幼女戦記Ⅱ

I understand the logic but thinking it's not insanity because it has a logic is missing the point. It's like the kamikaze problem. The Japanese realized that Allied AA was so good that even a normal run is practically a suicide attack. So in order to maximize the amount of damage they did per aircraft and pilot loss, they decided they should have the targeted ship have the whole plane crash into it anyway. Sure enough, the numbers worked. Since the introduction of kamikaze attacks, they indeed did more damage to Allied ships per asset lost. But brother, take a step back and look at the shit hole you're in if you even had to come up with this to begin with. That's what situation the Empire is in. "We might have to smash a rock against our face to wake up" is crazy work no matter how or why you cut it.

Right, and just like with the kamikaze attacks, it's cutting off your nose to spite your face. They went from some pilots surviving being shot down to next to none and had literal teenagers trying to out fly well-trained allied pilots. So, even when they weren't on suicide missions, they lost more pilots per combat just because nobody could be trained well enough due to a lack of quality instructors (Japan kept their best fighting until they died rather than pulling them back to train the next batch) and a high turnover necessitating a shortened training period. They decided shooting themselves in the foot was worth it because the shot would hit their enemies too - completely ignoring how badly wounded they already were and how that foot being injured meant they couldn't avoid retaliation. Their generals wanted to fight to the very last man and were even considering a coup because the emperor was planning to surrender. But the emperor outmaneuvered them by announcing the surrender on radio earlier than the generals had anticipated.

They decided shooting themselves in the foot was worth it because the shot would hit their enemies too - completely ignoring how badly wounded they already were and how that foot being injured meant they couldn't avoid retaliation. Their generals wanted to fight to the very last man and were even considering a coup because the emperor was planning to surrender. But the emperor outmaneuvered them by announcing the surrender on radio earlier than the generals had anticipated. I'd make an Iran joke, but it would probably violate the modern politics rule.

Why do they even have to listen to the politicians? Just convince the Imperial Family. Usually means some politican (prime minister, chancellor, etc.) has the ear of the Imperial Family and basically rules the country in their place while they do other non important things like leisure. It's probably why they were worried about the populace rising up at the meeting that resulted in Zettour being exiled, as that would probably draw the attention of the Family to what is really going on, and cause them to lose their support from the Family.

Also as the imperial family who do you fear seizing power the most? It is never the bureaucrat or the politician. History always tells you fear the war hero and or the general. They are the ones most likely to turn public opinion in their favor. The populace can still be placated by the politician or bureaucrat is is a traitor or he is greedy. How do you sell the guy who has bled for the fatherland as a traitor? It is why most coups often are military not domestic or from the politicians.

Tanya is too afraid of what will happen to her career to consider joining a coup. But mages and the 203rd in particular are great material for a coup plotter. In real life, usually among successful coups there is an average of 3% of the military personal on the side of the plotters. Some have more some have less and in rare cases a majority of the military is involved. But people who make up the coup and their subordinates are usually greatly outnumbered at the start. A coup works by going around with guns, declaring you're in charge and stopping people from saying otherwise (like arresting the opposition). OK so now your hypothetical coup arrested all the old leaders and are in charge of the capital. Now what? You don't have forces all over the country, I just said you probably don't even have 10% of the military on your side yet. Well, you then announce you're in charge. And the strange thing is that people outside the capital in the government don't think "darn, boss is gone, I'm unemployed now" but "OK, they're in charge" And then in successful coups, the rest of the military then sides with the coup! Even though in almost every case the coup started with less than 1/10th of the total military, the 90% that wasn't on their side to begin with join them. Coup assets generally need to be fast and mobile. Units deployed on long range assignments aren't great. Planes are fast, but they can't non-lethally arrest a guy, so unless you are coordinating with a ground force this usually isn't done. I mean it was done once in Iraq, but generally this isn't the way to go. And the fighter pilot can't exactly land his plane on any flat surface. But mages actually have everything a coup plotter could possibly want except disloyalty to their legal superiors. In the real world, coups are done by the soldiers. They can fly and they can arrest someone. In the Youjo Senki world, you could probably pull it off with 30 mages if you're well-coordinated. The other downside is the upside of they can fly. Some real coups got foiled when soldiers arresting a charismatic incumbent get persuaded to switch sides. This is controlled by real coup plotters by controlling the communication equipment of the team sent to arrest the incumbent. If they turn on you, that can't denounce the coup to their other soldiers to persuade them to switch sides, but a mage doesn't need a radio to get a message, he can just fly over.

I mean if the Imperial Family in Not-Germany in Not-Europe are anything like the royal bloodlines of our Europe around WW1… There may be various genetic defects going on also. Let alone if like our Europe revolutions of various groups/countries had been popping up for like 100 years so they probably should be really worried about the populace. Granted it seems like they were going full “ bellum se ipsum alet” till it stalled.

Yea I mean, we as viewers know that this is an alt-history Germany, but it's helpful to reflect on the ENORMOUS impact Tanya's presence has had. Her divinely boosted magic has literately turned the tide of many critical battlefields warping history little by little and consequently dragging out the German Empire much longer and (technically) in a healthier state than it should have been. I think this is what Being X was talking about when he talked about the world warping. Ironically it's a disaster of his own making sense he has basically changed the history of an entire planet just to spite one asshole atheist lol.

they just seemed to have reasonable goals when the going was good. "push further and get another victory that we can use" is a great rallying cry at the beginning but after years and years of total war the populace is ready for a change methodology. I wonder if this is where the shift from WW1 era Germany goes to WW2 era Germany. so far they've shown off the military and the Total warfare aspect of the major world wars but they have not shown as much of the direct Fascism. she wouldn't be Blue eyed with golden hair for nothing...

