Was involved as a background artist and from the start the premise really intrigued me. Finally getting around to watching it, I loved it! From the brilliant recurring feminist commentary (including tackling internalised misogyny), youth and growing up, the creative experience and the relationship dramas! I could really much relate to Nyela's low points (to the point where I cried alongside her) and cheered for her during her successes! Especially when she stood up to bullies! A bit of melodrama with some of the love stories, like the will-they-won't-they plots and the conflicts that would have only been resolved if people just communicated, but otherwise it was still gripping. The acting from some actors get a bit exaggerated sometimes, almost tween territory, but overall I did think the cast did great performances. Despite some problems with the writing, it is indeed a great story about fighting for your dreams that I could very much relate to.
My only real gripe with the story is the teacher who not only seems to be the only staff member there, but also came across as very unrealistic at times: this teacher seemed to just let students do whatever they wanted and offered little to no mentorship or guidance to how to make their best projects, and also gave bad grades whenever she felt like it, regardless of whether the project met the criteria for a good grade. Art students normally offer an artist's statement to support their project (and also to show they know what they're talking about, seeing how art is so subjective), but the teacher just seemed to look at the project and magically know if it was good or bad, and her assessment was based on instinct as opposed to other criteria (some of which I felt was very poor assessment) and that's a real problem. It's one thing when she's a tough teacher, but it felt like she didn't understand her students at all. There was also a minor subplot of someone accused of bullying the real bullies, and no one bothers to tell the teacher later on (why didn't they just say "oh by the way, she's not the bully, THEY'RE the bullies?"
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