As a card-carrying introvert, this writer takes damage from a completely different angle, because the words and actions of the painfully shy protagonist are rendered in such high resolution that, at times, they hit as a flutter I'd half forgotten, and at other times they jab at old wounds I'd rather have left buried. Honey Lemon Soda is a story planted dead center in the heart of youth. A plain, unassuming but kind-hearted protagonist girl falls for a prince-type boy who seems to lead a sparkling life (though Miura is a bit of a curveball, personality-wise, with a touch of arrogance). The catalyst was him protecting her from some delinquent-ish people who used to bully her. Bewildered by her first love, the protagonist gets swept into all sorts of heart-pounding situations... A shoujo manga story this textbook, this perfectly orthodox, somehow feels fresh precisely because of it. I think this is a story that any woman, whoever she may be, would surely be able to enjoy. The ones to watch out for are introverted men like myself. The setting, Yamizu High School, is a school with a free-spirited atmosphere that's popular with students but not so well-regarded by parents, a den of extroverts, so to speak. The protagonist, Uka Ishimori, was so lacking in presence during middle school that she was called "Ishi" (stone) as a slur, and she's reluctant to show much emotion. The other protagonist, Kai Miura, notices this and teases and helps her at every turn, but when he does, the surrounding background students play it up by ribbing Uka Ishimori. The staging makes it clear there's no malice in it, but men tend to have higher pride than women, so when a manga or anita aimed at boys has a scene where the protagonist is even lightly teased by the class, it often serves as a landmark signaling "this protagonist is being treated less than ideally." It'd be a different story if she were an "oddball" type protagonist who doesn't really grasp that she's being treated lightly by those around her, but Uka Ishimori is the type who has gone on deceiving herself out of concern for the people around her. She's perceived as "she's so honest and genuine that the class accepts this situation!" but a type like me, who hates that kind of extrovert energy, may find sad memories resurfacing: "Ah, in times like these I'd choke down my own feelings and force myself to go along with the class's cringey vibe. And then at night I'd drown some bitter feeling in a hobby..." Incidentally, in moments like that, I entrust my heart to that scene's score. That's because the score is where a protagonist's feelings come through most vividly as staging. If no sad music is playing, then I can think, ah, what an honest and lovely heart she has. I wish I could have been like that too... and I can fully enjoy even scenes like those.
Songs That Express a Refreshing Youth, and a Score That Conveys the Protagonist's Inner Heart, Reach You!
The score has many gentle-tempo, piano-centered pieces that seem to mirror that honest, calm-natured protagonist, and the tracks that stayed with me felt as though they were expressing the refreshing morning walk to school, the bustle of break time, the unique air inside the school building, and the existence of oneself (the protagonist) within it.
Keeping that gentle tempo, in scenes where the number of piano notes increases, you can feel the impatient heart and tension of trying to change yourself while thinking about the person you like. As I mentioned, the score expresses, not in words but in music, how the protagonist is feeling in the present situation, so in an orthodox shoujo manga anime like this, I felt it's an especially important piece of staging.
In the previous section I wrote that introverted men should watch with caution, but precisely because this lovely score exists, it lets you understand the wonderful things about shoujo manga, what girls are thinking and how they feel in situations like these, so now that I've heard this score, I actually think I'd rather encourage you to go ahead and watch it.
Quoted from the official site https://honeylemon-anime.com/
