Reviews for Alya Sometimes Hides Her Feelings in Russian

Tokidoki Bosotto Russia-go de Dereru Tonari no Alya-san is a series that could be a fun romcom, but due to bad decisions from the author after the first episodes, it just doesn’t work. Simply put, the gimmick of this series doesn’t do anything, sure Alya is Russian and she sometimes speaks it, but this doesn’t really change much, it’s like a different kind of tsundere-ism which would be okay, the problem here is that the series obviously breaks what should be the logical use of its premise by making the MC being able to understand Russian, which is stupid, there’s no point in making acharacter talk a different language so no one can get her just to make the MC being able to get her, and the justification about why he can speak Russian is also pretty dumb in itself. I sometimes wonder why working in a gimmick when you’ll just break it right from the start.

The protagonist is obviously meant to be “literally you”, just look at his introduction and you’ll notice it, oh he watches anime, he is an otaku, now he will play his gacha, and I just wanted to roll my eyes because once again I’m supposed to believe that the most beautiful girl in the class is in love with the MC who has nothing going on for him, and perhaps the author noticed that too and that’s why he also decided to make him someone proficient at everything he tries, you could replace him with Sakuta from Bunny Girl Senpai or Ayanokouji from CotE and it wouldn’t change anything because he is a charismatic god and a genius like nobody else that has ever existed but he NEEDS to hide his power level by being lazy and will only show it from time to time, the fact that he is a otaku is irrelevant, because he isn’t one, he does nothing to actually show it except saying that he is because the audience needs to self-insert as him, and by being called an otaku it makes it easier for the audience to think they are like him. Honestly, I’m not sure why there was a need to do two completely different versions of him in the same character or which one is worse.

If I was more invested in this series I would get shivers by thinking that Alya beating Yuki at the student council elections is completely plausible because she is the main female character and has the MC that can do absolutely everything by her side, because Alya most definitely doesn’t deserve to win it, she breaks down the second the MC isn’t holding her hand to cross the street as if she was a little baby that needs to be taken care of at every moment, there are multiple examples of this like the baseball club and football team, she needed to be saved by the MC despite the fact that that this is her job in the student council because she is the treasurer, she cannot even do that correctly and I just can’t see why she should win, maybe she’ll be able to actually stand in her own two feet at some point in the future, but even if she does how is she supposed to compete with Yuki when she actually has experience since she won in middle school? Alya was originally characterized as someone who is just so above everyone else and that only she is competent and that’s why she is alone, which barely explains why this girl who gets so much attention as the “solitary queen” has no friends, but she isn’t able to pull off things alone, it makes it funny when she got called out by the glasses girl that she was a pretty face with good notes and nothing more, because that’s true. We just get constantly told by the MC and the series that she is a hard worker and that you should support her for it, but we never see that being close to reality. Of course, this problem wouldn’t exist if the author didn’t add the student council plot to take over everything about the series, because it is easily the worst part about it.

Which takes me to the absolute best point of this series, that is, Yuki. She singlehandedly carried the show by being an actual character and not the boring and lazy attempt at making a tsundere that is Alya, from her way of talking being so polite that the subtitles cannot even begin to show that her manner of speaking would make a butler blush, and then when in private with her brother she is basically a brocon, playful and actually bounces well with the MC. Honestly, I agree with the glasses girl that they are the perfect duo and the show would be much better if she was the main girl because she got actual chemistry with him, even if she couldn’t salvage how shit the student council stuff is. She is actually fun to watch when she isn’t being serious, and when it comes to the student council presidential election, she actually has drive and ambition and will do terrible shit just to win, for example, using Alya’s own foolishness against her was actually nice and was basically playing 4D chess the entire episode, which seeing how stupid the other characters are, is not even surprising how she pulled it off. Even if she wasn’t easily the most entertaining thing about the series by a landslide, it’s not like she got much competition, Masha is not a character, she was a plot device to make the MC learn Russian because they met in the past, but that isn’t relevant, because they don’t do anything at all with that information because the MC doesn’t know she is her childhood friend, the fact that she knows and decides to do nothing about it and just let Alya have the MC makes all of this irrelevant as you aren’t even getting something out of it, just as an example.

Telling you that the first two episodes were the best part of this series would be the truth, after that, it jumped to Alya’s “sad” past and then to student council shenanigans which I honestly cannot care much about, it could be an actually entertaining romcom when it tries, which is almost any Yuki scene, but the fact that the gimmick it had is basically thrown to the side to the point Alya won’t speak in Russian in some episodes tells you everything that you have to know about the series, “the main girl is a Russian” is an extremely weak gimmick, so I’m not sure if the author actually thought about making this a full-fledged series in the first place. Honestly, this should’ve just been the Yuki show, that would’ve been great, but sadly it isn’t, instead we’re stuck with this bad excuse of a tsundere and a perfect self-insert MC.

Thank you for reading.

Calling 'Summer 2024' a "rare" season for anime might be an understatement. The overwhelming number of romance-centric shows made it truly exceptional. Two of these new romance shows even overshadowed the well-established popularity of "Oshi no Ko" to some extent. One of them was "Alya Sometimes Hides Her Feelings In Russian." So, where does this show stand compared to classic rom-coms? Does it have enough substance to be a top recommendation? Or is it just another generic romance that tries to do everything but fails to deliver convincingly? Art and Animation (8.5/10): Let's begin with the animation and art style, areas that likely won't significantly alter public opinion.While the art style and character design were great, Alya, in particular, stands out as one of the most visually appealing waifus of 2024. Her striking appearance is crucial for two reasons: first, as the titular character and primary heroine, her design sets the tone for the show. And......I will talk about the second reason a bit later.

The other characters also looked fine, closely resembling their light novel counterparts. The studio did an admirable job in this respect.

The animation quality was above average for a romantic comedy anime. The twelve distinct ending songs, each with its unique visuals, were a noteworthy feature. Although mostly static, they required more effort than a single ending sequence.

