Lotta Svärd: Women of War is a Historical Fiction / Military Moe webcomic created by Setzeri.
Inspired both by anime like So Ra No Wo To and real stories of members of the real-world Finnish women's paramilitary organization Lotta Svärd
, it follows the adventures of Taimi Mäki and the friends she meets in the organization, as they travel around Finland doing various tasks to aid war efforts from the sidelines of the Winter War of World War II, from 1939-40. Equal interest is shown in being both an Animesque Slice of Life story about cute girls doing cute things, and being a source of (perhaps less well-known) Finnish World War II history for a more worldwide audience.
The webcomic can be read in English on Setzeri's personal site and Webtoons. The webcomic has also received several translations (which as of this writing don't cover all of the available chapters):
- Japanese (Setzeri's pixiv)
- Chinese (the translator's ACfun)
- Russian (the translator's acomics)
Apart from the comic itself, Setzeri tends to publish bonus artwork and comic strips on his tumblr and twitter accounts.
Provides examples of:
- Abusive Parents: Helle joined Lotta Svärd partially to get away from her abusive father. While young girls needed their guardian's permission to become a full-fledged lotta, strings were pulled to get her away from her home life. She has scars on her back from his abuse, and is initially very shy about this until Lahja reveals them in a sauna, thinking the reason she didn't want to show her back was less heavy than it was.
- Accent Adaptation: Helle and Juulia speak Karelian, a dialect from the eastern Finnish region Karelia. The English version of the comic gets the accent across by shortening words and Helle using more informal language and spelling (reading not unlike a Southern accent, though Setzeri has said he imagines it to be closer to Scottish), while the Japanese version renders her lines in a Northern Kyushu dialect.
- Animal Lover: Taimi is a veterinarian lotta who grew up on a farm, and loves to share facts about any animal she encounters, sometimes to Tyyne's chagrin.
- Anime Hair: Lahja's hair more than anyone, as she looks to have taken cues directly from Sephiroth himself, though Tuikku's flame-shaped hair qualifies as well, and both are pointed out in the story.
- Attempted Rape: Juhani's commanding officer assaults Lahja in the sauna and threatens her when she tries to resist; Helle comes onto the scene and stops him by throwing the wooden pail at him.
- Awful Truth: This is how Taimi takes learning that most of the deaths of the Red Guards, the losing side of the Finnish civil war, came from poor conditions in war camps and executions at the hands of the brother organization of the Lotta Svärd, the White Guards. She considers leaving the organization over it, but ultimately decides against it.
- Bilingual Bonus:
- Text written by the characters, as well as sound effects, are often written out in Finnish. Only some of this gets translated in foot notes.
- Chapter 21 features a full conversation written out in Russian, although the context and characters' gestures help those who don't know Russian understand what the conversation was about.
- Brick Joke: Helle once tells a scary story in which a Russian spy turns out to have worn a mask and actually looks like a troll beneath it. Several chapters later, Taimi gets to meet a Russian captive and muses that he looks nothing like Helle's description.
- Chekhov's Gun: Taimi receives some cigarettes in chapter 1, but is at a loss of what to do with them since she doesn't smoke. In Chapter 4 she finally finds a use for them: bribing a soldier who is suffering abstinence symptoms.
- Childhood Friends: Taimi cherishes her childhood friend Juhani (himself a soldier on the front lines), who also made Taimi her cap as a gift to see her off when she began her duties as a lotta, and she writes him letters often (though she's somewhat troubled by how short his reply letters are).
- D-Cup Distress: One bonus comic has Lahja give Helle an idea of the drawbacks of her large bust. Helle gets the point, and Lahja gets a back massage that night.
- Death Song: Lars' last act is taking the bandages over his mouth off and singing a traditional Finnish hymn while Lahja plays the piano accompagnment.
- Deliberately Monochrome: Most chapters are drawn with a limited palette that consists of shades of grey/sepia and one or two colours.
- Due to the Dead: Taimi works as an undertaker's assistant, preparing the bodies of the fallen for transport home. She is incensed when an officer suggests the bodies be left behind during a retreat.
- Elective Mute: Danil starts out as this due to a promise he made to his parents before they were killed. Once he accepts that they are truly gone, he starts talking again.
- Entendre Failure: One of Lahja's superiors uses a certain hand motion when discussing what might happen if she visits a pair of enemy soldiers alone. Lahja completely fails to understand what the hand gesture means, and when the superior refuses to elaborate, she thinks to herself: "maybe it means engagement, like putting on a ring?"
- Expy: A few examples:
- According to the author, Lahja's hairstyle and faithful personality was inspired by Mint Adenade. She was also inspired to a lesser extent by the medic Eirin Yagokoro).
- Helle's hotheaded but ultimately good-natured personality is stated in her original character sheet to be based on that of Little My.
- The personalities, height difference, and, to some extent, relationship of Taimi and Tyyne intentionally bears resemblance to that of Yumi and Sachiko (respectively) from Maria Watches Over Us.
