It’s another anime film about teens coming of age and summer love. Words Bubble Up Like Soda Pop is not an overpowering movie. It’s a rather low key, small film with regular, normal people with their regular, normal issues – though those issues are pretty big as far as the characters are concerned.

“Cherry,” a nickname based on his family name, works at a center for the elderly, actually filling in for his mother while she is out with a bad back. He constantly wears headphones to block out surrounding noise, and to avoid talking to other people. Person-to-person relationships are difficult for Cherry. He is creative in that he writes haiku.

Now we have “Smile,” the name she goes by on her blog. Though she has a large following, Smile is still self-conscious, always wearing a face mask to hide her buck teeth and braces.

Cherry and Smile meet by accident when they mistakenly take each other’s cell phones. They become companions, with Smile even beginning to work with the elderly alongside Cherry. Together they try to aid one old man obtain his one wish.

But are Cherry and Smile destined to be lovers for all time? Problem there. Cherry’s family is about to move out of town.

Words Bubble Up Like Soda Pop has interesting characters, good animation, and a tender finale. (Don’t stop watching before the final credits roll.) Unfortunately, the pacing is so-so, dragging at parts. It is not the best example of storytelling I have seen.

The film is directed by Kyokei Ishiguro, who has previously directed episodes of different anime series, including Your Lie in April. This is his first movie and solo project.

The screenplay is by Dai Sato, whose credits include individual episodes of anime like Ergo Proxy, Eureka Seven, and Cowboy Bebop. Sato is also involved with a new upcoming movie based on Eureka Seven. I’ll try to find out more about that later.

In all, Words Bubble Up Like Soda Pop is an average anime, but I do give some leeway in that this is a first time feature length project for director Ishiguro. So I say you should give it a look.