Plot(6.5/10):

Let's be real. "Roshidere" fails to distinguish itself from the sea of generic romantic comedies. The narrative lacks depth, failing to deliver a truly original story or effectively utilize the intriguing setting it presents. Roshidere is a tale of missed opportunities, filled with countless "could have beens" and "should have beens."

Despite the elements at the author's disposal, the transition from light-hearted to serious moments felt forced. The comedic moments, especially those featuring Yuki, were good. But not all of them worked for me. For example, the hypnotism scene felt weirdly out of place. It was clearly fan service, but it didn't justify how abrupt it was considering the previous serious conversation between Nonoa and Masachika.

The serious elements were done pretty well, but the characters' buildup and motivation still felt lacking. It's probably largely due to the anime's failure to place scenes and incidents in an order that would intensify the main focus: the student council election, not the comedy or the relationships. In its 12-episode run, 'Roshidere' used tropes that have been used many times before. So there's barely anything unique about it, except for Alya's occasional Russian sentences.

Does that mean the plot of 'Roshidere' is bad? No, but it does mean you shouldn't expect anything deep from this show's first season at least. Whether it be complex issues, intense drama regarding relationships, or chaos-creating comedy, this show tries to have a piece of all those but fails to achieve a balance. In short, 'Alya Sometimes Hides Her Feelings in Russian' so far gives off the vibe of an average rom-com."

Characters(6/10):

I won't be talking about the side characters who barely had any focus put on them in the anime. For example, Ayano, Masha, Taniyama- they had their moments but not enough to be critiqued or praised for their character depth, background, and archetypes.

So, it all comes down to three characters: Alya, Masachika, and last but not least, Yuki.

Yuki: If you ask me what character I enjoyed most watching this season, I'd probably say her name. So, what makes her character funny and likable at the same time? First of all, she's an otaku, secondly she breaks the fourth wall, thirdly she's sadistic, and fourthly she works as a wingman sometimes. If I list these reasons separately like this, it won't really do justice to Yuki's character. She was fun to watch precisely because whenever she got the chance, she did something that we least expect from a little sister character. She had that surprise in store for the audience. And since I'm trying to avoid giving out spoilers, I won't be talking about her family issues.

Masachika: I'm on the fence about his character. While his interactions with Alya are refreshing and he's not the stereotypical clueless rom-com lead, I find the constant reminders of his child prodigy status a bit overdone. It's like a magic trick that loses its luster once you know the secret. The 'child prodigy to laid-back high-schooler' transformation feels like a gimmick that's been overplayed.

Alya: Speaking of gimmicks, Alya's occasional use of Russian as a language barrier is an intriguing tactic, though not quite as impactful as the hour-long looped video released by 'Shikanoko Nokonoko Koshitantan'(That was a marketing masterstroke in my opinion). While her occasional Russian dialogue doesn't significantly alter the story, it's a shared responsibility between her, Masachika, and the author. The author's decision to have Masachika pretend not to understand Russian adds a layer of complexity that could have been explored further.

As for Alya as the main heroine, she's fallen short of expectations. Her character seems primarily driven by her physical appearance, with limited development beyond the typical tsundere trope. While her final speech was a step in the right direction, it doesn't fully compensate for missed opportunities for independent growth. Her reliance on her looks can be seen as a way to compensate for her lack of assertiveness and social skills, which are crucial for a student council candidate. Her interactions with Masachika mirror a typical tsundere relationship. Whether you find her behavior endearing depends on your personal preference for the archetype. Personally, I'm not a fan of tsundere characters, so I don't have strong feelings about her bashful or jealous tendencies, but I do find her lack of directness somewhat frustrating.

Audio and Soundtracks (7.5/10):

I'm not a Russian speaker, so I can't comment on Alya's accent. And since she barely spoke Russian, it's not a major concern. That said, Sumire Uesaka is a talented voice actress, and the overall voice acting was satisfactory.

The opening song was great. However, I have mixed feelings about using 12 separate ending songs. It limits their memorability compared to having a single ending song or one for each female character, like "Monogatari" . Regardless, the Haruhi ending was a highlight, motivating me to rewatch the series.

Overall(7/10):

While 'Alya Sometimes Hides Her Feelings In Russian' isn't entirely groundbreaking, it offers its share of strengths. However, these are often overshadowed by the weaker aspects of its first season. With the announcement of season 2, I'm hopeful for significant improvements in the storyline and character development. There's still plenty of room to explore family dynamics and Masha's past relationship with Masachika. I'm eagerly anticipating the release of the second season.

As for whether or not I recommend this anime, it depends on your preferences. If you're a fan of the genre, I think you'll enjoy it. However, if you're not particularly into rom-coms and are looking for the best introduction to the genre, I'd recommend "Love is War" instead.

Thank you for reading. (If you read the whole thing) :)

This anime doesn't live up to its hype and its scoring is bound to drop. The starting was somewhat cutesy with alya dropping exposition bombs in russian. Even with this ok premise it seemed fresh. However with each passing episode it comes out to be incoherent and irregularly paced, throwing u off of what the show wants to achieve. There is no narrative whatsoever. The humour is so dull the show shouldn't even be tagged as a comedy. Incest jokes and the protagonist being lazy is all there is for comedic relief The protagonist shrugs off her Russian comments but acting dense destroys his underlyingoverly conscious and sharp demeanour. His acting lazy all the time and becoming a hero in a split second doesn't improve upon his character. It makes him a typical edgelord.

The rest of the characters are fine although their motivations are forced and unrelatable. People can want do well without having some horrible edgy backstory. They don't have to have been the victim of anything.

Also the imotou part was completely unnecessary. Its a major stain on the show.

The art is pretty and the voice actors are fine too. The animation feels somewhat lazy relying heavily on the pretty art to cover up.

All in all its fine to watch if you have nothing else. This seasons lineup is very lacklustre so it outshines the rest of the matchup. But it isn't good till now by any standards and it will fall short of people's expectations. Don't go in thinking it will be a great watch.

