If you’re going to change the things you don’t like about yourself, that which led to relentless bullying during your middle school years and kept you from making meaningful connections…
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First Look: Honey Lemon Soda
Manga Adaptation by J.C.Staff Streaming on Crunchyroll Premise Previously bullied in middle school, Uka Ishimori is determined to make her high school experience a more positive one. However,…
First Impressions – Honey Lemon Soda
Setting aside (though only for a moment) its intrinsic quality as a series, Honey Lemon Soda says something about the state of shoujo anime.
Honey Lemon Soda
Honey Lemon Soda is currently streaming on Crunchyroll on Wednesdays....
Honey Lemon Soda GN 2
What sets Honey Lemon Soda apart from its brethren? It's the willingness to understand that it's not a quick or easy thing to break free of the things…
Honey Lemon Soda – Episode 1
A gently fizzy take on a familiar shoujo story that's very human and sweet as a dollop of honey.
Honey Lemon Soda GN 1
Is this romance about a bullied teen all sweet and no substance? Rebecca Silverman checks out Honey Lemon Soda to find out.
Honey Lemon Soda, Vol 2
Honey Lemon Soda Volume 2 by Mayu Murata Shy girl in love with popular boy is a fairly common subgenre of shoujo manga, but with the second volume,…
Second Impressions – Honey Lemon Soda
This series is seriously, seriously shoujo.
Honey Lemon Soda, Vol 2
Honey Lemon Soda Volume 2 by Mayu Murata Shy girl in love with popular boy is a fairly common subgenre of shoujo manga, but with the second volume,…
Honey Lemon Soda Episode 1 Review – Soaked In Lemon Soda
What if Uka was actually in love with the soda and not Kai?
Honey Lemon Soda – 02 – Gemstone Dreams
Ishimori arrives at school not sure if everything she experienced yesterday wasn’t just a dream. Even so, she manages to say good morning to Miura, though he isn’t…
Honey Lemon Soda #01 — “Everybody Clapped”
That's definitely a thing teenagers do when answering math problems. Impressions: The "everybody clapped" scene was about when my eyes rolled far enough back in my head…
Honey Lemon Soda – 01 (First Impressions) – Disobey Your Curse
While the title is fun and refreshing, Honey Lemon Soda is a very familiar flavor of shoujo romance, but well-executed and full of novel details. The titular soda is…
Honey Lemon Soda Vol 1 by Mayu Murata
Honey Lemon Soda Volume 1 by Mayu Murata I was aware that there was a great deal of anticipation when Honey Lemon Soda was licensed, and the first…
Honey Lemon Soda Episode 2 Review – A Gemstone
Uka and Kai are warming up to each other.
Honey Lemon Soda Episode 1 Review: An Emotional Introduction
This episode left me wondering about hidden backstories and potential character growth—and I’ve shared all my thoughts in my review. If you enjoy a romance anime with emotional…
Winter 2025 Impressions: Honey Lemon Soda, Red Ranger Isekai, Baban Baban Ban Vampire
Honey Lemon Soda Short Synopsis: A high school wallflower becomes enamored with a blond-haired boy who later stands up to a trio of bullies on her behalf. Wooper:…
Reader’s Corner: Honey Lemon Soda, Doomsday with My Dog, and A Galaxy Next Door
Relationships take central focus in this week’s Reader’s Corner: that between would-be lovers and those seeking to take the next step in intimacy; between adventurers who have trust…
Reader’s Corner: Helck (Vol. 3), Honey Lemon Soda (Vol. 2), and Horimiya (Vol. 16, Final)
Does the abstract nature of Yokohama Station SF translate to manga for? Is Chitose in the Ramune Bottle better as a light novel or manga? Is Suzune Magica…
Earl and Fairy, Helck, Horimiya, Re:ZERO -Starting Life in Another World-, Spy Classroom
Reader’s Corner: Honey Lemon Soda (Vol. 5), The Remarried Empress (Vol. 6), and The Uncanny Counter (Vol. 1)
It’s a big day for manga, manhwa light novel releases, and we’ve got reviews for you of a number of those hitting shelves today! Romance, slice-of-life, fantasy, and…
First Impressions: Honey and Clover
“It is not only well-written, but well executed on the part of Studio Shaft, whose odd style of animation lended even more personality to the show as a…
First Impression: Revenger
It’s nighttime in the dregs of the Tokugawa era, Japan, and assassins abound. This particular one kills his mark, but not before the victim is able to plant…
First Impression: Noblesse
Okay, before I get into my first take on this one, I need to clear the air about something. Yes, I am aware that Noblesse has an OVA…
First Impression: Uzumaki
Do you ever feel that your life is spiraling out of control? Like things are just swirling downwards into an endless pit of despair towards a void of…
First Impression: Kaginado
A familiar little girl wearing a sailor fuku with stuffed dango in hand walks into a planetarium, where she’s greeted by another familiar face, an android with blue…
