the anime series portrayed this way so far. He is generally cold and apathetic, and when Tanya asked for only a month to train her battalion, everyone was awestruck except him, giving full approval as long as nobody dies. But when confronted by Erich von Lergen on the matter that Tanya was the one who proposed ways to legalize city bombardment, he said that he is going to task Tanya with ending the war with the Republic, with eyes opened asymmetrically, giving him the same psycho look Tanya's sometimes shown within combat.

* WeaponOfChoice: Their magic powered rifle.

* WrongAssumption: While Erich always assumes the worst of her, aside from witnessing her way of disciplining subordinates, he is also highly suspicious of Tanya's "'''I don't have any choice.'''" lines she uses as her reason to volunteer at her age. In the Light Novel, originally Tanya was taken in by a decent orphanage that received enough donations. Which meant she wasn't abused nor suffered from starvation, and this lead Lergen to assume Tanya is a genuine psychopath who joined the military because it's the only career path where killing people is acceptable. The truth? Tanya's is being [[BrutalHonesty honest for once]]. She is a very talented orphan mage candidate so it would have been impossible for her to avoid conscription in the future. So she signed up to as a volunteer purely so she could get to officer school and receive better treatment than conscripted soldier like Victoria.

* OnlySaneMan: Erich sees himself as on in a world of madness through war. As the story progresses, Tanya's war philosophies are gradually adopted by many Imperial officers. While these methods bring greater effectiveness and efficiency to the Imperial army, the officers are also slowly becoming more ruthless in their approach to war. While he cannot argue against the reasons behind Tanya's war methodology, Erich feels that there is a subtle madness behind said reasoning.

** When confronted by a subordinate about slaughtering retreating militia, she calmly beats crap out of him and points out that they are soldiers and they must follow their orders, shooting everyone until told otherwise. In addition, she also points out that these civilians would not show mercy at a later date and even children would grow up to become enemy combatants one day. Every enemy life spared meant more Imperial lives lost.

* RageAgainstTheHeavens: Tanya goes from being an atheist to full-on misotheist with some maltheist (belief that GodIsEvil or at least huge [[JerkassGods asshole)]], philosophy after being forced to pray to God in order for her Elenium Type-95 to work, calling Being X a [[PrecisionFStrike "vile piece of shit"]]. Later actions taken by Being X validate her claims. And later by the end of episode 12 Tanya is out to treat Being X the same way her previous incarnation did with the incompetent worker, she will fire it.

* GodIsEvil: Tanya's interpretation. Presuming "Being X" actually is God and not some entity merely claiming the title, which Tanya has no way of knowing one way or another, there is no evidence to refute this assertion. There's a massive preponderance of evidence to support it.

Imperial Army 203rd Air Mage Battalion is a rapid response force led by Tanya von Degurechaff, formed in the year 1925 to realize Tanya's suggestion of ''Attritional Containment Doctrine'' to Zettour. Known by their elusive "V601" codename in the future, they have been wiped out from history, with only their recruitment notice left as evidence of their existence. An elite force consisting of 48 active Aerial Mage with powerful [[SuperPrototype Type 97 Elinium Orb]], giving them the capability to fly more than 8,000 feet above sea level and match Tanya's firepower and mana efficiency. An autonomous unit specialized in guerilla and covert missions.