Alya Sometimes Hides Her Feelings in Russian

## Season 1

### Soundtrack

I didn't think an anime like this would get openings and ending songs this good. It's got an S tier opening song and animation. It's one of my favorites, definitely. The animation is upbeat, flashy, and beautiful. The song is exciting, fast, and has a fantastic drop.

How does an anime like this, or even any anime at all even get so many ending songs? The songs are really good (even if they're covers), and the animations even reference the current episode, too. It's not fair to other animes. Okay, that's enough. The songs themselves are "good", but not really S tier stuff. Nevertheless, each and every ending sequence is unskippable for me.

### Thoughts

I first thought that this anime would be really simple, like Pseudo Harem level simple. Then, the first four episodes showed me otherwise. The first four episodes showed simple relationships between characters, like childhood friend, friend from school, sibling, etc. After that, the show gradually increased the complexity by adding these weird (but interesting) dynamics, like with Masachika's sister and Alya's sister. I think that these dynamics are what really drive the show going, along with the super interesting backstories and personalities every single character have. It's not really slice of life, it's more of a heightened reality highschool type beat, if that makes sense.

I loved how Alya kept flirting in Russian, thinking that Masachika wouldn't understand. To me, it's the best dynamic and probably one of the most creative ones I've seen so far. It's left with a bit of ambiguity, though. It's not clear to me whether Alya is truly conscious of what she's saying, or it's just her playing around. But that is actually a strong point. It really keeps you on your toes.

The story has an overarching narrative, similar to something like Kaguya-sama: Love Is War. Of course the main narrative is about Alya and Masachika. But there's also the side plot about Alya's arc of growing as a person and trying to win the student council presidency. Other than that, there's also a very important arc between Masachika and his sister, regarding their parents' divorce. It's all very interesting and complex, yet when you boil it down scene by scene, you never really get overwhelmed by all the details. That's due to the excellent pacing of the show, which I really appreciate.

Lastly, I'd like to mention how ecchi this anime is. It's one of the only reasons the anime isn't a 10/10. I think it's during the first episode that we already see a panty shot and a feet + hips shot. I don't mind the occasional risky shot, but there's a lot more than you expect. I also thought that this was going to be a harem genre anime at the start; it genuinely felt that way. Thankfully, Masachika's relationships with the other characters grew into more natural ones. That would be true, if his relationship with his sister is excluded. It's a bit weird.

I forgot to mention how cute the chibis in the opening and ending are. Amazing!!!!!!!!!!!

Overall, I would recommend this anime to anyone who's watched an anime before. It's not really something you'd appreciate past the fan service as a first-time anime watcher, so I wouldn't recommend it to that group. It's a fun and cute anime, but sometimes it's really over the top. That's all.