Strawberry Loft

When people want to make big changes that they’re unsure about they tend to look for signs from the universe. This can be as simple as the flip of a coin or a little more elaborate like seeking out a fortune teller. For some people, like maybe me, it’s seeing a Tik Tok of someone making a similar decision and throwing caution to the wind, because why not. Life unfolds in strange ways, and for Uka Ishimori her sign came in the form of a delinquent who thought she would look good in a specific uniform. That was all she needed to change the trajectory of her high school life.

I was nervous when I first started Honey Lemon Soda. I didn’t connect with Uka Ishimori right away. She’s timid and allowed herself to be relentlessly bullied in middle school, being called ‘stoney’ because she considered herself as plain and useless as one. Uka never tells her parents about the bullying thinking she deserves it. Her self-esteem is very low. I was caught off guard by how harsh the bullying was, which is not an out of place trope for anime, but I expected this show to be all sunshine. I wasn’t ready for the bullies to try and get their boyfriends to beat Uka up. Luckily Uka decides to stand up for herself shaking a bottle of honey lemon soda and soaking her bullies. Uka wasn’t going to be a damsel in distress character; all she needed was the right environment to grow. Slowly I saw some of myself in her- to a less dramatic degree.

It takes Uka going to Hachimitsu -a sort of alternative school for delinquents- to finally create strong friendships. This can be seen with Ayumi Endo, who by the end of the show would beat someone up for messing with Uka. They’re such a cute pair being able to talk about their crushes with each other.  Ayumi becomes very protective of Uka and I’m glad there was more focus on Uka getting along with her other classmates especially the girl group she befriends. Instead of just pushing her interactions with Kai- the main love interest. I also like the spin on the main character hair trope. Being a school of delinquents everyone has different colored hair, blonde, pink, blue, and so forth. Uka is the main character with just black hair. Uka’s dad is extremely unhappy with Uka’s school choice, and it puts a rift between them. Uka takes it hard being close with her dad, but he’s the reason for her having such a hard time socializing. Uka’s dad made it so she never had to lift a finger she just had to study hard. In a way he stunted her development with basic tasks which is where the teasing started. I liked seeing how much of Uka’s home life played into who she is now and breaking away from her dad instead of transferring schools like he wants. She shows she can still be a successful kind student, but have the life filled with friends that she wanted. She can’t be coddled forever.

Kai is the catalyst for Uka’s world changing. If he hadn’t seen her struggling out on the street and spoken to her Uka would never have enrolled in Hachimitsu. He changed everything, bringing a responsible student to a class of well-known slackers. The praise of being a responsible student is something Uka holds dear and puts her in full people pleasing mode. She guides the other students to safety after getting lost on a school trip in the forest, making her very popular with the other students. She becomes the class rep which was a unanimous decision by the class. She puts her all into the school festival, trying to win the relay and not let her classmates down. This really gets her out of her shell. Kai helps Uka live the way she wants- boldly. Kai reminds Uka to speak her mind and make her mark on the world, or on their class at the very least. Kai needs Uka as much as she needs him. He wants to be there for his friends, but Kai retreats into his own shell refusing to talk to anyone when he goes through a rough patch of his own. During those times his friends recognize he becomes cold and distant but expect him to work his way out of it eventually. Uka sees the real frustration and pain behind Kai’s sudden personality changes and presses him to confide in her. At first, he seems annoyed by it, but her pure intentions to just be there for him, and her persistence eventually gets him to talk. After that it’s smooth sailing and it’s not long before there’s a kiss.

I enjoy the way Honey Lemon Soda portrays Uka and Kai’s growth as people and a couple. When there’s a small milestone reached such as Uka participating in a class activity – which is usually karaoke – a bike lane is shown moving forward. It’s a small victory. When Uka speaks up clearing up a misunderstanding between herself and Kai, a plane is shown soaring thought the sky. It took me a bit to understand why the scene of a plane would be thrown in, but I believe it’s a big step forward. It’s a new destination in their friendship that’s on its way to a relationship. I thought it was a clever way to make note of the big moments between Uka and Kai and what’s important to them when it comes to relationship goals.

Other than overly mean bullies another staple of any romance anime is a love rival, and I think the way Honey Lemon Soda handles them is unique. All the girls in the class like Kai, but Fujita Marin has a huge obvious crush on Kai and can’t stand when Uka gets any of his attention. She’s a pretty standard romance rival, except for the fact she puts her whole class in danger switching a sign so they would get lost in the woods on the school fieldtrip. All just to make Uka look like she was bad at navigating. This backfires and actually is what starts getting Uka more attention on class when she puts them back on the right path. Marin is annoying, but Kai gets her to apologize to Uka and she’s good for a laugh. She doesn’t get much redemption or a character arc though. The standout rival is Kanno Serina who is Kai’s ex. Serina is beautiful, popular, and surprisingly not mean. Her and Uka actually strike up a friendship despite Serina being an ex. Serina loved Kai, and they were the ‘it’ couple in middle school. Unfortunately, when Kai had periods of shutting himself away emotionally Serina couldn’t get him to talk to her and ended up interpreting it as falling out of love. She pulled the plug on the relationship. It was hard watching Uka willingly step aside giving up her chance with Kai to keep her friendship with Serina during the beach episode. Of course, Kai rejects Serina’s confession and while Serina was heartbroken it gave her the closure she needed, and she even stays friends with Uka without any weird lingering feelings. I feel like when rivals confess it usually leaves behind sour feelings. I think Serina’s confession was a form of self-healing, she knew what the answer was going to be. I’m going to make a note of Tomoya Takamine, one of Kai’s friends. He drops some cryptic are you sure he’s right for you comment to Uka in like the second episode. I thought we were getting a male rival, and I was like oh boy what misunderstanding is going to come out of this. Too bad we never really see him again except as a supporting character, and it’s to help Kai get together with Uka. It felt like a weird thread to pick up and drop.

Two episodes of Honey Lemon Soda stuck out to me in particular because of their animation. They were both about school festivals, one was the school culture festival and the other was the sports festival. In both episodes they have dynamic scenes where close ups of characters talking pop up over a wide shot of the classroom. It’s like bringing manga panels to life and I wish they did it more. It gave the episodes more of a pop, it made them memorable. I also like that in these episodes the backgrounds were sometimes just moving geometric designs, like a solid blue background with moving white polka dots. It just made the scenes stand out in my mind. Another memorable design in Honey Lemon Soda were the designs of the eyes. Uka and Kai’s eyes really looked like they were made of honey. The shimmer in the eyes makes them feel like they’re brimming with emotion especially Uka’s large doe eyes. They’re really beautiful windows to the soul.

Honey Lemon Soda is a story of taking a chance on something new and for Uka in a way it was getting another chance at life. I like that it wasn’t about changing Uka completely but showing her that she can shine on her own with the right people around her. Though I thought it started rough, Honey Lemon Soda stands out with its portrayal of patient love and girls who support one, which isn’t always portrayed in romance anime. I recommend grabbing a sweet drink and giving Honey Lemon Soda a watch. You may find your own sign to take that chance.