The most generic rom com to rom com, but with a slight twist. I guess that's all that's needed to make it interesting. Guy who's an otaku, and is "lazy" but actually gets shit done so the girls in his life are attracted to him? Check. School beauty who hates everyone except the main guy? Check. Elements of harem in the show? Check. Now, that isn't necessarily a bad thing, generic shows can still be well written/enjoyable, and the show is pretty enjoyable, with it looking amazing, and being animated rather well for a rom com like this, but honestly, it's the kind of show people have seen before,and if you're tired of the formula, this show won't change your mind.

The element of Alya hiding her feelings in russian is okay, I'm not a native russian speaker, so I have no idea if she's absolutely butchering the russian, but what I can say is that it's not as funny as the show makes it out to be. I enjoy a lot of the other aspects, like how honest the main character is that reminds me of Sakuta from Bunny girl senpai, but he's barely? the focus, and I don't like how they try to make them all complex with this "tragic backstory" that follows a lot of main characters, instead of flushing them out and making their dynamics interesting. The MC at least manages to have somewhat interesting interactions with those around him, and him secretly knowing russian is somewhat interesting, but yeah, I think it's just a standard school rom com with a twist. But, like I said, that's all it needed to make it interesting to me.

Taking on a somewhat unique gimmick for a rom-com show, Alya Sometimes Hides Her Feelings in Russian is exactly how it sounds like. Alisa Mikhailovna Kujou (aka the "solitary princess") is a difficult girl to approach because she sometimes hides her true feelings in Russian. As strange as that might sound, she doesn't realize that her fellow classmate Masachika Kuze understands her. Delivering on the promise of a rom-com, it should be obvious to the audience that Alya harbors feelings for Kuze. Expressed sometimes in Russian, she builds a wall around herself whenever her feelings surfaces. From day one, the anime wants us to understand Alya'spersonality. It's no surprise that she loves to tease Kuze without knowledge that he understands Russian. Kuze plays along and sometimes feigns igornance although most of the time, we see his shocked reaction. The show builds on this pair's relationship through these circumstances and sets the main foundation of the story.

One of the main strengths of the show is its colorful character roster. The main characters Alya and Kuze get their background storytelling but a decent amount of screen time is also given to others such as Yuki, Maria, and later Ayano. The most noticable among the female character cast is Yuki who loves to tease Kuze. Even as a sibling, it's strongly implied that Yuki may have a brother complex while relentlessly trying to get Kuze to react to teasing. Deep down, the two share a close relationship that often serves as a comedic element of the show. At school, Yuki acts more like an elegant model student who others look up to. While at home, she acts like a spoiled kid who wants attention. It's kind of the classic sibling relationship that is treated with humor filled with popcorn entertainment moments. And to be honest, that's a delight.

Should you expect a love story? While this show adapts romance into its story, don't expect the anime to play out like some dramatic shoujo. The romance is just a part of it, where the plot also indulges on the school elements. The most prominent among this is the student council and and its elections. While some school rom-coms adapts these loosely and ties it up within an episode or two, this becomes a recurring plot that serves with significance. Taking place at Seirei Academy, the student council president position is viewed as a role of pride and honor. The main rivalry builds between Alya and Yuki and throughout this rivalry, we see tension around that venture into their personal lives. Indeed, the anime loves its comedic moments among the main cast. However, when the election gets involved, we see character rivalries reach their apex. The only downside appears to be a loose and incomplete adaptation. Given the show's length of 12 episodes, it couldn't focus on all aspects of the election plot. Thus, this anime fundamentally adapts the election to highlight some emotional moments but falls short on its main execution.

However, even if you're not sold on the plot, this show shines most with its character personalities and chemistry. Yuki's on-screen chemistry between Yuki and Alya is a recurring gag that is undeniably entertaining. One might say the recurring moments gets repetitive in nature, but overall, it ignites their personalities. I mean, who wants to see cardboard characters that act like on autopilot? No, we want to be entertained by what see. Even characters such as Ayano can be unintentionally amusing with her stoic appearance and robotic-like mannerisms. The only character I do feel like it's lacking may be Maria. We do short glimpses of her flashbacks, but it undersold in terms of characterization. Out of all the main female cast, her chemistry with Kuze and others is overshadowed.

Studio Doga Kobo has a long history of adapting rom-coms to the screens and has earned the audience's trust. Alya Sometimes Hides Her Feelings in Russian is adapted with care and commitment. There's no drop in production quality throughout the entire run of the show. Character designs for the female cast is especially decorated with elegant features, most prominently Alya and Yuki. Their expressions has variety and while some might some says have similar face models, they stand out like larger than life characters. The OP theme song is exceptionally spellbinding with colorful chereography while dressing up characters in countless ways. There's also theme songs for every episode highlighting the elegance of the cast, most noticably Alya. She's the title character after all and deserves to be the poster girl.

Watching this anime from beginning to end has given me a new insight on rom-coms in recent years. Sometimes, it's just fun to see character chemistry and not worry too much about the story's drama. Sure, this sure has its drama but it ultimately did what it said out to do. Alya Sometimes Hides Her Feelings in Russian may not be able to compete for anime of the year, but it has the traits of an entertaining rom-com.

This awkwardly titled adaptation of a light novel is a standard well-produced romcom with quite a few tropes and a slight twist using the Russian language. The concept seems weird at first, since the main understands the language, and you'd think he'd let on that he understood, but he'd look like a bigger cuck than he already is if he revealed that he didn't follow through with Alya's "secret" flirting all that time. For the Russian lines, she mostly compliments the MC, confesses her love to him, or calls for help when she's in trouble. The whole point of a tsundere is basically for thelove interest to act like they're in kindergarten and do or say mean things to the crush whom he or she secretly likes. Tsunderes have a hard time directly expressing their feelings, but they give a lot of hints, yet their aggression will often keep even the most confident at bay.

