In general, whenever Tanya goes ''Or so I thought.'' is basically this. It gets to Running Gag levels for Tanya's plans to Go Horribly Right and she get what she wants, but definitely not in a way she wanted it.
In her first engagement, she only wants to live and escape the battlefield while making it seems like she fights hard, but it works too well. Tanya could only silently weep on her medical bed and wonder if there's a Child Protection Agent that could help her. Getting awarded the Silver Wings Assault Medal is nice and all, but Tanya would rather live without the reputation and being worked to death on the front lines. She is right as the medal serves as a reminder of her capability, and afterwards her superiors think her age is just a superficial number they shouldn't care about, beyond solemnly observing that she's the same age as their own children. Tanya of course is still very hopeful her age means she'll be assigned to easy postings out of pity... completely oblivious most ignore her age in respect of her reputation.
In episode 4, she attempts to impress a high-ranking general enough to get an early promotion and a safe desk job in HQ, far away from the front lines. She does impress him a lot and she gets an early promotion to major... and her own front line battalion because that's what Zettour assumed she wanted, since she expresses too much commitment to her duty as a soldier. On top of that, Tanya's Oh, Crap! faces are golden on their own, able to confer the sheer desperation and fear that Tanya feels when she once again is put into the firing line.
Both the anime and the Light Novel add more Irony to this scene. In the Anime, Tanya is asked by Zettour to write her own proposal for said rapid response battalion, so yes, in that dinner Tanya is reading her own proposal. In the light novel, Tanya's suggestion on rapid response force is spoken so brazenly by her because she assumes it has nothing to do with her. She also let her mind wander on future career changes and gives Zettour an automatic response while not paying attention when asked about the size of said force. Tanya is also completely oblivious of her own qualifications and reputation, as she didn't even consider she would have to be responsible for said wing.
When it comes time for Tanya to train said battalion, she attempts to put them through Training from Hell in order to demoralize them in order to buy herself more time to escape from having to carry through the mission. Only problem is the trainees become completely impressed with her Drill Sergeant Nasty act, admiring her determination and becoming willing to follow her regardless.
Additionally, Viktoriya's reaction compared to the others is a bit of a hilarious/awesome moment on its own: unlike the other trainees who wonder what Tanya's yelling about, Viktoriya knows Tanya already, grabbing a shovel and digging a trench while everyone else is dumbfounded as to what Tanya is doing. Later, she's also not as exhausted as the others are after and during the march. For looking and acting as ditzy and small compared to the other trainees, she ends up being more battle ready and capable than they are.
After the month of training where the recruits all passed with flying colors, Tanya gave them their graduation speech: which was actually a modified version of Gunnery Sergeant Hartmanns' Marine Speech. Jury is out whether this was a case of I Always Wanted to Say That or not for Tanya.
Tanya: Today, you people are no longer maggots. Today, you are Imperial mages. You're part of a brotherhood, from now on, until the day you die. Wherever you are, every member of the army is your brother. Most of you will go to the war zone, some of you will not come back. But always remember this: Imperial soldiers die, that's what we're here for. But the Empire lives forever. And that means you live forever!
Her battalion's overachievement in Dacia also results in this, as Tanya expected to be given time (6 months) for more proper exercise like a normal force in training and avoid getting send to Norden's front. However, due to their splendid work in Dacia, not only does she give the idea to Rudersdorf to do the same in Norden, she is also asked to lead said operation. Zettour also waived off her plea for training time, "Isn't it nice to get some live fire exercise in Dacia?" which is a roundabout way to say, Dacia is not a real battle so she shouldn't need time for rest or training.
Later it's also revealed by Rudersdorf that since Tanya repeatedly expresses her worry about her battalion getting insufficient training, he sends her battalion straight to the front line because he wanted to appease her with a combat exercise better than Dacia in Norden... so he could get her under control for the overt mission of taking Orse Fjord for him. This moment becomes funny because, in a previous chapter, Tanya wonders what the carrot her superior think is worth risking their neck for is. Turns out, it is none other than the training timeshe asked for to avoid said mission. Tanya really should've learned using excuses to hide her real intentions from her superiors will never work out for her.
