Anime Review: Tokidoki Bosotto Russiago de Dereru Tonari no Alya-san

Romantic comedies are the bane of my existence and Tokidoki Bosotto Russiago de Dereru Tonari no Alya-san (Alya-san Sometimes Hides Her Feelings in Russian) had a great premise that is sure to set up some great comedy with a very simple hook. Simplicity is oftentimes the best way to go; however, did Alya-san succeed in a way where it kept things entertaining?

Let’s go!

The Story

Alya is a transfer student who is the daughter of a Russian and, therefore, she can speak Russian. She gets asked out by the best-looking boy in school; however, she thoroughly shoots him down without hesitation! The reason for this is that she already has her heart set on someone – her classmate Kuze. Alya loves to tease Kuze and sometimes she will talk down to him; however, she will sometimes speak Russian where she will openly confess her true feelings and thoughts for him. There’s only one little problem… Kuze knows how to speak Russian and can perfectly understand her; however, she doesn’t know this!

From here, this becomes the running gag of the series as the plot shifts with Kuze being tempted and eventually joining the student council. Of course, the lineup can’t stay the same forever so the show focuses on the student council president election. Here, Kuze and Alya team up; however, Suou might have something say about it!

Just to note, there was a second season announced for this show so if the above story synopsis seems unresolved, that’s because it is. Those coming into this show looking for a conclusion to the story won’t get one but just relax and know that there is more of this coming!

The Characters

To start, we have Masachika Kuze. Outside of knowing how to speak Russian and can understand Alya perfectly, he’s kind of a mixed bag. On the one hand, he can be very supportive, kind, considerate, and the type of person who will lend a helping hand whenever you need it. On the other hand, he can be brash, perverted, sarcastic, and sometimes just a jerk but in a playful way. The one thing that I like about Kuze is that his “evil” side isn’t overblown in a way where it makes him unbearable. Instead, it adds to his character and balances him out but, mostly, it makes him interesting and not just another stale male high school main character with the personality of drying paint. His character is akin to adding the right amount of spice to a dish. You take a bite and don’t notice it’s there at first but there it is in the background, reminding you that what you’re eating isn’t as dull as you once thought. I think that sums up Kuze perfectly… just the right amount of spice.

Alisa “Alya” Mikhailovna on the other hand, is the complete opposite. She’s very brash and is often either teasing Kuze or just being a generic-level tsundere towards him; however, she confesses her feelings to him in Russian which adds that background sweetness that balances out her character. Since I’m on a food theme here, Alya is like making a dish that has a lot of acid in it… vinegar, lemon, etc. There are two ways to cut acid… the first is to add fat but since Alya is very much in shape, let’s not call her fat. The other way to cut acid is to add sweetness and I think her little outbursts in Russian is the right amount of sweetness she needs.

Next up, we have Yuki Suou who is Kuze’s little sister… with a different last name. Well, divorces sometimes happen, you know? Suou is… well.. quite a handful. Outgoing is one way to describe her… shameless would be another. Suou comes off in such a way that if there was an opportunity, she would go full Domestic Girlfriend on Kuze except it wouldn’t be a step-sibling love. We’re talking full-on matching genetics here. Despite that, there is something about Suou that doesn’t add up and we get a big chunk of that information during the lead-up to the student council president election which Suou has to win due to some of those certain circumstances! She’s fun as a character, although, I did find her a little annoying at first but as the show went on, she grew on you, especially when quite a few things about her were explained. Also, her maid Ayano.. man does she get to provide service and get serviced… watch the show to find out what I mean by that.

We do have some other characters such as Alya’s older sister Mariya who, well, has an interesting backstory to say the least, as well as Alya and Kuze’s first major challenge on their road to presidency in the form of Taniyama and her long-time friend Miyamae. I’ll let you discover those on your own as their involvement plays a bit on the spoilery side of things.

Art, Animation, and Sound

I can’t really say that anything truly stands out in this show. Since Alya is the big main attraction, her character design stands out the most with her white hair, icy blue eyes which are always perfectly rounded, and, of course, her outbursts in Russian. Outside of that, everyone else on the cast looks like your run-of-the-mill teenage high schooler. Even with the generic designs, they do differ enough from each other to pick each one out of a crowd so at least they have that going for them.

The animation is about what you would expect from a slice-of-life series. It takes place in a school setting so there are only so many ways you can draw a school background.

The soundtrack is also very much what you would expect from a slice-of-life… just there to fill the ambiance and background noise. Sure, the music will change its tone to match the scene but there wasn’t anything memorable about the soundtrack at all. I’d at least like to praise the OP theme but I can’t since it’s not the style of music that resonates with me but I’m sure those who are fans of the typical generic J-Pop sound will find it catchy.

Overall Thoughts

When I did my First Reaction, I gave this a YES but I did warn that this was the type of show that could make a running joke go stale and, unfortunately, that’s what happened here. It was really cute in the beginning with Alya speaking Russian and Kuze keeping the secret that he knew everything that she was saying, though but after a few episodes, the novelty wore off… and so did the interesting plot points for this show.

The had this big build-up of Kuze possibly joining the student council, then he does it, then we get some tension when he’s asked about running which sets up some nice backstory and character development, and then he agrees and it’s right into setting up for the election. We get the Student Congress episode and then… the show just falls off of a cliff with content that could only be seen as filler. Like, we’re getting to the end of the season and the show seemed more interested in belated birthdays, and attempting to go full rom-com rather than carry on the plot… and when it does pick the plot back up, the season is practically over and it doesn’t even get concluded. There isn’t even any dramatic cliffhanger like “and the winner of the election is…”

As I stated above, yes a second season is on the way but the show didn’t do anything to make me want to watch it. The momentum crashed and came to a halt and when it tried to get back up and running, it felt like it stumbled and fell. I don’t know if it’s an issue with knowing that a second season was coming and they figured the pacing could be thrown off because people will pick it back up, or if they couldn’t decide where to end the first season and just shrugged and cranked the show out just to get it done.

Either way, with the stale filler episodes near the end, and a running joke that overstayed its welcome, I didn’t end up enjoying this show as much as I thought I would have. I thought that the joke would end halfway through, Kuze would slip up and Alya would realize it… or maybe he would confess his feelings for her in Russian to shock her… and we would live happily ever after but instead, we took a show with great promise by way of a unique hook and smashed it down until it become just another run-of-the-mill high school rom-com.

Honestly? I’m kind of disappointed. But hey, if you like generic rom-com, go for it. This one does have a unique hook but as long as you curb your expectations just a little (not entirely), you’ll find more enjoyment in this show than I did… probably.