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Alya Sometimes Hides Her Feelings in Russian
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Sep 12, 9:46 AM
#1
Original Denjin

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Nov 2008
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I just want to get your thoughts on this anime, (especially the parts where Alya speaks Russian). I’ve been curious about this ever since I started watching this about what the Russian people think about this. (and of course, if you’re Russian but don’t live in Russia, I also mean you too, but you get what I mean) I already saw a thread about whether or not Alya’s Russian was actually good or not, but I wanted to expand on that, and just get some thoughts and perspectives about the Russian parts as a whole, (like, did you get a kick out of some of the things that Alya was saying in Russian?) as well as the series in general. And that also includes the other characters who speak Russian as well.
Sep 12, 10:05 AM
#2

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Dec 2017
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I thought the russian speaking part would be more of a focus instead of that lukewarm election plot and the weird fanservice.

It barely has any references to the culture and half the time it's not even a thing. Golden Kamuy has done a much better job at (I still remember when they showed wooden cutlery with the exact pattern that we own irl).

It's fine if you like the show for the art, but the premise really didn't reach my expectations.
Sep 12, 10:21 AM
#3
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Oct 2016
1
Of cource it isn't clear russian neither in Alya's speech nor in anyone else's. Alya speaks with accent and you can hear it if you listen google translates narration for word "милашка" for example. But it was really funny to listen Uesaka Sumire trying to speak russian. I think Masachika's acting was the closest to how real russian speak. But personally I was smiling every time, they tried to speak russian and I think that it was quite charming. Especially her voice saying "milashka", it was cute a.f.
P.S. Sorry if my english isn't so good, I have quite few opportunities to practice.
Sep 12, 10:36 AM
#4
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Jun 2010
11
Even regardless of the fact that Russian words and phrases sound in this anime, this anime keeps at the screen all the time due to quick solutions to standard problems, and due to fanservice and pleasant drawing. Russian language adds a rare zest here, and yes, every time the Russian speech sounds, it's just as cute as Alya pronounces it.
Sep 12, 11:01 AM
#5
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Jul 2024
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I thought there will be more moments where Alya speaks Russian.
In Russian anime community many people argued why they just didn't take Russian voice actor that speaks Japanese because Alya speaks Russian with a huge accent that sometimes we can't understand it with subtitles but we just agreed on the option that Japanese voice actor love Russia and our culture.
My favorite moment is the moment in flashbacks when Alya do the report about some job. It's all in Russian and especially I like that they put all the inscriptions on the back of the notebook like it's on the real Russian notebook.
I like an idea of this anime and I'm waiting for the final.
This text may contain some mistakes but that's because I'm not a native English speaker but Russian.
Sep 12, 12:02 PM
#6
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Oct 2023
84
Cosplay_Joe said:
I just want to get your thoughts on this anime, (especially the parts where Alya speaks Russian). I’ve been curious about this ever since I started watching this about what the Russian people think about this. (and of course, if you’re Russian but don’t live in Russia, I also mean you too, but you get what I mean) I already saw a thread about whether or not Alya’s Russian was actually good or not, but I wanted to expand on that, and just get some thoughts and perspectives about the Russian parts as a whole, (like, did you get a kick out of some of the things that Alya was saying in Russian?) as well as the series in general. And that also includes the other characters who speak Russian as well.

I m russian 🇷🇺🇷🇺🇷🇺

I really liked it !!! 🤍🤍🤍

a wonderful story about a smart and modest guy, separated from his family, who met a east european woman who culturally excited him, in a good way, and inspired him to improve !

the characters are not caricatures and are very cute.🥰💗
not a single stereotype is mentioned, which is very cool !

It seems to me that if someone expected something more, then they expected too much. because the basis is not built around russian culture, but around masachika and his conflict with his family, and alya and masha are just, as vulgar as it may sound - fan service. still, there should be a nice cover so that the anime is remembered and loved by the viewer !😌😌😌😌


by the way, I felt a little awkward from the familiar speech with a japanese accent.

I feel a clever awkwardness from
this, instead of delight, unlike foreigners.

plus unexpectedly mentioned cultural values.
unexpectedly pleasantly and sweetly they were interpreted in the plot. for example, how alya, according to the sign, in order not to sit on the edge of the table, sat down on the side, closer to kudze, at the same time showing yuki that masachika belongs to her.

