Quick Thought: Youjo Senki Weapons Mix (Vol. 1?)

Tanya Degurechaff + Mondragon Rifle, Episode 7 of Youjo Senki

When your obsession with how well some minor tidbit of setting overtakes your thought process when you try to sleep. I have no clue if I will do more of these (hence the question mark) but Youjo Senki’s universe has utterly fascinated me with the appearance of -obscure- weapons like the Mondragon Rifle and Fusile Automatique Modele 1917, as well as a possible appearance M1 Garand. Though such an appearance would be anachronistic since at the timeframe the show is in, the rifle John Garand is working on at the moment would be the M1922, the primer actuated design.

 

Also, the artist name is arigano00, but for some reason WordPress squishes the two zeros.

 

Colonel Anson Sue (C.O.), late of the Legedonia Entente Alliance’s 5th Aerial Mage Wing, and now Major Tanya Degurechaff, (C.O.), of the Empire’s 203rd Aerial Mage Wing, uses the SIG MKMS Submachine Gun in Episode 7 of Youjo Senki.

Produced by SIG in 1933 (A.D./Our Timeline), it fires a variety of rounds ( 7.65x22Luger, 7.63x25Mauser, 9×19 Luger, 9×25 Mauser) and it has a novel feature in which its straight, single-stack magazine would be folded forward into the front handguard, but be deployed to operational status with a press of the button. Colonel Sue presumably is given this rifle since Finland bought as much weapons as it can from other states during the Winter and Continuation Wars. Due to its complexity and cost not much of these weapons were built and sold, and Finland might be the only ones to really purchase these weapons in bulk.

I had originally thought at first glance it resembled the Ribeyrolles 1918, due to no doubt me having been deluded with first impressions of the ongoing Battlefield 1 CTE of the DLC that is coming out soon. What kept me from proclaiming with finality that this was the aforementioned French rifle was its magazine shape, placement of the rear stepped sights, and the big identifying factor, the diagonally cut grooves in the weapon’s stock.

Let’s start off with its magazine well. The Magazine well seems odd in this scene, but would roughly correspond to the flap seen in the picture provided from JaegerPlatoon.net on the dust cover that flips up to protect the innards when the magazine is folded.

This next scene we see the bottom of the rifle actually shows a shaded area, presumably the location of the magazine’s fold-away section. Taken after Tanya stabs Anson in the chest with her Mondragon.

I doubt modern procurement standards would allow such a very expensive gift to be given to a front-line soldier, but considering that the LEA and Finland share similar dire straits, it might be common for a well-connected family to supply a weapon to a high enough ranking soldier, provided he can obtain the ammunition stores for it. Since some of the rounds that chambered the SMG is 9mm Parabellum, it’s quite possible that is what Colonel Sue’s weapon is taking. It helps add some bit of depth to a character that is offed this episode, and captures a bit of the nationalistic patriotism evident in the series. That is, considering that this is the universe’s first ever World War, it already has nice homages to the transitory nature of infantry and combined arms tactics, though the ace in the hole for many would be the magus of each combatant’s respective militaries.

I am curious on why they are the ones to be issued self-loading rifles and SMGs. Maybe because thy are utilized akin to shock troops, that bolt-action weapons do not provide the appropriate rate of fire needed? Is there anything special about the construction of the rifle? Magic-imbued hardwood and calibrated barrels?

See, this is what I like about anime and manga, some writers and authors are bigger gun nuts than some people I know.

Tanya Degurechaff by arigano00 on Pixiv.

 

 

Sources:

Youjo Senki, Episode 7

Modern Firearms

JaegerPlatoon.net

 

Gallery:

http://imgur.com/a/SsQcM