Another routine CMOF in the series is Tanya's interaction with Rerugen and the dissonance in their monologue whenever they speak to each other. Lehrgen believes Tanya is a megalomaniacal battle maniac hiding behind a mask of patriotism and assumes the worse of everything she does, and on the other hand Tanya has a high opinion of Lehrgen, since he's the only one who always speaks against sending her to the front line. She even smiles genuinely for him from time to time, but Lehrgen assume it's her maniacal smile.
Lehrgen also serves as Tanya's foil, displaying the right line of thought in synch with their fellow soldiers. This is especially apparent when they both express their opinion about the recruitment notice Tanya made, you know who'll get it right.
Tanya: With this kind of ad for recruitment, there's no way anyone would sign up! The brass like big talks so they don't know how frontline soldiers think!
Lehrgen: What an ad! From my inspection, the mages in Norden and Rhine are boiling with patriotism! And the East and South wants to contribute too, there's no better ad than this!
Lehrgen in the manga is also the voice of "conventional wisdom" displaying how the military reacts to Tanya's revolutionary tactics.
Lehrgen: Routing an army of 50,000 and then raiding the enemy capital! Such a thing is unheard of! I wonder what sort of face she will make.
Tanya: *Gives Lehrgen a bright and happy smile*
Lehrgen: SHE'S A BATTLE MANIAC!
In Chapter 13 of the manga, Zettour and Rudersdorf discuss Tanya's success in Dacia, and toast to their plans for a repeat in Norden and to the improvement of the food in the Staff Officer Dining Hall. As they both sit to eat, Rudersdorf grouses that it is more likely that the war would end first.
Tanya: "O Existence X, even if you were to appear now I would no longer care. Since you so arrogantly proclaimed yourself to be God, then you should be able to quickly help me solve my hair problem."
Tanya's Fake Cutie moment during their attack on the Capital of Dacia. It's so impressive that her battalion compliments her acting skills, while inwardly thinking their commander had done something both creepy and despicable. Then wisely backing away when she gives them a Death Glare. Even funnier in the light novel as they follow Visha's cue when Tanya's adjutant slowly back away from their commander, and likening Tanya's mood to nitroglycerin.
Mentioned in Light Novel and expanded in manga chapter 11. After finishing her battalion's training, Tanya who find herself surrounded by well-built male subordinates feels self-conscious of her own lack of vertical growth, with only Victoria as her female subordinate that didn't get muscular post-training. So Tanya went to visit a female doctor for consultation; the doctor quickly assumes it's about a "girl's problem" and dismiss the NCO guarding the door to get some privacy. Tanya's question on her growth is assumed by the doctor as another kind of growth... due to developing interest with the opposite sex especially since Tanya growing up surrounded by guys. So she tells Tanya, it's something all girls go through and sends her off with some vitamins. Tanya is puzzled but doesn't protest, before realizing it's rare to see a female medic in the army, yet one is conveniently posted nearby. Which Tanya realizes is most likely Zettour pulling strings for Tanya's convenience like Victoria's assignment, because she is a girl. It doesn't take Tanya long to realize her dangerous line of thought, and what terrible misunderstanding just happened in the medical office and freak out as shouting "I AM A MAN" and speculate that perhaps Being X is the one who brainwashed her into thinking like a girl.
Later, her mood swings quickly from raging to shame. She's also glad she didn't bring her rifle because she might try to kill herself out of shame. Finding Tanya on her knees, Captain Ugar freaks out to see Tanya so distraught. Spotting a bag of medicine on the floor, Ugar assume Tanya is having a girl's problem and apologizes for being inconsiderate and comments that the eleven year old Tanya got "it" quite early. Tanya wishes she could just die from shame.
Light Novel and Manga reveals what goes through Tanya's head during her speech in the sixth episode of Anime, in which she orders them to go through trial of fire and iron with their country's reputation and 25 year old booze on the line. Not only does she want to save money to appease her subordinates, she is also using this chance to get some wine without getting caught. She is so happy, she cried and excuses her tears with recalling how sad her offer for peaceful surrender never got through to their enemies. She brings her subordinates to tears in admiration, and Visha explained she was there witnessing everything and tells her comrades that their leader is often misunderstood, but Tanya is someone distressed by war and wishes to end it even if she has to be cruel. While Visha is not exactly wrong about Tanya's intention to end war, or her feelings about war, Tanya is not thinking about that and she even assumes her subordinates' enthusiasm is because they're looking forward for the good wine like her, not because they're so moved.
