Alya Sometimes Hides Her Feelings in Russian

Anime review of the show Alya Sometimes Hides Her Feelings in Russian

Alya Mikahylovna Kujou is a Russian transfer student in her second year at Seiren High School. She's very beautiful and therefore very popular. It seems all the boys in school want to date her, even though she has a somewhat cold demeanor towards her classmates, which is why they often refer to her as "The Ice Queen."

Alya's classmate is Masachika Kuze (or Kuze-kun for short), a seemingly carefree student who sleeps in class and appears to have no interest in Alya. This is perhaps why Alya is attracted to him. Only in Kuze-kun's presence does Alya speak to him in Russian when she can't express her true feelings. Masachika, for his part, learned Russian from a young age and pretends not to understand Alya.

Kuze-kun has a younger sister named Yuki. She's a member of the student council and in previous years wished Kuze would join as well, with the idea of ​​them running for President and Vice President, respectively. However, no one seems to know they're siblings since they have different surnames. She loves manga and video games and feels like her life is an incestuous otaku comedy, which sometimes leads her to display an almost obsessive, erotic love for Kuze.

Alya feels a little jealous of Yuki and hates spicy food. On a couple of occasions, she's tempted or provoked by Kuze-kun to try spicy food as a challenge. Kuze-kun and his sister seem to enjoy spicy food and have no problem with it. Alya suspects there's something going on between Yuki and Masachika.

Alya has an older sister named Maria (or affectionately, Masha, in Russian). She's a third-year student, and they don't look much like sisters. Masha is also a student council member, though her duties don't extend beyond making tea, even though she seems to have a slight crush on Masachika.

Kuze finally decides to join the student council because he wants to help Alya become president. Kuze had previously helped Alya with the student festival and in a dispute between the school's baseball and soccer teams. The current student council president (Touya) has his own story: the previous year he was a bit overweight and didn't have good grades, but his crush on Chisaki, the current vice president, motivated him to change.

Meanwhile, after the news breaks that Alya and Kuze are running for student council president, Sayaka Taniyama appears. She ran for president last year, but after seeing how well Touya and Chisaki made a couple, she decided to withdraw. Now, she can't—or rather, refuses to believe—that Alya and Masachika will make such a good couple again this year.

The anime Alya Sometimes Hides Her Feelings in Russian (or Roshidere for short) initially seemed like it would be a very good rom-com (romantic comedy), and its first episode generated a lot of buzz online. However, in my opinion, it lost its spark in subsequent episodes.

Certainly, seeing a character spontaneously speak Russian was lovely and intriguing, but from episode 6 onward, the entire plot of the anime focuses on the student elections and how everyone is preparing for them (an event that will take place next year, according to the story).

There are brief flashbacks to Masachika's childhood, and this first season didn't explore that aspect much, nor did it delve deeply into Alya and Masachika's family relationships. Furthermore, the fight against Yuki for student council president does increase the tension and drama, which, in my opinion, wasn't necessary at all.