Youjo Senki

Description

Links are NOT allowed. Format your description nicely so people can easily read them. Please use proper spacing and paragraphs.

On the front line of the war, there’s a little girl. Blond hair, blue eyes and porcelain white skin, she commands the army with lisping voice. Her name is Tanya Degurechaff. But in reality, she is one of Japan’s most elite salarymen, reborn as a little girl after angering a mysterious being X who calls himself “God.” And this little girl, who prioritize over anything else efficiency and her own career, will become the most dangerous being amongst the sorcerers of the imperial army…

Associated Names
One entry per line
A Little Girl's Military Record
SOTE
Tanya Chiến Ký
The Military Chronicles of a Little Girl
The Saga of Tanya the Evil
Youjo Senki
บันทึกสงครามของยัยเผด็จการ
幼女战记
幼女戦記
Related Series
N/A
Recommendations
The Girl Who Ate a Death God (8)
Dungeon Defense (6)
Katahane no Riku (3)
I Reincarnated as a Noble Girl Villainess But Why Did It Turn Out This Way? (WN) (3)
Overlord (LN) (3)
The Girl Who Bore the Flame Ring (2)
Recommendation Lists
  1. Messed up Sh*t Recommendations
  2. OP MC's
  3. My Library Of Treasures
  4. ALLJP+
  5. Novels That I Have Read Over The Years

Latest Release

Date Group Release
04/04/17 Skythewood v2c2
02/28/17 Skythewood v2c1
12/24/16 Skythewood v1 side story
12/12/16 Skythewood v1c5
09/09/16 Skythewood v1c4
05/31/16 Skythewood v1c3
02/29/16 Skythewood v1c2
11/04/15 Skythewood v1c1
11/04/15 Skythewood v1 prologue
Review
27 Reviews


Cryarc
Cryarc
Sep 09, 2016
Status: v1c4
This is a story heavily influenced with deep philosophy about war and somewhat religion, the author theme is clear and concise, almost pragmatic. Though to be able to enjoy this the readers have to be accustomed on reading both academical and philosophical dissertations, actively engaging and questioning about the content that the author brought forth. If you're reading this series expecting it to be a regular narrative style, with more actions and dialogues then you probably won't be able to enjoy it.

The way the author write this series shows that... more>> he's doing a lot of research on the war as subject and a lot of contemplation to state his own opinion on war with the help of the characters in his story. Gladly he's creating believable characters each with their own philosophy so there are dynamic discussion/debate in reviewing a subject matter in the storyline.

Though maybe some people questioning "Why loli?", the author doesn't use it as a creepy fan service. It's instead used to juxtapose the contrasting concept of war and children/girl, it's to show how eerie it is when a child (a little girl at that) being dragged in a war as a soldier. It arises a lot of questionable issues; that even the characters in the story itself feels troubled about it.

It contains NONE of this:
- fan service. Despite the main character is a little girl the author never use her as fan service.
- "The enemies are evil and incompetent" The enemies have believable circumstances, not the comical incompetent enemies often depicted in Japanese light novels.
- "All of our allies are incompetent" Contrarily there are a lot of competent allies, most of them are intelectual. Usually side characters in Japanese light novels are depicted as dumb so the main character can be seen as intelectual, but in this series both side characters and main character are almost equal.

In conclusion, it's not the usual run of the mill light novel, it's a series mainly dissecting opinions and facts about war in an adult view point. <<less
138 Likes · Like Permalink | Report
Cameron
Cameron
Jun 27, 2016
Status: v1c3
The premise and the characters are interesting. The events are also good but...

Too. Much. Info.

The author is dragging the story down by explaining everything. And I do mean everything. And he's not afraid to explain it again in case, y'know, he was unclear the first time.

It's a shame too. I want to know more about this world and the characters in it, but I can't handle it like this.
35 Likes · Like Permalink | Report
Fantasy-Magician
Fantasy-Magi
Jul 26, 2017
Status: v2c2
This series is my favorite in NUP, and still is even if translator drop it. The perk of Youjo Senki is we can enjoy it in three media, light novel, anime and manga. So it's like having three in one delicious treats.

