When we talk about romantic comedies, definitely the anime adaptation of “Alya Sometimes Hides Her Feelings in Russian” is one of the most anticipated premieres for the season of Summer-2024 (July-September). The story of the Russian tsundere who thinks her love interest doesn’t understand her when she says nice things to him in Russian (even though the guy actually does speak the language), has definitely caught the interest of netizens, especially since the girl’s design main is totally attractive to the majority.
However, with the most recent promotional video, the franchise has begun to receive quite particular criticism. Sumire Uesakawhom we have already heard as Hayase Nagatoro in “Ijiranaide, Nagatoro-san” and Shalltear Bloodfallen in “Overlord“, will be in charge of giving voice to this new waifu. In fact, it seems there was no one more perfect for this role than her.
Sumire Uesaka is a big fan of Russia, its culture and traditions. In April 2010, he enrolled at Sophia University’s Faculty of Foreign Studies, majoring in Russian language, and announced that he had graduated in March 2014.
However, the most recent promotional video has received negative comments from supposed Internet users from Russia, who criticize that Sumire Uesaka’s accent is so bad that they do not understand anything she says when he speaks in Russian in character:
- «As a speaker, Alya’s accent is quite painful to hear. According to the story, she was half-Russian and she had lived in Russia so long that, at worst, she must have had a minimal accent. Yes, as my compatriots have already realized, Jenya Davidyuk, who voiced Zoya in “Akiba Maid War”, would have been perfect for the role. After all, it’s not my place to judge. I am interested in seeing Alya’s words translated into Russian, although I will wait for the already well-known unofficial translation and narration. Good luck to everyone and wait for the premiere!».
- «I was wondering if the writers (or usually at least someone on the crew) talked to any Russian natives about this. Half of what is said in “Russian” doesn’t make any sense!».
- «They could have even hired a Russian actress to do the voiceover. Her accent sounds like the girl has some kind of illness.».
- «They just needed a Russian voice actress to supervise all this, was it that difficult?».
- «I wish the voice actresses would improve their accents a bit. Without the additional subtitles, she couldn’t even hear her sentences in Russian, let alone understand what they were saying!».
- «The accent gave me goosebumps and drove me crazy, all in the worst possible way. The only thing more disgusting are all the commenters and morons who celebrate this with their comments».
- «I can’t believe it, the accent is terrible».
- «What a shit accent, I don’t understand anything».
- «Too bad he didn’t have time to fix his accent all these years.».
- «Damn, was it that hard to get a Russian voice actress? She looks like a girl learning to speak the language».
- «To be honest, it’s hard to understand her speaking Russian. I’ll have to resort to the subtitles».
- «What the hell have I seen?».
- «Wow, what the hell is that accent?».
- «Why not at least put a real Russian speaker in the lead role? Was it that complicated?».
- «This accent is very funny. I have a hard time understanding half of what he’s supposedly saying.».
Many people around the world, including the Japanese, do not speak foreign languages because they have no motivation to do so. In Japanmainly due to the fact that it is an island country and, therefore, very homogeneous, with almost all its inhabitants being native Japanese, Speaking only Japanese is enough to function not only in your personal life, but also in your professional career.
Japanese are required to take English courses in school, but once they graduate and enter the workforce, they are rarely encouraged to maintain the English skills they acquired before graduating. Much less are they motivated to learn another additional language, and perhaps this is why it really must have been difficult for the production to find a Japanese voice actress who speaks “decent Russian.”based on the comments.
Fountain: Yaraon!
