Soda Master: Quirkly Facing the Changing Tides of Time

Tinged by nostalgia and twisted by sorrow, our memories are anything but reliable. There’s no such thing as objectivity when it comes to human remembrance: the same event can be remembered in a thousand different ways, and as the years go by, details are bound to fade away, change shape, or take on diverse meanings. Even though memories are such subjectively tricky things, they inevitably mould us. They define our sense of self, our perception of others and of the world that surrounds us.

So it takes a lot of courage to actively look back on our past and examine how accurate our recollections actually are. Has time made me forgive the unforgivable? Has time made me embellish the dark days of yore? This courageous exercise of scrutiny and reconstruction of one’s memory, especially that of someone who is already gone, lies at the very heart of Fuji TV’s whimsical Soda Master, an 11-episode dramedy that aired during this year’s Winter kuru (Jan-Mar 2026).

Directed by Moriwaki Tomonobu, Yanagisawa Ryousuke, and Shimohata Yuta and written by Kosawa Ryota, Soda Master is a deceptively simple yet profoundly incisive exploration of time, memory, and generational shifts. Behind its cheerful façade of quirky film references and silly humour, this is a story that reminds us that a dazzling future can only be built on the lessons we have learned, honouring the lives of those who have shaped us into who we are today.

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The Adventures of Three Middle-Aged Men & their “Chaperone”

Soda Master introduces us to three very different 51-year-olds: white-collar worker Yoshii Yuta (Sorimachi Takashi), film director Fujimaki Hajime (Omori Nao), and hairdresser Kikuhara Kisuke (Tsuda Kenjiro). Life hasn’t been easy for these three middle-aged men, as Yuta is framed for corruption at his company, Hajime is kicked out of his latest project for his antiquated ideas, and Kisuke struggles to care for his mom, whose dementia makes her fully dependent on her son.

But, almost forty years ago, Yuta was Yun (Osumi Hideo), Hajime was Chen (Aoki Kanade), and Kisuke was Kinpo (Uchida Kirato) — three middle-schoolers in Tanbe City who shared their passion for kung-fu movies through their school’s film research club. Under the careful and humane guidance of their substitute art teacher, the marvellous Miyashita Michiru (Kiryuu Mai), whom they nicknamed Matilda, these three kids channelled their endless creativity and stamina into making their own martial arts feature, entitled “Ramune Monkey”.

Smack in the middle of Japan’s Bubble Economy, Yun, Chen, and Kinpo saw their little town dream of futuristic redevelopment that would steer them towards the kind of tomorrow they would see in the movies. Their parents talked about more prosperous days to come, and their own futures were blank canvases full of potential and hope. They would grow up to become award-winning filmmakers, manga artists, and baseball players. The friends and siblings they looked up to would surely become righteous journalists and famous dancers one day. Life was meant to be a riveting adventure, theirs for the taking.

In 2026, however, Yuta, Hajime, and Kisuke barely think about their past, which has become a blurry collection of little sparks that are nothing but foolish dreams of youth. Tanbe City was redeveloped into just another ordinary town. Yun, Chen, and Kinpo grew up to become your ordinary middle-aged men. And our ordinary cars are nothing like the flying cars they had hoped we would have by now.

This sense of “ordinariness” permeates much of the setup of Soda Master, which is then interrupted by a strange event: human bones are found at a construction site in Tanbe. The news brings Yuta and Hajime back to their hometown, where they reunite with Kisuke. They go to their old “club room”, a back room at what used to be a video rental shop and is now an average coffee shop. There, they meet part-timer and university student Nishino Hakuba (Fukumoto Riko), who keenly observes these three men happily reminisce about their middle school days.

A coffee cup later, and before they go their separate ways, Kisuke shares the bee in his bonnet. Not long ago, he found an old handwritten leaflet they had made together in middle school at home, a missing person poster of their beloved teacher Matilda. Recent news then made Kisuke ask himself: If Matilda really went missing back in the day, could the bones found be hers? But why would anyone kill their teacher?

Alongside the quick-witted Hakuba, Yuta, Hajime, and Kisuke then embark on an adventure to solve this decades-old mystery on their own. To find the answers they so earnestly seek, they will have to examine their memories, separate fact from fiction, and reconstruct the life of the elusive Matilda.

Finding Hope Beyond the Veil that Shrouds Our Past

Even though Soda Master makes a whodunit the backbone of its narrative, the goal of this story isn’t to reveal the culprit’s identity. The mechanics of this mystery are rustic and fairly simplistic, but they are a mere means to an end. In reality, Soda Master is a cleverly written human drama whose true strength lies in its character dynamics and development, its profound emotional resonance, and its sincere exploration of its themes.

At the end of Episode 2, as our trio and their “chaperone” (as Hakuba ironically calls herself) accept their quest, Hakuba shares the real two questions that will guide the journey they are embarking on: “Memory is memory, not fact. Everyone wraps things in their own veil and turns them into a story. When that veil is torn away, will we truly be able to look directly at it? And will we find hope beyond it?“

Soda Master starts as a sort of black-and-white photograph. Yuta, Hajime, and Kisuke’s memory — or lack thereof — is composed of several elements and individuals, cleverly organised into a dynamic yet initially muted whole.