I also like that there is no xenophobia and they do not pay special attention to whether some nationality is worse or better. many thanks to the authors for this !!! 🕊

I will not say anything bad about the voice acting of russian speech, since seyu did her job wonderfully, making the heroine moderately proud, moderately caring and moderately modest... 🥰🙏
polnalyubviSep 12, 12:16 PM
Sep 12, 1:01 PM
#7
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Oct 2023
146
Sutangu said:
Even regardless of the fact that Russian words and phrases sound in this anime, this anime keeps at the screen all the time due to quick solutions to standard problems, and due to fanservice and pleasant drawing. Russian language adds a rare zest here, and yes, every time the Russian speech sounds, it's just as cute as Alya pronounces it.

So basically it's safe for me to assume , that it's not very good depiction of Russian language and culture but it's cute . . . am I right ?
(P.S. I'm not Russian nor Japanese. I do live in Japan tho)
Sep 12, 1:16 PM
#8
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Dec 2018
1262
I'm Belgian

I speak French and the bare Russian I know is

привет
помогите
не падайте духом
милашка
меня зовут
спасибо
Я боюсь медуз

And that's all thanks to Roshidere either by teaching me that vocabulary years ago or me remembering some words I learned in Russian when I tried to learn it after V3 before getting brutally called back to reality by my lack of free time.

By showing Russian speakers in some other way that the villains in an Holywood movie Roshidere could build a bridge making me interested in Russia and Russian culture (so much that I got deeply interested in USSR and pre-USSR revolution's history to the point I aced my exam about these in history classes in high school)

So I might not be the one you were asking an opinion from but in the end I think all those critics about Sumipe's accent (which is actually intentionally made to sound Japanese) are both pointless and shallow.

Roshidere built an image of half Russian characters doing great things instead of trying to kill thousands of people with a secret weapon like in most US movies. And this is in a top rank anime.

In an age in which global peace is heavely threaten by major conflicts (among which Russia is involved) around the globe and groups of people trying to spread some kind of propagand to make people we don't know, never met and will probably never know or never meet look like living monsters, this is a huge feat that already deserves respect.
DragyGSep 12, 1:22 PM
Sep 12, 2:52 PM
#9
Online
Jan 2022
697
I love russian girls. They are exactly my type.
Sep 12, 3:25 PM
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Jun 2010
11
Aruhaya said:
Sutangu said:
Even regardless of the fact that Russian words and phrases sound in this anime, this anime keeps at the screen all the time due to quick solutions to standard problems, and due to fanservice and pleasant drawing. Russian language adds a rare zest here, and yes, every time the Russian speech sounds, it's just as cute as Alya pronounces it.

So basically it's safe for me to assume , that it's not very good depiction of Russian language and culture but it's cute . . . am I right ?
(P.S. I'm not Russian nor Japanese. I do live in Japan tho)

In short, yes, but with positive nuances.
Sep 12, 3:40 PM
Original Denjin

Offline
Nov 2008
280
DragyG said:
I'm Belgian

I speak French and the bare Russian I know is

привет
помогите
не падайте духом
милашка
меня зовут
спасибо
Я боюсь медуз

And that's all thanks to Roshidere either by teaching me that vocabulary years ago or me remembering some words I learned in Russian when I tried to learn it after V3 before getting brutally called back to reality by my lack of free time.

By showing Russian speakers in some other way that the villains in an Holywood movie Roshidere could build a bridge making me interested in Russia and Russian culture (so much that I got deeply interested in USSR and pre-USSR revolution's history to the point I aced my exam about these in history classes in high school)

So I might not be the one you were asking an opinion from but in the end I think all those critics about Sumipe's accent (which is actually intentionally made to sound Japanese) are both pointless and shallow.

Roshidere built an image of half Russian characters doing great things instead of trying to kill thousands of people with a secret weapon like in most US movies. And this is in a top rank anime.

In an age in which global peace is heavely threaten by major conflicts (among which Russia is involved) around the globe and groups of people trying to spread some kind of propagand to make people we don't know, never met and will probably never know or never meet look like living monsters, this is a huge feat that already deserves respect.

