Honey Lemon Soda review: A sweet palate cleanser to cure the January blues

Mayu Murata’s currently 27-volume story has done incredibly well in the crowded shojo market – the type of anime and manga genre targeting the young female demographic. However, the anime has an equally, if not bigger, challenge ahead launching in a packed winter anime season.

Be that as it may, releasing alongside a bunch of exciting new and returning shows competing for your time; Solo Leveling, Sakamoto Days, The Apothecary Diaries, etc; Honey Lemon Soda offers a down-to-earth and charming experience in its own right.

If you’re already dead set on not being a shojo fan, Honey Lemon Soda probably won’t change your mind. For everyone else, it more than succeeds in being a thirst-quenching and well-produced wholesome fix.

Honey Lemon Soda follows Uka Ishimori, a shy and anxious 15-year-old beginning her new start at the lively Hachimitsu High School, determined to live more confidently and fit in with her new classmates.

While struggling to overcome the returning bullying and name-calling she faced in middle school, Uka becomes better acquainted with Kai Miura, an assertive and sometimes brash young man sporting dazzling blonde hair, which reminds Uka of the anime's namesake lemon soda.

As the two get to know each other, along with a colourful group of other new friends in the mix, Honey Lemon Soda takes us through the journey of Kai giving Uka the extra push she needs to make her dreams come true, with a classic "will they, won’t they?" romance story under the surface.

Adapted by JC Staff, the veteran studio behind many popular shows like Bakuman, The Disastrous Life of Saiki K, and Food Wars!: Shokugeki no Soma, Honey Lemon Soda looks delightful in anime form.

The episodes we’ve seen so far fully follow the story of the manga, with some frames essentially being shot-for-shot reimaginings. So, the plethora of vivid colours in the cherry blossom trees outside of the school, the glow and shadows of scenes during a sunset, the characters' uniforms and unique features, and of course the shine Uka’s abundance of tears – complement Murata’s best illustrations from the manga without taking away from what made them appealing in the first place.

The gigantic eyes of various characters, especially the protagonist’s, might be off-putting to some as an overly kawaii (cute) shojo trope. On the other hand, they also work in depicting their youthful wide-eyed optimism as they would have facing their whole lives ahead of them, along with better conveying the intense emotions that come with teenage romance stories.

What’s more, JC does a great job of cleaning up the manga’s simpler, sometimes cruder drawings as well – adding more (sometimes immense) detail where needed, but also retaining the right amount of its chibi-esque, humorous moments to keep the right amount of adorable comedy in balance.

Tightly following the source material, what Honey Lemon Soda does just as well in anime form captures the various anxieties and mental struggles an introverted teenager can go through and the drive to tackle them.

If you’ve ever felt trapped by your own insecurities and wished you could be the confident type of person who easily fits in, but has been afraid of failure if you put yourself out there, you’ll likely find Uko’s journey relatable on at least some level no matter your gender or age.

The fact that the starting story centres around Uka’s determination to change, despite the worries of her loving parents, is an inspiring one. With endearing messages like not being afraid to ask for help or allowing yourself to be more selfish, the execution is all the more heartwarming knowing it’s going to the betterment of this deserving Bambi-like hero – and will make you want to cheer "ganbette!" ("do your best!") every time she overcomes one of the various social hurdles viewers may have experienced themselves.

With a strong experienced voice cast at the centre of it all; Uki played by Kana Ichinose (Bocchi The Rock!, Frieren: Beyond Journey's End), Kai by Shogo Yano (Seven Deadly Sins, Yu-Gi-Oh! Arc-V); the anime versions of these characters feel as authentic as you'd have imagined them sounding when first reading that aforementioned source material.

Sure, watching either Uka relapse back into her shell after a setback or the occasional "end of the world, woe is me" tone can be frustrating, but it’s easy to forgive when you remember that’s exactly how it can be for many teenagers at that time in your life because that’s all they know before heading out into the real world, further adding to its authenticity.

On the other end of that scale though, a handful of Honey Lemon Soda’s moments can cross that line into the territory of being melodramatic and overly cheesy for its setting. Along with some twists or developments that can be seen from a mile away, some of the "I must believe in myself" and "power of friendship" dialogue can get unrealistic and repetitive, even in this young romance anime world.

That said, it’s a minor gripe in the grand scheme of things. As long as you have a tolerance for the occasional cringe, your investment into Uka and Kai’s quest for happiness and social acceptance will have you push through.

Honey Lemon Soda is exactly the kind of heartwarming anime we need for the cold winter months ahead and beyond.

As a romance anime, if you’re a diehard who's explored much of the genre and is after something new, it doesn’t do much to set your world on fire. Nonetheless, despite what could be interpreted as cliches or tropes, this anime sets itself up to be a textbook example of those cliches done right in the same way its manga is.

If you’ve either been away from romance titles for a while as you tried different genres, or are tipping your toes in to see what shojo is all about, Honey Lemon Soda is a refreshing anime that ticks all the right boxes.

Honey Lemon Soda will start streaming on Crunchyroll on 8th January.

Check out more of our Fantasy coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what’s on. For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.