- Eyes Out of Sight: Tyyne's long dark hair hides her eyes - and on the rare occasions where the artist draws eyes beneath them, they are always closed. It seems to run in the family as her father's eyes are never shown and her mother's hair style covers one of her eyes.
- Flashback: Occasionally, a chapter will start with a flashback, and then jolt forward to the present as the character in question is snapped out of daydreaming. So far it's been Helle remembering her abusive father, Autio remembering meeting her late husband during the Finnish Civil War, and Tuikku remembering a traumatic event where a bomb shelter collapsed due to negligence.
- Foreign Cuss Word: Lahja (whose last name, Svanbäck, implies she is Fenno-Swedish) cuts loose in Swedish when Helle rubs her the wrong way.FÖR HELVETE, HELLE!
- The comic also leaves "perkele" in Finnish, in spite of being in English.
- Gender Flip: When Helle tells her scary story in chapter 11, male versions of the main cast are used to depict the soldiers of the story. Setzeri has since named these genderbends Tuure, Timo, Heikki and Launo.note .
- Good Shepherd: Lahja's father is a well-respected priest in her hometown, and one of the only schools still open (the one the war orphan Danil attends) is overseen by a kindly priest as well.
- Gratuitous German: One of the bonus comics Setz has shared on social media features a pair of German soldiers being told to leave, making one of them mutter "Das ist unglücklich..."translated
- The Grim Reaper: In chapter 11 (appropriately titled "Death Visits"), Tyyne has a dream (maybe?) during her night watch shift about meeting, playing chess, and philosophizing about war with none other than Death himself. This provides her with plenty of material when the girls get together again to hear her scary story (since she missed her first opportunity).
- Hand-or-Object Underwear: Done by two soldiers in Chapter 5 when Taimi runs to the men's sauna to ask for help. Juhani gets embarrassed and covers himself up with a towel, and another soldier is shown sitting with his fists between his thighs for the same effect.
- Hospital Hottie: Lahja is a medical lotta, and gets a lot of attention and gazes from any of the soldiers who lay eyes on her, even if she is a bit oblivious to it. She gets so much attention, Helle has to watch over her while she sleeps on one occasion to make sure they don't get any funny ideas.
- In My Language, That Sounds Like...: One bonus comic shows the protagonists meeting an Estonian soldier. Due to the similarities between Finnish and Estonian pronunciation they don't realise this as first, leading to the Finns interpreting his lines as things like "My tutor is your earwig."
- Intergenerational Friendship: While working together with him, Taimi forms a bond with Mr. Ritola, AKA the "King of the Dead", a kind old man who works at the Evacuation Center for the Fallen, and stays in touch via letters once they close the center down.
- Intimate Healing: Lahja gets hypothermia in chapter 18, leading Tyyne to keep her warm by sharing a blanket with her while they are in their underwear.
- Iron Lady: Eldest Lotta Autio is very stern-faced, stoic, and on more than one occasion threatens to give the girls more work during the day when she catches them goofing off instead of sleeping.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Helle is brash, blunt, somewhat foul-mouthed, and easily willing to get into a fight, but is also very protective of her friends (she throws a bucket at and chews out Juhani's commanding officer when he tries to rape Lahja in a sauna, and punches Laina in the face for pushing Taimi down). While somewhat embarrassed to do so, she will usually lend an ear and give some heartfelt advice when needed.
- Loose Lips: While out to clear her mind upon learning about the truth of the Finnish Civil War, Taimi is approached by and talks to a Soviet spy, and she believes this to be the reason for the later bombing of the field hospital at which she and her friends were currently working, though her friends try and convince her otherwise.
- Lost in Translation: Autio's attempt to make a pun based on the meaning of her name in chapter 13, since this relies on knowing what "Autio" means in Finnish; the author translated the joke literally and adds the necessary context in a footnote.
- Meaningful Name: Every once in a while:
- Helle's name means "heat", alluding to her hotheaded personality.
- Tuikku's name refers to a small source of light (or a tealight), and her hair is shaped like a small candle flame.
- Tyyne's name comes from "tyyni", which means "calm", fitting for her being the Cool Big Sis of the group.
- Eldest Lotta Autio's name means "desolate", and she is usually quite stoic.
- Modesty Towel: The artist occasionally depicts the characters sitting in the sauna, and most of the time they are sitting there wearing towels. This gets lampshaded in chapter 5 with a caption saying:In sauna you're supposed to be naked, but let's keep this comic worksafe.
- Molotov Cocktail: In "White and Red", Tyyne explains the origin of the term "Molotov Cocktail" to Taimi, as it was contemporary for the time: They were named for the Soviet foreign minister Vyacheslav Molotov, who claimed that the Soviet air raids weren't dropping bombs, but were instead food deliveries. The Finnish thusly referred to the bombings as "Molotov's bread baskets", and in turn repaid him with firebombs they called "Molotov's cocktail".
