Alya Sometimes Hides Her Feelings in Russian

Watched on: 15-17 May 2025

Having been released the preceding year, this anime gleams like a rare crystal amidst languishing railroad tracks: a superb amalgamation of romantic comedy and high school drama. With all honesty, it is a delightful mix of humor and sincere moments that took me by surprise with its charm.

Let me try to break it down - from the very first scene, we can see that the heroine Alya often flirts with the hero Masachika in Russian but that she is unaware of the fact that Masachika understands the Russian language perfectly well. The whole fun begins with Alya dropping casual romantic or emotional lines in Russian, and while she thinks that Masachika is unaware, he actually understands every single word.

Many times we viewers can pretty much guess what Alya is saying from her expressions. And yes - I, myself, would pause the episode and Google for the translations for words such as:

"Milashka," "Ya tee-BYA lyu-BLYU," "ty ta-kóy mí-lyy, glúpiy, moy mál-chik, slát-kiy" - and many more. Honestly, I feel so Milashka (cute) hearing these lines that I can't even describe it with words.

Masachika understood every one of those but never let Alya know that he did. That sort of secret romance and unspoken tension made this show downright enjoyable for me.

Besides their romance, the anime also covers various school activities and gently touches upon the intrigues of student politics, so not to say that Alya and Masachika are the only things going on.

In short - if you're into rom-coms, school dramas, or slice-of-life anime, then this is the one to give a try. No anime is perfect;

I'm used to the rom-com genre, and this one has a good start, but slowly falls off over the last 4 episodes

Putting aside some unnecessary fan service and the fact that they flirt with incest, the male protagonist starts acting very mature for his age and neutral towards a certain female, but in the end you see the opposite, so it seemed to me that they forced the usual unexpected romance to extend the anime for at least one more season (which is supported by the fact they avoided to touch the background of certain characters and instead focused on a random debate)

I'll watch the second season for the sake of closure, and I hope they don't take the typical direction (but probably they will if most of the fan base wants that in order to please them)

(16+) A very funny series with a cast of likeable characters, some of them quite quirky. The animation is gorgeous, and the story is fast paced with a few little surprises thrown in for spice. One of the supporting characters is actually my favorite (Yuki) because some of her actions are quite unexpected. Some of her actions are a little risqué, but it's her overall quirkiness that is really endearing. This series pokes fun at itself and anime/manga in general, and it really works!

Check out my comprehensive list of Anime titles to find your next watch - just click my profile link at the bottom left of this review!

No, this show is not as good for me to call it a miracle. It's a very nice romantic comedy with drama and anything that you'd expect from a typical coming of age anime.

What really flashed me here was the Russian language. You see, I grew up with either Russian movies or American movies where Russian is totally butchered and made fun of. Also, I know that the Japanese like other languages like English or German, but due to their very specific use of the Japanese language, they rarely pronounce anything correctly.

Imagine my surprise and joy when I heard real Russian in this anime! Sure, it's with a heavy accent and the main characters have a better pronunciation than the side characters, but still. There were longer parts where I did not even need to read the subtitles and I understood everything. Kudos to the voice actors!

It was worth it to hire a Belorussian teacher of the Russian language as an advisor. Everyone has done a great job and I am looking forward to the second season.

Another interesting series from the summer of 2024.

A promising first episode with all the ingredients for success, a hilarious second episode and then the cold shower !

Episode 5 starts to show signs of running out of breath, already visible in episode 4.

The characters' development starts to slow down, and the personalities and feelings of the protagonists lack exploration.

The synopsis suggests something different : People expect more rejection from people perceived as superior. We need to go deeper instead of just scratching the surface.

The initial idea of a misunderstanding with language goes nowhere.

The ''twists and turns'' are abysmally flat.

There's potential in the male character, particularly with his memories... However, there are a few banalities and stereotypes: The guy is a larva, as is often the case. The girl is a potential tsundere... I hope this will change.

The animation is fluid and some of the shots are pleasing.

The second part will tip the series over to the right or wrong side of the road.