Control in Saga of Tanya the Evil

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1lbK2luG1Do - 9:05

     In the anime Saga of Tanya the Evil (Youjo Senki is the Japanese name of it - I usually prefer the 

English name), the establishment of control is important.  This can be seen in what the video in this 

reflection focuses on, but it can also be seen without focusing on how scenes are filmed (it is 

interesting, but it can be seen anyway).  People want to be in control of their own lives, what they want 

to do, etc.  Depending on who you are, you may think that you need help with this or don't need it, at 

least not directly.

      This problem of control is essentially the issue of this anime.  The main character starts life as a 

powerful executive who doesn't think that he needs any help since he thinks he is in control of his own 

life.  Before he dies, due to an accident involving someone he fired, God speaks to him through the 

people (and a bird) around him about his life and how God can change the thinking of this executive, 

which causes God to give this executive a new life as a poor girl born into an orphanage with magic 

powers, as well as into a world where a war is going on.   With her new magic powers, she fights in 

this war with others (both other magic users, regular soldiers, and other military officials), attempting 

to prove that she doesn't need God here either since she claims to be in control of everything, which 

she tries hard to maintain despite the intervention of God (she mocks God by referring to Him as Being 

X).  

    This is also an anime that I brought up in a recent assignment for my Science and Spirituality 

course.  The topic for this week involves talking about the importance of mystery in our lives.  An 

important element of mystery, I believe anyway, is control, as well as awareness of it, and what is 

really going on, which is something that this anime also focuses on.  Like the main character, we may 

always want to be in control, with the help of science, but we need to be aware of how control really 

works with the help of spirituality (one of the reasons why science and spirituality are both equally 

important).

     

     

        

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