I definitely see what you mean about the Hollywood films that depict Russians as the villains of some sort. And that’s one thing that I got from Roshidere, is the fact that he didn’t go down that route, and instead portrayed a few Russians, at least, as normal people, if not admired people. And it made me myself more interested in Russian culture, at least a little bit, despite what’s going on with the conflicts that Russia is involved in as you mentioned.

And not only that, but the fact that an admired person of Russian descent, though she is half Japanese too, also had to deal with her own trials and tribulations just like the rest of us, was also some thing that I really liked too. And yes, for someone who is half Russian, I agree that the accent was a little bit too strong. Though I don’t know any Russian, so I can’t really comment too much about that part of it. All I can say is that the Japanese in general have really poor pronunciation of foreign words of any language, not just Russian.

And the reason why the Japanese probably didn’t even bother to find a native Russian speaker for Alya, was that flashback scene in Vladivostok, when all of the kids and adults obviously spoke Russian. Probably too many Russians to find for a country that doesn’t have a whole lot of foreigners to begin with.
Sep 12, 3:42 PM

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Apr 2020
28
Honestly, I like the show and characters. I find her accent really cute though I do not always understand what she says.
I'm glad to see some details about our culture (proverbs, etc) but when they showed the city and the school it was kinda funny. It is such a Japanese way of studying and working. I can't imagine something like that in Russia. But I don't think this should be deep into our culture 'cause it is school romance first of all. If this show makes people enjoy characters, humor, romance and fanservice that means it's a good show.
Sep 13, 4:29 AM
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Jun 2023
8
I know russian as a native and accent doesn't bother me at all. But I don't like some of the "facts" shown in the anime like drinking tea with jam. Does people drink like this only in russia and this is they tradition? Definitely no. Or have a birthday party. Also it was funny how they showed Vladivostok (or Irkutsk, I don't remember). My mother is from Vladivostok and in local schools they definitely don't give such assignments and people don't communicate with each other in such a way. Are you familiar with the soviet education system at all? I graduated from a typical post-soviet school under such a system. Have you been to a typical post-soviet city and do you know what it looks like? I've lived in one my whole life.
But I didn't expect a proper description of such things in the ANIME, cause from russia there are only rare phrases from Alya, and it could have been any other language, and literally nothing has changed.
Sep 13, 9:31 AM
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Feb 2012
6
I'm not Russian, but there's an anime from this season (the cheerleader girls) that has a character from my country and even though the voice actress is half-Brazilian, she still speaks strange Portuguese and I'm okay with that. Because I know they didn't create the character to please Brazilians and I was happy just because the character exists. Same thing for Roshidere, the anime's staff is not obligated to hire a native to dub Alya, because in the end it doesn't really matter. Because Roshidere wasn't created to please native Russians, but for Japanese people watching the episode to believe that Alya said something in Russian as part of the joke.
Sep 18, 4:22 AM
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Jun 2023
8
Just finished watching episode 11, they presented borscht as a russian dish. This is unforvivable and awful.
Sep 19, 9:23 AM
Original Denjin

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Nov 2008
280
Reply to AoiHana_15
Honestly, I like the show and characters. I find her accent really cute though I do not always understand what she says.
I'm glad to see some details about our culture (proverbs, etc) but when they showed the city and the school it was kinda funny. It is such a Japanese way of studying and working. I can't imagine something like that in Russia. But I don't think this should be deep into our culture 'cause it is school romance first of all. If this show makes people enjoy characters, humor, romance and fanservice that means it's a good show.
@AoiHana_15 So I read the Vladivostok scene in the LN, and came across this part:
The topic for Alisa’s group was local jobs. They had interviewed local shops and family businesses and learned about their lines of work. It was the sort of innocent, simple project typically done in elementary schools.

So what you're saying is that Russian school kids don't have these types of assignments? Or is it that Alisa's work ethic as a school kid is too Japanese? Because with the latter, they're clearly trying to say that Alisa is very unusually hardworking. I mean, why do you think she got the #1 spot on a very difficult transfer exam?

