Crunchyroll excels at simulcasting a wide range of anime each season. This summer, two romantic comedies, Pseudo Harem and Alya Sometimes Hides Her Feelings in Russian, share a common theme: female protagonists who openly express their feelings but do so in a way that hides their true intent.
In many anime romantic comedies, characters struggle with communication or misunderstand each other, often leading to misunderstandings. However, in these two shows, the female leads—Alya and Rin—actually express their feelings clearly. Alya speaks in Russian, while Rin pretends to be someone else.
The main difference between the two is that Masachika, who hears Alya’s feelings in Russian, can understand her, whereas Eiji in Pseudo Harem cannot tell when Rin is being serious. This setup is rare in anime, where it’s uncommon for one character to know how their love interest truly feels.
In Alya Sometimes Hides Her Feelings in Russian, the story often revolves around Masachika keeping his understanding of Alya’s Russian expressions a secret while encouraging her and enjoying her reactions.
Alya Sometimes Hides Her Feelings in Russian Teases Conflict, While Pseudo Harem Delivers Fresh Takes on Classic Tropes
The only drawback is that the anime follows this formula for a while without adding anything new or surprising. However, Alya Sometimes Hides Her Feelings in Russian creates tension with a potential conflict that keeps viewers guessing.
A girl from Masachika’s past, who taught him Russian, will likely come into the story soon. When this happens, Alya will probably find out that Masachika has known what she’s been saying all along, which might make her feel betrayed.
On the other hand, Pseudo Harem explores its unique setup more effectively from the start. Although it’s common in anime for characters to avoid directly expressing their feelings, Pseudo Harem stands out with its interesting take on this trope. It also offers a fresh look at various “dere” character types and highlights how Eiji reacts to Rin’s impersonations of different characters.
Pseudo Harem Innovates Classic Tropes by Skipping Typical Rom-Com Scenes, Echoed by My Clueless First Friend
While Rin’s true self is a key topic in Pseudo Harem, experienced viewers may appreciate how the anime reinterprets classic tropes. For instance, in episode 2, Rin takes care of Eiji when he’s sick—a typical rom-com scenario. Instead of showing Rin’s reactions and possible confessions while Eiji is asleep, the anime skips straight to when he wakes up.
The reason the original mangaka likely avoided showing those scenes is that Pseudo Harem relies on the characters being awake to interact with each other and react to Rin’s “dere” impressions. Skipping the typical scenes where one character is sick allows the show to stay true to its formula.
A similar approach was used recently in My Clueless First Friend. In that anime, the characters were very young, and the show’s innocent nature made its twist on this trope fitting. At the time, no other anime on Crunchyroll was quite like it. However, Pseudo Harem and Alya Sometimes Hides Her Feelings in Russian are not unique in this regard.