'A coup' is a bit of an understatement hah; "Hey, you guys don't know what the fuck you're doing, we're talking over" would be a coup! But attacking their own nation, to pass a message... That's a bit more than that! (I'm worried for Tanya; They're already looking for scapegoats for all their failures. What happens after that 'coup', when the war ends? Does one of them (willing to keep his legacy intact - and his head) thinks maybe revealing that "They found the traitor" and give up Tanya, would be a good way too save his own skin?

Honestly, I think the idea has been somewhere in their minds since the government decided that the Empire would reject the ceasefire because they thought they could grab more land/war reparations (don't remember which) if just one more offensive succeeded. The generals did not look happy at that idea but sucked it up because of pride and duty. Now that it's clear that the Empire is starting to fray, I think duty and pride are taking a backseat to "not getting all the troops killed in a war that they actually would have won if the civilians didn't overrule them." Interested in how Tanya is going to play into the coup, if it happens. An air raid was mentioned, so that brings two possibilities to my mind: false flag attack or straight up decapitation attack on the civilian government.

Not really. From what Rerugen mentioned, it's likely that the plan is all about waking up the people and the politicians. After all, they would be the ones to push for the end to the war, not the military. The latter has already tried. Numerous times too. As Zettour said, the Empire has become addicted to victory. So much so that "victory" was the only goal given to the military. There is no strategic condition to achieve it. However, if the capital was targeted in an air raid, the people can no longer living the lie built for them. The politicians can no longer confidently declare that "victory" be the goal when some of them could very well die at any time. There is no desire to take control of the nation itself. The plan, or at least potential plan, is to shake things up so that those who can put an end to the war decide to do so.

I was thinking that the plan is all about waking up the people and the politicians as well, but after Kurt had Tanya join him for the ceremony for fallen soldiers, it seemed to me it would be less of an actual air raid and more like a figurative one where the anger of the people is pointed at the politicians. Which technically could be done with an actual air raid as a rallying call, but can also be done through other methods too.

One of the more fascinating elements of this season is how compared to the first season we’re getting to see more of the downsides to Tanya’s personality. Tanya is not normal, she fundamentally can’t fully understand the emotions of regular people and those blind spots are becoming more and more of a problem whether she realizes it or not. Of course at the same time all those irrational things Tanya can’t understand have taken the form of a self-righteous vengeance monster in Mary.

Yeah, Mary is on all accounts not suited for war, she has no grasp of nuance or strategy and she’s impulsive with a self-centered sense of morality. Mary is every personality trait Tanya hates turned up to 11 but that’s honestly not surprising, she’s a young girl, the daughter of a soldier raised on wartime propaganda and patriotism who lost her father to the enemy before being turned into God’s attack dog. And honestly, I enjoy the sheer visceral intensity of Mary’s hatred for Tanya, she’ll chase her enemy to ends of the earth no matter how unjustified her grudge. She certainly suits the role Being X seemingly intended for her of just hounding Tanya to push her.

Mary is every personality trait Tanya hates turned up to 11 but that’s honestly not surprising, she’s a young girl, the daughter of a soldier raised on wartime propaganda and patriotism who lost her father to the enemy before being turned into God’s attack dog. That's why I always find the Mary hate rants so silly (though that's not to say I don't understand them). It's like they think if you could simply explain all of that to Mary she'd back down. Like she'd really go "Oh shit, my bad, you're so right! My father died engaging in lawful combat and Tanya is simply an Imperial soldier following orders and protecting her own life as anyone would! TRUE! I'll go home now!" Lmao of course not. Her father is dead, and Tanya killed him. No amount of rational explanations will soothe that wound. And honestly, I enjoy the sheer visceral intensity of Mary’s hatred for Tanya It's immensely entertaining yes. There's something about her fight in the movie that just makes you feel like you went through a rollercoaster that I don't think any other antagonist will be able to provide in this story. Not just the crazy magic fighting, but even in the end when she's pummeling Tanya bare fisted and the direction just let that moment of rage sit and soak it all with that raw bone against meat sound design... It's so primal. Brutal violence you can't look away from. Exhilarating in all the wrong ways. I really hope they give her another spotlight combat.

Agreed. Her hatred for Tanya is absolutely understandable, but the lengths she goes to are absolutely insane. And honestly she should've already been court-martialed for outright refusing her superior's orders so many times. Sure, she is a great mage. Very powerful. But she's no soldier. She outright led multiple of her squad to death. I don't hate her for hating Tanya. I hate her because she is and will continue to lead countless "innocent" people to their deaths just for her revenge.

Its really good writing because its easy to root for a protag baecause whole basis of the theme is emotion vs reason with her for clearly being petty putting her in this world, whole exchange implaying that emotions are bad, setting it up like tanya is the only normal one Yet Tamya is very clearly not normal as a person, but you dont want to admit it because it would feel like rooting for Being X even if that is untrue.