Starts strong. Ends strong. Lags a little in the middle, but not too badly. Good story. Brilliant actors. Wonderful characters that take a while to get to know, but are worth the effort, and by the end I didn't want to say goodbye.

Honestly, I was a little concerned at the start. Some moments seemed a little over-dramatized, I wasn't sure if I'd like the characters, and some moments felt so silly I wasn't sure if I'd care about the stakes. But the more I watched it, the more I loved it. Before long, I loved the characters, was super invested and emotionally engaged, and some of those early decisions made a lot more sense and I approved of them in hindsight. The show is an interesting mix of serious and ridiculous, and once I got used to the style, I found it highly enjoyable. I think it works because it doesn't hold back on anything: the fun stuff is fun, and the serious stuff is taken seriously, so the balance works. The show knows how to make you laugh, but doesn't hesitate to break your heart and stomp on it (prepare your tissues).

The actors who played the main leads did a brilliant job. There were times they had to play multiple characters, and even when they were dressed the same, you could tell which character it was just by the acting, which is a testament to their skill. They also had a lot of extremely challenging scenes, and they pulled them off every time. Truly amazing skill. I was convinced by their acting, and really felt like I was watching real people go through real experiences. I can't praise the main leads enough.

I admit, I was a little disappointed that at the start we were promised main characters who shape-shifted and had no legs, but those elements visually disappeared part way through, and all the main characters looked perfectly human for the rest of the show. But I understand this was probably a practical issue. There was a lot of CGI already, and having to constantly use CGI for main characters would've added a huge amount of extra work and possibly influenced the quality overall. Given the budget, they did well.

As for the story adaption... They adapted it well. I know sometimes it can seem creators are twisting themselves in knots to get around censorship, and their decisions can be judged pretty harshly because of it. But I can't imagine the difficultly they face with these adaptions, and honestly I think the changes in this case make sense and the story holds up. I try not to compare adaptions to the original, but take the drama for what it is. I admire the work that went into this, and I think the final product is good value and makes sense as a story.

Overall, a great show, well worth watching.