With every instalment, our protagonists give colour and clarity to each of these many players. As they slowly remove that “veil”, the Tanbe City of their youth becomes ever more bustling with life. Its inhabitants — their family members, friends, neighbours, and teachers — become ever more three-dimensional with every discovery and reunion. This narrative is then built with layers, with every line of dialogue, subplot, and event complementing one another to create the whole picture we’re looking for.

As Yuta, Hajime, and Kisuke dive further and further into their memories, they realise how grief, fantasy, and innocence blend to recreate facts. There’s always a huge gap between their expectation and reality, which is portrayed with playfulness as this script transforms their passion for cinema into an active component of their characterisation. The people they remember feel like illusions, ghosts of a faraway past that they are forced to resurrect. The passing of time takes on a very bittersweet quality as they come to terms with the fact that even the joy and simplicity of their childhood hid a world of complex truths.

Actually, Soda Master is a story about coming to terms with this inevitability: time will pass, people will age but not necessarily change, and memories will fade. While the world and society will necessarily evolve, that doesn’t mean that the individual will. Ageing doesn’t automatically lead to growth. Some people will continue stuck with their old-fashioned beliefs, and most — if not all — of us will grow up to be someone we never expected to become.

This is a story that refuses to romanticise the past, clearly showing the prejudice, violence, and corruption that have always existed. 1988 was awful at times, but so is 2026. Soda Master raises the issues, contradictions, and hurdles that might have changed shape, but still haunt us. Some antiquated ideas are now condemned and frowned upon, some aren’t. Some people might have benefited from these ideas, while some might have lost their lives fighting against them.

That’s why our protagonists constantly find reasons to keep history alive: because remembering isn’t instinctive, but an active exercise. The connection between past and present should be fostered, not idealised. A perfect illustration of that bond lies in the marvellous dynamics between Hakuba, Yuta, Hajime, and Kisuke, two totally different generations that refuse to clash and are willing to learn from each other instead.

For a series with three middle-aged men as protagonists, it’s fascinating to see how women have vital roles in this story. Female characters in Soda Master are often portrayed as those who dare to stand up for their values and morals at the risk of perishing at the hands of greedy, wicked men. It’s only our communities, our collective acts of bravery and selflessness, that can help them and, consequently, save us all.

Hakuba is far from being a mere sidekick, often being the voice of reason when placed in a room full of archaic views. Meanwhile, the heart of Soda Master fully belongs to the great Matilda. An ephemeral, almost magical character, Matilda is someone we never meet ourselves. We get to know her through the people she met, the lives she changed — and that’s how she becomes alive throughout the series.

Matilda was an open-minded, progressive, and kind woman who valued individuality and freedom in a society that only really cared about such things when applied to men in power. In her little world, Matilda inspired Yuta, Hajime, and Kisuke to dream, treasure their creativity, and overcome their fears. Mirroring the relationship between Hakuba and her students decades later, Matilda taught little Yun, Chen, and Kinpo to be brave and righteous and found in them the courage she also lacked.

She then lives on through Yuta, Hajime, and Kisuke, whose fates were completely influenced by her existence. Looking at her beyond her teacher persona, she stops being a glamourised hero to become a fully fledged human being, with qualities and flaws, dreams and heartbreak. They keep on finding bits and pieces of Matilda everywhere, which makes her feel real and present — not just to us, but also to Hakuba, who finds in her story the inspiration she seeks.

The Eccentric Tone of Soda Master

Soda Master frames its complex themes through a compassionate and heartwarming narrative that allows its characters to be imperfect and gives them agency to grow and choose their own destinies. The story never gets too dark thanks to a very theatrical and eccentric tone created by a blend of imagination and humour. There’s something undeniably sweet about these three middle-aged men, alongside this 20-something-year-old young woman, recreating their past together.

This script will surely please the cinephiles out there with all its references to old films (from the Jackie Chan classics to Steve Miner’s Friday the 13th Part III and Spielberg’s Close Encounters of the Third Kind) and those craving some 80s nostalgia (with all the references to VHS tapes and old manga). While cinematography beautifully and effectively responds to this colourful and cinematic universe, Soda Master falters in visual effects, which are particularly poor during the show’s second half.

However, performances are excellent all across the board, with Sorimachi Takashi, Omori Nao, Tsuda Kenjiro, Fukumoto Riko, and Kiryuu Mai offering particularly genuine deliveries to their characters. Omori’s comedy chops are also amazingly sharp, and he adds a lot of physicality to the script’s humour. The technical element that shines the brightest is the score and theme song (Everyday by Bialystocks), which flawlessly gives the show the quirkiness, nostalgia, and bittersweetness it requires.

Should You Watch Soda Master?

Soda Master is a thoroughly delightful and incredibly unique journey through the bonds that made us who we are and the days we should never forget. Empathetic, courageous, and provocative, this is a series that emboldens us to find in our own pasts the courage we lack to face today’s challenges. There’s definitely hope beyond the veil that shrouds our memories — because, despite our mistakes and disappointments, we can always learn from them to create a brighter tomorrow. After all, as Soda Master reminds us, “life is a journey to answer questions that have no right answer. That’s why everyone worries, gets lost, and ends up with regrets. But maybe there’s no need to fear. If there is no ‘right answer’, then there are no ‘mistakes’ either.“

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