Honey Lemon Soda (2021)

Not *that* bad, but not *that* good either...

I admit I was a little scared to watch this movie, as many of the comments I saw talking about this criticized it saying it wasn't good and that people dropped it like a hot pocket... BUT, being a reader of the original manga and knowing of Raul from Snow Man, I decided to give it a try. TL;DR: it wasn't good, but definitely not as bad some others made it out to be, as I've seen farrrr worse before in the shoujo genre. Let me explain:

STORY: If you're a fan of the genre, this will be nothing new, nor groundbreaking. If you're not a fan of the clichés and heart-pounding moments, I'd suggest you skip this one. The pacing of the story is very fast at the beginning, and then somehow towards the middle to 3/4 in, it gets a little slow and draggy. It follows the formula of a typical high school shoujo romance - ML protects the "weak" FL, both start dating, they break up for some random forced reason, and insert slow-mo chase scene with inspiring music and the FL/ML having an epiphany to tell the other person that WAIT they actually DO love them! But instead of one running scene, there's a whopping total of two. The director seemed to compile scenes from the manga that seemed a bit disjointed and forced, like one second there's a serious thing going on, and it hard cuts to the characters at the beach. There wasn't much of a solid flow or transition of the storyline, which is probably what turned a lot of viewers off.

ACTING: Raul definitely didn't suit the image of Kai for me, and same with Yoshikawa Ai for Uka. However, by the end of the film, they seemed more well-adjusted to the roles. Yoshikawa definitely outshined Raul with her acting as she was more natural in her role. The character of Kai isn't supposed to be greasy or cheesy, but it definitely felt like Raul was overdoing the "cool" factor, making his line delivery pretty greasy (which also wasn't his usual tone of voice, so it seemed forced).

MUSIC: I laughed a lot at the soundtrack (and that's not a good thing). I actually expected more Snow Man or Johnny's songs in general, but there was just the one at the very end, and instead we got a bunch of poorly made English songs that sounded like random royalty-free songs you'd find on Google. Especially the intro song.... iykyk. I thought they got some random, already-made song and just stuck it in, but then the singer proceeds to croon "Honey Lemon Soda" in the lyrics and I died inside. I was super confused and slightly awed that they actually made this song for the movie. And why English? Is this a trend now??

REWATCH VALUE: Hmm.. I probably won't rewatch this as there are plenty of shoujo movies that are better. But I won't judge if you do watch this because honestly it wasn't as bad as many others. Just be a little patient, let it take some time, and watch the credits til the end because that stuff was cute, man.

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"A love so sweet and refreshing, just like Honey Lemon Soda."

Visually pleasing and refreshing, which was exactly what I wanted after seeing the poster and the trailer.

Very undevelopped story and weird pacing, too focused on the "hero saves damsel in distress" thing, which unfortunately might make it look like Kai only falls in love with girls suffering from bullying (since his ex also suffered from bullying) and that he will break up with Uka until he finds another victim.

Don't get me wrong, I know it's not like this, I'm not villainizing him. I'm just saying they made him wrong, objectively speaking.

Acting was fine, it was clearly too soon for Raul to play a main role immediately but I thought he did great in the final scene, and Yoshikawa Ai clearly did too.

I haven't read the manga but I would for sure recommend it because this definitely was super rushed (understandably so, but with 2 hours of movie they could have developped the story more or made more changes to adapt it better into a movie).

The bonus scenes and the song at the end were amazing. Nice soundtracks during the movie too although they are very simple. I thought they fit to the whole vibe and aesthetic of the movie. Overall, it's a decent time pass movie.

Lots of flaws, but nonetheless, I had a good time watching it. 9/10 will be my subjective rating and 7/10 will be my objective rating.

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Time pass and good decent chilling movie...!!!

If you want a chill movie like which has no drama in it , just be cute love story. Then this movie is just that it.
The story mainly focuses on the Main leads love story and on mothing else....atleast tuey showed some scenes of other people (that is Main leads friends and second couple scenes) but you wont get other story plots amd the que suddenly build up in your head while watching....so just dont put a effort on thinking about theparts that are missing....just enjoy it...it will make you good...it has happy ending for all couples in the movie....!!! This movie is romantic,fluffy and light weight story!! I liked it as im currently watching melo dramas so this movie gave me a break tbh....the Main Leads couple scenes were actually cute and will give you smile in
your face.
The actors/actresses gave their 100% efforts their characters were perfect...so good casting was done. The music is good to hear.

So if you want to take break from heavy voltage drama, watch something light and for relaxation this movie might be it!! I hope you have a nice time watching this movie!! It was worth of my time!!