Youjo Senki from the premise alone speaks clearly about the author's opinion about Another world + Reincarnation setting which grows like fungus in JP web novel.

  1. Instead of Mr. Truck, we got Mr. Train and instead of saving a kid the salaryman was mu*dered simply for doing his job laying off people.
  2. Meeting the God, instead of panicking over his life as an Atheist he just got to argue and nickname said God. He is also not excited at the prospect of second life, his life is done so reincarnating is just a matter of course.
  3. Reincarnating with memory of an adult isn't a walk in the park, and with brain capacity of baby you will sleep off most of it. Baby can't monologue life problem even with adult soul.
  4. Reincarnating to different gender isn't exciting, even if you turn to pretty blond loli since it won't help you get a job and there's no novelty looking at your own body especially if your puberty comes late.
  5. God is God, ask and you shall receive isn't happening here.
  6. Getting reincarnated to past, just a century backward from your era is already a pain as there's no child protection service. You'd wonder how other MC of transmigration series live in older era so conveniently in era where toilet isn't exist yet.
  7. Cheat item from God makes life easier but it's not free, especially since Being X isn't sorry for Tanya's fate.
  8. Hero to your allies is devil for enemy.
Basically Youjo Senki is a series that turns the idea of exciting second life with cheat blessing from God we see in other Isekai reincarnation story. Especially being young prodigy... more>> in magic as shown in early chapter didn't help Tanya much because grown up still can throw her around, and she understandably can't carry riffle that's too heavy for her. The cheat item she got eliminate this problem and gives her OP status, however Carlo Zen prove being overpowered subordinate means nothing if your superior is incompetent in war as larger picture. A person can't carry the whole country on her own.

Tanya did take advantage of her history lesson in the past and shamelessly plagiarize a couple of them as her own to advance her career. It do her no good when she is the one who got saddled to execute that plan.

The enjoyment reading this story come from hilarious misunderstanding caused by Tanya's mindset as modern salaryman, and how she tried her best to appeal to her superior as a competent and patriotic soldier. She is a very unique character, cynical, ambitious, cold and ruthless but in spite of her less than sympathetic quality Tanya appeals to me. All starts from one line of her monologue in the past, where she admit she has all complex known to man and less than a genius but she work hard to earn her salary.

All the good things about Youjo Senki, in this review I will say the bad side too.

This is a light novel, but it seems Carlo Zen is pushing the limit of light with his writing. By right light novel is written is format meant for quick reading, yet Youjo Senki can have wall of text on war theory and history. You can finish reading ten chapters of other series and still half-way through one chapter of Youjo Senki.

Prologue of this light novel is very misleading, originality aside. When I start reading it, I thought Carlo Zen is writing a thesis in form of light novel. This could be pretty jarring to some, and skipping it didn't hurt. It explain Tanya's mindset as a very rationalistic individual and philosophy to get by in life. However... if not for a video in youtube explaining why the prison experiment and school of Chicago relevant to Tanya's character, I will never get why that thesis like prologue is even there.

Yes, info dump is frequent in this light novel. It gets so bad, Skythewood says translating Youjo Senki is like writing university level thesis.

This is an amazing series, but if you want to read the light novel version you have to endure lots of info dump on history, philosophy and economy. If you can't stand it, you should see the manga and anime instead. <<less
29 Likes · Like Permalink | Report
SunsetChaos
SunsetChaos
Apr 21, 2016
Status: --
Anime is out. Go watch it instead, it's just as awesome. And more materials than the translations.

Old review:

... more>>
Spoiler

I find it interesting and promising. It's also being adapted to anime. Https://www. Youtube. Com/watch?v=nf8xFKUKXg4

The setting is basically WWI/WWII with magic and flying mages. Not the kind of magic like in fantasy/rpg worlds but more like technology combined with magic, using tools and machinery. Unlike other worlds with magic, they are pretty technologically advance. Like somewhere in the 20th century.

Don't worry about the genderbender tag, MC is a badass and it's more about action and war and stuff. The art alone is great and really shows how badass the MC is.

v1c3 is just epic. Like watching the descent of a goddess/angel of death. She's literally massacring the enemies as a 1 man (loli) army.