Of course, due to the main understanding Russian, her occasional quips in Russian that reveal bombshells, and even some internal monologuing, Alya is pretty much a broken—half or quarter at best—tsundere or a kind of diet tsundere. She occasionally hits him or calls him an idiot, but she is mostly bland, not offering much else other than to allow a peep at her feet or a yawn-inducing "indirect kiss" or a quick tease without any memorability. While the language twist might be novel, the author doesn't exploit it effectively. It's either not used enough or feels like a crutch for the writer after a while. About the only other thing to say about Alya is that she has an oh-so-dramatic "must protecc!!" cringe backstory to wring sympathy and boohoos out of the viewer, where she's always trying her best but is dismayed by how she can't rely on anyone else, leading to her "tsundereism" and romantic interest in the MC. By this point, the comedic focus of the early portion of the series gradually slips away in favor of a snoozy tonal shift, wherein the author attempts to inject drama and interpersonal conflict with a lot of "feels," but the writing is too lightweight to be emotional or gripping, and the standard "what's your breast size," insults, awkward situations, and other jokes aren't exactly fresh.

Worst of all about the language gimmick is how the quirk is often plain annoying, as the MC laughs nervously, rarely acting upon what he hears. He's your typical self-insert MC but not too scummy or anything. Though a mommy complex-induced slacker and otaku, he's an efficient powerhouse when he finds some reason to be committed to a cause. You know, the old routine of pandering to the audience with an OMG just-like-me personage while nodding to some presumed hidden power level or competence. There's a lack of honesty or insight coming from the MC for why he does anything, despite Alya being far too easy to waifu-up with, making the MC seem like the biggest beta orbiter and panty-sniffer on the block. Actual line from the MC: "Anyway, I want a girlfriend who can also be my best friend." Either a woman wrote this, or the author is trying too hard with his NTR fetish.

Even with a generic MC and busted tsundere, the series could be salvageable, but we have to talk about the rotting elephant carcass in the room. The student council plot is the most soporific form of moeshit bureaucracy out there. What the author does here is neither interesting nor entertaining. We went into this series looking for a tsundere romcom, but we often instead get, "Send the treasurer over to the clown club to ensure they're not exceeding their budget" or long speeches and debates meant to look professional but acting as a stand-in for a literal cat fight between two badly behaved girls.

Many scenes involving the student council have the austerity of walking into a local congressional meeting and trying to stay awake, but nothing they do really matters. I soon forget I'm watching a romcom instead of C-SPAN, just with cute and incompetent girls rather than old coots with dentures. Aside from being a slog, it's also oddly emasculating: Despite cutting into his anime and slacking time, the MC gets roped into joining the student council to fulfill his cuck aspirations of catapulting his waifu into the role of president; he props her up like he's a footstool with an inferiority complex, which was the same role he had for his backstory. Why does he want to promote her to being the president? He gives no special reason, but if Alya found a bf, the MC would probably drop out of the student council immediately.

The only decent character, Yuki, has a two-faced role as a prim and proper presidential candidate for the student council but moonlights as an incestuous otaku. Yuki is certainly a wittier character than a mere ice princess puppet with good grades like Alya, and the idea of the latter winning against the former in an election is preposterous. Probably the only other important character is Alya's sister, Maria, but she's pretty much the touchy-feely mommy who functions as a forgotten childhood friend for the MC and a wistful cheerleader for her sister. Her character is the equivalent of guzzling a gallon of corn syrup, and she's a fine example of why the childhood friend love interest almost always fails.

The writer attempts to run autopilot on fetish fuel to make up for the dull as dishwater romcom (plus drama dumpster dive) plot and character dynamics that we've seen endlessly but runs out of the diluted fuel he plies upon us all too fast. Alya, being the lukewarm diet soda that she is, runs out of fizz after about two episodes, and the author overcompensates with his sister fucker fetish and accidentally makes an entertaining character in Yuki, though it might leave those with more touristy sensibilities squirming in their seats, even if it's pure incestbait, and she has no more of a chance than the childhood friend. All of these factors make the faint love geometry nearly nonexistent.

If there were video games representing the quality of the two main grills, one would be succinct and straightforward: Super Spicy Sister Fucker 4 (Yuki). The other would be a long, unwieldy, LN-like title: Boring Fake-Ass Broken Tsundere Gives You a Clammy Handshake in the Backroom of the Student Council while Rambling in Russian that You Pretend not to Understand (Alya). I'm starting to think this should be advertised more as a siscon series with a whole hell of a lot of filler rather than a tsundere romcom, or Yuki should have her own spinoff. You know a "tsundere" anime is subpar when you're rooting for "wincest."

This show in a nutshell: "What if we make the most standard and basic high school romcom, but with a Russian twist and a bit of cringe BS?" Personally, I gave it a chance hoping that it would be more than just its title. It wasn't. It's actually worse than I thought. It's shows like these that make me realize that while I might like anime a lot, I'm not a hardcore Otaku because the DEGENERACY in this show is INSANE! I'll tell you what, if you like your ecchi fanservice shots every 10-20 seconds, this is the show for you. I know these studios do thisto get exposure and revenue but this was WAY too much!

It seems like they use fanservice as a cop-out to make up for what is a very boring and basic plot. So they make it up for putting the main guy in a weird harem love square between him the main Russian girl Alya, her sister, and you guessed it... the guy's ACTUAL SISTER [*Sweet Home Alabama intensifies*].

The main guy is a character that is a decent guy whose laid back attitude stands out to Alya the main girl who is shown as the serious one. It seems like poor character writing for both characters because at least to me, it seems so far very surface level.

Alya is the standard girl with all the looks but doesn't give us a reason why we should root for her. I still don't even understand why the MC likes her at all.

That's the reason why a girl like the MC's sister Yuki stands out in the show, because she says and does the most OUT OF POCKET SHIT imaginable! This character single handedly has ruined the show for me because of her bullshit that cannot be made up for its basic plot.

