First Impression: Alya Sometimes Hides Her Feelings in Russian

Alisa Mikhailovna Kujo: student council member, Russian beauty, admired by the entire school. She’s practically perfect—or she would be if she was just a wee bit friendlier. It seems that the only person Alya talks to regularly and in a somewhat friendly fashion is Masachika, who sits next to her in class and is practically the exact opposite: he’s careless, lazy, and of course doesn’t speak Russian. So he doesn’t understand what Alya means when says things below her breath in her native tongue. Oh wait, actually, he does. Masachika speaks Russian too, but things have gotten a little too far along for him to expose his secret, especially when everything Alya says is about how much she likes him! And their relationship might be getting even more intimate, as Alya becomes jealous when discovering that she’s not the only girl on the student council he has a relationship with and finding out that he might be joining himself!

Okay, Alya…

Alya is here! Much to my surprise, this is one of the season’s most anticipated shows—a surprise to me mostly because I didn’t know anyone other than myself reading the light novels. But perhaps even those unfamiliar with the LN already had Alya pegged as a contender for “most popular anime girl” of the season; her design is super pretty (Doga Kobo strikes again with the eyes!), the Russian element is fun, (though you’ll have to ask a Russian speaker if Sumire Uesaka’s accent is on point or if she sounds like most “American” characters do when speaking English*), and her character just about the right level of tsundere. Viewers are going to love her, but they’re also going to enjoy the supporting characters whom you only get to know a little about in this opening episode—primarily Yuki, who is far more informal than Alya and has a closer relationship with Masachika than she does.

Yep, this is going to be about the girls, and there will be harem elements involved, but episode one has so much going for it beyond the standard; so those who despise harem series may find themselves enjoying the anime for its beautiful animation, lovely opening and slightly obnoxious but also very catchy ending, and again, the cute characters. Masachika is pretty standard as a lead, but more on the “I get why the girls like him” side of that type of ordinary protagonist than the “Why do they like this bozo?” end. He’s also more handsome, I would say, than he is in the light novel illustrations. In fact, I felt that the LN could be better as an anime than a written series, and it appears that in the hands of Doga Kobo, it will be. Beware, though, that as demonstrated in the entire last scene of about five minutes, the series isn’t afraid to go down the ecchi route—and future episodes will certainly stretch what’s tenable for many viewers when it comes to romantic relationships and fanservice elements. But if you enjoy ecchi in your anime (or are able to withstand it if the story is right), this is very likely to be your rom-com of the season.

Wait until the last five minutes of the episode

Alya Sometimes Hides Her Feelings in Russian can be streamed on Crunchyroll.

* Our editor, who studies and writes about Russian film, confirms that Sumire Uesaka’s Russian “quite good.” MAL explains, “Uesaka Sumire is a voice actress currently affiliated with Space Craft Entertainment. Because of her interest in Russia she is also affectionately known under the nickname Sumipe (すみぺ, the letter R resembles a P in Russia’s Cyrillic Alphabet).” And in fact, here’s her explaining her interest:

Twwk
Latest posts by Twwk (see all)

4 thoughts on “First Impression: Alya Sometimes Hides Her Feelings in Russian”

Leave a Reply