I think of romance as a guilty pleasure. It’s something to make you smile and feel all warm inside, especially when the past few days have been nothing but a relentless assault of not just bad news, but absurd news. But I won’t get into that; this isn’t the time nor place for it. Rather, I want to talk about my ambivalent feelings towards Honey Lemon Soda. I always go into every new season hoping for a chill, relaxing romance to follow, but as I watch this show, I find myself frequently rolling my eyes at Uka’s love life. But am I being unfair? Do I have a problem with taking shojo romances seriously?
At one point in the second episode, the teacher calls Kai out for sleeping during class: “I bet you live everyday without thinking.” Uka wants to defend him, but she’s too shy to speak up. Instead, she’ll do it in her head as her brain rattles off a bunch of Kai’s good traits. One particular thought of hers stood out to me: “…he’s so honest about what he thinks.”
Does she mean blunt? Is she confusing his bluntness with honesty? ‘Cause yeah, he is blunt with his words. But I don’t think he’s even honest with himself. Just earlier in the episode, the gang, i.e. Kai’s gang, had asked Uka why she decided attend this high school. If you’ll recall, she’s a smart kid so she could’ve gone somewhere a little more academically inclined. Uka, however, was terribly lonely in junior high (I guess middle school for us Americans?), and as a result, she wants to turn a new leaf. She tells her new friends that she wants to “dawdle” after class, hang out with friends for hours, maybe even sneak into the school at night, and do all the idyllic childhood activities that she wouldn’t normally be able to do if she has her head buried in a book all day. So how does Kai respond?
“Forget it.”
“As if.”
“Do you actually think you’re cut out for that?”
“Give up.”
Kai does have a reason (sigh, I guess) for being a dick. Just earlier, he overheard Uka’s helicopter dad talking to one of the school’s staff members. I think the old man was worried that her new school might not be up to snuff academically. So as a way to show his concern — to convince Uka to go home early and thus not worry her overprotective parents — Kai had to act like a total jerk.
Why couldn’t Kai just explain what he meant? Well, he does. Later. When the mean girl bully literally phones up her boyfriend so that he can come to their school and pick on Uka (nobody has anything better to do, I guess), Kai gets to redeem himself by saving our damsel in distress. I am actually somewhat disappointed in Uka here. She fought back in the first episode. Granted, all she did was spray her bullies with soda, but at least she did something. Here, she simply lets the mean girl’s boyfriend drag her away. She eventually cries out for Kai, and yes, I understand that there’s a strength and size difference, but I dunno, at least try to pull away? But whatever. My point is that Kai strikes me as a guy who has trouble expressing his thoughts and feelings unless they’re filtered through this facade of detached, aloof grumpiness. Even his friends remark that he never compliments girls (until Uka comes along ooooohh~~~) and he never smiles in pictures (until Uka comes alo–… ahem). We’re probably due for a tear-jerking reveal of his past near the end of the season.
Over and over again, Uka internally “squees” with delight when Kai looks at her. When he gives her his hat. When they get to sit next to each other in class. When she’s the only one who knows his secret sleeping spot. When he rests his head on her shoulder on the bus trip home. Hell, she’s just happy that she gets to exist within the same reality as the guy. It’s downright corny. It’s so corny that my eyes are rolling out of my head. But the pendulum swings just as heavily in the other direction. Teens have a penchant for overthinking everything, and the cast of Honey Lemon Soda is no exception. For example, thinking that your perfectly normal photo from junior high is too weird to show your friends. But there’s an even more dramatic case later on.
Despite the undeniable fact that Uka now has a skip in her step, one of Kai’s friends — I think it’s Tomoya — ominously wonders if Uka is truly better off having met Kai. After all, lot of girls are in love Kai, and some of them will naturally see Uka as not just a rival but an enemy. One girl has already tried to sabotage our heroine’s reputations by screwing with their school trip to the mountains. Kai’s friend thinks that more childish retaliation will becoming Uka’s way. Is he overthinking things? Maybe, maybe not. Maybe it’s the rival girl who is overthinking things. Or maybe it’s Uka when she reacts to Tomoya’s words as though she’s taken a shot to the heart. It’s a roller coaster of emotional highs and lows. We’ll learn later that she’s caught a cold due to being out in the rain. Nevertheless, there’s no shortage of drama in Honey Lemon Soda, and that too is a form of corniness.
