REVIEW: ‘Alya Sometimes Hides Her Feelings In Russian’ Season One Subverts Tropey Expectations

Alya Sometimes Hides Her Feelings In Russian is one of the most interesting anime of this season, as it subverts the expectations set by its many counterparts. While the anime may look like a standard Ecchi romance anime, it surprisingly displays a great level of depth, has endearing characters, and a narrative that, while simple, is quite engaging.

Alya Sometimes Hides Her Feelings In Russian follows Alya Kujou, a brilliant, straight-laced, half-Russian student who has neither time nor tolerance for guys or dating. Despite this, 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 dynamics 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, as the series progresses, more interesting characters are introduced, such as Kuze’s enigmatic and peculiar little sister, Yuki Suou, who poses as his childhood friend to others due to their complicated family dynamic. There’s also Ayano Kimishima, who serves as a maid and servant to the two siblings, and Alya’s sister, Mariya Kujou, who has a mysterious link to Kuze.

They all share a link with one another in some way. Throughout the anime, their insecurities are displayed, and their relationships are tested through their ambitions. Despite being a loafer who goes through the motions in everything, Kuze proves himself to be a capable classmate and strategist by solving several issues and disputes in his high school.

After constant attempts to recruit him, Kuze finally joins the Student Council and decides to help Alya with her campaign and goal of becoming the next Council President while serving as her Vice President. This pits both leads against Yuki and Ayano, who are vying for the same positions.

The season sees the two working towards accomplishing these goals, encountering and overcoming the hurdles it comes with, while acknowledging their growing romantic feelings for one another. As the series progresses, viewers are provided answers to many questions established by earlier episodes as we learn more about each character’s past and circumstances, family dynamics and why they are the way they are.

Alya Sometimes Hides Her Feelings in Russian features excellent character writing and a shockingly intricate narrative. While the series began as a typical tropey ecchi romance anime with a gimmicky structure, it quickly evolved into a fantastic drama series. It relies less on tropey gimmicks and ecchi scenes and more on its endearing characters and the realistic scenarios and genuine emotions they go through. While it’s hard to take stakes like a student council election seriously, it’s hard not to stay engaged while watching the characters encounter and overcome their struggles and the bond and romance that form between the leads.

The first season did a good job of balancing romance and slice-of-life elements. It presents several small mysteries about the characters and slowly reveals them in the best moments. While some mysteries and revelations are still pending, they make an excellent excuse to check out the anime’s recently announced second season, which will hopefully wrap up these narrative details successfully.

Production-wise, the first season of Alya Sometimes Hides Her Feelings in Russian maintains its excellence from start to finish. 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. The fantastic visuals are especially noticeable in the season’s first half, displayed through the characters and their many goofy antics.

Additional effort was also put into each episode’s ending. All are captivating and significantly different from the last, and each has unique songs. Each ending has a unique aesthetic centered around the main characters and matches the episode’s tone quite well.

Overall, the first season of Alya Sometimes Hides Her Feelings In Russian is an excellent romance anime with great depth. It succeeds at engaging viewers with the interactions between the endearing characters, making it one of the best romance slice-of-life anime of the year so far.

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