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SYNOPSIS
Yui "Cherry" Sakura expresses himself better through the haiku he writes and posts on the internet, even though no one gives it attention. While preparing for him and his family to relocate in August, he spends the summer working part-time at a welfare facility. Meanwhile, Yuki "Smile" Hoshino is a budding influencer who wants everyone to smile. However, she feels uneasy about the braces on her protruding front teeth and conceals her own smile using a disposable mask.
After an accidental encounter with Cherry, Smile finds herself becoming a part-time worker at the same facility as him. Soon, the two assist a senile man, Fujiyama, in searching an old vinyl record he owns. Unable to remember its last location, he wishes to listen to it once more before his memories fade for good. Cherry and Smile only have the record's sleeve and the word "yamazakura" as clues, and their hunt in the hazy summer heat begins.
The review is from MY PERSONAL POINT OF VIEW, everyone will appreciate and see something else, by this review i wish to give you a new look on the anime
, feel free to let me know your POV... everyone is unique and values something else more than others.Intro
I dont usually watch anime movies... as i feel like they dont have much space for a build up, plot, and details . With that said, words bubble up like soda pop is a reaaallyy nice anime movie. Very simple storyline around main male character Cherry and main female character Smile. One very introverted and reserved - the other one very outgoing and also popular... both of them have some kind of insecurities or things which they don't like about themselves. Cherry doesn't like to talk to people .. so he has headphones on him all the time so people don't approach him. Smile doesn't like her braces, so she wears a mask. With that said, there is also Fujiyama - an old man, who is looking for one specific song - by this he basically sets up Cherry and Smile to grow closer even though there is to some extent awkwardness between them.
Cherry
As we said before, Cherry is a very introverted and reserved guy which keeps headphones on him in order to avoid a thing which he is so uncomfortable and insecure about. This, i would say, is because of him moving places a lot of the times, also his personality... but mainly i would say the lack of confidence... when he talked to Smile.. It never really looked like he minded it. Thanks to Smiles personality, his friends pushing him, and also the confession at the end - he made a big change in this regard and overcame his insecurity and gained, I believe, a massive self-confidence boost
Smile
Smile is a very popular girl on social media; she is very outgoing and lively. Her insecurity here are the braces she has... she thinks its making her look bad.. thus she wears a mask. As i said before - thanks to Smile being lively and outgoing.... she helped Cherry get out of his comfort zone. he on the other, also helped Smile, at the end where he confessed - that had to be for he a massive relief, or i guess confidence boost is a better word - that there is someone who genuinely likes her true self, even with braces.
Fujiyama
Fujiyama - the ultimate support, his problem with looking for certain songs set up Cherry and Smiles relationship development... he was the one who gave Cherry the final push to overcome his fear and be honest with himself and Smile. He has to be the one supporting character we can't miss in mentioning.
Takeaway
The takeaway is quite simple. Don't give up on the things you want like Fujiyama, help others if you can, like all the other characters did when helping Fujiyama find the song. And also overcome your fears and insecurities... sometimes its only you who thinks they are disgusting... others may like them.
Vibrant colors, heartwarming music, and finding self-confidence.
Words Bubble Up Like Soda Pop is not an uncommon romance anime movie to those familiar with the genre. Charmingly formulaic, it is an easy-going watch that will cheer you up if you’re feeling blue. It’s not likely to leave you with a lasting impact, but it’s a brief, pleasant watch—like a cool breeze on a hot summer day.
Cherry is a boy who writes haikus for fun yet has difficulty expressing himself verbally. Smile is a girl with buck teeth and braces concerned about looking cute for her Instagram following. Each of them communicates their personalities through social media; Cherry posts his haikus on Twitter. Smile streams vlogs to thousands of viewers. Cherry and Smile are relatable in the sense that they lack self-confidence. Both are timid kids; to avoid the daily awkwardness of being a teenager, Cherry has on his headphones, and Smile always wears a face mask.
The first third of the film is wonderfully upbeat; the two protagonists live a day in their life and cross paths at random. Cherry is a caretaker for older people, and Smile likes spending time with her friends. There’s little to know about the main duo, and we learn next to nothing about the one-dimensional side cast. Aside from providing emotional support, the supporting characters are irrelevant caricatures. Cherry and Smile’s meeting is very coincidental. A random person bumps into them, and they accidentally swap smartphones. It’s a wonder they didn’t realize they were in the plot of a cheesy romance. Thankfully, their slow-burn romance is only one of the plotlines because neither characters are interesting enough to form a compelling relationship. The social media motif lightly touches on how apps such as Twitter and Instagram cause insecurities; Cherry felt undervalued because no one ever liked his posts. Smile’s cutesy online persona caused her to be more self-conscious of her teeth. Lamentably, the film quickly forgot the introspective motif in favor of a scavenger hunt storyline.
The middle section consists of montages and slice of life snippets to show how their relationship progresses from friends to romance. During this act, the anime plants itself in a charming and formulaic romantic drama. There is very little character development to be had until the final act. Screentime is primarily taken up by the blossoming romantic duo searching for an old record lost by an older man—one of the people Cherry sees at work. At the start, we witness the man exploring a wide-open field and a mall with nothing but the record cover; this gets hinted at becoming the crux of the film. Their quest to find the lost record fails to maintain interest, but it is accompanied by the beautiful everpresent, primarily instrumental, music.
The most praise I can give to this film is the excellent soundtrack. It guided the mood from joyful to melancholy and it progressively became better. There is a lovely song playing in the background at nearly every moment—drowning out sound effects or chance at creative sound design. In a music genre film, that is fine. However, the lack of creative musical transitions left me slightly disappointed. I appreciate they did not attempt to go for melodramatic gut punches at the end. Though very predictable, there’s magic to an easy-going romance ending.
While occasionally choppy, the animation is serviceable. The vibrant and colorful background art is dazzling enough to draw your attention. It bears many similarities to the stunning art direction from Great Pretender. After a while, it feels rather mundane and static. It is more akin to drawn-on Hollywood set dressing than of a believable world. We’ve come to expect this visual fidelity from studio Signal MD. The voice actors did the best they could with the threadbare script: Somegorou Ichikawa’s performance as Cherry was natural, but it slightly conflicted with Smile’s enthusiastic personality—this further emphasizes their lack of similarities or chemistry. Cherry is his first role in an anime, which is clear, though, for a newcomer, he did well.
Words Bubble Up Like Soda Pop is more on the level of a moderately high-quality anime than a movie. The expressively animated character designs nearly distract from their surface-level depth. There are a couple of impressive animation cuts, such as a boy skateboarding through a shopping mall while evading security at the beginning. Though the rest is simply cartoony. Melodic music, a low-stakes predictable story, and coming-of-age themes. There is just enough here to maintain our attention until the bittersweet finale. This is not a film that warrants a second watch. Although it won't leave a lasting impact, it is a nice passing watch to wind down with during the middle of the summer. Thank you for reading this
