spoilerfree review Lily Just starting off the first thing I want to say is that it is impossible to do this Titan of a series justice. As you might be aware Lily is with its 900+ chapters by far one of the longest Manhua out there and possibly the longest GL manhua period. This means that there really isnt a way to talk about everything in just one review which is why Ive decided not to touch upon the plot specifically despite really wanting to personally. I will however touch on a couple topics that come up over the course of the story and while it should be fairly obvious to anyone that these topics would be touched upon sooner or later in a GL manhua of such length I still want to mention it beforehand. Ill keep it as broad as possible though. So without further ado lets get to it. If youve read Lilys description on anilist/webcomics you already know the premise of this manhua. However one might think How does this go on for 900+ chapters? Seems awfully slow? which is a valid concern however Lily is about much more than its premise. This manhua is a coming of age love story like no other and its quite fair to say that growing up and everything that comes with it good or bad is a topic that is second only to the main characters love in this story. Regardless Lily starts off really slow. However this is not a bad thing at all. Being such a slowburn is perfect for letting you get to know these characters and especially the main characters are so fleshed out you cant help but start to care about them a lot. You might not personally make the same decision a character makes if you were in the same situation as them but they are always coherently written and their choices are understandable regarding their circumstances and personality. Lily is split up into two seasons the first being slightly longer than the second. It could be said that the first season is about falling in love while the second season is about growing up and having to take responsibility and it definitely is quite a stark contrast though still staying true to itself. Lily feels real in the sense that it acknowledges that things dont always go our way in life. Sometimes the world is just not a fair place but we still have to go on and make the best of it despite the circumstances. This realness makes Lily hit incredibly close to home and I guarantee you will think about it for quite some time even after youre done reading. There are cruel moments that truly made me uncomfortable in a way which few manhua manage to do. Im not talking about an Awww my sweet baby dont do that uwu type uncomfortable but rather a holy shit I really dont like this uncomfortable. This is a good thing even if it is difficult for me to acknowledge. This is not just a cute love story and love isnt always easy. Sometimes you simply dont know what the best choice is. Sometimes you have to make a choice you dont want to make because its the responsible thing to do. Of course Lily certainly isnt all doom and gloom far from it. Being as long as it is and the first season being as much of a slowburn as it is there obviously is a fair bit of small drama throughout as well but the cute comedic and romantic moments manage to stand out. It is still a love story first and foremost. The supporting cast that you will get to meet over the course of the story are quite endearing and they manage to enrich the story in every way possible. I wont say the supporting cast is perfect but its quite good. As for its art Lily looks good. Its not outstanding but certainly pleasing to look at and the directing especially during emotional scenes is very good. Its apparent that those responsible for drawing were accutely aware of what to show in each panel to achieve the greatest effect which makes every scene that is emotional just hit that much harder. I dont like saying you will cry reading this because it feels to me like tearjerk is being implied but for Lily there is just so much raw emotion that you might not be able to help it sometimes. Its a good thing. Some of the plot developments are quite obvious and while you might be aware of what is going to happen after the buildup for a certain plot point the payoff at least never disappoints. Giving this a final rating is insanely difficult for me. On one hand I am quite aware that a scoring system is completely arbitrary and will never be able to get across how good something is on the other hand since Im forced to use one I usually try to rate based on criteria that are meaningful enough to make for a rating I think is fair. These criteria are the following: What is the goal of this webcomic/manga/manhwa/manhua? Premise but also other plotpoints that are brought up Was this goal fulfilled? How well was this goal fulfilled? The issue is that for Lily I have to throw all of this out of the window. Not only is Lily far too long to truly settle on a final rating based on the above criteria I am also too emotionally invested to judge by these fairly. Honestly speaking there a things that I really didnt like especially so towards the end not because they are badly written or make no sense but because I wish they would have happened differently. Its a matter of preference over the how not the what. I want to give Lily a higher score than 90/100 but I cant. The reason Ill go with 90/100 is because when I compare it as a whole to something like Soulmate which I gave a 100/100 Lily just doesnt offer that complete super package. Its kind of impossible for something of this length even which is completely fine. The matter of preference I mentioned absloutely plays in as well so I cannot and will not claim that this a 100 fair rating it should probably be a bit higher. Nonetheless Lily isnt perfect. And it doesnt need to be. If I had to pick just one manhua to recommend it would still be Lily. I think this is a story that anyone even remotely interested in GL romance or just a great story as a whole should read. Something that should be mentioned is that at the time of writing this review 06.25.21 translations for Lily are still in a weird spot. While the first season is fully translated on webcomics the second season awkwardly cuts off two thirds in with no updates in the last 7 months. You can still find the rest of season two online but prepare for translations that are wonky at times. It is however still bearable unlike translations for Lala same creator which at some point turn into completely incomprehensible google translate gibberish. For those less affluent this might be a tough one since chapter 390 to end of season one is basically nonexistant outside of webcomics I checked around for a bit while writing this review and found nothing and these chapters require gems to read. It is definitely worth it though.