On the one hand, I think I get it? We’ve all been teens once. And teens are stereotypically self-centered. Everything is a big deal to them. Every parent is the worst parent ever. Every day is the worst day ever. So on and so forth. A delicate combination of having a limited perspective plus raging hormones will crank everything up to 11. Multiply that by another factor to account for the fact that we’re watching a TV series meant to toy with our feelings. But wait, was being a teen actually like that? I’m afraid I can’t recall anymore. It’s been nearly two decades since I’ve stepped foot in a high school. Hell, I’m not even sure if I’ve spoken to a high schooler since then. So what do I even know of the teenage experience? What qualifies me to speak with any authority about it? I can’t even remember my own. Frankly, I’m too old to understand Uka, Kai, and the rest of these kids.
But what really got me to write this post was watching more episodes of The Red Ranger Becomes an Adventurer in Another World right after Honey Lemon Soda. Red’s kind of a huge dork. Not kind of. He is a huge dork who thinks everyone can be his friend. And as a result, everything can be defeated through the bonds of friendship. You might even argue that his adventures are just as corny as the teen love in Honey Lemon Soda. In most isekai anime, you expect other men to act as threats to the main character’s love life. He’s got a hot babe (or multiple), and everyone wants a piece of that pie (or multiple). Things look to be headed in that exact direction when Red and Yhidra have a little contest against two experienced adventurers in the second episode. If the former pair wins, the latter has to apologize for insulting Yhidra’s father. If, however, the latter wins, she’ll do anything they want. Uh, that’s a bit disproportionate, don’t you think? Why bet that of all things? But naturally, the seasoned adventurers immediately have lewd thoughts. To make a long story short, Red’s earnestness convinces former enemies to ignore their baser instincts in order to work together as one. It’s the power of friendship, y’all. It’s so strong that they even have to strike a pose. And y’know what? I laughed. I genuinely laughed.
So what’s my problem anyway? Why does Honey Lemon Soda’s corniness make me roll my eyes but Red Ranger’s corniness make me laugh? Well, I want to say it’s a bit like comparing apple and oranges. I want to say that Red Ranger doesn’t take itself seriously — that the show knows that it’s stupid and embraces that identity. But that’s also an assumption on my part — a convenient defense against the charge of bias. And we always have to pause from time to time to re-examine our biases, because they do exist. I don’t think anyone has such clarity of thought that they can approach every single situation with pure objectivity. We are human after all. We are a product of not just our upbringing and culture but also thousands of years of genetic memory.
I have to think carefully if I’m biased against Honey Lemon Soda, because maybe it’s just as earnest as Red Ranger. Maybe even more earnest. It captures a teen spirit I don’t and can’t remember anymore. I roll my eyes because I’m trying to walk in Uka’s shoes, but because I’m so far removed from those halcyon days of high school, I can only do so as an adult. And as an adult, I would never leave a job just so I could work with my crush. As an adult, I wouldn’t have fallen in love with the first person who is nice to me. As an adult, I am wary of anyone who yells at me with good intentions. But Uka’s not an adult and neither is Kai. The boy doesn’t hurt her feelings (we hope) because he’s trying to take advantage of her. Rather, he can barely express his own feelings contrary to Uka’s assertion up top. Point is, I would never do what Uka has done through the first four episodes, but as they often say, kids need to be able to explore their independence in order to carve out their own identity, and in the process, make and learn from their own mistakes.
I can’t say that I enjoy Honey Lemon Soda. But I do have to remind myself not to put too much stock in my initial reactions. Especially when there’s so much variance between shows of similar, well, corniness. Sometimes, you should trust your gut feelings, but that doesn’t mean you can’t reflect on them after the fact.
