Wright Film revealed on Friday that Mayu Murata’s “Honey Lemon Soda” manga will be turned into a TV anime, along with showing a teaser picture. Murata also created a special illustration to celebrate the announcement.
A live-action movie based on the manga came out in July 2021. The English version of the manga is released by Yen Press.
In addition to the anime adaptation, the announcement also introduced the staff members along with a sneak peek image. However, there is no news yet on the release date and cast.
Hiroshi Nishikiori, who worked on “A Certain Magical Index,” is directing the anime at J.C. Staff. Akiko Waba is handling the series composition, and Aimi Tanaka is overseeing the character design.
They will also be joined by Akira Kosemura, who is responsible for the series’ composition. The popular manga has sold over 12 million copies as of February 2024.
In 2016, Shueisha released the first volume, and the series will publish its 25th volume on April 24th. In 2021, the manga Honey Lemon Soda’ was nominated for Best Series at the 45th Kodansha Manga Awards.
Plot
The story centers on Uka Ishimori as she begins her high school life. She feels anxious because during her three years in middle school, she faced constant bullying from her classmates, which made her feel lonely and frightened.
For high school, Uka has chosen to attend Hachimitsu High School, even though her classmates also applied there.
She made this decision because she was chasing after Kai Miura, a boy she met just before the entrance exams. Kai helped her when she was being bullied.
On her first day of school, she ran into Kai again and got soda spilled on her by accident. Feeling shy, she said sorry and hurried away.
Later, she discovered they were in the same class. Because of the soda incident, they ended up talking to each other.
Seeing how shy Uka was, Kai started to include her in class conversations and looked out for her. This helped Uka make friends quickly, and she began to feel more comfortable.
The scars from bullying don’t heal quickly, especially when the bullies are still around. Uka closed her heart to trusting others because of this.
Uka had a lot to deal with, but it was good that Kai was there to help her make progress. However, he wasn’t a hero who solved everything for her.
He assisted her by starting conversations or supporting her, but Uka needed to build her own connections. After all, Kai was very popular and had to keep up a certain image. He couldn’t spend all his time with Uka.
It’s common in stories for main characters to change themselves for high school or even switch schools to avoid old classmates. That’s why it’s nice to see “Honey Lemon Soda” take a different path.
Apart from the story, “Honey Lemon Soda” offers what you’d expect from this genre. The artwork has a style more reminiscent of the early 2000s than of 2015 when it first started.
The female characters all have big eyes, and Kei looks like he’s wearing thick eyeliner. The backgrounds in the artwork are not very detailed.
It’s not bad art at all, but it doesn’t stand out compared to other series. It’s not a big issue, but it’s something to keep in mind.
Honey Lemon Soda has an interesting beginning. It combines typical shojo elements with a deeper story, giving readers more than what the cute title and cover might suggest
Staff
Honey Lemon Soda is directed by Hiroshi Nishikiori, known for his work on Trinity Seven and Toaru Majutsu no Index.
The series composition is done by Akiko Waba, who worked on Blue Reflection Ray and wrote for Akagami no Shirayuki-hime.
Manami Tanaka, known for Sugar Apple Fairy Tale and Mewkledreamy key animation, is responsible for the character design.
The music for the series is composed by Akira Kosemura, who has worked on Summer Ghost and Ao no Orchestra.
The anime is produced by Studio J.C.Staff, with planning and production handled by Unlimited Produce by TMS.