If there's anything dysfunctional about Tanya's battalion, it's either that they never catch Tanya's real intention behind her words even if she wants them to get it but they act like they did and she believes them, or Tanya's nonverbal signaling, like a gentle smile to boost morale is mistaken as a silent threat. Because she smiles so much when training them in Alpine, Tanya unknowingly instills a Pavlov conditioning in her subordinates, leading them to never see her smile the same way ever again.
By the end of episode 9, which is when the story is climbing to the climax, we're given a Mood Whiplash scene of Tanya writing a formal letter to the family of her subordinate. The content of her letter is narrated in her cutesy voice that clashes horribly with the formal letter that informs the family that their son is forced to retire for a long medical recovery, which clued viewers in that something is off. There's also a box of suspicious purple-colored potatoes nearby and another two placed on the table. Tanya puts down her pen and sighs before delivering the line below:
Tanya: "I never though I'd lose one of my subordinates to rotten potatoes."
Episode 10 preview count, as Tanya rants on about how common sense is prejudiced and how it's absurd to determine rationally with common sense; it doesn't mean common sense equals the right decision. Which makes sense considering the alternate Earth she lives in, where War Is Glorious. However she is sure her common sense is true to determine there's something wrong with the idea of infiltrating enemy's territory with riding a rocket.
When Anton Sue is gunning for Tanya personally with a shotgun, Tanya takes a brief opportunity to bitch about trench shotguns being a treaty violation and calling him a barbarian for it. This isn't long after Tanya abused a loophole as an excuse to wipe out civilians and bomb a city.
Technically speaking, this isn't hypocrisy, since she never actually violated a treaty... unlike Anton Sue, who used a trench shotgun with magical exploding cluster shells, which is apparently banned from usage. Whereas Tanya gave a warning for evacuation as mandated by the treaty, thus doing no treaty violations.
This also doubles as a Historical In-Joke to how Germany protested about trench (shot)guns due to the severe bodily damage and psychological trauma they inflicted upon German soldiers in World War I. Note that Germans claimed that shotguns inflicted "inhumane suffering" upon their victims owing to the issue of "munitions designed to expand and distort upon penetration of a human body." America's response: "We use nickel-plated shot which penetrates cleanly without distorting and kills the victim so fast that he's completely dead before he even falls to the ground."
The way Being X keeps messing with Tanya indirectly in her every day life invokes some chuckles. Tanya hating being treated as a child? Have her dress up and act as a girl her age for a propaganda-stunt. Tanya rejecting her femininity? Have Victoria give her a dress meant for an adult woman. Tanya hating smoking? Put her in a room full of smokers who are also her superiors, taking away any chance for her to object to it. You can almost hear Being X snickering in the background whenever Tanya gets played.
One episode has Tanya explaining to his superiors a feasible plan on how to gain tactical advantage on the Norden front (which leads her to deduce a secret plan involving a planned assault on Orse Fjord). She struggles pointing to the northern locations on the map because of her short height.
In the movie, Tanya attempts to illustrate the incompetence of the Russy Federation's AA by saying a Cessna could land in Red Square (in reference to Matthias Rust's daring flight into Moscow near the end of the Cold War). Her subordinates immediately ask her simultaneously what Red Square and the Cessna are, prompting Tanya to drop the analogy altogether.
At the end of the movie, Tanya's attempt to get out of frontline action fails again after she requests a two-month transfer to the rear in order to research combined-arms battle tactics. Just before she leaves for more quiet pastures, Tanya insults Being X. Fast-forward to a couple of months later: Zettour informs Tanya that she's just been given command of 8th Kampfgruppe 'Salamander': an experimental combined arms unit comprising artillery, infantry, tanks and her own 203rd Battalion in order to investigate the efficacy of her own research. Tanya just can't catch a break.
In the OVA Operation: Desert Pasta, the Republic tries to figure out the reason why the 203rd is attacking only certain bases in the Southern Front, later acknowledging that the latter has discovered the chink in the alliance by attacking bases and fortification that border on other countries' operational jurisdiction. Turns out this is just once more Tanya's ridiculous luck at play as in reality, the 203rd was attacking supply depots for their canned goods so they can make a decent pasta dish as Imperial HQ only sent dried pasta as provisions without any of the fixings or even water to boil it in.
