Regardless what reason you may have before decided to jump into the bandwagon, Roshidere certain offers all of these premises to promise the audience with their potentials. However, such a hype then falls short, despite quite an engaging and stereotypes-breaking opening (both music and episode) when it was on-air for the first time a few months ago, there certainly was a feeling that yes, it could have been more or, rather that, such a lingering expectation then let go the realistic aim for this show, which made it losing its momentum of what should have been an absolute cinema, especially for those who read either the Light Novel or manga for such a mega-upcoming hype.
However, this review is never meant to unveil of what has been revealed thus far in another media, along with its intricate details. Ergo, by the virtue of genuine premise that the review I made here is meant to analyze a show using an objective standpoint as a stand-alone, save from the scenes that are cut, modified, or re-structured throughout episodes, let's begin with a brief introduction to this series, shall we?
Tokidoki Bosotto Russiago De Dereru Tonari No Alya-San (Alya Sometimes Hides Her Feelings in Russian), abbreviated as "Roshidere" or also known as "Alya-San" is an anime show that tells about Masachika Kuze, a man who knows someone's feelings in Russian, that has been teased by the fact that a Russian girl, Alisha Mikhailovna Kujou (Alya-san), besides him hiding her feelings in Russian, but later showing her feelings in Japanese, throughout means of ridiculing the main character's density, as in his lack of motivations and willingness to understand her feelings properly. While this appears to be quite simple, please do keep in mind this show wouldn't work at all if the protagonist didn't understand Russian at all - he would simply be known as a lame protagonist with no inherent development. However, the issue here was apparent - not only he had learned Russian properly, thanks to his grandfather's enthusiasm and his brimming motivation to understand his Russian neighbor who was her childhood friend in the past, but also these words... the audacity to say such playful and snarky words poured into her own feelings in Russian, regardless whether it's implied to be understood or not, is something else. Her shamelessness with these Russian words are so audacious that after the opening episode, there were so many audiences who began making a claim this would be the anime of this season ~~which apparently is stolen by yet another LN adaptation anime show whose name needs not to be mentioned but it's about best girls fighting for an NPC~~.
But then, this leads to another question: "How did this happen?"
First of all, let me just call someone...
(Kuze-san, just explain this without goofing around, okay?)
Hello, readers everyone! So, today I'm going to explain why this show has become so terrible compared to other shows but, first of all, I would like to deeply apologize for not living up to the expectation you people have. However, this was expected because not only Alya herself needs a support from the beginning, but also these other characters need to be nerfed- I mean, have its important reduced along with my imouto Yuki.
(Oh my, Kuze-kun. That's how brave of you.)
Eh...
(Cynical-san, how did you invite her out of nowhere?!)
(Well, for the sake of audacity, given the compelling fans service and necessary rating demands-)
(Cynical-san, can you be less formal and not beating around the bush? You sound older than my grandpa)
(I mean, let's just say she wants to join because you are here.)
Anyway, this narration is a mess. I will give it to Suou-san. Your time is up, Kuze-san.
Hai hai~ Hello, everyone. So, as you see, Kuze-kun Onii-chan explained it very well - I single-carried the show. Why? Because I'm your beloved best girl and therefore will always save this show from falling even lower than its expectation. However, such a method then gives an impression that this show means nothing without me as the main supporter and somewhat is deviated from its actual meaning to give Alya the importance, as in the spotlight, she always needs or demands. While these issues have been somewhat sorted, the introduction of other characters, along with their given screentime, becomes troublesome for Alya as well. Yare yare~ what an unfortunate timing for her, not only her importance was reduced, but the fact that the major audience who preferred to watch the other characters such as me, Maria-san, Nonoa, and my servant Ayano simply added more headache for the show to develop itself.
▶ Video"Oh my, just look at her back then! She was so adorable." - Yuki Suou
However, the show began to develop once it entered the crucial arc, which is the student election, where I tried my best as a villainess to become the darkness that shrouded around her insecurity to develop her bright character as a whole MWUAHAHA~ Alright, that's all.
▶ Video Yep, this scene was the beginning when such a change mentioned.(Sigh Okay, that was too edgy of both of you, which is as expected.)
Thank you for the brief explanation, Kuze siblings.
Now, please go back and keep everything to your own kitchen.
Back to the review.
Alright, that's all. I mean, I almost forgot to address the oher crucial sections. So, as they both aready explanation the characterization of flaws in the show here, I will begin to criticize another crucial point, which is the characters. To be fair, while I enjoyed the fact that the interaction between both characters fleshed out, the anime seemed to fail in giving flaws for each character, much to be said for both Kuze and Alya, as there were supposed to be some scenes (not going to reveal those) whereas these meant to expose their genuine insecurity over certain aspects. And these side characters, that were implied to be the background, somehow captivated more than the others - remember how many episodes you would wait for Yuki or how excited you were for Nonoa's first appearance? That was it. Also, all of these side characters were given crucial importance for the show, which is good, but it appears to dismiss the character development as the coming of age story by its plot alone, given that both Kuze and Alya were actually characterized by trauma that is much deeper than the one portrayed in the anime. However, this by no means belittles their overall characterization of the show - it at least has some worth watching fans service scenes, which are not only enjoyable but also absolute top-notch in terms of using it as the comedic purpose, not to mention the political background as one of premises offered throughout the remainder of penultimate episodes, which gave a lot more realism and intriguing perspective when it comes to the dark side of senior high school's dirty tricks involvement, a war between the light and dark.
However, credit where its due, the external aspects were great. The opening and ending themes, the visual animation, the background themes, and artstyle simply add more flavours to the story and also the plot on itself, despite their flaws of, well, not being able to give compelling flaws for the characters, it at least has a few, if not some, up moments that are enjoyable at best.
Now, back to the first question: Why would you watch this show? If you watch it due to any of those aforementioned answers, maybe you have known what to expect. However, given that not many people have been following the other media and simply becoming the anime spectators, I must say this is nowhere near an ordinary romcom, but Alya as the rom (with a bit of com) and Yuki as the com (with a bit of rom due to her infatuation towards her brother). Alright, that's all and enjoy these fans services below:
▶ Video ▶ Video ▶ Video ▶ Video25 out of 41 users liked this review