Those should be plenty enough reasons for you to try it.

[collapse]
<<less
26 Likes · Like Permalink | Report
fireutsie
fireutsie
Dec 20, 2016
Status: v1c5
This novel is good, if you love strategy, warfare, magic and world-war 1/2 settings. Then this novel is absolutely something for you. As many other people pointed out, they didn't like the info dump as well as philosophy. But this is good in my opinion. I don't want a story where x and y do this, then they won with incredible odds and got tons of prestige from it. No, I want a detailed story where I can immerse myself in, knowing what different characters think and why they behave... more>> like that, as well as the necessary world-building. And even so, I think the info dump wasn't as bad as Mahouka where they literally went on for pages about how magic works.

All in all it's a good story, well written, and certainly enjoyable. If you like a version of this story without too much information dump, but still get the action scenes as well as story development, I would recommend reading the manga, which has superb art btw. And the anime which will be airing soon. <<less
22 Likes · Like Permalink | Report
llltiagolll
llltiagolll
Jan 20, 2017
Status: v1 side story
Well, normally I hate both most seinen and almost all gender-benders, but this one is simply a masterpiece, a reasonable; not THAT dark world, interesting characters, detailed and deep world building, and most important to me a gender-bender that doesn't focus in genders! You almost forget that the MC is a Youjo and you only remember that on the comedic parts of the novel! The characters are nicely done, the world is interesting, the magic is cool, the inhuman system like GOD is very interesting concept and nothing is shallow... more>> people might complain about too much info, or philosophy, but this is a SEINEN novel not a happy go lucky SHONEN or SHOUJO novel; though it isn't as dark as a common seinen and is more acceptable for people like me that doesn't like a too dark of a history. <<less
20 Likes · Like Permalink | Report
jacobpaige
jacobpaige
Mar 03, 2016
Status: --
At least half of every chapter is an info dump/philosophical disertation that may or may not be relevant to the story and will usually completely disrupt the flow of the story and any conversations that may take place.

I feel like this could be a good story, but the author just doesn't understand the importance of brevity, concision, focus or showing rather than telling.
16 Likes · Like Permalink | Report
Lachiel
Lachiel
Aug 27, 2016
Status: v1c3
While this novel has a ton of information being dumped on you at points, it is a well written novel. The premise is unique, you don't really see the common "I'm in a different world, and here comes my harem flocking in" at all during the chapters. All you see is a man doing as he was told and trying his best to survive.

Overall the updates are slow, but it's a good read that you should at least give a try.
13 Likes · Like Permalink | Report
YoriMei
YoriMei
Jan 31, 2019
Status: v3
A breath of fresh air in the isekai novel world! MC dies and picks a fight with god, who throws MC into a gritty, realistic, low fantasy setting where there is a war and minor magic powers! MC aspires to basically survive and live comfortably, and is dying to punch god if given the chance. It’s a very complex novel, chocked full of politics and grey moral characters.
11 Likes · Like Permalink | Report
Adastria Lillith
elhessan
May 28, 2016
Status: --
How do.i put this? Hmm... So far, I really like how the story developed. Mixed between magic and world War tech, it gives kind of unique atmosphere in the fantasy novel. Though I can't say much about the characters, I'd say that it's well written. But then again, it's only 4 chapters so far. I hope it will be continued to be translated.
9 Likes · Like Permalink | Report
Vrethalya
Vrethalya
Mar 31, 2016
Status: --
I personally rate this novel as 4 out of 5

I cant say what this novel basically is, since even though it's quite long, but there's still only 2 chapter (4 actually, 1 prologue, and 1 partial translation. But counting the chicken before it hatch wouldn't be a good thing, no?). So far, I quite love it.

The main theme is about a guy (i still confused about his profession. HR, RnD, or some sort of management?) who died, meet with the higher being, and being reincarnated into another world. The twist... more>> is, after his death, god (or something with similar attribute) judge him for his unpieousness (is this a word? The noun is piety) and decided to reincarnate him into a world with war and magic.