The only thing going for it is that the animation and art style are REALLY good.

This might be too harsh bc I've seen a good amount of high school romcoms idk. I'll update if my views change at all.

Update: It's still bad. Nothing got better

I can't say this anime is recommended but at the same time, this anime is not as good as other people say. This anime is good if you are new to the romcom genre. But for me, Roshidere is good just because it has a great art style and "fan service". I'm not a novel reader, so this is just my opinion as an anime watcher only. Roshidere plot is really basic, I mean the plot is just a template that the author picks from average romcom anime, then makes a prompt from it and pastes it on Chat GPT. You will know what theending will be. The dialogue also cringes and makes me laugh. It makes me think that the author never had a good experience in a relationship so he/she wrote this novel so that he can realize the best version of his/her love story in the form of a novel.

A premise of a tsundere who speaks Russian, where in the end that was her only grace, speaking Russian. Roshidere is a typical school romance where, what is intended to be a breath of fresh air to the genre, ends up being the anchor that ends up sinking it. It focuses so much on giving a spotlight to Alya that it ends up showing all the deficiencies that the character has, and unfortunately she does not have what it takes to carry the work as a protagonist should. Any character that appears within the story is more interesting and more charismatic than its female protagonist. Eventhe episodic characters like the grandfather or Masachika's friends stole the scene when they appeared. If the episodic characters overshadowed Alya, the secondary ones constantly buried her. Yuki and Masha have what it takes to replace Alya as the protagonist but the story wants to force you to see Alya as a person who is at the level of those mentioned above. The story doesn't bother to develop its main girl, and yet they put her in a situation where she has to act but she just stays as the pretty face.

Giving so much weight to the plot of the school elections and giving us the backgrounds of Yuki and Masachika, automatically give more weight to the skills and ingenuity than to simply being a one trick pony. Masachika tries hard to get the campaign ahead and her greatest enemy is Alya. The girl doesn't even try to put in a grain of effort, she simply limits herself to say sporadic phrases in Russian. It feels like all the characters play in a higher league than Alya, but still something has to be nerfed so that she can even look decent. All this so that in the end the relationship advances only one step.

It also doesn't help that the fandom that was generated around this work has become a cult towards the Russian. There are many things that the same fans who read the novel try to justify with facts that were never shown in the anime but are in the novel. This leads me to classify that the anime failed as an independent adaptation. If the only way in which a discussion related to the anime can be had is with information from the novel, then the failure is huge. If the anime cannot show the core of the story in a satisfactory way, then it is not that good.

One of the most anticipated anime ended up being the biggest disappointment of the season. This anime worked as a promotion for the novel, as it worked for Sumire Uesaka (they forced her in every possible place). It worked as anything you can imagine but it failed in the most important thing, in being a good story.

This anime disappointed me after a couple episodes. Ngl, I really had high hopes and expectations from this but this just was not it. Story : So, the story being your typical as you might have guessed from the title is just Alya speaking Russian and hiding her feelings from those around her, she does so by speaking in front of the MC. Now this concept did get my attention and I thought it might be something unique. But the way it has been progressed, I found it very cliché. Even the fact that the MC learnt a whole language such as Russian is insane and justto converse with a girl, is like nuts. Some snippets of a childhood friend are shown which cover the backstory, and trust me this idea has been used in like every other romance anime. If the author wanted to do something unique then he should have just followed the story with the same sense of uniqueness.

Apart from this, there are a lot of fan services in this show which I hate. Don't get me wrong, I like fan services, in fact I love them but the fan services in this show are just downright indecent, creepy and unrealistic.

Characters:

1) MC - The MC is the perfect human being. He literally has no flaws and he is good at everything. He is a ladies man as well and he learnt a whole other language which just showcases how intelligent he is. This according to me are the worst type of MC's in a romance anime. These guys do not even try to do anything since everything is well served to them on its own. The harem of girls just fall for them because of their fictional priviliges.

2) Alya - Your usual usual tsundere-chan. She also has good looks, good popularity, good intelligence, but unlike the MC she finds it difficult to deal with other people. The MC being her guardian always guides her out of these tough situations. She is written in such a way that it's almost too predictable to what she'll do next. She denies her feelings of love towards the MC (ofc) because of her pride like you see in almost every romance or harem anime.

3) Yuki (MC's sister) - The most annoying character you'll find in a romcom. She yaps a lot and also has a brother complex. Now this is really weird and in no shape can I fw this. Some said it's a joke but jokes are supposed to be funny and not creepy and weird. It's almost like that this thing is very off-putting and if it wasn't there then this show would atleast be watchable and it wouldn't even affect the story as such.

4) Alya's sister - She might be the only perfectly written character out of all. I have no problems with her.

Art & Sound:

The art is super good and the animation is alright. I really like how all the characters are drawn and the backgrounds are done. 10/10

The osts are kinda mid, voice acting however I must say is top notch.

“Alya Sometimes Hides Her Feelings in Russian” is what happens when an interesting shtick is destroyed by bad writing. This show surprised me in to major ways: 1. That it destroyed its own shtick right from the get to in favour of… practically nothing because nothing comes of it. 2. How boring and devoid of story this show is Before we start I would like to explain something. I will be talking about “plot” and “story”. Many people use those terms interchangeably. I’m not one of those people, so to make sure everyone is on the same page… I use the definitions for “plot” and “story” as LisaCron describes them:

“What happens in the story is the PLOT, the surface events.”

“STORY is about how the things that happen affect someone in pursuit of a difficult goal, and how that person changes internally as a result”.

If I had to tell what kind of story telling method this show utilises it would be “and then that happened”. About 90% of what happens in the show's 12 episodes happen because the writers decided to show a cliche scene that You saw a million times (with better execution) before and had no idea how to organically implement it.

