Tokidoki Bosotto Russia-go de Dereru Tonari no Alya-san

Seirei Academy is a prestigious school attended by the very best students in Japan. Alisa Mikhailovna "Alya" Kujou, the half-Russian and half-Japanese treasurer of the school's student council, is known for her intelligence, stunning looks, and rigid personality. Contrasting her near-flawless persona, Alya's unmotivated classmate Masachika Kuze slacks off during lessons and seems to show no interest in her.

Initially irritated, Alya gradually becomes more intrigued by Masachika and starts expressing her affection for him in Russian. However, she is oblivious to his secret—he understands the language fluently! Due to a childhood friend who was temporarily staying in Japan, Masachika has been studying Russian in hopes of reuniting with her.

As the two spend more time together, the playful and eccentric relationship between them quickly deepens. In the meantime, both must learn to navigate their new growing feelings for one another.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Kujou, Alisa Mikhailovna Main

Uesaka, Sumire Japanese

Kuze, Masachika Main

Amasaki, Kouhei Japanese

Suou, Yuki Supporting

Maruoka, Wakana Japanese

Kujou, Maria Mikhailovna Supporting

Fujii, Yukiyo Japanese

Kimishima, Ayano Supporting

Aizawa, Saya Japanese

Miyamae, Nonoa Supporting

Aoyama, Yoshino Japanese

Sarashina, Chisaki Supporting

Kawase, Maki Japanese

Taniyama, Sayaka Supporting

Hasegawa, Ikumi Japanese

Kujou, Akemi Supporting

Inoue, Kikuko Japanese

Kenzaki, Touya Supporting

Ishikawa, Kaito Japanese

Kobayashi, Ryou Producer

Kamata, Hajime Producer

Arai, Kousuke Producer

Hasegawa, Shunsuke Producer

Reviews

Dec 10, 2024

AShortbuskid

Recommended

Cute and fluffy. The election thing does feel like it drags, but the show is cute enough to stave off this issue.

The Russian thing does get slightly old near the end, however, I hope the future season fixes this issue and the whole trope gets
dropped.

The entire arc surrounding the school election does tire a bit, as obviously the stakes are faked and shallow. I did struggle to watch around this part, but it's my only real complaint. And it's minor enough that I feel the show doesn't suffer too much from it.

The MC and his sister are cringy and lame, however, I actually feel that ... it's a rare case where it's in the benefit of the show.

The art style is pretty and cute.

Reviewer’s Rating: 9

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Jan 19, 2025

Amogha22

Mixed Feelings

It was good anime from begging but later episodes didn't really hooked me up , u can watch this anime Alya , Yuki or Masha's cute moments that's all , overall I enjoyed this anime
Art style of the anime is good, Alya,Yuki serves has a fan service in this anime , Alya resembles gojo in art style, storyline of this anime was generic i expected lot from this anime still u can enjoy this one if you are into highschool, slice of life stuffs.
Main problem with this anime was Yuki's character and personality around her brother kuze,maybe many people liked it but in my opinion ... her character was unnatural,her behaviour with kuze was not like a normal siblings honestly,

Reviewer’s Rating: 7

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Jan 14, 2025

AeroGunz

Not Recommended

“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 Lisa ... Cron 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.

Reviewer’s Rating: 4

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