Literature PSYCHOTIC ARYAN LOLI FIGHTS GOD WITH LARGE PHALLIC GUNS!
Isekai series are really scraping the bottom of the barrel when they have to pull premises from grindhouse exploitation films that would have likely have the parents arrested if they were ever made in live-action. Youjo Senki is one of those off the wall premises that fails to comprehend what direction it wants to take itself, but rather jumps around the internet from its sheer spectacle, rather than possessing anything approaching depth.
An atheist dies and God throws a hissy fit about how he won't believe in him. By which I mean, originally Shinto, but let's throw in some Christian elements so we don't piss them our native audience too much, psychotic manchild God. Its surprising how this series gleefully partakes in victim blaming and the disposal of low ranked ally soldiers, but is afraid to step on the toes of certain religious sensibilities. I remember various mythologies involving reincarnation that often had the heretic reincarnated as rabbits, insects, or worms but apparently God is amazingly both competent enough to reincarnate her as an eleven year old girl and incompetent enough to give her super powers to fight him, starting this insipid war by proxy. Let's be honest here, the only real God in this series is the God of merchandising, as the author knew this exploitative violence series would sell better to hardcore military otaku with a loli protagonist.
The show is about military strategy, through morale, tactics, and politics. Except that Tanya is an eleven year old girl in a patriarchal authoritarian regime. Heck, she's the first girl to rise to 1st lieutenant. Its like getting Doc Mc Stuffins to lead the US 82 Airborne Division during the Vietnam War. Equality advertised doesn't mean equality fully respected, especially when their are no peers representing other parties. Youjo Senki uses physics to describe the faults in enemy movement, but magics everything else away. Why her arms are able to carry a gun, magic, able to shoot ridiculous distances, magic, why her body isn't snapping to pieces from sheer air pressure, magic. You can't lecture military commentary and have an overpowered protagonist powered by God steamroll an army at the same time.
Whatever half-hearted message the series tries to make about war is lost between the chest-pounding jingoism and the sheer apathy of the main character. The civilians are faceless redshirts, the opposition are lifeless target practice, and the allies are little more obligatory quest givers. Tanya's tautological templar attitude is rewarded because the real god (the author) has the story in his hands There is no opportunity for morally gray quandaries or legitimate tension as Tanya's perspective requires her to win or die. Youjo Senki is pornography for bullies, shock value with no substance.
Literature Come for the War not the Characters
The Light Novel is actually pretty thick with military and economic trivia and is very well researched. The characters usually take a backseat role and are primarily used for gags or to bounce exposition.
Also, despite what many may tell you, the events of the series take place in an alternate version of our world around the time of the First World War. The main character's country being referred to as the Empire, based on Imperial Germany.
However, the dates in the story advanced by a decade and the names of the countries and historical figures involved are deliberately changed, presumably to avoid backlash by the present incarnation/descendants of their non-fictional counterparts. (Which has occurred on a few occasions.) A few other anachronistic technologies also exist, but the author has otherwise made deliberate attempts to keep his work accurate to the time period.
There are ‘’no NAZIS’’ in this series. Hitler and his merry band of murderers have made no appearances and the protagonist is not a Nazi in any shape or form.
Tanya is an expy of Manfred von Richthofen AKA the Red Baron AKA arch-nemesis of Snoopy.
The personality of the protagonist is that of an excessively rational individual and the majority of the comedy in the series derives from the continued misunderstandings between Tanya and the rest of the cast due to their different cultural mindsets. The people of the Empire during the are driven by intense patriotism and desire for glory, and cowardice in the military is punishable by death. The phrase "Victory or Valhalla" has been uttered on occasion.
Tanya isn't so much blood-thirsty, okay though maybe a little, as she is frustrated by her circumstances. This irrationally jingoistic world would sacrifice her (in a child's body) to the front lines of a World War, and if ‘’they’’ didn’t then Being X definitely would.
The rationality of the protagonist will definitely come across as sociopathic, especially as character development and relationships are not the author's strong point or focus, but it isn't altogether unrelatable. From Tanya's standpoint, if the people around her want to throw their lives away for glory in the face of enemy artillery and machine-gun fire then let them, she'll use their bodies as shields so she can stay alive. She’ll lose no sleep over their reckless though processes.
Tanya detests war for how wasteful and pointless it is rather for the usual reasons of it being a terrifying and emotionally scarring. This is actually a pretty interesting viewpoint for a main character, and the real disappointment in this series is that Carlo Zen doesn't intermix her though process this mindset and bounce it against the personalities of the other characters for anything other than comedy
Though, given that many characters are based on non-fictional figures, and the author's reluctance to deviate from history, that would be incredibly difficult.