REVIEW: ‘Alya Sometimes Hides Her Feelings in Russian’ Episode 1 – “Alya Hides Her Feelings in Russian”

Alya Sometimes Hides Her Feelings in Russian is one of this season’s ecchi romance anime from studio Doga Kobo. While it succeeds at charming viewers with its endearing characters and amazing animation, the first episode relies too much on generic tropes and a tired, if not derivative, episode structure.

The first episode effortlessly and casually introduces viewers to its two leads. Alya Kujou is a brilliant, straight-laced, half Russian student who we quickly learn has neither the time nor tolerance for guys or dating. Despite this, we also learn that she has a soft spot for her classmate and second lead character, Kuze Masachika, whom she often teases in humorous ways. But between these jabs and teases, Alya sometimes throws in flirtatious Russian sentences revealing her true feelings for Kuze, thinking he has no idea what she’s saying. Little does she know that due to his past, Kuze is almost fluent in the language and always understands what she’s saying but chooses not to reveal it to avoid embarrassing her.

This structure is pretty much the core of the anime, as it more or less boils down to the two characters teasing each other in many different ways. Alya reveals her inner thoughts out loud in Russian, and Kuze recoils and looks dumbfounded anytime she does, even though she has done this several times. The exchanges and dynamic between the two characters are cute and even funny at times, and it’s clear they both like each other as friends if not more.

However, said dynamic is derivative of several others, as each season has a few anime like this, and this anime is no different, except for the Russian hook. Additionally, their relationship makes no sense once you realize they could easily have a deeper relationship if Kuze admits he already knows Alya’s true feelings for him, and it’s obvious he feels the same, judging by his actions alone in the episode. Not wanting to do this because it will embarrass her is also quite a poor excuse. It’s also fair to say that this dynamic will quickly get stale as the episodes continue unless the narrative surprisingly gets significantly more fleshed out.

This isn’t to say that the anime so far is lacking in depth, as we still learn some interesting details about the duo. Kuze learned Russian as a young child due to his friendship with a Russian girl he wanted to get close to. While we don’t learn much else about his past or Alya’s, there is potential that this will change as the season goes on. Alya Sometimes Hides Her Feelings in Russian Episode 1 also introduces us to Kuze’s friends and schoolmates. One of them, Yuki Suou, is his childhood friend and a potential romantic rival for Alya, as we learn that she sees her as a threat.

Production-wise, Alya Sometimes Hides Her Feelings in Russian sports a great aesthetic. The overall animation, chiefly seen through facial expressions and the characters’ emotes, is fantastic. Each frame is vibrant, and each motion is precise, smooth, and captivating.

As such, it’s no surprise that the anime takes advantage of its superb production by using it in the episode’s one and only fan service scene. This scene mainly appeals to the foot fetish fandom as it shows Kuze helping Alya change her socks in a rather lewd way. The scene comes as a shock as the anime seemed very wholesome until then. And while it is oddly well-animated, it still felt out of place in the episode.

Overall, the first episode of Alya Sometimes Hides Her Feelings in Russian provides an enjoyable viewing experience. While its narrative structure is bland, and it doesn’t exactly reinvent the wheel so far, it’s still an entertaining and inoffensive anime romance fans will enjoy.

Alya Sometimes Hides Her Feelings in Russian is streaming now on Crunchyroll.