Honey Lemon Soda was one of the Winter 2025 titles that got my attention early on due to the beautiful-looking art in the promotional materials and heartfelt premise. Having seen the first two episodes of the anime, I have to say my expectations were mostly met.
Plot-wise, Honey Lemon Soda is a coming-of-age story about finding yourself and stepping out of your shell. For Uka Ishimori, this is hard as she is always on the defensive: partly due to bullying but also due to her upbringing, which appears somewhat rigid. When she meets Kai Miura, everything changes, as his personality is completely different from hers. Eventually, it will be him who pushes her out of her shell.
I must say that I didn’t expect this dynamic between the main characters, but it works quite well as they are teenagers who have just started high school. Their struggles, especially Ishimori’s, are relatable and can be something you struggle with at any point in your life, but the solutions they come up with have a youthful charm to them.
The first episode of Honey Lemon Soda felt like a complete story: from the introduction of characters to wrapping up on a positive note, everything was well-paced. The second episode stumbled a little in this regard. It felt too rushed and everything happened at once. The final few minutes mitigate this issue a little by giving ample time to Ishimori and Miura to actually talk things through. This will probably be one of the shows for romance fans this season.
For some reason I expected Honey Lemon Soda to have bolder colors. Looking back on the visuals, they are in line with the color palette we got in the anime itself but they felt more vivid in my memories. Regardless, the style, especially with character designs, is reminiscent of the 2000s anime: very big eyes, cutesy expressions, and loud reactions. The animation and art direction are okay, nothing stands out too much but it all works well with the story.
At times, I felt a bit annoyed by Ishimori. She spent so much time hiding, trying to be a good daughter and a proper student that she missed out on living. The bullying scenes felt raw and made me angry for her, but she wasn’t sharing the sentiment. However, she wants to change and she is ready to take action, thanks to Miura’s encouragement and it’ll be quite a joy to watch their relationship develop as the season goes on. Watching Uka grow and find acceptance within Kai’s group is going to be quite rewarding.
Honey Lemon Soda is streaming on Crunchyroll this season starting on January 8.
©Mayu Murata/SHUEISHA・Honey Lemon Soda Production Committee.
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