I’m gonna be honest, the first episode is rather solid for what it’s supposed to be. Get an overall view of what we’re working with. The main characters (Kuze and Alya), supporting cast (the most important of which would be Yuki), their relationship and interactions and the great view of the main “conflict”. It’s not exactly a surprise, the title gives it away from the get go. Alya speaks Russian sometimes, mostly to confess her feelings towards Kuze, and thinks the boy doesn’t understand her. But he does and we even get an explanation for that. On top of that the explanation works also as a setup for something that could (wink, wink) happen later. It’s also a bit misleading of the type of way Alya teases Kuze. It’s much more ecchi than the rest of the show. I don’t know if it's bait for the viewers or someone just managed to hide this scene from the higher ups.

As far as first episodes go this one is a solid one. It fulfils its function pretty well. It’s mostly downhill from here unfortunately.

The problem is there is very little story to this show and what story there is is mostly shown in the last 3 episodes. Everything (well… 90%) before that is just plot. If You want to argue that it’s a story about two people getting close to each other, go right ahead, but their relationship doesn’t change in any meaningful way. They start as friends with one having an obvious crush and they end as friends with one having an obvious crush. The second is an idiot, I’m not counting him for anything.

Something I’m not quite sure why was made is giving Kuze the ability to understand Russian. It destroys a lot of mystery from the plot. If he wasn’t able to understand Alya we would have an element of mystery (You could even leave tha translations for the viewers), as we all know, mysteries are sexy. It would add a lot of tension and drama to their interactions. Something that they lack in the finished product. As it stands Kuze is an asshole. He knows the girl is into him. It’s not a guess, she declares her feelings and urges on multiple occasions. If he wanted to, we would have a relationship between those two in episode 3 at the latest. He allows this relationship to be stuck in limbo. I call that being an asshole. It’s not like he is opposed to the idea of a relationship with her either. If he was he wouldn't have those over the top, pseudo-comedic reactions he has everytime he hears her declaring her feelings in russian. I fail to see the reason why the writers would play it that way. They just created a MC that is really hard to root for, because he’s just an asshole.

Listen I get it, the name of the game in rom-coms (and romance in general) is the “Will they - Won’t They”. But in most cases it’s based on insecurity and unknowns from both parties or on some sort of conflict that prevents the characters from getting together. In this case we don’t have any sort of unknowns. We, as well as both parties, are more than aware of the fact that Alya is into Kuze. So we should get some sort of conflict as a counterweight, right? Yeah… no such luck. Kuze acts like an idiot and we really don’t get a good reason why. Even in later episodes we are still left in the dark.

There is also very little I would call a proper romance set up. This is a rom-com but the “rom” is silent for most of the show. Yes Kuza and Alya have a lot of interactions but they are not what I would call romantic or even pseudo-romantic. Out of all 12 episodes I think there are only 2 scenes that could work as a romance set up, that is if they weren't destroyed. Once by a cheap joke of stunned background characters who clearly have too much interest in other people's interactions. The second time by a fanatical attendant coming by. Those were the only scenes I would call proper for the “rom” part of rom-com. Mostly everything else focuses on comedy.

Which is a problem all by itself because even in straight up comedies You need contrast. You need to give jokes room to breathe and sink in. You want to have a lazy joke? Go for it but contrast that with something full on romantic or dramatic. You can’t just feed the viewer only lazy comedy and expect them to not feel fatigue. Granted this show isn’t as aggressive as something like “Grand Blue” but it still has too many jokes and instead of giving contrast by showing scenes more attuned to drama or romance it gives us… nothing. An anime equivalent of a “Please Stand by” screen. Most scenes between are just filler that leads nowhere. It’s all just plot and lazy at that.

The only reason I was able to watch this show (apart from having OCD and Asperger) was Yuki. Probably the only character with personality. Her switching between a perverted otaku sister and a proper Young lady working for the student council was actually enjoyable. I wouldn't mind if she was the protagonist of this show. Listen. Not all MC’s have to be blank slates. In most cases it is better for a protagonist to have an established personality and traits. For fuck’s sake Spike from Cowboy Bebop is far from a tabula rasa and is one of the greates MCs in history. Same goes for the kids in “Grave of the fireflies”. I have no idea why the anime industry insists on having bland, tasteless, white bread as protagonists but this shit needs to stop. It destroys their ability to tell actual stories and leaves them with nothing but plot.

As it stands this show isn’t a total travesty or an example of how to fail at a rom-com (well… maybe a little) it’s just so damn safe and full of cliches that I see no reason to watch this over any other rom-com on the market. There are moments when the show tricks You into thinking that it will be better. The last 3 episodes are actually better both with plot and story but it’s too little too late for my taste. The worst part? We don’t get any kind of payoff. We watch 12 episodes of this show, how Alya admits to herself about her feelings and Kuze starting to act like he has a spine and… we end with nothing. Everything seemingly returns to status quo so the authors can pretend to know what they are doing all over again in the next season.

I had expectations for this when I first heard about the show with a fairly unique premise, but now it's obvious the show is just a generic romcom with a lot of overused cliches which makes it more boring to watch than wet paint. Roshidere had a great start in 4 episodes that could make for a solid romcom if they explored the idea of this Russian gimmick deeply, but it didn't happen - as such the show piles on side characters, school antics and teasing scenes with no consistent tone in general. Serious plotline isn't bad, but come up with something else other than electionplot because I genuinely found it so boring to watch as if the show wanted to become like "Classroom of The Elite" or something. The characters are completely flat except for the sister, most people watched it for her but it died off quickly due to her character being a joke that relies on humor and novelty. Why can't the writers just stick to its premise and make the story more engaging instead of having to go through this fuckton of a mess only for the show to become something that held no regard for the series' original tone whatsoever? I don't understand the appeal of this show at all.

The only nice thing about this anime is its beautiful animation, but looks can't save a hollow story. It's a textbook case of style over substance. This show might be worth it for a casual watch, but it's not if you are looking for a good romcom.

Your time and attention would be better off somewhere else.

