The production quality is not good - but it must be very difficult to film in the middle of Manlia slums like that and on a zero budget. It wasn't terrible either, and there were a few scenes that were given intensity by the way they were shot. I was shocked at the scene where Nico leaves home - I wasn't prepared for that level of instensity and skill at delivering it.

There are precious few serious trans characters with important roles - this production merits special attention for this.

The acting is not great in most cases, but LJ Russel as Prince and Edz Bonggastar as Miray are standouts. LJ has a very natural delivery, and an effortless sexiness that you probably can't learn - he just has "it". Edz really commits - I'm not sure how she'd be at subtle scenes, but she can deliver the power where it's needed.

The plot - well, not sure there was one. It's a little like a docudrama and the ending is a little "hunh?" but there's a sequel that I presume resolves a lot of issues.

While poverty is extremely convincingly portrayed, class difference wasn't. The "rich" kid lives in squalor and has zero manners or refinement - that was odd, especially since the poor orphan Prince is so aristocratic - if he were a real prince it wouldn't surprise me.

Unlike the usual fantasy BL about "1st world problems", this does not sugarcoat how awful it just be to be LGBTQ+ and living in poverty in a conservative society. It's very powerful how people in desperate circumstances are able to find happiness wherever they can. If you're looking for a "standard-issue BL", this is not it, but it does deliver some of the types of heartwarming scenes you would want - and unfortunately a couple of the silly tropes as well, although that's mostly in the first episode.

It does feel a little like the production ran out of steam and gave up at the end - it felt like there were two or three more episodes that were planned but skipped - I'm guessing COVID caused a serious interruption - you can tell something happened by how completely different Prince looks in the last ep - so I'm being patient and waiting for the follow-up series.

The low production quality is unfortunate, but if you give it a chance you'll see that there's passion to this project and a perspective you don't really see in any other BL. I'm looking forward to this crew's future projects.

It's hard to rate this. I almost feel like there should be a scale for mainstream professional productions and DIY projects like this. This is definitely on the higher end of that category.

The OST is unusually good.