Alya Sometimes Hides Her Feelings in Russian

Episode 5

I must dig deep to find something interesting to say about this episode because this almost felt like filler. We need downtime to find our bearings after something big and dramatic happens. Sometimes, you have to tease and entice the audience to keep them entertained. However, my definition of "tease and entice" isn't having Yuki blatantly look at the camera and explain how she will keep leaning into all this incestuously charged banter with her brother. It was funny for a little bit with how brazen it was, and I like the fact that the show makes it clear that it's pretty much all banter, but it goes on for so damn long! I was already starting to get bored a few minutes in, and the episode didn't do a good enough job of pulling me back in by the end.

We have some cute moments between Alya and Kuze with some drops of foreshadowing but that's just it, all we get are drops! I think I almost fell asleep by the end of the episode, and I want to make this clear because while I could break down the interesting stuff that was being hinted at, I don't want to make this episode sound more interesting than it was. You could cut this episode in half and virtually get the same amount of content out of it.

I like that we got at least some insight into Kuze's mentality regarding the confession last week. He's in denial about it, but he doesn't seem ignorant. Personal issues make it hard for him to accept that she has a thing for him. I liked that he knew her so well that he accurately broke down what her mental state would be after the confession. We got a smidge more information regarding Kuze's previous family situation, with his parents having an unsatisfying relationship that probably led to the divorce. Kuze even explicitly expresses guilt about leaving his sister behind after the divorce. I'm not sure what their current family situation is. It doesn't look like Yuki blames him for anything. If anything, it feels like she's trying extra hard to ensure no bad blood is between them. She even more or less makes it clear that she keeps coming over to his place because it's one of the only times she can just cut loose and not need to put on appearances.

It gets a bit hard for me to empathize with Kuze's guilt when it doesn't seem like what Yuki went through is directly impacting the present. He's guilty that he left her behind, and the family is forcing responsibilities onto her, but we don't see what she needs to deal with. The audience doesn't sense that she hates her current life, and there's a good chance that a lot of Kuze's guilt is self-inflicted. I hope the show doesn't keep hinting without exploring this development because this is the more interesting aspect of the show than the upcoming student council president race.

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