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Alya Sometimes Hides Her Feelings in Russian is both an emotional slice of life manga series as well as a look at the start of young love between Alya and Masachika. As a result, we aren’t always seeing things like embarrassment, happiness, and lovey responses to certain moments between the two. Some emotions that aren’t as pleasant, such as envy, can come up. A big part of the focus of the third volume of this adaptation feels like it deals with jealousy on a number of fronts and from different stars of the series.
Editor’s Note: There will be spoilers for the third volume of the Alya Sometimes Hides Her Feelings in Russian manga below.
Basically, we’re presented with three people who are all envious and jealous for different reasons in the third volume of the Alya Sometimes Hides Her Feelings in Russian manga. The obvious one is Alya herself. She’s jealous of the closeness between Yuki and Masachika. As far as she knows, that’s his childhood friend. Yuki, however, is actually Masachika’s little sister, and we see shades of jealousy from her due to his interest in Alya. Finally, there’s Masachika himself, who shockingly seems envious of Alya.
Now, in two of these situations the cause for jealousy is fairly obvious. As early volumes of the Alya Sometimes Hides Her Feelings in Russian manga establish, she has a crush on Masachika. We see her and him both sort of cherish the moments they do get to experience together. By the third volume, she’s starting to feel like perhaps those mean something and as though they are letting each other in. When Yuki comes up and Alya sees Masachika listening to her requests, engaging in positive reactions with her, and sharing memories, it’s a trigger! She’s envious! She thought she knew him best! We see these funny reactions when this new girl starts goading her. So much so that she does things like eat ramen that’s far too spicy for her in order to prove herself and keep up.
In the case of Yuki, it’s a little more subtle. But basically, she’s envious too due to the loss of the relationship she once had with Masachika. Due to their family situation, he’s not acknowledged or even recognized as her brother anymore. On the record, there are no ties. It’s clear she misses that, given how she brings up memories, finds ways to still sneak by and visit her brother, and wedges her way in between him and Alya. While in the manga it’s depicted more as teasing, there’s that undercurrent of her being jealous of the situation.
But the really interesting part comes from Masachika’s side of things. He not only has romantic feelings for Alya. He’s also incredibly impressed by her and her passion for things. He’s envious of how “dazzling” and “passionate” she is. Especially given his past with his family and sister. When talking to her about why she wants to be student council president and she says it is because that is what she wants, he watches. And he goes over in his head what he thinks of her and how he admires her, and that closes out with him thinking, “She’s incredible… I really envy her…”
Envy and jealously aren’t necessary bad things, as they’re natural emotions, and we see how they come up for many characters in the Alya Sometimes Hides Her Feelings in Russian manga. Sometimes, the feeling can be tied to wishing to be the one closest to someone else. Or it could be about wanting to prove yourself. But in other cases, it can be about admiring certain traits or elements of a person and wishing you had that same drive.
Volumes 1-3 of the Alya Sometimes Hides Her Feelings in Russian manga are available now via Yen Press, and there’s no release window for the fourth one yet. Yen Press also handles the light novel and audio book adaptations. The anime is streaming on Crunchyroll.
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