I had Alya Sometimes Hides Her Feelings in Russian as a potential candidate for episode reviews, if only because there seemed to be some buzz surrounding it. That said, I was a tiny bit skeptical of the show since it’s a light novel adaptation, which I rarely find to be a ringing endorsement these days. After this first episode, I guess I fall somewhere in the middle.
Alya Sometimes Hides Her Feelings in Russian stars the titular Alisa “Alya” Mikhailovna Kujo (Sumire Uesaka), a half-Russian and half-Japanese girl. Alya is a popular girl at school, due to her good looks and her work at the student council. Sitting next to her in class is Masachika Kuze (Kōhei Amasaki), an unmotivated student who would rather use up his energy to stay up late and watch anime. Alya secretly has a crush on Kuze and she often likes to throw in a flirtatious line in Russian to mess with him. Little does she know, Kuze is actually pretty fluent in Russian and he’s therefore aware that Alya actually has the hots for him.
Fundamentally, this seems like your typical romcom plot of a boy dealing with a girl’s playful shenanigans against him. That said, I do find the show’s spin to be pretty cute. I like how Alya’s background ties into her character. She’s the classic tsundere and the language barrier that she thinks she has between herself and Kuze perfectly expresses it. She acts rude to Kuze but in reality, she’s quite fond of him. It’s also neat that Kuze can read Alya’s intentions like an open book. The easy thing would be to keep him oblivious and have that be the punchline but it’s more amusing and more interesting that he does know.
There are some things that I don’t really get, however. For starters, it’s kind of dumb that Kuze refrains from revealing his Russian fluency to Alya. His justification is that he doesn’t want things to get super awkward with Alya but I’d argue that holding it off will only make Alya’s reaction even stronger, should the cat get out of the bag. In the grand scheme of things, this would eventually be water under the bridge. There’s also Alya’s attraction to Kuze. There isn’t a whole lot given as to why she has a crush on him. It can’t really be the language barrier as technically, Alya could pull that card on anyone (she’s unknowingly succeed more too). Maybe it’s the fact that Kuze is the only one she can call a friend, he certainly doesn’t put her on a pedestal like everyone else. Funnily enough though, she doesn’t realize this until Kuze explicitly calls her a friend. My only other guess is that it’s just a good old case of opposites attract.
Aside from the main couple’s budding romance, the premiere leaves a couple of narrative breadcrumbs. We learn in a flashback that one of Kuze’s motivations to learn Russian in the first place was so that he can better converse with a Russian girl he met years prior. While the girl’s hair color is different, her hair style and eye color does match Alya’s. That implies that the two met each other years ago though neither Kuze nor Alya recognize each other in that way nor do they make any kind of connection so who knows. There’s also the curious introduction of Yuki Suou (Wakana Maruoka), a first-year in charge of public relations for the student council. To Alya’s surprise, Suou and Kuze are already acquainted with each other. In fact, Kuze served as Suou’s VP when she was her middle school’s student council president and she’s been trying to get Kuze to join the high school student council for some time. Aside from setting up a potential rivalry between Alya and Suou, this also gives the interesting implication that Kuze was and can be motivated to do well in school. That then makes you wonder what compels him to do the exact opposite now.
As far as comedy goes, the show seems to be pretty typical for a romcom. Main couple banters with each other (and to be fair, the dialogue in this show isn’t half-bad). The girl teases the boy a lot. The two get into an outlandish situation with each other, complete with fanservice and a comical level of violence. I wouldn’t call anything godawful but very little actually made me laugh or even chuckle and that’s a little concerning for this type of show. I will however admit that the premise can elevate the humor. For example, there’s a gag at the end where Alya makes Kuze put new thigh-highs on her legs and to her shock, Kuze actually goes ahead with the request. On one hand, this is the typical excuse to give the viewer some fanservice and subject the characters into a predictable case of misunderstandings that they need to sort out. On the other, I must admit that it’s a little funny that Kuze immediately catches Alya’s bluff thanks to his Russian and he decides to go all in because it is technically what Alya asks him to do.
Given the buzz surrounding the show, I was kind of hoping that I’d understand the anticipation within the very first episode. Evidently, the hype eludes me at the moment. This premiere isn’t godawful or anything but I just don’t see what makes it so special that people were excited for it. That said, I enjoyed the episode enough that I at least find the show interesting so I’ll check out it some more before I make a decision on it.
Watch Alya Sometimes Hides Her Feelings in Russian on Crunchyroll
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