Having some Russian in my family, I gave this series a shot. I really liked the first ep, it was cute and funny and seemed the plot might be headed somewhere interesting. So I decided to do the 3 eps test. It passed 3 eps well enough. Decent if not inspired artwork. About average animation for a romcom, which means not very good, but not horrible either. The characters were sweet enough, if a little cookie cutter. The VA work was fine. Let's keep going. Then we hit ep 5, and the first half just creeped me out. And while the series managed to avoida lot of the usual tropes and cliches in the first 3 eps, they started to raise their ugly heads in ep 4, and were absolutely on parade in ep 5. Things have gone downhill fast. Same with the animation. While it was OK through the first 3 eps, last two it's seriously nosedived, where there were a couple cringe sections in ep 5. So disappointing. Smells of budget cuts.

I will likely stick around a couple more eps to see if things turn around, but may not last the season. I'm not feeling it. I don't have to speak any Russian to hide it. If I were to grade this, I'd say we've slipped from B territory down to 71/100, a very low C-, and not headed in the right direction.

Ep7 was a big improvement. Tink up to 75/100 to a full C.

Last few eps were OK, if not impressive. Still lots of tropes and cliches, but the writing for the characters improved, One more tink up to 78/100, and a C+ overall after 12 episodes.

Another romcom with the usual tropes.. mediocre plot in high school setting. Pretty predictable from the start, average Joe somehow knows/meets the most praise beauty of the school. She’s “perfect”, uh oh, but what makes her different? — Yep, it’s in the title. I can see the appeal. The animation is quite fitting for what the story is. It’s slightly humorous as far as typical shyness/jealously of romantic comedies, and the lovable personas of the characters. However, I grew out of this genre. Tropes: - Lazy male main character - Abnormal dream girl (who’s also a tsundere) - Imouto - Childhood friend One guy, three girls? — Yep, you bet it becomesharem real quick… Dropped it before the 4th girl in the poster appeared. — Yup… it’s THAT predictable.

+3 for the highlights.

As for me, I liked the fact that Arya spoke Russian, but she didn't know that Kuze understood them, liked the situations in the story or the personalities of the characters, my taste is tsundere so I felt I quite like the character Arya, the sound quality and graphics are both good. What makes me feel disappointed is that the studio made the story move too fast compared to the light novel, Kuze's humorous, otaku thoughts made me laugh or the reason why Kuze chose Arya in the light novel, in the anime it was almost cut out. In the light novel, Arya isgood and has a lot more acting space than in the anime.

But in short, for me, this is still my favorite romcom so I will give it 9.5/10

Sometimes it’s okay to just be a gimmick show. It sounds harsh but frankly, Roshidere suffers from trying to incorporate too much into what could have been a very simple and fun romcom anime. The gimmick of this show (Alya not knowing that Kuze can understand Russian) is reminiscent of tropes such as mind-reading, which leads to fun dynamics like with Anya and Damien in Spy x Family. The idea of having a tsundere character be very blatantly in love with someone and not realizing how obvious they are is at its core fun and entertaining. So, starting this show, I was fairly excited tohave something with that kind of vibe. Although, quickly I was let down.

Look, there’s nothing wrong with deviating from the premise. I’d say I encourage that behavior but Roshidere leaves a more interesting premise and pretends it's as wise as shows like Oregairu when it is just simply cliched and boring. Student council drama is pretty common in most romcoms and Roshidere does very little to try and distinguish itself from any other anime of it's kind. From the royalty plot line to the incest and childhood friends, every cliche in the book can be found here and little is done to make me care about any of it. They even mess up what was fundamentally interesting about the original premise as Kuze still comes across as a dense protagonist who doesn’t get that Alya’s russian flirting is legitimate. It’s just frustrating to see Roshidere fumble in so many places.

It's just cheap. Not translating specific lines of dialogue only to reveal them later isn’t clever, and to a Russian speaking audience it just comes across as silly. Also, I’m all for suspending my disbelief but if you want me to care about your serious school drama don’t have things like hypnotism as throw away gags just to have some fanservice. Alya can just straight up read Kuze’s mind when it’s convenient for a joke and it’s lazy.

Although what offends me most of all is Kuze and how he effectives gaslights both Alya and the viewer into thinking she's doing everything. Alya barely contributes to their Student Council run, Kuze does all of the work. But this show wants me to believe its her when I have no reason to believe that at all. Look, if you're going to run with a female character that needs a mans help at least do it like Oregairu where Hachiman's help is self destructive and leads to conflict. Here Kuze is just all powerful and can do no wrong and it makes it so hard to care about him in the slightest.

Roshidere is neither realistic like Oregairu nor over the top like Kaguya-sama, but it’s so full of itself and thinks it's being clever when it continues to fail at surprising me. I love anime rom coms, I really do, so I mean it when I say this is truly some of the most derivative boring content the genre has to offer. If all you want is some pretty good animation and decent character design there’s at least something for you here, but generally I have a hard time recommending this show.

TLDR: Potential wasted. The whole premise of the series; speaking Russian while the boy secretly understands, is basically underutilized while the rest of the show is an almost standard romcom, hence the 5 rating. The all-too-common tropes are in there. Honestly, there is nothing fresh beyond the first episode. The sound, voice acting, and animation is fine. The story is uninteresting because...it's been done a million times before. The characters are boring, so you don't get invested, again because it's been done a million times before. I kept watching because I was hoping something fresh would happen, but it didn't. If you're a romcom fan, Iguess it's worth a watch to get your fix but it is not worth the time imho.

While rough, i liked the first few episodes, but the plot gets increasingly tedious as things go on. Everything get boring and it's mostly due to the cliche dialogue and happenstances. i can't recommend it but i guess it's decent enough to satisfy some of you guys. Don't expect a masterpiece tho. At most it's the kind of show you watch when it's late, your brain is fried but you still need to do something before bed to feel your day was worth it. The good: It's pretty. It's horny without it being overexagerated. It's pure drama. A little too much to my tastes but if you'rethe kind to inject this straight in your veins then this show could be for you.