First Impression: SHY
A snazzy comic book-style intro and voice-over catch us up on the state of the world: it seems that planet Earth is awash with…peace and tranquility? That’s right,…
First Impression: ODDTAXI
Odokawa is an odd duck (or rather, walrus) by most any measure. He’ll take an inappropriately long amount of time to think of an answer to a question…
First Impression: Pet
The physical world is immense and full of possibilities—good and bad. But the world inside our minds is even more vast, full of imagination, potential, and horror. There…
First Impression: Gleipnir
Shuichi is about to graduate high school, and those his grades are good enough for college, he’s hesitating. Something doesn’t feel right. He doesn’t want to stand out—but…
First Impression: Wargroove
It is no secret that I was looking forward to Wargroove for quite some time. It was clear from the start of the project where the developers inspirations…
First Impression: Zenshu
Natsuko Hirose is a young hotshot animation director who skyrocketed to fame with her first production that was so relevant it became a cultural phenomenon. Her next series…
First Impression: BULLBUSTER
For the past year, Ryugan Island has been overrun by large, hulking creatures known as “Giant Beasts.” To deal with the creatures and make the island inhabitable again,…
First Impression: Arte
Set in Florence, Italy, early in the sixteenth century, this is the tale of a young noblewoman named Arte trying to become a proper artist and make a…
First Impression: Listeners
Well. Umm. Huh. The first episode of Listeners was…trippy? Yeah, let’s go with that. I mean, it’s a music-themed, post-apocalyptic, giant robot adventure, so what do you expect?…
First Impression: Sakugan
A little girl is running from a man with a gun through a sci-fi city. The tension grows. He is near. He looms over the square, then jumps.…
First Impression: Horimiya
Kyoko Hori: Smart, beautiful, popular, but for unknown reasons, she rushes out of school instead of spending time with the rest of her clique. Izumiya Miyamura: Quiet, introverted,…
First Impression: HAIGAKURA
Ichiyo is a “Kashi,” a shaman who uses dance and music to capture gods in his sacred beads, known as “Sai.” But among all the Kashi, Ichiyo is…
First Impression: Maesetsu!
After years of failed auditions, comedy duo Tokonatsu, consisting of Mafuyu Kogarashi and Fubuki Kitakaze, finally get their first break—a slot at Shoka-Yono High’s cultural festival! There&#…
First Impression: Cue!
Action music. A deep blue sea with emerald green coasts. Pursued by their enemies, a boy and a girl are entering the fantasy world where she was born.…
First Impression: OVERTAKE
Kouya Madoka is a photographer who is having trouble with his work. He gets tense and anxious before a photo shoot, and this is causing him to be…
First Impression: SSSS.Dynazenon
The episode opens with a rapid montage of ambiguous scenes: teenagers hanging out along a riverbank; a muted argument in a school corridor; a hand releasing pearl-like beads…
First Impression: Noblesse
Okay, before I get into my first take on this one, I need to clear the air about something. Yes, I am aware that Noblesse has an OVA…
86 (First Impression)
“The Republic of San Magnolia has been attacked by its neighbor, the Empire. Outside the 85 districts of the Republic there is the ‘non-existent 86th district,’ where young…
First Impression: Onipan!
Three typical slice-of-life girls arrive in the big city. There’s Himawari, the confident blond sporty one, Tsuyukusa, the sleepy-eyed, dessert-loving blue-haired one, and Tsutsuji, with the reddis…
First Impression: Farmagia
A troll is farming with some strange creatures around him when suddenly the sky darkens and a flaming phoenix shape brings about the apocalypse. Fade to black. And…
First Impression: PLUTO
One of the staples of popular anime has always been robots, often giant in scale and battling in space. Long before Gundam and others, Astro Boy, created by Osamu Tezuka, was…
First Impression: Dandadan
“Huuuuuh?!?!” Like lightning, Momo the gyaru launches a jaw-breaking kick at the delinquent’s head, only, it doesn’t land. And then he dumps her. Seems she’s too poor and…
Gekidol (First Impression)
“Set five years after the mysterious disaster of a city’s sudden disappearance, a group of girls fascinated by the “Theatrical Material System” using 3D holograms aims to brighten…
First Impression: Re:Monster
If you were resurrected into another world, would it matter what form you were born into? Would you immediately give up on this second life if your new…
First Impression: Chimimo
The everyday life of three sisters—Mutsumi, Mei, and Hazuki—is thrown for a loop bythe appearance of a bouncy, cute, spherical creature with an oni-like horn. Soon, Mochi, as…