It can be difficult to accept ourselves for who we are. We can be our own best critics, after all. Especially since we know exactly what our faults are due to living with them on a daily bases. Words Bubble Up Like Soda Pop one of Yen Press’ new manga series, understands the concept and shows what it’s like for two young people dealing with it. Yui “Cherry” Sakura and Yuki, who streams as “Smile” both are incredibly aware and insecure about an element of themselves, and the first volume highlights how a chance meeting could provide an opportunity for both to accept who they are and each other.
Both Cherry and Smile are dealing with their own unique issues in Words Bubble Up Like Soda Pop. He has trouble actually talking with people, unless it’s via text messages or written words. However, he finds haiku especially effective, and turns to social media to share the ones he writes. While he can’t normally find the right words, between his saijiki haiku dictionary and the time he can spend working it out, it all comes together for him.
Meanwhile, Smile is in many ways very confident! She has a successful streaming channel with over a million viewers. She used to be okay with herself, and her nickname started out as Beaver Smile for her buck teeth. But after her father pointed them out and suggested she could be teased about it, something that it seems never happened before that, she became fixated on it. It’s to the point that she constantly wears a face mask, and while eating with her sisters in the manga covers her mouth with her hand.
Why Words Bubble Up Like Soda Pop works so well is it starts with that accidental meeting, which also ended up playing into both of their “failings.” Cherry, who has trouble communicating, saw her unmasked face, was distracted by her braces, and remarked upon the word like any other he’d use for a haiku. He didn’t realize it would touch a nerve. (I even get the impression maybe he didn’t know he’d been heard.) Cherry is so incredibly self-conscious about her teeth and braces that she immediately takes this as a criticism, rather than an innocent observation. Because that’s the first thing Cherry noticed about her, she zeroes in on that.
But how it all comes together over this first volume of the Words Bubble Up Like Soda Pop manga helps make the blossoming relationship satisfying. These two teenagers both are dealing with valid insecurities. But by interacting with and getting to know one another, we’re seeing it shift their own perspectives. Granted, this is most notable on the part of Cherry for this initial volume, largely because we’re seeing the story primarily from his perspective. He’s realizing the connection developing with Smile, and how this is in turn making it easier for him to grow as a person and get out what he needs to say.
It ends up being quite a charming adaptation of a story people may have already seen via watching the Words Bubble Up Like Soda Pop film. Given this is a rural setting and slice of life story, the pacing that comes from a manga suits it well. Plus, it does a good job of establishing who Cherry and Smile are, since it has the luxury to breathe and show their perspectives and insights.
Words Bubble Up Like Soda Pop volume 1 is now available via Yen Press, and volume 2 will appear on September 19, 2023. The anime film version of the story is available on Netflix.
