After 5 Episodes of ‘Alya Sometimes Hides Her Feelings in Russian,’ I’m Begging Alya to Stop Hiding Behind Subtitles

Alya Sometimes Hide Her Feelings in Russian is a polyglot’s worst nightmare. Never assume that people don’t understand you just because you’re speaking another language.

Following the show, you probably feel secondhand embarrassment for Alya at this point. Imagine fangirling over your crush in another language, thinking he doesn’t get you. Except he does, and he’s just too nice not to let you know. It’s a setup of comedic proportions, and we’re all waiting for Alya to find out that Masachika secretly understands her.

But while we’re all kicking our feet and screaming at Alya to contain herself, a figure from Masachika’s past may have reappeared. Is Masha the friend Masachika learned Russian from? Alya Sometimes Hides Her Feelings in Russian, episode 5, is coming out on July 31, 2024.

Masachika’s Childhood Friend

For the most part, seeing Alya censor her feelings in another language has been the punchline of the show. The only reason Masachika understands Alya’s ramblings is because he had a Russian childhood friend, for whom he learned the language. In episode 4, Masachika met Alya’s older sister, Masha.

There are many signs that suggest Masha was his childhood friend. She asked for his first name and then acted familiar around him when they went shopping. Even Masachika thinks that she has a familiar presence, but he can’t remember his childhood friend’s name. It was also extremely odd for Masha to assume that Masachika could understand Russian. So far, nobody else knows that Masachika can understand the language other than his sister.

The only thing that casts doubt on this theory is that in flashbacks, Masachika’s childhood friend was depicted as a blonde girl with blue eyes. Maybe eye color and hair color can be outgrown? I guess we’ll have to keep watching to find out what that’s about.