But if it's the former, what sort of assignments would they have the kids work on instead? I am curious now.
Sep 19, 9:27 AM
Original Denjin

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Nov 2008
280
@AoiHana_15 Either way, i'm glad that you were able to see past that stuff and recognize the show for what it's supposed to be, rather than being sour and nitpicking every little detail like so many people do nowadays. Seriously, thank you.
Sep 19, 12:08 PM
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Aug 2022
6
Russian here. If we talk about authenticity, it's not researched at all.

Like, yes, we have patronyms. But that's something that only gets used by adult people in formal settings. You would address your coworkers by name+patronym or you would be addressed that way by a governmental clerk. But using that stuff outside of that? Highly quirky. Your average russian won't even know the patronyms of most of his casual buddies. I could see mb Masha using that, but definitely not Alya.

Her blushing about calling Kuze-kun by his name? Impossible. She spent most of her life in Russia (11 out of 16 years, or so) so it would actually be insane for her to address her classmates by surname. Or she constantly introduces herself as "Kujo Alisa" without slipping even once whereas the "proper" order for a russian person would be Name > Surname.

The tea & jam scene - iffy. They have russian father (it's also mega-weird that they don't have russian surname then, kids not getting their father's family is almost unheard of; mb if their family wanted to migrate that hard) and it's usually the mother that is in charge of making homemade "варенье" (varen'ye). Not to mention that this is more of a soviet & 90's things and most modern families don't really bother.

The borscht - ridiculous. Imagine if a member of one other certain race came bearing the gifts of fried chicken & watermelon. First, is proper beet even easily available in Japan? Second, that's definitely not a sick food and she'd just made a light chicken soup.

Kuze gramps watching russian movies - it's nitpicking but those would be soviet movies. Post-soviet movies are either utter trash or something (like Brother or DMB) you wouldn't be watching with young grandson. Calling Alisa from Vladik easter european is also seriously stretching it.

School assignment scene was also weird and out of place.
Sep 19, 12:10 PM

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Jan 2020
1865
Reply to NerdCommando
Russian here. If we talk about authenticity, it's not researched at all.

Like, yes, we have patronyms. But that's something that only gets used by adult people in formal settings. You would address your coworkers by name+patronym or you would be addressed that way by a governmental clerk. But using that stuff outside of that? Highly quirky. Your average russian won't even know the patronyms of most of his casual buddies. I could see mb Masha using that, but definitely not Alya.

Her blushing about calling Kuze-kun by his name? Impossible. She spent most of her life in Russia (11 out of 16 years, or so) so it would actually be insane for her to address her classmates by surname. Or she constantly introduces herself as "Kujo Alisa" without slipping even once whereas the "proper" order for a russian person would be Name > Surname.

The tea & jam scene - iffy. They have russian father (it's also mega-weird that they don't have russian surname then, kids not getting their father's family is almost unheard of; mb if their family wanted to migrate that hard) and it's usually the mother that is in charge of making homemade "варенье" (varen'ye). Not to mention that this is more of a soviet & 90's things and most modern families don't really bother.

The borscht - ridiculous. Imagine if a member of one other certain race came bearing the gifts of fried chicken & watermelon. First, is proper beet even easily available in Japan? Second, that's definitely not a sick food and she'd just made a light chicken soup.

Kuze gramps watching russian movies - it's nitpicking but those would be soviet movies. Post-soviet movies are either utter trash or something (like Brother or DMB) you wouldn't be watching with young grandson. Calling Alisa from Vladik easter european is also seriously stretching it.

School assignment scene was also weird and out of place.
@NerdCommando How about Alya's Russian during her speech in the finale?
“𝖨𝖿 𝗅𝗂𝖿𝖾 𝗐𝖾𝗋𝖾 𝗉𝗋𝖾𝖽𝗂𝖼𝗍𝖺𝖻𝗅𝖾, 𝗂𝗍 𝗐𝗈𝗎𝗅𝖽 𝖼𝖾𝖺𝗌𝖾 𝗍𝗈 𝖻𝖾 𝗅𝗂𝖿𝖾 𝖺𝗇𝖽 𝖻𝖾 𝗐𝗂𝗍𝗁𝗈𝗎𝗍 𝖿𝗅𝖺𝗏𝗈𝗋.” – 𝖤𝗅𝖾𝖺𝗇𝗈𝗋 𝖱𝗈𝗈𝗌𝖾𝗏𝖾𝗅𝗍
Sep 19, 12:16 PM
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Reply to aurora_yuuki
@NerdCommando How about Alya's Russian during her speech in the finale?
@aurora_yuuki I mentally blocked her russian through the series as my suspension of disbelief is not big enough to accept that.
Sep 19, 3:36 PM

