Overall: they handled a taboo topic fairly well, though the flashback to when Yuan was a child during a certain scene in episode 11 was cringey. This was a Taiwanese adaptation of a Chinese danmei (Da Ge by Priest). I have not read the novel and reviewed the series on its own merits. 12 episodes about 30 minutes each. Aired on Youku's app, Youku's YouTube channel and Viki.

Content Warnings: non con kiss, punch, blood, past parental abuse, violence/beaten up, kidnapping, coercion, unwanted outing, homophobia, manhandling, vomiting, (some people may include another one, I didn't based on how everything played out)

What I Liked
- a few central characters, got to know their personalities
- how characters cared about each other
- a grittier/more realistic tone
- sweet moments
- a few funny moments
- We Best Love actor cameo as the doctor starting in ep 3
- a well done antagonist, I could see his reasoning but he meddled and was hypocritical though he did redeem himself at the end
- a non cliche female character in ep 6
- one of the few times I was happy for a years-long time jump (end of ep 7)
- sassier/more confident Yuan starting end of ep 7
- intimacy/tension
- production value

Room For Improvement
- (neutral) I generally don't like series that start with flash forwards but I understood why they did this
- confused in the beginning as to who was biological siblings, adopted siblings and friends (Iikely compounded by the use of brother as a term of endearment/closeness and not reserved for biological siblings)
- the timeline/character ages took some effort to piece together
- Li Li was supposed to be in high school before the time jump in episode 7 but she acted like a middle schooler (went into a random guy's car as an example, also she outed another character), even at the end when she was 23 she felt like a high schooler
- should not have done the flashback montage in a scene in episode 11
- cringey the coworkers talked about their sexual positions at work
- introduced a very serious plot point only to never resolve it, also didn't feel that the gang issue was clearly resolved either

Timeline Notes (the series wasn't clear where we were in the timeline/ages, feel free to correct me)
2008 (eps 1/2 flashbacks) - they first met in 2008 because that was the first date on the wall with the heights, Yuan age 7, Qian age 14, Li Li age 8
2016 (eps 1/2 present) Qian graduated university at the end of ep 2, Yuan age 15, Qian age 22, Li Li age 16
2018 (ep 3) Yuan is age 17 & Qian is 24, note that Yuan skipped a year or two so he's in university already at age 17, Li Li age 18
2019 (eps 4-7) Yuan turned 18 in episode 4, Yuan age 18, Qian age 25, Li Li age 19
the series eventually mentions that the gap was 4 years as I guessed
2023 (end of ep 7 up to the end of ep 12) Yuan age 22, Qian age 29, Li Li age 23
2024? (end of ep 12) Yuan age 23, Qian age 30, Li Li age 24