- Titles: Cider no You ni Kotoba ga Wakiagaru, Palavras que Borbulham como Refrigerante, Palabras que burbujean como un refresco, Nos mots comme des bulles
- Genre: Romance, Slice of Life, Colours
- Lenght: 1 hour 27 minutes
- Studio: Signal.MD, Sublimation
Cherry has a tough time with words. He just isn’t that great at expressing himself. Sure, he can write haikus like a master but as soon as he has to say anything out loud, the words get stuck in his throat and die on his tongue. Smile doesn’t have that problem. She’s already a super popular influencer with thousands of people happy to listen to her. But she also isn’t all that confident, so she lets her words out from behind a mask. Fujiyama is an old man who wants to remember something very important but he forgot what it is. All he knows is that an old record holds the key. And for one summer, Smile and Cherry are brought together to help this old man find his dream again. And maybe, they’ll find something important for themselves along the way.
It’s a good time to be a fan of colourful anime. Between this and Great Pretender, Netflix has got me covered. I know there is such a thing as scenery pr0n, but is there something specific for cloud pr0n? Because if there is, Words Bubble Up Like Soda Pop is it. Clouds like floating dreams, Paint the sky with their beauty, Like fluffy fireworks.
Production
Did I mention the colours? Words Bubble up Like Soda Pop is a technicolour feast for the eyes. And I quite liked the art style as well. All in all, I thought the movie looked beautiful and moved impressively. Not that there are any big action scenes to really push the animation but there are a few running scenes that looked great. And a lot of tiny animation moments. Characters fidget, when they run they lose their footing here and there and have to adjust their stance, background characters tug at their parents because they’re bored. Just little movements all over the screen that liven up the scenes.
Honestly, as far as production goes, I enjoyed Words Bubble Up Like Soda Pop tremendously. In fact, it may be the most impressive production either of the studios has put out. I don’t know much about Sublimation but I think Signal.MD has put out some great anime that I’ve enjoyed a lot. And Mars Red certainly had some interesting production choices. But nothing has looked as great as Words Bubble Up Like Soda Pop to me.
I feel like I should just start mentioning voice acting when I have something to say. But then I feel bad. Because take this movie for example. I don’t have anything particular to say. I don’t think one performance stood out or something was really that striking. But at the same time, I think everyone did a great job. So there you have it, good voice cast.
Story & Characters
So Words Bubble Up Like Soda Pop is primarily a romance anime but the relationship between Cherry and Smile sort of blossoms as a parallel to their quest to find the record. So the movie isn’t spending all its time on angsty teenagers wondering what to text next. Well, there is a little of that but it’s not the heart of the action.
As some of you may know, I’m not exactly a huge fan of the romance genre. I usually need something else to even it out and I just rarely enjoy romantic fiction. It has to be really tailored to my tastes for me to like it. So was Words Bubble Up Like Soda Pop for me? Not really…
But despite that, I actually think it’s a good movie. A bit shallow in places, potentially not dramatic enough for some but all in all an enjoyable little adventure if you ask me. The characters are underdeveloped but sweet. The quest to find a lost record for Mr. Fujiyama is surprisingly compelling and the looming obstacle of the two getting separated when Cherry has to move adds a sense of urgency to the whole thing that adds some really great tension.
And when I say it isn’t for me, I guess what I really mean is that I didn’t get invested in the central relationship much. I like the characters, I want them to be happy, but I don’t care about the romance bit. I cared about it more in A Whisker Away and that was a much less reasonable romance. But I did care about everything else in the movie. Including the characters themselves. So it’s not like I didn’t enjoy it more like well, it wasn’t exactly for me.
However, if you are a fan of romances and you don’t need to have huge drama or grand sweeping gestures in your stories, then I think Words Bubble Up Like Soda Pop would be a great movie for you. It’s pretty to look at, the designs are pleasant and it’s full of nice kids doing nice things.
Oh and there’s a secondary romance story that I liked a lot. It had a really nice kiss scene. I find animating, and really filming kiss scenes to often look sort of awkward, even in live-action. This was a good one.
You might like this anime if:
You like calm romance stories and/or colours! You got a thing for clouds.
My favourite character:
Beaver. I think it’s the first time I see a Spanish character in a Japan set anime and I like the idea of learning Japanese by graffitying haiku all over the place. It’s sort of sweet.
Suggested drink:
Champagne Cosmopolitan Cocktail
- Every time Cherry recites a haiku – listen carefully
- Every time simle’ braces shine – take a sip
- Every time there’s a Daruma doll – take a sip
- Every time Smiles sisters come to the rescue – cheer
- Every time the street lamps light up – take a sip
- Every time Cherry blushes – awww
- Every time anyone is walking while staring at their phone – take a sip
- Every time we see clouds int he sky – awwww yeah!
- Every time Smile thinks something’s cute – take a sip
- Every time we see graffiti – take a sip
- Every time Mr. Fujiyama repeats himself – take a sip
I save all my screencaps on my Pinterest and you can find more there if you are interested. But I still like to show you a few in the post. If you’re like me, screencaps are something that really helps you decide to watch an anime or not.
I’m not a huge fan of romance stories either, but I enjoyed this film for what it was. It doesn’t do anything bold or ambitious, but it’s a colourful and fun summertime movie. The characters were all likeable, the story was interesting, and the setting was unusual. “Nice kids doing nice things” is a pretty fair way of summing it up! And you know what? That’s perfectly okay!
I’m gad you liked it! That’s refreshing to hear
Bookmarked!
As a romance story, it’s okay. It’s more about the presentation is where it shines most, although I wouldn’t say it was spectacular. The animation feels a bit forced like when you are listening to a musical piece that is on point but doesn’t have much soul coming from it. You know like robots imitating to be humans and trying to understand what love is. At least that was the impression I got from this movie. So, I don’t think whether someone like romance genre or not should think it’s their fault that they can’t fully appreciate it.
I’m not sure what you mean about the animation. Like the framerate was wrong? I thought it was rather fluid personally but maybe I just didn’t notice. Or do you mean the choreographies? Because I do know some movements had slight hiccups but I took it to be the slight clumsiness teenagers get during growth spurts. Maybe I’m giving the production too much credit but it does fit in well and there is a lot of subtle animation throughout the production so it’s not impossible. that everything was thought out
I was the describing my impression of the film as a whole. I’m not against pretty production. It just didn’t feel natural. If the film’s intention was to describe an emotion what shy people go through, it failed in my eyes. Then again, I’m very particular when it comes to what I like.
Oh I get it. Sorry about that, I thought you were talking about the animation itself. As in how things moved on the screen.
That was a cute show. And, yeah, I really did like the look of the show a lot. This is pretty much the first time I went in search of an anime after seeing it nominated for the Chrunchyroll Awards. I was so surprised to see an anime on the list I haven’t even heard of (though that’s way more common with movies than with tv series, so I probably shouldn’t have been surprised) that I just had to look it up.
Also, I’m really nostalgic for vinyl records, and the most heartbreaking thing about the show was watching people clean up a closing record store. One less to go to (even though it’s fictional). The atmosphere was great, and they even had a cat (unless I’m mixing this up with some other show?).
Thanks for this review. Straightforward romance isn’t my thing either, so when I kept seeing this film come up on my Netflix notifications I ignored it. But maybe I will check it out. Something light would be pretty nice anyway.
It’s agreeable in my opinion