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Apr 2020
28
Cosplay_Joe said:
@AoiHana_15 So I read the Vladivostok scene in the LN, and came across this part:
The topic for Alisa’s group was local jobs. They had interviewed local shops and family businesses and learned about their lines of work. It was the sort of innocent, simple project typically done in elementary schools.

So what you're saying is that Russian school kids don't have these types of assignments? Or is it that Alisa's work ethic as a school kid is too Japanese? Because with the latter, they're clearly trying to say that Alisa is very unusually hardworking. I mean, why do you think she got the #1 spot on a very difficult transfer exam?

But if it's the former, what sort of assignments would they have the kids work on instead? I am curious now.

Alya is a really hardworking girl and I remember how hard it was for children like her because of their responsibility to study.I'm not arguing with that. I'm talking about the type of task. In our country, we usually just write an essay about our parents' job or a dream job. Firstly, it is very difficult to realize this in cities. It's easier to lie in class than to distract someone from work. And secondly, as far as I know, in Japan, children from elementary school often go to school themselves, even if it is not close. In Russia, it's still far from leaving children alone at that age. This task will eventually fall on the shoulders of the parents, so it makes no sense. The situation would have changed if it had been about some village, and not Vladivostok.
Sep 19, 4:17 PM
Original Denjin

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Nov 2008
280
Reply to AoiHana_15
Cosplay_Joe said:
@AoiHana_15 So I read the Vladivostok scene in the LN, and came across this part:
The topic for Alisa’s group was local jobs. They had interviewed local shops and family businesses and learned about their lines of work. It was the sort of innocent, simple project typically done in elementary schools.

So what you're saying is that Russian school kids don't have these types of assignments? Or is it that Alisa's work ethic as a school kid is too Japanese? Because with the latter, they're clearly trying to say that Alisa is very unusually hardworking. I mean, why do you think she got the #1 spot on a very difficult transfer exam?

But if it's the former, what sort of assignments would they have the kids work on instead? I am curious now.

Alya is a really hardworking girl and I remember how hard it was for children like her because of their responsibility to study.I'm not arguing with that. I'm talking about the type of task. In our country, we usually just write an essay about our parents' job or a dream job. Firstly, it is very difficult to realize this in cities. It's easier to lie in class than to distract someone from work. And secondly, as far as I know, in Japan, children from elementary school often go to school themselves, even if it is not close. In Russia, it's still far from leaving children alone at that age. This task will eventually fall on the shoulders of the parents, so it makes no sense. The situation would have changed if it had been about some village, and not Vladivostok.
@AoiHana_15 Ok, so it was the task itself, just as I thought. And you and @NerdCommando clearly showed that there was a lot of stuff they got wrong with the Russian/backstory parts. That's a shame considering that was the main draw for me for this series.
Sep 19, 8:25 PM
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Sep 2024
2
The Russian language and culture are needed here only as exotics to attract attention. Ali's accent is like that of a 2-3 year old child. sometimes it's extremely cute, sometimes it's not clear what she's saying at all. the character and behavior of the characters are absolutely Japanese. It's like watching a play where the Japanese try to portray some kind of parody of the Russians 5 percent of the time. and the other 95 percent of the time is a regular Japanese anime comedy. even what they depicted is relatively plausibly outdated by 30-40 years. even my mother has already stopped making jam and switched to the purchased one. despite the fact that she was born in a Soviet village in the 60s. sometimes you are touched by how they try to portray Russians in anime, and sometimes you catch a wild facepalm. on the other hand, the creators did not need to depict the real Russian culture. because in fact, all these dolls and stuff are either toys for tourists or have long been outdated. if you watch a YouTube video about traveling in Russia, you will understand that Russia is an ordinary modern country. globalization. and only in Cyrillic you will be able to understand what is in Russia.
Sep 21, 6:26 AM

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Mar 2024
336
russian girls are cute, wish they were real
Sep 22, 7:15 AM
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Jan 2021
5
Reply to NerdCommando
Russian here. If we talk about authenticity, it's not researched at all.

