We share our impressions of the buzzed-about title and explain why 'Alya Sometimes Hides Her Feelings in Russian' is nothing more than fan service.

'Alya Sometimes Hides Her Feelings in Russian' is the main romantic anime of this year. Despite its simple plot, the title has received high ratings and praise from Russian viewers. Why? Everything falls into place when you learn that the main heroine is a Russian girl. 

The story centers on a classic tale of two high school students. Alya was born into a Russian-Japanese family, so she is fluent in both languages. At school, she is popular, but due to her cold demeanor, she pays no attention to it. The only person who can evoke genuine emotions in Alya is Masachika.

Roman Kovalev

What Romantic Movies Teach Us

Have you ever thought about how much benefit romantic movies hold?

Open material

The girl is not shy about expressing her thoughts and feelings directly, but only in Russian. To his face, she just laughs at the guy and makes ironic remarks. But there is a small catch—Masachika perfectly understands what Alya is saying. 

Let's start with the fact that 'Alya Sometimes Hides Her Feelings in Russian' does not have a unique plot. The synopsis may interest and attract a Russian-speaking audience, but only because of the main heroine's origin and phrases in Russian. Otherwise, it is a standard slice-of-life title where the only driving force of the plot is participation in the student council. 

The characters fall in love with each other as early as the first episode, but the creators deliberately drag out the moment of confessing feelings. Watching what happens is simply uninteresting; the anime lacks a complex romantic line where the characters face problems or emotional struggles. 

The entire romantic arc is built simply: Alya and Masachika slowly but surely move toward a relationship, hindered only by their own assumptions and fear. The characters openly show their feelings for each other, making it comical to watch Masachika genuinely wonder what the girl's Russian phrases might mean. He understands everything she says perfectly, so why he doesn't make the first move is a mystery. 

One of the few plot mysteries of the series could have been an excellent narrative device if it weren't so straightforward. Masachika understands Russian because he often played with a Russian girl as a child. He wanted to communicate with her so much that he learned the language. The character often mentally returns to that girl, whose name he doesn't remember. Any viewer will immediately guess that Masachika played with Alya as a child—it's too obvious—but for the characters in 'Alya Sometimes Hides Her Feelings in Russian,' it remains a mystery. 

The anime lacks complex and interesting emotional torments of the characters. Everything is rather blunt and direct; watching what happens is uninteresting, and the series does not attempt to address problems—any serious emotional experiences of the characters are absent. 

It's no surprise that the title has attracted a lot of attention from Russian viewers. The main gimmick of the series is a Russian-speaking anime girl. This approach could have been something interesting, but if you assign Alya any nationality, her behavior and thoughts would not change. Alya is an ordinary Japanese schoolgirl. 

The main heroine does not reflect her nationality in any way. Undoubtedly, the voice actress who voiced Alya did a good job. It's common for Russian in Asian projects to be incomprehensible without subtitles, but here everything is perfectly understandable. However, speaking another language is not enough to give the heroine character. 

In addition to Alya's nationality, the series contains a lot of fan service. Suggestive camera angles, lewd jokes, underwear, and much more. Some viewers who came for an interesting story may be put off by such episodes.

Visually, 'Alya Sometimes Hides Her Feelings in Russian' is a beautiful title with detailed art and pleasant color schemes. But it doesn't stand out compared to other anime. Nowadays, every other project is a series with a long title and very appealing visuals. 

One of the positive traits of the anime is Masachika. The hero is not inferior to Alya in character. He is capable of making decisions, standing up for himself, and pursuing his goals and ideals. It's nice that the characters are equal to each other; many rom-coms lack this. 

'Alya Sometimes Hides Her Feelings in Russian' will appeal to fans of slice-of-life and romance, but for a casual viewer, it will be just one of many anime that leave no pleasant aftertaste after watching, but pass by and are soon forgotten.