I've been hyped about this series since the very beginning, but I'm amazed that it has still managed to exceed my expectations.

STORY:
I can't believe we've been able to learn something while watching a BL drama. It's not really common for this "genre" to bring out any deeper messages, but Not Me has done this wonderfully and on top of some great romance we were able to witness an inspiring story of young adults fighting against corruption and political issues. All the genres meshed in well and the story has been able to bring out a lot of different aspects.
The protest in episode 7 which put a lot of focus on LGBTQ+ issues and showed a small-scale pride parade had basically fulfilled all my wishes for a positive representation. I was hoping there would maybe be a conversation about sexualities since White was shown dating and kissing females earlier, but SeanWhite holding hands under the pride flag conveyed the message better than that. There was no need for words and the usual basic conversations when we got a beautifully sceneric event representing the community as a whole.
I was really worried about how they were going to pack an entire ending into the last episode, but it turns out 45 minutes can fit in quite a lot. I thought it was reasonable how in the end everything cycled back to the mission they'd started and the people they'd riled up to protest were the ones to save them. It makes little sense that someone was just able to see the kidnapping scene and photograph the car without anyone spotting them, but the rescue had such a powerful atmosphere that it didn't let me ponder on that detail for too long.
I'm sure there were some hardly explainable details along the way, but overall everything was tied up quite nicely with a room for an open ending.

However, there seemed to be a conflict between equally balancing out the romantic and story parts. The first 3-4 episodes felt like they were trying to emphasise the future romance too much on top of all the introductions to the situation and the group's activities. I understand why it had to be done as this is unfortunately the fault of the groups of viewers who would've dropped it if the romance seemed too slow and the focus was only placed on the politics at first. However, the slow development of the relationships which took place during the episodes after the beginning had an even worse effect since people had already got used to the romance-coded scenes and were missing that part as a result.

CHARACTERS:
I really liked how all of them had thought-out personalities and got a bit of a spotlight despite not being involved in any romances. The addition of Nuch and Yok mom's characters and how they could directly point out all the societal issues of their respective minority groups was also great. I think I got too invested in the story because I'd genuinely like to know more about everyone's past, not just the main reason why they'd joined the group, though Gram hasn't told us even that. But I guess we'd need a few more episodes or a second season to get that deep into the characterisation.
I'm a little disappointed that Gumpa ended up with no background story since he was playing a big role in all the planning and there clearly is a reason why he's a mechanic who knows how to do parkour and work with guns and assembled a group of teenagers to fight for justice.

ROMANCE:
It sure was a challenge to make a cohesive story in 14 episodes while inserting three romance storylines into it, but the staff seems to have done their best with what they had to make it work and I'd say it has worked quite well. It sure wasn't perfect and having more episodes with a slower romance probably would've made this series even better, but nothing felt too off or unreasonable to me.
Especially in the later episodes after the pairings had already got together, the actors expressed the feelings of the characters so well that they'd got me fully emotionally invested and I think the slower pacing with a proper friendship development before they got into the romance part in the middle of the series has helped this as well.
Also I really want to talk about this, I was so happy to see an opposite-sex couple having their own storyline in a BL drama. We almost always only see the "everyone is gay" trope which makes me feel like the same-sex couples are being isolated into their own stories instead of mixing all kinds of relationships together and showing the true diversity with everyone involved.

MUSIC:
My biggest appreciation for the music of this series came once I'd found out how many songs had been hand-picked for the different emotional and sceneric scenes. It seems like a whoever is in charge of this has done their job really well and it was really felt during some of the moments when the music went along with the mood instead of overpowering it or being too faint.
I hadn't noticed any background music being too unbalanced or rapidly switching up, as Thai dramas sometimes tend to do. Also I was personally really grateful for the lack of use of any background effects because this particular thing really bugs me and way too many Thai dramas use them excessively. Though that may just be me.

ADDITIONAL THOUGHTS:
This drama is probably going to stay at the top of my favourites list for quite a while since it's right in the line of what I enjoy in romance stories. Even if it had its flaws and some parts were better than others, ultimately I don't mind disregarding the imperfections to focus on all the good things about it.
It makes me a little sad that this series stayed behind in popularity compared to some other BLs which I wouldn't rate as highly, but I understand how the heavy and political topics and environment aren't for everyone. On the other hand I'm kind of glad the fandom for this isn't as big since it's a little bit more shielded from the BL audience that only watches the dramas for the sexualisation and stereotyping of same-sex couples.

Personal enjoyment is definitely at 10, but since there were some issues and holes in the plot, a strong 9.5 feels more objective.