In the novels, when Tanya was in the War College, one of her class assignments was to figure out a way to fight in an urban environment without breaking the international rules of war. While her peers brainstormed tactics for avoiding property damage and civilian casualties, this sociopath found loopholes that would let them classify the civilians as combatants; ergo the paper. It horrified her teachers, but they couldn't refute it, so they kept it around, hoping it would never have to be put into action. Alas, Arene happened.
I didn't read the light novel, but in the manga they specifically state that it's a last resort and call it 'the Devil's plan'. Before Arene, they go into specific detail why they reluctantly decided to use it.
Yeah Kinda Sad. I feel like they could do a small scene of it, like a small flashback on a room them give context for it to the last scene. This is why I kind bump with the anime adaptation. It cut so much details that i love about the story ,_,
The novel (and the manga too I think) also specify that to Tanya, this was just a thought experiment, she never thought would be implemented, much less that she'd ever get personally involved in such a situation.
*Tanya:* The enemy you let get away could come back later and, just as an unrelated example... push you off a platform infront of a train. *Granz:* That seems... oddly specific.
”This is an order from our superiors” Tanya says this several times to emphasize that while they may be doing it, these actions are ultimately on the people who ordered them to do so
There's a powerful scene in "Oppenhiemer" where the president waves his handkerchief at Oppen saying "Do you think they will care who made the bomb? They care about the one who dropped it, I did".
Warren Grantz was not originally a member of the group. He was a raw recruit sent in a small batch of trainees to bolster their numbers that Tanya had to train in the field. Unlike most of the Battalion, Who were all soldiers for at least a few months before Tanya got her hands on them. The anime just shoved him into the initial batch. So, his reaction is completely understandable, when you realize that he isn't a vet like the rest of them.
You need to understand they are using civilians as human shields. And the civilians are willing to torture and kill instead of evacuating. Everyone has their lives at stake.
@@Solus3D have you even watched the eps... The republicants purposely retreat behind the civilians, which the leader is confident that the empire would NOT chase and attack. And how the heck can draw conclusion about my stance based on one single comment ABOUT the anime.
Man gtfo this is about a damn anime, want to talk about politics, find a video about that topic. Tf did bro say that warranted your pressed assumptions@@Solus3D
This is an episode that really stuck with me. I remember when it first came out, I had a visceral reaction to the fireworks in the ED. I had sorta sat there stunned after watching everything from Grantz taking the shot, taking in the more somber tone of the ED, and just thinking “they’re celebrating”. Really good episode. Also, you probably missed ED 2 in your reaction because the 90 second version/ the animation seems to be a copyright nightmare. There are several uploads of the full song out there, but none of the TV version. Lastly, I recently started reading the novel for this, and one one thing that comparing this episode to its novel counterpart really highlights is how 2 faced the anime makes Tanya look. In the anime, they place the reveal that she had written the paper at the end to sort of imply that she wanted something like this to happen, and her sympathy for Grantz was an act. In contrast, when the theory is first explained in the novel, Tanya pretty immediately recognizes it as her own. In the narration, she then makes a comment along the lines of “this loophole was just supposed to be a fun exercise in legal theory, I can’t believe these warmongers are actually making me use it.” Although it’s clear that she is largely trying to cover her own ass with the “this is an order from our superiors” line, it’s also pretty clear that this is a decision she would never make if she had any other option. Because Tanya has such great self-control and the novel’s heavy first person narration is lost, the only perspective on these actions you don’t get is Tanya’s, and that’s the one that let’s novel readers make sense of her personality.
Tid Bit of this episode The Mage regiment is very experimental in nature due to how recent mages were introduced in the army. Think of the early plane in WW1 being used for recon (mostly) and provide support. But by WW2 the Air Force was crucial in almost all battles and front. Hence Tanya's recommendation of using the mage for offense instead of support was shocking and even using them in the Battle of the Fjord was revolutionary. The mage units were basically commandos (the first commando units were shock troopers useful for rushing into enemy lines and cause as much obstruction and distraction for the main force to advance. They were elite and specialized troops who use to carry heavy to light armament and lots of grenades to cause the loudest bang and damage in the shortest time and get out). This was a natural evolution of static warfare or trench warfare therefore by virtue of Tanya have her past memory ended up in speeding the process. Which like in real life was analyzed by the enemy and implemented. So Tanya is literally speeding up the process of the war. Which is not a bad thing as the early periods of the war are really a testing phase where the Generals experiments causing lots of manpower to be wasted. Her introduction to the war thus will cause more deaths but it will mean that the wars will end sooner.
You didn't miss a change in ED. They just thought that this episode was a bit too sombre for the usual jingoistic ED, so they made a special one for just this one episode.
Cruelty of war. One side exploiting loophole to consider civilians as soldiers, while the other side hides within the civilians hoping to use them as human shields.
They don't used civilians as Humans shields. In fact, the soldiers try to protect the civilians. Isn't the "cruelty of war". The correct term is war crimes. Israel used a similar strategy to justify the genocide in Gaza.
