Here’s my take on Honey Lemon Soda. This series is seriously, seriously shoujo. Like hardcore. I like a lot of shoujo, don’t get me wrong (though less often romances). But the tropes are carrying a heavy load here, and even after two eps I can feel it starting to get to me. None of this is a huge surprise in that this was pretty much its reputation going in. But the margin of error with me is very thin on a show like this. It’s really got to thread the needle to work, and I’m not so sure I’d call that likely at this point.

The whole damsel-in-distress thing is being laid on very thick. So far the pattern is pretty established. Ishi thinks dark thoughts, Ishi gets in trouble, Kai bails her out, Kai acts tsundere. At least he isn’t abusive – that’s one shoujo trope avoided. But Uka is a lot to take. I do accept that bullied kids are often buried so deep that that asking for help is the most one can realistically expect from them, and genuine progress. But I sure hope at some point she gets a little more assertive and stops apologizing constantly (which annoys me as much as it does Kai).

As for Kai, he’s fine. But honestly not someone we haven’t seen a hundred times before in shoujo. The thing with the basketball game was a nice idea, though it did stretch credulity a bit that Uka was so adept at the sport. The bit was the bully girl calling in reinforcements was sort of odd. I mean, what were they planning to do with Uka once they dragged her out of hiding? Were they going to beat her up? Worse? I mean that seems unlikely but what, then? The whole affair had too much unreality to it to really feel threatening.

Formula stories can certainly be good, and there’s nothing inherently deal-breaking in this formula. Seeing a beaten-down girl find happiness and fall in love could be very engaging. But at this point I can’t grasp onto anything with Honey Lemon Soda that really recommends it. Nothing that makes it stand out, or makes it particularly compelling. It’s just kind of there, competently put together but totally unexceptional in every way. It’s too early by far to say that won’t change – the manga has been around for a long time, and carving a massive commercial niche. But whether that next gear is there is an open question – as is whether or not it will shift into it quickly enough for me too still be in the audience.