Lily

LILY

MANGA

STATUS
COMPLETE
VOLUMES
Not Available
RELEASE
July 23, 2020
CHAPTERS
926

DESCRIPTION

This is a school love story where Yi Lin bumps into the tomboy Ruo Xi, sparking an interest between each other that slowly blooms. "Is that true? I, fall in love with a girl?" "Why every time I saw her my heart is beating faster?" "How many times does she notice my burning face?" Yi Lin and Ruo Xi both need an answer to go on.

(Source: Webcomics)

CAST

Ruoxi Lan
Yilin Fan
Ziyun Xu
Xiao Che
Fan Gao
Xiaojie Dai

CHAPTERS

RELATED TO LILY

MANGA ComedyLALA

REVIEWS

pair
90/100
An incredible story about love, growing up and taking responsibility. A must-read if you are interested in GL/romance.
(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 isn't a way to talk about everything in just one review, which is why I've 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. I'll keep it as broad as possible though.

So, without further ado, let's get to it.

If you've read Lily's 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 it's 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 character's 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 can't 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 don't 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 you're done reading.

There are cruel moments that truly made me uncomfortable in a way which few manhua manage to do. I'm not talking about an "Awww my sweet baby don't do that uwu" type uncomfortable, but rather a "holy shit I really don't 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 isn't always easy. Sometimes you simply don't know what the "best" choice is. Sometimes, you have to make a choice you don't want to make because it's the responsible thing to do.
Of course, Lily certainly isn't 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 won't say the supporting cast is perfect, but it's quite good.

As for its art, Lily looks good. It's not outstanding, but certainly pleasing to look at and the directing, especially during emotional scenes, is very good. It's 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 don't like saying "you will cry reading this" because it feels to me like tear-jerk is being implied, but for Lily, there is just so much raw emotion that you might not be able to help it sometimes. It's 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 I'm 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 didn't 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.
It's a matter of preference over the 'how', not the 'what'.
I want to give Lily a higher score than 90/100, but I can't. The reason I'll 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 doesn't offer that complete super package. It's 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 isn't perfect.
And it doesn't 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.
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