The cons:

For a show about russian-speaking characters, the VAs chosen speak the language surprisingly poorly. Even someone not knowing a word of russian can tell the sentences are kinda mispronounced every time. The tone is very japanese, the cadence of each word feel forced as if the actors started learning the language recently. Make the whole thing a little cringe-worthy.

I really wish the bigger budget shows start to hire foreigners to do foreigners lines instead of putting everything in the thighs animations :p

Main guy is getting hit a little too often by the girls around him. I really hoped we were past that trope, it's annoying and half the time it looked really really painful. Like i need to go to the infirmary painful.

Given they all have smartphones, why is the main girl assuming others can't understand what she said? Google translate is a thing. Voice apps too. If she talk to him in russian half the time, it's weird she assume he never checked what she really meant afterward. The whole premise of the show doesn't work unless you completely turn your brain off. Which is a shame because it reinforces the cuteness of that tsundere and is the only thing differentiating this show from the other romcoms around.

About every trope of harem romance anime in a nice package. Nothing new, they didn't even try.

Anyway, there's dozens of better romance animes so watch it only if you're really bored

Honestly, "Alya Sometimes Hides Her Feelings in Russian" ended up being one of the most disappointing anime I’ve watched in a while—not bad, just disappointing. The first few episodes made it seem like it was going to be a fresh and interesting romance, but by the end, it really didn’t live up to that potential. Let me break down why: 1. Romance is mediocre with little development: This is the biggest problem. The relationship between Alya and Kuze barely goes anywhere. (Minor spoiler) By the end of the season, they’re only on a first-name basis, which is pretty underwhelming for a finale. I was expecting something moremeaningful, like Kuze speaking Russian to Alya, but nope. It feels like they’re saving that for season two just to keep people hooked.

2. Student council elections were lame:

The student council elections were a big distraction from what the show should have been about: Alya and Kuze’s relationship. It dragged the story down with a lot of unnecessary drama. You can even see the change in opinions here on MAL in the discussions, the disparity between the early episodes and later episodes after the council elections is vastly conflicted. It’s not terrible, but it took away from the characters and their development, which was the main reason I (and probably many others) started watching.

3. Has generic cliches:

This is a smaller issue, but the show leans hard into some typical anime clichés. t has the classic "introverted otaku to chad" storyline, where the shy male MC is drawn out of his shell by a random 10/10 girl who invades his personal space. It’s not terrible, but it’s been done a million times. Nothing new here, which makes the show feel a bit generic.

Overall, the show isn’t bad, just super over-hyped. I still think it’s decent, and there’s hope that a second season could fix a lot of these issues.

7/10 – Over-hyped, but still worth checking out.

After all the hype it got, this anime was a huge let down for me. The tropes I’ve seen in a hundred other rom coms made it feel very derivative. The humor was almost always cringy, especially the weird incest stuff. The animation and soundtrack were nothing special. However, there are other rom coms with these problems that I still enjoyed well enough. So what was different about “Alya Hides Her Feelings in Russian” that made it such a let down? First off, the characters are all very forgettable. I had a hard time remembering their names, muchless caring about them at all. They all had backstories and motivations that felt half-baked at best, and incomprehensible at worst.

For example, the fact that the male lead (whose name I can’t remember) was supposed to be a child prodigy didn’t add anything to the depth of his character or effect his actions during the show in any way, causing his backstory to feel completely inconsequential. I couldn’t figure out why he had a bad relationship with his mom, the show just tells you that he does and that you should feel bad for him because of it. I couldn’t figure out why his father kicked him out of the family, or why he still lived with his sister after that happened. He was good at piano, but he never plays during the actual events of the show, so why does it matter? He knows Russian because of some random girl he knew when he was a kid, but why should I care about this girl when the show doesn’t even tell us her name or anything else about her?

I felt similarly indifferent about the motivations of all the characters to some degree. Why does Alya care about being president so much? Why does the ML’s sister act so differently at school compared to her real personality? Why does the girl with the glasses hate the ML so much and try to undermine him? What does the ML even see in Alya beyond the fact that she’s attractive? If these questions had explanations, the show did a poor job of making them interesting or impactful enough to remember.

Second, the gimmick of Alya speaking Russian. I felt this was a good premise that the show could have taken in some interesting directions, but never did. It doesn’t affect the characters or how they act, and it doesn’t drive the story or the character development in any way. What if the ML had learned Russian for Alya to show how much he cared about her instead of the random girl from his childhood we know nothing about? What if the ML had revealed at some point that he could understand Russian? What if Alya had had a hard time speaking Japanese and the ML was the only one who really understood her because he also spoke Russian? Instead, the gimmick is just… there. It doesn’t do anything. It doesn’t affect the show in any meaningful way.

Lastly, the plot. This show couldn’t decide if it wanted to be a romance between the ML and Alya or a drama centered around the race for student council president. It tried to do both at the same time, and both aspects felt underdeveloped as a result, especially the romance. The dynamic between the two leads felt exactly the same at the end of the show as it did at the beginning. They are friendly with each other and nothing beyond that. There is a scene which explains why Alya has fallen for the ML. But it doesn’t seem like there’s any reason for the ML to like Alya beyond, again, the fact that she is attractive.

The student council race is supposed to be a large motivating factor for the characters and the main source of conflict, but it all just felt so artificial. We are told that we should care about the race because the characters do, but there’s no real reason given why they care. And if we don’t know why the characters care, then why should we?

To summarize, “Alya Hides Her Feelings in Russian” is one of a million cookie-cutter rom com/ drama anime that wastes precious screen time on decade-old tropes, uninspired and cringy humor, and unnecessary fan service instead of giving its viewers any reason at all to care about the characters or plot. This show had an interesting premise with a lot of potential, but I can’t even say it was a swing and a miss because it feels like the writers didn’t even try.