What I love about this novel is it's setting. The world take places in a seemingly WW2-ish era (i dunno, but it just gave that steam punk-is feels) instead of the usual kind medieval era, thus we are shown with a seemingly more intelligent war than the usual "make a line and charge to the death" kind of war. No hero, no demon lord cliche no status and lvl glorifying MC.

There is magic, yes, but it was shown with an to aru majutsu's esper-ish magic. Instead of freely manipulating the flow of mana, human is barely able to control it with a help of tools (where in clasic setting, the tools would be used to help people in chaneling it). Magic is scientifically researched, and shown as some sort of newly developed technology. Things would seems like it would only tell you about this reincarnated person, and it's involvement in the said war and also his thought, and philosophical standing about his current condition. (the author seems to love to depict MC's philosophical view, or maybe it's just his own philosophy?) but then, it was shown that there's God's intervention (they are literally doing it, by showing some miracle and stuff) at work, to correct MC from it's unpieous behavior as if saying that it will be about our MC's personal philosophical view against these gods's intervention throughout his life that's all I can say about it, and after this, would be my (really) personal rambling and some spoiler

Spoiler

At this point, the author really shown the gods as a selfish being who is hard headedly trying to maintain their system
as if the gods only care about your piety, instead of the good behavior within human it self. The plot seems to be driven by the fact that human is no longer being pieous, and the gods decided to set their path straight. Yes there were a discussion about how human had deviate from the 10 commandments but then, in 2nd chapter, seeing how human has no more faith towards the gods, and how human change from a being who always glorify their name, into a being who even dare to question the god's authority.

While on prologue, MC was said as a being who enjoys the act of killing indirectly but so far, the MC haven't shown any sign of a those tendency. Even his action in war, only shown by him because he is desperately trying to survive, while avoiding a troublesome future, like court martial, or killed in action

He is quite apathetic towards other's life, yes. He's quite stern in promoting a perfect corporate gear but then, it's not like he's a psychopath who is enjoying a manslaughter. To be condemned as a despite-full being who lost his pieousness is quite to far, no? And so far, I'm predicting that it will be a philosophy journey toward human relation with the gods, so be prepared.

That's all from me, and thanks for reading.

[collapse]
<<less
9 Likes · Like Permalink | Report
Pixeldrum
Pixeldrum
Jun 08, 2021
Status: v9
I really like Youjo Senki, I really do. However, the writing and pacing direction is honestly one that I really cannot agree with.

It's safe to say that the standout points of this series are one of two things: Tanya. Her monologue, which probably covers over half of all of the pages bring extreme depth into her personality and thinking paradigm. The way that she interacts with others and the incongruous rhetoric from her dialogue and her inward thoughts truly paint the story vividly. The other point? I'd say it would... more>> be how there's quite a focus on the military maneuvers and operations and how they come to be in the novel, however, that's exactly what I find to be a dissenting point.

Youjo Senki leaves little room for doubt on the actions, planning, intent, and execution of many military operations and maneuvers that it's sickening. It's thorough in expressing how a situation came to be, but at the cost of fast pacing. It's great that painting a large scale picture of things make things seem feasible and realistic, but at the cost of taking precious text away from character development, which is extremely lacking. What do I find more impactful? 20+ battles being described in a relative lack of detail that make them more of digests and summaries rather than actually reading the battle, or 3-5 detailed battles? Do I even have to say it? The text really likes to gloss over a lot of details that should be emphasized. The lack of sleep, combat with the enemy, the atmosphere of the Rhine trench line, the stench of death, and the act of killing a person. I'm just listing a few things that need to be explained more, and certainly, the novel does include these details, but just not at the level of focus and quantity that needs to happen for me to engage with the story. I really would have liked the story to be more about knowing what the characters are thinking and the in depth analysis of how a battlefield is developing rather than knowing the entire war situation for the Empire. Even just the description of all combat is glossed over. There's never a true emphasis on how magic is used and how it interacts with magic orbs, and it's more of a convenient tool that never really gets explained on its inner workings. How much more of a interesting read this would be if Tanya was able to use her mind to creatively manipulate mana to create different formulas, especially with her Type 95 orb? In the end, magic is only determined by the type of orb a mage is using, and how effectively they can use said orb.

