Alya’s anime is enjoying a huge success, just like its light novel version, which broke sales records after records. Japanese people searching for curiosities about the anime discovered a 2021 interview in which the author gave to the website DDnavi in which he revealed that he initially thought of the story as an isekai.
Alya was almost an Isekai
Below you can see exactly how the question was asked:
Alya is also a work that was born from a short story posted on “Shousetsuka ni Narou”. How did the idea of a girl who expresses herself affectionately in Russian come about? And why did you choose Russia?
This was the author’s response:
“Originally, I wanted to write about a “lovely and slightly clumsy heroine who expresses herself affectionately in a language that (she thinks) the other person doesn’t understand, and feels superior by saying ‘hehe, you didn’t understand anything♪’”. When I started thinking about this heroine, the first thing that came to mind was a story of reincarnation in another world, which is a cliché in “Narou”. The idea was for the reincarnated heroine to express herself in Japanese to the protagonist, saying “hehe, you don’t understand what I’m saying, do you?”, but the protagonist would also be a reincarnated person and would understand Japanese. That would be for a short story.
However, as I thought about it further, I realized, “Wait, why not do this in a common foreign language?” Besides, a story about reincarnation in another world would require complicated explanations of the setting and world. So I decided to keep it simple and set it in a real-world romance setting. When I thought about which language to use, I ruled out English, since many people understand it. Since the heroine would be of foreign descent, I wanted her to be a beautiful girl with a very different appearance from the Japanese. And then… I instinctively thought of Russia. I always had the impression that Russian girls have a mystical, almost fairy-like beauty. That’s the reason I chose Russia.”
And therein lies the reason why Alya was almost an Isekai, and also why she speaks Russian! Let’s just say that the author’s choices were a success because Alya is extremely cute and friendly and the anime is pleasing many people.
Alya was almost an Isekai… BUT! Alya’s Extra Novel Brings Her to a Fantasy World
HOWEVER! We won’t need to imagine what Alya would be like as an Isekai, because with the release of volume 1 of the anime’s Blu-ray and DVD, there will be a special novel about Alya that is an Isekai!
Check out the cover below:
In this story Alya, Masachika and Kujou are transported to another world, a medieval fantasy world in which Alya ends up as the heroine! So in a way, the author managed to bring his original idea into the format of this extra novel.
Source: Ddnavi
