Since before its premiere, the anime Tokidoki Bosotto Roshia-Go by Dereru Tonari no Arya-san (Alya Sometimes Hides Her Feelings in Russian) caused controversy due to the work of actress Sumire Uesaka who voices the protagonist of the story Alisa Mikhailovna Kujou, also known as “Alya”. Many people, even those from Russia, commented that the Russian used in the anime was so bad that it could not even be understood. However, a Russian youtuber made a video reacting to the series in which she claims that the language is well used and understandable.
Tokidoki Bosotto Roshia-Go: Russian Youtuber says Sumire Uesaka did a good job with the Russian used in the anime
Youtuber SensIVY recently uploaded a video discussing a “controversial” topic in the recently released anime Tokidoki Bosotto Roshia-Go from Dereru Tonari no Arya-san. And the fact is that, through the shorts that were shared prior to its premiere, there were many complaints regarding the Russian used in the series, commenting that the work of Alya’s voice actress was terrible and you couldn’t even understand what she was saying. That is why this youtuber decided to dedicate a video to this topic and answer some of the most common doubts that anime fans had about this series.
She starts the video saying that actually the Russian in Tokidoki Bosotto Roshia-Go from Dereru Tonari no Arya-san, is well used, of course not at the level of a native speaker, but in terms of grammar, everything is correct. Regarding the pronunciation, she comments that yes a slight accent can be heard, since the seiyuu is of Japanese origin, but that she did a great job in her role, since she considers that playing a role in another language is a complicated task.
He goes on to say that the Russian that the actress of Tokidoki Bosotto Roshia-Go from Dereru Tonari no Arya-san uses is very understandable for people native to the language, that she is truly pronouncing and speaking coherent things of the language and appreciates the effort of Sumire Uesaka giving voice to this character. Another frequent question that was answered is about the hair color of Alya, protagonist of Tokidoki Bosotto Roshia-Go from Dereru Tonari no Arya-san.
Many people were surprised why the protagonist’s hair color is silver in color and had a doubt if this was real and people originating from this country used to have this characteristic. The youtuber comments that not really, that people in Russia usually have blond hair or a color lighter than brown. And let’s remember that in anime, the characters usually have eye or hair colors that are not attached to reality, so surely in Tokidoki Bosotto Roshia-Go of Dereru Tonari no Arya-san this pattern was followed to give a unique touch to the protagonist.
Within all this commotion caused by the use of Russian by the seiyuu of “Alya“, some people within the otaku community defended Sumire Uesaka when they questioned why a Russian actress had not been hired for these dialogues. To this many people argued that this actress was qualified to do it because of her experience and because she also had specialized studies in the Russian language, since she had been interested in this culture since she was very young, so she decided to study Russian at Sophia University, a private university in Japan.
If you still don’t know what Tokidoki Bosotto Roshia-Go from Dereru Tonari no Arya-san is about, here we have Alisa Mikhailovna Kujou, also known as “Alya”, a half Russian, half Japanese student, with a beauty that dazzles anyone, but who usually rejects anyone who confesses her love. Alya doesn’t have many friends, except for Masachika Kuze, the boy who sits next to her in class and who is absent-minded and unmotivated.
Alya and Kuze generate a strange friendship, in which Alya usually scolds and complains about Kuze, but occasionally drops some flirtatious comment in Russian, as she is apparently in love with him. Alya makes these comments thinking that Kuze is not going to understand her, what she does not know is that this boy is able to understand her language very well and causes her many difficulties, since he tries to pretend that he does not understand what Alya is saying.
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