To live is to search for the future while using the past to inspire us. While life may not be a perfect run, there will always be a bright side that can outshine darkness. This is one of the most striking lessons that I learned after watching Words Bubble Up Like Soda Pop, an anime film directed by Kyohei Ishiguro (the director of world-wide popular anime “Your Lie in April”)  that is now available on Netflix. 

The film portrays Cherry, a soft-spoken teenage boy who expresses himself through the art of Haiku - a Japanese poem of seventeen syllables, in three lines of five, seven, and five, traditionally evoking images of the natural world - and Internet sensation/influencer Smile, a bubbly and outgoing but self-conscious girl who wears a face mask to hide her braces and buck teeth. The two end up accidentally meeting when Smile gets pushed onto Cherry, causing both of them to fall and drop their phones. During this, Smile’s mask slides off of her and reveals her teeth and braces to which she immediately covers then grabs the phone closest to her as she rushes out in a panic. Cherry takes the phone that was left behind only for both of them to realize that the phones which they had taken were each other’s. This leads to quite an adventure for the two of them, a friendship and love developing as the story progresses. 

Their adventure leads them to find themselves as well as their friends searching for a record that Mister Fujiyama - an elderly man who Cherry takes care of at the senior center where he works - has been searching for, for many years. According to him, this record has many memories and songs that remind him of his late wife. The saddest part is he has begun to forget these memories and hopes that by finding the record and playing it, he will remember the memories he so much loved once again. To this request, Cherry and Smile respond by searching many places where records were sold, making it their mission to find this record and reunite Mister Fujiyama with the memories he so much loves. As their adventure and search continues, the two - along with their friends - manage to find this record. This changes Smile’s perspective of her own self, for the artist that the record belonged to had a similar situation regarding her appearance. 

The movie is full of emotional moments that have taught me so much about the overall look of life, insecurities, and overcoming said insecurities. While Smile’s character is mostly seen as the one who struggles more with her insecurities based on her physical appearance, Cherry’s character also struggles with his own talent and potential. Their characters are very realistic to what a lot of people face, regarding their ages.

A lot of people struggle with their own view of themselves and insecurities based on how they look or appear to others. As a fashion studies major, this is no shock to me. Unfortunately, the fashion industry has caused a lot of people’s insecurities to grow as they begin to compare themselves to the models portrayed in commercials and advertisements. I believe Smile’s character embodies a certain aspect of this. As an influencer, Smile wants to look her very best but feels as though her natural appearance will interfere with the image she wants built for herself and decides to conceal a feature so unique and endearing. This is very common in the fashion industry, especially with the world of influencers. It seems that a bar has been raised and unrealistic expectations have been built. I personally enjoyed Smile’s development a lot, for she goes from concealing her appearance that she was insecure about, to in the end accepting herself as she is and embracing her true beauty. However, her own acceptance came because of a Haiku that Cherry wrote for her. 

Cherry’s insecurities are also quite relatable. As a college student, I can understand feeling unsure of my potential and to be outspoken about what I’m good at doing, and that is the case for many other people, making Cherry very relatable and realistic. The beautiful thing about both  Cherry and Smile’s insecurities and overcoming these insecurities were that despite how they felt about their own self, they always saw each other as magnificent, beautiful, and talented, so much that the insecurities they had of each other was what the other admired from the other which was ironic but very meaningful. It shows that the things we may not love about ourselves could be one of the many reasons why other people love us. 

Once again, I was blessed by Jesus for seeing Words Bubble Up Like Soda Pop because even though the protagonists are still teenagers experiencing life, their struggles and discoveries are so very relevant to people from any age. Pressure about the way we look or present ourselves to the rest of the world can certainly have a strong impact on how we view ourselves and how we live our lives but the beauty about the film was the way love and kindness from the people that matter most to us can help us gain direction and confidence. As a Fashion Studies major, I see this movie as a marvel because even though the film did not revolve around fashion, the struggles portrayed are very relevant in the fashion industry and this wonderful film had a very strong beginning and ending. The film Words Bubble Up Like Soda Pop teaches us that it is possible to face our struggles and gain confidence as long as we have people who love and support us. It also brings a strong lesson on how the past can inspire how we handle ourselves in the future. Both Cherry and Smile found confidence in their present when they were involved in searching for Mister Fujiyama’s precious record from the past. It has been said that the past can help you learn, but Words Bubble Up like Soda Pop portrays that not only can the past help us shape our future, but it can give us inspiration to be who we are by learning from those who came before us.