- Nice Girl: While Taimi is generally warm and friendly to those she comes across, Lahja exceeds this, often going out of her way for others or worrying for them even in her own times of hardship, while citing that it's what Jesus would have done. This gets lampshaded as soon as she introduces herself on the train: she's so kindly that she radiates light to the point where the other girls shield their eyes in response.
- No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: In chapter 21, "Grudge", Lahja finds efficient ways to help ease her patients' ailments, and they're all in good spirits and grateful to her...and when the field medic in charge checks up on them and finds out about this, he reprimands her for being too soft on the soldiers.
- Older Than They Look: Taimi occasionally gets mistaken for a minor by others due to her small stature.
- Opaque Lenses: Tyyne's father wears these, fitting with his slightly impersonal attitude toward both his own daughter and Taimi's family.
- The Peeping Tom: In "Orphan", the girls see someone watching them in the sauna through the window. Turns out it's the titular orphan Danil, and given his young age, they forgive him fairly quickly after telling his caretakers.
- Precision F-Strike: Lahja tends to be the one scolding others for their language, but performs one of these in chapter 16 by shouting "För helvete, Helle!" (A Swedish phrase akin to "For fuck's sake, Helle!")
- Precocious Crush: Danil ends up developing a bit of a crush on Lahja.
- Prone to Tears: Lahja cries quite often, especially when she thinks she's upset someone. Notably, when she reveals the scars Helle received from her abusive father when they're in the sauna together, she is inconsolable and demands to be punished...which Helle gladly obliges by attempting to make her sit in an avanto (hole in the ice) for ten seconds.
- Roaring Rampage of Revenge: Tuulikki when her sister Birgitta dies. She punches a man and picks up a rifle while promising to kill all Russians, but stops after she inadvertedly slaps Lahja in the face as well.
- Running Gag: Earlier chapters occasionally do the trope of characters sneezing if someone else is talking about them. The joke gets a variation later on whenever the characters discuss Autio, with her popping up in the same frame and responding as if she was there to hear it.
- Shot at Dawn: Laina's father died this way by the hands of the White Guard, as he was a Red Guard who was executed for the act of accepting a weapon from the Soviets, though he never used it. She resents the White Guard to this day for this reason.
- Sins of Our Fathers: Laina (herself a descendant of a member of the Red Guard) berates Taimi for being a descendant of the White Guard, at the hands of whom her father was executed, and Taimi makes her best effort to settle this and befriend her.
- Statuesque Stunner: Tyyne is occasionally described as beautiful by the other characters and is slightly insecure about her height. The latter is occasionally played for laughs, as she has a tendency to bump her head in door openings that were intended for shorter people.
- Stay in the Kitchen: Helle initially starts a fight because of this with a big-nosed soldier on the train (who is later revealed to be Juhani's commanding officer, and later attempts to rape Lahja in the sauna and gives her the same speech in the process), and Lahja later gets dismissed and told that herself and the other lottas are "just wallflowers raising the morale of men" by the field medic she ends up working for, who becomes upset that she's more efficient as his job than he is.
- Spit Take: Taimi's father ends up covering Tyyne's father's face with coffee this way after unexpectingly hearing Taimi's voice on national radio.
- Sympathy for the Devil: Chapter 21, "Grudge", focuses on Lahja's efforts to sympathize a little with the Soviet prisoners, giving them extra food rations and some cigarettes to ease their withdrawals, and her superiors are less than thrilled about this when they find out.
- Take That, Audience!: While it is confined to the bonus strips, Setzeri has occasionally made jokes about his audience not knowing how to spell the characters' names. For instance, one comment on Webtoon where Taimi is called "Tiami" inspired him to draw a comic in which she is depicted as part of a "Misspell Society" where everyone wears misspelled name tags. One of his earlier bonus strips also features this exchange on the same topic:Tyyne: Then there's our names! I wish I had a cup of coffee every time someone writes my name wrong!Lahja: I can't really blame foreigners for not knowing names from different cultures...Helle (thinking): Doesn't stop them from memorizin' dozens o' anime character tho'.
- That Came Out Wrong: In chapter 12, Tuulikki throws Taimi and Tyyne into the snow to sober them up after they get a tad too loopy from inhaling gas fumes while making firebombs. Taimi, still lightheaded, begins making snow angels, and when Laina pokes fun at them for this, Taimi tries to defend herself and Tyyne by telling her it's because they're "lightheaded from huffing gas".
- Threat Backfire: When Lahja becomes angry at the field medic she works for for wasting the food she had given the Soviet prisoners because she had given them extra rations, against orders:Lahja: Can't you see yourself they're not fed properly? And yet they do physical labor every day, building and fixing things. It's not far from torture in my opinion!Field Medic: You're aware that they're enemy soldiers, right? They're lucky they get to eat anything at all!Lahja: But wasting food like that is something I can't allow! I'll tell Lieutenant Värttinä about this!Field Medic: Please do. Let's see whose side he will be on with this matter.
- What Beautiful Eyes!: When Taimi finally convinces Tyyne to move her bangs so her eyes are visible, she's briefly stunned by how lovely they are.
