Tokidoki Bosotto Russia-go de Dereru Tonari no Alya-san Episode 2 Discussion

I'm lovin' it so far! Alya's cute. But why doesn't she have any pre-existing close friends to go shopping with or talk about romance with? Talking to herself in her home tongue, especially as a way to process her emotions, is a blatant sign of how lonely and emotionally isolated she is. It's cute, but it makes me imagine how lonely she must be feeling in order to get to that point, which makes me sad. Is she a transfer student and that's why she has no friends? I feel like that would have been mentioned (did I miss it?). We haven't gotten much backstory on any of the characters yet -- I feel like it's unveiling the backstory too slowly, both to the viewer and between the characters.

Relatedly, it drives my crazy that the two siblings haven't told Alya that they're siblings. And there has been no reason given for why they are withholding that information. They're coming across as two big dicks (in a box). It's obvious that Suou is coming across that way, but Kuze also is by not telling Alya that Suou is his sister. It's one thing for them to withhold that they're siblings from people at school in general -- another thing for Kuze to withhold it from a girl whom he is supposedly friends with and who is very explicitly crushing on him. It was also a dick move how, for the final outfit Alya tried on, Kuze kinda pulled the rug out from under her by agreeing with Suou's backhanded compliment, completely reversing his attitude on her. Maybe it's supposed to just be him teasing her, but it's a bit much, as indicated by how long Alya takes to recover from it afterward -- the whole train ride she's withdrawn, undoubtedly dwelling on her shame and embarrassment about what happened, and the siblings make no move to comfort her or bring her back. She's so emotionally delicate, and Kuze should know this because he understands what she says in Russian, and yet they both just trample all over her feelings all the time. Are they trying to cause her more stress and suffering? Is Kuze actually interested in his sister instead? Maybe these two dicks only want each other. At this rate that possibility is looking more viable than it should.

Edits for grammar and clarity.

This show would have been really wholesome and cute if there wasn't any fan service. NGL they just ruined the show for me. Like fr this would have been the best romance of the season if it wasn't forced like that. Now I can't look at Alya the same way cuz of allat since episode 1. Like IK it wasn't that much of a fan service cuz there are hundreds of other series which shows more, but on a show like this? I thought it would tone the fan service down to none to make it cute and wholesome.

You might think oh I'm just overreacting or lewd to the point I criticize this bit, but when I watch the show & saw that it had fan service, my smile & mood literally faded to a disgusted tone, cuz before the characters
were doing funny, cute, & wholesome things all to be ruined by the fan service.

ok this episode is kinda peak ngl. Surprisingly sister is the best girl of the title so far. Tho I hope the whole plot won't be built around constant misunderstanding, her not knowing that protag knows russian is more than enough

I don't know how much more I can take with this the Russian outbursts with a Japanese accent. I cringe every time I hear it. It would have been much more amazing and I would have respected them a whole lot if they managed to find a voice actress that spoke Russian and Japanese well, or at least capable of mimicking other languages better.

The competitive pervy sister and jealous tsundere girl trope is once again brought up. Not terribly done, at least.

I do like the way they capture embarrassment or shock with the exaggerated eye with small pupils though. It made me laugh.