@@Solus3D so (talking about the episode here), retreating and hiding among the civilians (hoping it will deter the enemy from attacking) is not considered using those civilians as shields? Doesn't mean either side is right though. That's war, cruel, unjust, especially to non-combatants, who end up taking arms and becoming combatants.
9:45 the soldier is basically a POW that time since he is unarmed and has been restrained which makes it more worst They can use that as a valuable excuse
I'm glad i started watching your reaction because i never noticed that a movie came out. I was soo annoyed and thought this was only 1 season and done.
At this point, Tanya's been at the western front for monthes. Anyone would get desensitized to death in her position. I do feel bad for the civilians, who got wrapped up in this, but the Francoir Republic as a whole, deserved this loss. They dropped soldiers into the city and intentionally turned it into a battlefield, and even used their own civilians as living shields, believing that the Empire would either balk at shooting them, or if they were to shoot, that they could use the deathes of the civilians for their propaganda to make the Empire look bad. In other words they broke the rules of war of their world multiple times, and it would have thus been somewhat understandable for the Empire to reply in kind. But the Empire, rather than going "You broke the rules first, so we can do it too now" found a loophole, allowing them to attack the city without breaking the rules of war, making it considerably more difficult for the Republic to try to use it in their propaganda... in the novel and manga anyway. There they did give the civilians ample time to evacuate, while here in the anime, they slaughter the evacuating civilians. That is a rather massive change of things from the source material, and the manga that sticks very close to that. There's even a scene in the novel and manga, were the Republicans find video evidence of the battle and are extatic about how they can now expose the cruelty of the Empire, only for the video turning out to be material that implicates themselves, so they can't use it. They also considerably altered Tanya's part in this. Here she actively makes Granz shoot civilians, while in the source she goes out of her way, to make sure she and her troops get as little involvement in this fight as possible. They just zoom in, rescue the few surviving Empire citizens, held hostage within the city, record how the civilians execute bound prisoners and then pull out. Also Anson Sue (the guy in the post credit scene) was completely dead at this point of the novel and manga. He survived Orse Fjord with only minor injuries, but clashed again with Tanya, in a battle the anime skipped, where the Entente government tried to smuggle one of their numbers to the British isles to set up a government in exile.
The strat of issuing evacuation order then follows up with bombardment for urban warfare is pretty much a standard as last resort even in modern era. Warfare just sucks.
True. They label civilians as legal targets. They tell to them about the attack but without Time enoung to evacuate. A genocide to secure a supply route. Just like Israel.
Pretty sad you didn't react to this ED. It was a special emotional accompaniment to this dire episode. I get that you would have probably had to mute it, but it is both beautiful and tragic. Still, to skip over it like you did felt wrong.
that is what usually happens, since god has almost infinite time he gets bored and what better way than to convert a staunch atheist into a believer with whatever means you can.
Yes this god is crazy, but even without gods comand, think about human history. How many wars started with different believs in the name of god and how many ppl died because of it. I just thought how crazy it was, the Pope could Rally the Kings of europe to start a crusade is just one example
He actually did, or actually they did. In the LN it is revealed that the ones Tanya is dealing with are what are akin to angels and demons. The faction is currently undecided and split on what to do with her. You can actually hear this in the anime, just listen to how god talks to her in the scenes, sometimes like a forgiving adult to a child's temper tantrum, and other times like an old testament avenger. The "benevolent' ones are the ones 'helping' her since they believe she is worthy of being 'saved'. For example the curse of the type 95 was from these guys, it is an amazing power booster but it actually starts brainwashing her with faith the more she uses it, and it also brings faith to those around her in a big faith bomb AOE. That is why she actually carries around a type 97 like the rest of her battalion and uses that instead, only breaking out the 95 when she REALLY needs it. The other half of these beings see her as an irredeemable faithless monster, and so they are the ones manipulating events and the Sue family in order to kill her off and get rid of her soul as they had told her in the train sequence. Funny enough, in the LN there are scenes from the 1960's in multiple books, where a TV crew is going around interviewing survivors of the war from all sides. They all keep quiet about certain events pertaining to the Salamander kampfgroup, which is Tanya's battle group, she gets a battalion of tanks, one of infantry, and one of artillery, as if the sociopath needed more firepower. Every time salamander comes up, the government escort for the TV crew interferes. It is all alluding to something massive having happened near the end of the war. You can see a scene of this in the anime, where the doctor that made the type 95 is now a priest and during the interview if you look at the stained glass window he is looking at, the angel on it looks a lot like Tanya. The running theory is that she either actually fights an angel on the battleground near the end of the war, or she actually becomes one. Sadly each book only has one or two chapters of these interviews each. So it is all up in the air as to why ALL world governments are actively silencing any reference to salamander (Tanya). Sorry for the wall of text. XD
You think your generic Light and L are smart heads? Let me introduce you to Tanya. Bro literally found flaws in war crimes and used it to his advantage
The variables are slightly different, but the setup is quite similar to the whole "Gaza" situation. Civilians basically stop being civilians when they incorporate themselves into a military operation. Moral of the story: If they tell you to dip, dip.
