Honey Lemon Soda

Episode 10

If you stop to think about it, this series has been overwhelmingly from Uka's point of view. That's neither odd nor bad, but it has effectively elevated Kai to the position he occupies in her mind: someone who almost isn't human because she admires him so much. But the truth is that he is just a fifteen or sixteen-year-old kid, and while he looks mature to Uka's eyes (and probably the rest of the class), there's a non-zero chance that he's dealing with some things on his own. And one of the biggest signs? Take it from a former high school teacher: it would be the fact that he sleeps so much at school.

It's nice to see that the teacher is aware of that fact and whatever it is that's causing it. Oftentimes kids sleep during class because their homelives aren't conducive to getting proper rest outside of school, and Kai and Uka's homeroom teacher's reactions support that; when Satoru gets an absent Kai on the phone and his only excuse is, “I'm sleepy,” their teacher calmly says that's fine, and refuses to elaborate on it. That likely means that he's also aware that Kai's been working a job in what appears to be a mildly disreputable part of town. Kai's general refusal to answer questions about what he does in the evenings or anything else that possibly related to his home life (such as why he dyed his hair) are all likely indicative of something that's, if not precisely wrong, at least stressful. The fact that he moved around the time he bleached his hair and that very few people know about it also adds to the likelihood of him going through something.

Maybe that's why he's been so protective of Uka and was the same way with Serina. It's much easier to save someone else than yourself, which may be a behind-the-scenes theme of Honey Lemon Soda. If Kai helps Uka, he can feel like he's in control of something, even if that's someone else's life rather than his own. And that contributes to the idea that it's really Uka doing the hard work in this series. While she undoubtedly wants to reciprocate with Kai, which is what she means when she tells him she wants to know him better, unlike him, she's starting her work with herself. She's making difficult decisions, such as standing up to her controlling (albeit well-meaning) father, talking to her bullies, and simply continuing to show up to school despite what she went through in middle school. And she's doing it without relying on things like drastically changing her appearance, often a visual shortcut for someone desperately trying to claw back control.

She drives this idea home when she tells her bully that bullied kids never forget the names of the ones who hurt them. That is, in my experience, 100% true. I even know what state mine moved to. The hard part isn't forgetting what was done but working up the ability to keep moving forward while remembering. That's what Uka has been doing, and if having Kai at her back has helped, he still hasn't done the work for her. Serina felt that Kai made her weaker, but he made Uka feel stronger, and that's why this week she wanted to learn more about him and what he was going through. No one else seems to want to dig beneath his façade to see what's actually happening. Uka knows that sometimes, that's the only answer.

The caution tape that gets put up around the school this week is the perfect analogy for Kai's heart. It's strung up across the entrances to his hideouts, symbolically keeping everyone out. But he invites Uka to climb over it. Maybe, just maybe, he's ready to let someone in.

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