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Pleasantly surprised

Give it a shot, without thinking further, if that is what you are wondering.
I was pleasantly surprised. I decided to watch because it looked like an easy watch, and it was, but I was pleasantly surprised because it wasn't this type of silly Jap romance movie with plots/scenes that didn't always make sense. Well, a few times it was a typical Jap romance teen movie with some cheesy scenes, but the story and acting was actually really good and interesting. It was a perfect balance!
I ESPECIALLY loved that the movie did not have anything overly dramatic. It had some obstacles but they were realistic and not overbearing. I was able to appreciate everything and not feel drained from following the story. I think it was a big plus.

Side note, but each cast is uniquely beautiful like wow. And their acting is great and natural.
I also appreciated the many details in the movie. But it's up to you to notice them, so go watch it :)

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Another girl ready to worship a guy and forget that she exists because he acted like a decent human

I feel like i saw this movie a 1000000 times over the years (some better than others) and as time goes by it gets harder to get it pass down my troath. I get so frustrated with the brainless nonsense passivity and stupid acting (or lack of it for that matter) and decision making...
And it's specially problematic when they write girl characters, it gets to my last nerve. It's not being shy or afraid of being bullied, it's just acting like they are 5 (i kinda know that some japanese guys like that girls act that way, stupid and immature so they fill their ego so i know why they write them that way, very problematic) a passivity to a level of being a blank paper that you can do anything with and leaving their entire selves to hopefully being ``saved´´ by a guy that will become their god just because they acted like any basic decent human would do.

I know shit about her but she had a freaking notebook asking every little thing about him or even his taste in hairstyles. He was the one that matter, she doesn't. She is almost empty to us.

And they act inconsistent and change their minds on and off without propper sense!! I cannot haha so frustrating.

I enjoy certain aspects of the tenderness of japanese romance, that's why i still come to watch time to time hopping for better, but please, get it together and stop with this characters that are brainless and have 0 personality other than following their love interest and throwing absurd pitty parties for themselves because is way too much to handle.

And lord, if you hear me, teach 99% of japanese live actions how to kiss, because the stamp is for the papers not the lips. Quite sure that the steamy kiss tag was a joke from someone, i refuse to believe otherwise.

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yeah i agree, it's disappointing and if it weren't for raul, i wouldn't watch this

this is my first time writing a review in mdl so pls bear with me. i really want to write a review about this movie because it's so bad and disappointing, i had to let my frustration out. i'm a new fan of snow man and when i heard that raul has a movie i got excited and watched it only to feel disappointed and bad for him. the storyline sucks and very cliche and when i saw on the synopsis that he has a secret i got intrigued only to get disappointed again. really? that was the secret? i was expecting more. okay, raul has the potential in acting but i guess honey lemon soda isn't for him I MEAN, WHAT THE HELL IS UP WITH HIS VOICE? I hope they can give my boy more projects where his character is alike with what he really is like in real life. Anyways the girls in this movie are all so pretty like seriously.

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Adorable, wish it was longer

This was adorable and I loved the bright vibe of the entire film — it really looks and feels like a manga come to life. The friendships were really beautiful to see and the romance was pretty cute. Sometimes it's a little cringy but overall it was actually refreshing that there weren't any terrible villains in the entire film.

This is a film I think would even be better as a drama or even an anime simply because my favorite parts were when everyone was spending time together and I wanted more of it. There are also these "transition" moments that I think were missing — sometimes the development of character relationships or times just felt a little jumpy and sudden. A longer runtime could've helped develop the main conflict more too because I felt like the lessons and growth were so rich.

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Relaxing movie

This is a movie to watch if you don't want to have to think about anything. There's no plot to keep track of, angst is low, there isn't a large cast with multiple plots going on. I have to say, I liked it okay for what it was. Being a movie, it moves on pretty quickly with no dragging; however, I didn't feel too emotionally invested in any of the characters.

It was the typical school story of bullying the weak, the hero comes to save the day, they fall in love. I was irritated by the FL apologizing all the time, because it appeared to me that she was apologizing for existing. I did like that they didn't have the ML calling the FL names, as so often happens in J-dramas.

It was basically a short, easy watch while I look for a different show to invest my time and energy in.

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This is a feel good drama to me

This drama is a feel good drama with not a lot of dramtic things in them or suspence .This drama doesnt have any villian or antagonist in it everything is very beautifull. All the friends are very nice people its is a very good drama
This drama is about a girl who has social anixety and wants to change because she doesnt wants to be bullied anymore and their are so many cute moments i personally loved this drama and i will most probably rewatch it when i am in a sad mood
And at last i have to say that the actors were great and that wait for the end of the movie its really good and cute scenes

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