Like, yes, we have patronyms. But that's something that only gets used by adult people in formal settings. You would address your coworkers by name+patronym or you would be addressed that way by a governmental clerk. But using that stuff outside of that? Highly quirky. Your average russian won't even know the patronyms of most of his casual buddies. I could see mb Masha using that, but definitely not Alya.

Her blushing about calling Kuze-kun by his name? Impossible. She spent most of her life in Russia (11 out of 16 years, or so) so it would actually be insane for her to address her classmates by surname. Or she constantly introduces herself as "Kujo Alisa" without slipping even once whereas the "proper" order for a russian person would be Name > Surname.

The tea & jam scene - iffy. They have russian father (it's also mega-weird that they don't have russian surname then, kids not getting their father's family is almost unheard of; mb if their family wanted to migrate that hard) and it's usually the mother that is in charge of making homemade "варенье" (varen'ye). Not to mention that this is more of a soviet & 90's things and most modern families don't really bother.

The borscht - ridiculous. Imagine if a member of one other certain race came bearing the gifts of fried chicken & watermelon. First, is proper beet even easily available in Japan? Second, that's definitely not a sick food and she'd just made a light chicken soup.

Kuze gramps watching russian movies - it's nitpicking but those would be soviet movies. Post-soviet movies are either utter trash or something (like Brother or DMB) you wouldn't be watching with young grandson. Calling Alisa from Vladik easter european is also seriously stretching it.

School assignment scene was also weird and out of place.
@NerdCommando
Russian here. If we talk about authenticity, it's not researched at all.

Half-Russian, half-Slovenian son of an ethnic Russian mother here. Please cut the series some slack here, the author is Japanese, that he pulled off what he did is already commendable.

Like, yes, we have patronyms. But that's something that only gets used by adult people in formal settings. You would address your coworkers by name+patronym or you would be addressed that way by a governmental clerk. But using that stuff outside of that? Highly quirky. Your average russian won't even know the patronyms of most of his casual buddies. I could see mb Masha using that, but definitely not Alya.

Not really. My grandmother always addressed my grandfather in the form "Surname, Name Patronymic" whenever she was, for example, displeased with him. Sure, classmates wouldn't refer to each other that way but I don't exactly see that occurring in Roshidere.

Her blushing about calling Kuze-kun by his name? Impossible. She spent most of her life in Russia (11 out of 16 years, or so) so it would actually be insane for her to address her classmates by surname.

She most likely spent at least part of her childhood in Japan and one of her parents in Japanese, and even if that wasn't the case, you usually do inform yourself about local customs when you move or even just visit somewhere. Also, do they really refer to their classmates with first name in Russia? We certainly didn't here in Slovenia unless we were particularly close. Perhaps it's different in Russia, I don't know. Even then, she'd know that the custom in Japan is different and what addressing someone by their first name in Japan means. Even I do (thanks, anime!) so I would equally blush when referring to someone in Japan by their first name, especially someone of the opposite sex.

Or she constantly introduces herself as "Kujo Alisa" without slipping even once whereas the "proper" order for a russian person would be Name > Surname.

People can switch. I mean, if Hungarians can switch just fine (they use the eastern name order in Hungarian but the western name order when speaking in, say, English or german), I'm sure so can a half-Russian half-Japanese girl, especially since I'd imagine her parents practicing both languages with her.

The tea & jam scene - iffy. They have russian father (it's also mega-weird that they don't have russian surname then, kids not getting their father's family is almost unheard of; mb if their family wanted to migrate that hard) and it's usually the mother that is in charge of making homemade "варенье" (varen'ye). Not to mention that this is more of a soviet & 90's things and most modern families don't really bother.

