Jul 18, 2021
Or, how to make a legendary person's achievements seem insignificant.
Let's just ignore the fact that they replace Simo Hayha's gender for a bit, as that is par for the course when it comes to "historical" anime/manga. I have no problem with that.
What makes this series disappointing is how insignificant it makes Simo Hayha's achievements are. Anyone who has even read Simo Hayha's entry on Wikipedia or even TV Tropes will know that this man was practically a living legend at the time, well-deserving of a spot on any "Extraordinary Humans" list. While they do single out Simo Hayha in this series as an excellent
...
marks(wo?)man, it's never properly conveyed how much of a force to be reckoned Simo was. Sure, Simo terrified the Russians to no end during the actual war, however they never manage instill a sense of fear to the whole Russian Army as most of the kills are generic red (hehe) shirts anyway. They even failed to humanize Simo by making her into a generic action protagonist with the ability to just one shot anyone. Seemingly never justifying WHY these kills are even commendable, therefore making these scenes unsatisfying, lacking in catharsis. This makes the sniper scenes seem unnecessarily intense rather than tense.
THERE IS A DIFFERENCE BETWEEN TENSION AND BEING INTENSE.
That's not even getting to the Russian counterpart who is basically just a generic "I am evil. Hate me, reader" psycho bad guy (well, girl, but you get the point).
The short 6 chapter run doesn't help its case as I could not relate to anyone; not Simo, not the kid she took in, and not her Russian counterpart.
Reviewer’s Rating: 5
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