Another flaw with the in depth military approach is that Tanya has little autonomy in the grand scheme of things. As it had been said multiple times, her rank can be counted from the bottom faster than it can be counted from the top. Inevitably, she interprets her orders with creativity, but in the end, she's forced to follow orders that are more often than not, unreasonable from her superiors. Given how she's proven time and time again to be invaluable as an asset, I wish that she was given more discretion on her assignments. Imagine if she was able to command over a division and make strategic operation calls, or even just be involved in administration over a region. You might call that a slight stretch of the imagination since it's a military structure: getting promoted is difficult, and hierarchy is strict. I'd say while that is true, this is still a fantasy novel with an eight year old being drafted into the army, I'm sure this is an acceptable range of "fantastical elements" in the workings.

It's not like characters suck. I really like all the characters, and they're really well developed for how absolutely little time they get for being fleshed out. Visha, Weiss, Grantz, Tospan, etc, all of her officers have interesting personalities and the dialogue that they engage in is never boring to watch. However, again, you get the problem of the inflexible army regulations in which you never really get to see these officers in a non-combat situation. In the end, their development is stifled because the novel always puts them in a combat situation rather than, say, putting them in a mission that involves individual discretion. This could be anything, like just administration, diplomacy, etc, but sadly, Tanya and her 203rd battalion are just forced into battle. Of course, Tanya is a very fleshed out character due to her dialogue, but I just wish that the other characters got some love as well.

Overall, I get the idea that the novel trades off character development and details in exchange for fast paced plot. The plot as a result, makes sense because there's so much invested into it, but is that really the charm point of the series? Is it Tanya's monologue that makes the series interesting, or is it the fact that certain circumstances force the Empire to make drastic decisions such as operation shock and awe? Do I care more about the characters that Tanya interacts with, or do I care more about the reason on why the Empire's defense plan is not suited for invading other countries? I personally find characters to be infinitely more important. The anime takes this fast paced plot and destroys the series but eliminating more than 90% of the monologue that Tanya engages in. Just... sad. I still like the novel series, but I really cannot recommend the anime. <<less
8 Likes · Like Permalink | Report
jiisama
jiisama
Oct 05, 2018
Status: v2
Great story but the author includes too much fluff. The author goes into great details about politics, psychology, military and gives many reasons and thoughts about a single subject. This is great for world building, however, the author ends ups repeating himself half the time. What really bothers me is the times where there is an action scene and the author ends up throwing a bunch of names from different units and factions and then giving a short summery of what happened.

I'd say the anime adaptation is better than the... more>> source for this series, which is a first for me. <<less
8 Likes · Like Permalink | Report
B2j
B2j
Nov 04, 2017
Status: v2c2
Strangely enough, it was one of the very first novel I read. It got me absolutely hooked and I started reading other novels to pass time. I wasnt used to reading wn/ln but the writing/translation of Youjo Senki is top nodge, so it seems similar to English books, in my opinion.

