It came as no surprise to me that last week’s episode of Tokidoki Bosotto Russia-go de Dereru Tonari no Alya-san seemed to be the most popular yet, while I pretty much hated it. There’s a reason I don’t tend to like light novels, and that was the most light novel episode so far. By far. It also had an overdose of Yuki, who I find easily the most grating character in this cast. It’s all a reminder that I’m really not the target audience for this show. And while sometimes that can be overcome, the margin for error is a hell of a lot smaller.

This was certainly better, though I suspect my level of skepticism is going to be a lot higher after last week. I don’t know what Yuki’s deal is, exactly. Is she really into her brother sexually, which to most people would be unimaginable but in LNs is considered the best thing ever? Is she just enjoying tormenting the over-earnest Alya (well, there’s no doubting she is) or is that challenge she laid down this week with the declaration of love legit? Is this sibling love, or “sibling love”? In the end, you know, it doesn’t really matter – she’s still fingernails on the backboard.

The rest of them are better, so the rest of the ep was too. Masha continues to be quite the charmer, though I’d be happier if I thought she was a real contender. I had no idea Russians put jam in their tea (I’d never heard of such a thing). Alya splits the difference between the two of them for me. She’s amusing at times but pretty much a collection of affectations more than a real character. And the whole Russian asides thing looks increasingly like a straight-up gimmick. But she and Masachika do have a sort of chemistry – like, the spoon thing and the mabo dofu bit were kind of amusing.

Now we get into the whole student council drama. And while there are manga focused on that it just feels like the most LN plot ever. Masachika is serious about helping Alya win, and Yuki (just listen to the series’ fans) is very popular. She needs a running mate though, and she brings in a girl named Kimishima Ayano. She’s known to Masachika and frankly, this has the whiff of absurd plot twist all over it. There’s another girl named Tamiyama, a former middle school rival, who’s obviously going to play some sort of role after Masachika called attention to her here.

As I noted in my Shoushimin Series write-up, I was really expecting Alya-san to win the Patron Pick vote. The fact that Shoushimin did so with ease gives me the leeway to make my own call here, but as this was the halfway point of the series it only makes sense to do so extremely soon. I think next week’s ep is probably the fish or cut bait point – I’ll likely make my decision one way or the other after  that. But at this point I think the odds are probably not great that I’ll continue with it.