On balance I’d say the ledger is still in the positive for me with Tokidoki Bosotto Russia-go de Dereru Tonari no Alya-san. This was my least favorite episode of the first four, though. The first half was kind of a bore, and then we got a couple of head-desk moments that were pretty tropey. The ending saved it a little bit, but I’m pretty much in bubble territory at this point. And this point is real close to when I need to be making decisions.

The seitoukai president gets a lot of play in the first half of the episode. And he’s joined the full-court press to get Masachika to join up. He does make some decent points – it’s not like one has to have pure as snow motives to be in an organization like that. If you’re a net positive, who cares what your motivation to be there is? He also talks about his own reason for joining up, which was to impresses his current girlfriend Sarashina Chiaki. She’s a VP and Kendo Club member, and presumably she’s going to be important in some way down the line.

Kenzaki has sent Alya to mediate a dispute between the soccer and baseball clubs over use of the practice field. Good experience for her, he says, but telling Masachika about it ensures that the latter is going to go and help. I didn’t care for this development if I’m honest. Alya as a helpless damsel in distress incapable of accomplishing anything until Mr. Perfect shows up to bail her out? Meh. Maybe the gender politics of this situation weren’t intended to be as tired as they appeared, but that doesn’t change the fact that they were.

I also didn’t like the aftermath scene, culminating in Alya-san slapping Masachika for no reason. A little comic violence seems to be the bridge toll with most romcoms, but it added nothing to the nabe here (as indeed is usually the case). Alya is kind of getting done dirty by the writing at the moment, I think – it’s not doing her character any favors. Be that as it may, Masachika does relent on joining the student council. And not only that, he tells Alya he’ll help her become president (at the expense of his own sister). And in return, she tells him she loves him in Russian (to which his reaction is oddly delayed).

At this point I really prefer Masha, if I had to pick among the heroines. But for the nonce she’s reserving her powder and letting Alya have a clear field. She makes it clear to her sister that she’s rooting for her. But I don’t think it takes a lot of extrapolation to hear something else in her words at the end of episode. Masha is being a good big sister – for now. But there’s a finite limit on how much patience she’s going to be willing to show. And if Alya keeps up her denial-fest long enough, Masha won’t be held accountable for her actions. I very much doubt things will get that far but I think it’d be the most interesting direction the story could go.