The surname is probably due to Japanese legal rules that the name must be written in the Japanese writing system, so just using Kujo was likely less of a hassle than trying to romanize her Russian family name, and it also gives her, when pronounced in Japanese, a pretty standard Japanese-sounding name over all - Kujo Arisa. Makes her able to fit in better as well and everyone in Japan can pronounce her entire name with ease.

As for the tea and jam - tea is very common in Japan, and jam is fairly common as well, as
attests to. Nothing unusual there.

The borscht - ridiculous. Imagine if a member of one other certain race came bearing the gifts of fried chicken & watermelon. First, is proper beet even easily available in Japan? Second, that's definitely not a sick food and she'd just made a light chicken soup.

Excuse me, but shozanakh-?! (That's colloquial/regional Russian for what the heck?!) Borscht is very common, even we eat it every week, if anything I found it awesome to finally see in an anime a food I'm actually familiar with. Much the same, I would be delighted to see a half-Slovenian character bringing some Kranjska sausage or Prekmurska gibanica, a half-Serbian character bringing some pasulj or some ćevapčići in lepinja with ajvar, a half-German character bringing some baumkuchen, or a half-Italian character bringing some pasta or pizza.

As for the chicken soup - eh, Kuze had a mere cold, at least in our household, we eat normally unless we have an infection on the digestive tract. I've definitely eaten borscht with a cold before, multiple times even. Nothing wrong with it, it's in fact healthy.

If anything, I was more bothered by Alya's statement that Borscht takes 4 hours to cook, which I can personally attest to it being wrong. We, in fact, ate it right before I began writing this, and it took about an hour to cook, followed by then a few hours of waiting time because I had just eaten breakfast. And even if it did take 4 hours - give Kuze a snack so he doesn't starve until the main course is ready. She should have brought with her some syrniki, would have bene perfect as the snack.

Kuze gramps watching russian movies - it's nitpicking but those would be soviet movies. Post-soviet movies are either utter trash or something (like Brother or DMB) you wouldn't be watching with young grandson. Calling Alisa from Vladik easter european is also seriously stretching it.

Popular culture fanatics watch even trash. Just see, for example, how much stuff that the Japanese consider trash, is watched by Japanese popular culture fanatics in the West. Or how much some people here in Europe watch some American stuff that the Americans themselves consider trash. Heck, I grew up fiddling with the set-top antenna to try to receive Italian TV channels (I live in the littoral, some 10 km away from the border and have at least one of their transmission sites in clear sight) doing nothing but selling stuff all day just a bit better because they were Italian, so they were cool. :D

People can be weird, nothing wrong with that.

School assignment scene was also weird and out of place.

I actually liked it, as it put Alya's behavior into context.

Also, as for Alya's Russian that I see people complaining about her thick accent - it's not implausible. Even I speak Russian with a thick accent, Slovenian accent in my case, even worse in fact - because Russian and Slovenian are both Slavic languages, I end up with Slovenian influencing my Russian grammar and sentence construction.
Next_PurpleSep 23, 4:31 AM
Sep 22, 7:18 AM
Offline
Jan 2021
5
Reply to Hurhur14
The Russian language and culture are needed here only as exotics to attract attention. Ali's accent is like that of a 2-3 year old child. sometimes it's extremely cute, sometimes it's not clear what she's saying at all. the character and behavior of the characters are absolutely Japanese. It's like watching a play where the Japanese try to portray some kind of parody of the Russians 5 percent of the time. and the other 95 percent of the time is a regular Japanese anime comedy. even what they depicted is relatively plausibly outdated by 30-40 years. even my mother has already stopped making jam and switched to the purchased one. despite the fact that she was born in a Soviet village in the 60s. sometimes you are touched by how they try to portray Russians in anime, and sometimes you catch a wild facepalm. on the other hand, the creators did not need to depict the real Russian culture. because in fact, all these dolls and stuff are either toys for tourists or have long been outdated. if you watch a YouTube video about traveling in Russia, you will understand that Russia is an ordinary modern country. globalization. and only in Cyrillic you will be able to understand what is in Russia.
@Hurhur14 I'm quite sure the dolls were only meant to be Masha's personality trait and not an indicator of Rusianness, after all, dolls exist in Japan as well, and have been a central part of other anime before.

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