Mixed Feelings
Honey Lemon Soda — Old-school Shoujo at its finest, or is it a hidden symptom of much worse? It used to be the belief that when one formula works, others will follow in their own interpretations, though successes will vary depending on how authors usually like to carry their approach towards known genres, even if it has to be done from tropes already existing and (usually) having been done better. This is most certainly the case for Shoujo series in the mid-to-late 2000s to the early 2010s, where works like Karuho Shiina's Kimi ni Todoke and Kanae Hazuki's Suki-tte ii na yo a.k.a Say I LoveYou prove most evident of that time period. At the same time, more prolific authors would come to push the genre into relevancy when the genre was at its peak in the 2010s, though it would come to fizzle by the time the Isekai/fantasy genre was just taking off. And one example of this would be female mangaka Mayu Murata's Honey Lemon Soda, which rode the Shoujo wave of the 2010s being one of the best-selling Shoujo series of all time since its serialization in December 2015.
Let's not beat around the bush: Honey Lemon Soda's female MC, Uka Ishimori, given her extreme introvertedness, is pretty much like Kimi ni Todoke's Sawako "Sadako" Kuronuma in every regard: the quiet and shy girl who's misunderstood for various reasons, but in Uka's case, a rather terrifying life of being bullied and called names (Stony for one), which only deepens her insecurity after constant sheltering from the retreat of the people who treat her badly as she is. Fast forward to high school, and Uka's facing the same proposition she had once again, but with a twist: the blonde-haired Kai Miura, whom, for some reason, Uka describes as akin to lemon soda (with the Honey part coming in as the start of the forgiving development), whom she faces her regular fears in school, only to have the upstanding popular boy help her in ways that only he can muster to his own credit, without ever putting a spotlight on himself and making sure that she follows up to the end. And as they say, love paints a picture of a thousand words...or rather, the efficacy for the shy girl to get along with the bad-ass popular boy, to surround herself with friends that she would've otherwise have easily given up by the skin of her teeth, and obviously, have an intimate relationship with said boy.
From the get-go, the Shoujo genre has only so many cliches and tropes that you'd expect, and Mayu Murata exploits that to the nth degree. You might just think that the stereotypes here are just blatant copies of character archetypes done before but better elsewhere (you could even label this a trashy Shoujo work if you so wish to). Uka, for one, does exactly what Sadako would've done in her own state of mind: an introvert who finds it difficult to converse with people, let alone fit into the surrounding nature, which overwhelms her to the point of overthinking. But instead of Sadako, who tries hard from the get-go to persist, Uka is the exact opposite, where her exponential trauma has gravely beset her to the point where fate travels with her everywhere she goes and wash-rinse-repeats the process no matter how many times to the point of insufferability she must. This unfortunately doesn't instill confidence in the audience that Uka will ever improve if she goes nowhere, but this is exactly where Miura comes in as her guardian saviour to notice her unspoken troubles and give her just the right amount of advice to figure out the issues on her own and to start taking flight by overcoming those issues, as difficult as it seems at first glance (from her POV).
Miura being the popular guy in class meant that Uka came under direct fire for all the things she did to catch his attention, intentionally or not, though he tried to play hooky and be discreet with her, not for the fear of reprisal, just the attention from the friends around him. He knows that Stony is the centerpiece of her own issues, and she must overcome trials and tribulations of her own, despite being the bad boy character who sometimes goes after her and gives reassurance only when it matters. Sure, while her and Miura's class can be dramatic with over-the-top reactions that might look staged from different POVs to the point of being unrealistic and overdramatic, it's this same cliche that pushes Uka to the breaking point at times alongside the many friends that she'll come to befriend, from classmates to exes that'll support her when effort is genuinely given. You may love to hate Uka "Stony" Ishimori for her many episodes of inaction that will inevitably frustrate someone to get her going, but we as humans that all have different wavelengths to take matters into our own hands, Uka may be the slowpoke compared to Sadako, but you'll come to root for her as time progresses, and the seeds of love can then be grown between her and the blonde bad boy who grows from being her watcher (from a distance) to genuine caretaker to love.
If anything, characters are the centrepiece to Uka's development. Be it her close friend Ayumi Endo, the ex of Serina Kanno, or her bullies from middle school (which she comes back to fight them with her words), not one character is wasted for effectiveness to show just how much Uka has grown out of her comfort zone, and Mayu Murata would make sure that you don't forget each and every character that came and went in Uka's way to reiterate that the point is reached across.
It's an almost given that Shoujo shows look just as bright and beautiful, and Honey Lemon Soda certainly got that treatment alright. Courtesy of TMS Entertainment under their Unlimited Produce brand, J.C.Staff and Toaru Majutsu no Index a.k.a A Certain Magical Index director Hiroshi Nishikori sought the best the studio has to offer for the Shoujo range since the last work that was undertaken (that being Winter and Summer 2023's Sugar Apple Fairy Tale). For certain, everything got a glow-up in terms of animation; even the eye colours are big and apparent, and it's just a marvel of beauty.
The OST by Akira Kosemura, if I didn't know any better, feels calm, collected, and smooth. This is a given from the composer who brought you Ao no Orchestra a.k.a Blue Orchestra and Summer Ghost, so knowing the latter movie certainly raises some hopes for a decent soundtrack that's not too flashy yet not undercooked at the same time. The OP and ED songs by fusion J-Pop and K-Pop band &Team are both visually creative and made to impact, and they get the job done for the most part.
In the end, what you're watching is a trash Shoujo in the works...good trash, that is. With such an outlandish story and resolutions that just make you question more than you can answer "How the hell did it derive to this kind of unrealistic outcome?" of scenarios, Honey Lemon Soda pins the "realistic" coat of the Shoujo paint out of the picture. Yes, you could argue that this paints a stark contrast to the much more affable and relatable Kimi ni Todoke, but Mayu Murata sure as hell isn't going to go the safe route and create yet another similar derivative. Does this make sense from a story perspective? This is a Shoujo built on hopes and dreams, amped by its drama being like a soap opera, that'll still get you the major vibes, by hook or by crook.
Is it worth a watch? Yeah...if you're the kind who wants to venture the road less travelled, but for everyone else, keep your expectations in check.
