Alya Sometimes Hides Her Feelings in Russian

Episode 10

The weakest element in this show is probably the romance. This isn't because I don't want the two main leads to end up together; I think their chemistry is quite strong. Rather, the show doesn't know where to fit the romantic development. It also doesn't help that Alya's infatuation with Kuze has led to some of her worst moments in the show. So suffice it to say I found this episode quite pleasant despite it feeling like window dressing and setup for more things to come.

I do have to address the big elephant in the room: the show is glossing over last week's hypnotism shenanigans. Ignoring that the hypnotism gag worked in a relatively grounded show with a lot of meta-humor, I am shocked that Alya didn't bring it up at all or that it wasn't at least talked about around her. Her sister was more embarrassed and concerned about the situation than Alya. I could sooner see Maria not caring much because of her personality. How it was handled makes me hate its inclusion in the previous episode even more.

The date had a delightful setup and humor. I like it when two characters are just one or two steps away from being a couple and are the only ones unwilling to admit it. It's nice to see Kuze put a lot of thought into the date and have his more confident exterior knocked down a few pegs, since Alya seems to be one of the only characters he genuinely gets flustered around. It was also nice to see Alya be a bit more forward about how much she enjoys the situation without hiding behind Russian. The date even serves as a good catalyst to follow up on the fallout of the debate from the last episode. I'm curious to know what that will be. Still, this served as a solid transition away from that plot point.

However, what gripped me was the final five minutes of this episode. We are finally starting to get more context on the living situation of our favorite siblings. I'm curious where Kuze's dad is in this situation and why the grandfather seems to be taking point with the parent-teacher conferences. It's nice to see that explosive wackiness runs in the family. I'm glad the show made me laugh without strictly relying on Yuki's meta-antics. The biggest question mark will be figuring out the situation between Kuze and his mom. We could guess from last week that the mom doesn't really like the current situation and genuinely seems to worry about her kids staying close despite the separation. But her disposition at the end of this episode felt different. Either way, Kuze's anger is justified. It makes me wonder how exactly he's going to address the situation. The theme of this entire episode was Kuze letting his guard down a lot more, and while that can lead to wholesome moments with Alya, it could also lead to unsavory moments with his mother.

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