I got to know it through the popular anime by the same name. I was interested in the MC of course. He was unlike the characters in anime/manga that I've seen. He's a practical and selfish person who believes in... more>> nothing but himself. His character only needed to appear in a very short conversation with Being X to show his personality. Although there's resentment to Being X but the resentment that was present before him was situated from a hilarious situation in our pov but precarious in his. The resentment is different. Her expressions and reactions towards that resentment is out of the norm, truly showing how fanatical and psychopathic she is being. She is a complex character but is very simple at the same time. In other words, I can get what she's feeling but it's impossible for me to understand her, showing how human and inhuman this girl is. The fact that he was placed in a little girl's body further spurred the irony amd sarcasm present in which his personality is very unlike of her appearance. The novel also delves into many controversial topics regarding religion, government, and military. I do not know if the depictions shown in the novel is realistic since I do not have the knowledge and experience to judge, but I can say that the plot and setting involving the government and military of a powerful nation going to war is very exhilarating. I can certainly say that I enjoyed it regardless of realism. Furthermore, the magic genre adds a delicious spice to the already exciting issues surrounding her. I regret that the novel does not give much details about a lot of side characters but they fulfill their roles beautifully and are not out of line in their scenes. Some events may contain plot holes but they're not big. Although the MC does have a deus ex machina plot armour, the novel makes me think that her power is the result of her strong will, hard work, talent, and personality. Her cruelty and crazy temper is unreal and very odd to me, but it makes it all the more interesting seeing the reactions of the people around her and the epic tales of her 'heroic' deeds that she leaves behind. When the story is told in her pov, I often find her thought process greatly intriguing and I think that's one of the main charm of this series in which it revolves around her. The pacing is excellent, even though it might seem to go by a little too fast. I think it's necessary to write it that way for the sake of flow, tension, and enough space for relevant information and events. The timeskips in the novel do confuse me a lot as I have to pay attention to the dates and place of the present chapter/text. Also, the author may have skipped on possibly important time periods (ie. Military college days) which may have a possible expansion to an arc. Additionally, the author switches povs sometimes and often it's up to the readers to determine who the pov belong to. This might result in a lot of confusions because they might be from a character in the future, present, or past. For me, reading each long, long chapter requires a great deal of attention, considering the amount of vocabulary and military information that I have absolutely no knowledge of. Thankfully, the Tl team do put descriptions and links for military terms and information. It was very helpful. All in all, it's one of my favorites that I enjoy. It's certainly not the best, but its unique set up will make a fire that will keep on spreading and becoming popular. <<less
7 Likes · Like Permalink | Report
LevelTryHard
LevelTryHard
May 06, 2021
Status: v2c2
world building, characters, concepts all pretty good this story is pretty good guy knows his stuff but war things characters feel like real people really good read it see if you like it and if you do buy the books.
6 Likes · Like Permalink | Report
animanaicT
animanaicT
May 31, 2016
Status: v1c3
Yahoo!!! New chapter came out thanks to skythewood translations. The gender bender doesn't bother me, (and it only will if he wants to start having s*x with dudes)... only 3 chapters out so far so can't say much cept I'm loving it. Pretty much another OP reincarnation story. Hoping that Nazis don't get mentioned, and hopefully no hi*ler situations either.
6 Likes · Like Permalink | Report
renaneal
renaneal
May 17, 2016
Status: v1c3
Still too early to have a accurate rating, but so far it’s hilarious, promising and have a great world building. The story is about a man who died, meet with a self-proclaimed god, after his death. God was pissed with his pragmatic and disbelivever (?) attitude and decided to reincarnate him (as a loli) into a world with war (similar to WWII) and magic, to make him change way of thinking.

A difference to other stories is that magic is scientifically researched and needs help of tools to be used.
6 Likes · Like Permalink | Report
Algiedi
Algiedi
Nov 04, 2015
Status: --
Very promising and fun combination of modern warfare, magic, and the reincarnation genre. There are some gaps and inconsistent jumps, but that may be resolved as more chapters are posted.
5 Likes · Like Permalink | Report
zhsh
zhsh
Jan 02, 2021
Status: v10
This is a war novel in the true sense. It's covered at all levels: geopolitical reasons for the war, asymmetric information and technology, grand strategy, tactics, and battles are all given attention to. Really a treat for history buffs. The first few volumes of the LN are the best, with action gradually slowing. One thing that might not be your cup of tea is that there are flash-forward sequences where the large picture of the ending is spoiled.
4 Likes · Like Permalink | Report
StrawberryStrallod
StrawberrySt
Sep 26, 2019
Status: v2c6
Currently reading through my physical copy and I gotta say this series so far is Top Notch

5/5 in my honest opinion

The world building is top of the line. Commentary from the protagonist, no, from whatever the author writes down is fantastic. Every character has depth and personality. Even from the minor characters perspectives who you would only see once feel like they have history.

And the main character...I can't put it into words other than purely entertaining. Tanya is warped but in way that you can relate. And even when you... more>> can't it's interesting hearing her take on the situation. You also get a sense she's learning herself in different ways but its too soon in the series for me to compare at the moment.

I highly recommend buying the official translated copy on amazon. The illustrations are interesting and particularly comedic in one case in this volume. <<less
4 Likes · Like Permalink | Report
Leave a Review (Guidelines)
You must be logged in to rate and post a review. Register an account to get started.