No Boundary (2021)

Underrated show with awesome acting and interesting plot

I really really liked No Boundary (Season 1&2) no matter how unbelievably everything escalates from one thing to another. You live, you die, then you live again and then die again to live another day. Besides this is a Xianxia, so remind yourself that logic and your sense of reality should be taking the backseat here. I don’t particularly prefer this genre, but No Boundary seemed to be the exception.
This show is underrated, my guess is that since it was broken to two seasons there was a gap in between and earlier watchers had to wait for the next season.

But no matter, the characters was awesomeu and acting was great! I find Darren Chen and Zhang Yi Shang trully enthralling. Darren played the perfect weak-but-not-so-weak mortal sheriff who is completely devoted to our most beautiful deity of the three realms, which was played to perfection by Yi Shang. I am most impressed though with the actor who played Wengu. He almost portrayed 4 personas in the show, and you can actually see the distinction of each. If anything, Wengu had the most character development out of everyone else. The character I feel most sorry for is Hong Luan, and once again the actress did really well here (notice she always gets typecasted to these roles?).

The plot is interesting. There are obvious plotholes but I think it still kept a steady pace while a whole range of unbelievable things happen (remember the peach blossom tree will never die!). This drama has a mixture of everything, it has crime x supernatural investigation, demons, deities, forbidden love, time travel, war, you name it they’ve got it. The show which is 52 episodes in total is mainly divided to 4 arcs, and may not be entirely accurate but these are:

Ep 1-16 Zhan Yan x Duanmu Cui solving crimes/got together then Zhan Yan’s noble idiocy
Ep 17-28 Still solving crimes/Duanmu dies/Wengu turns villain/Zhan Yan unlocks Duanmu’s memories then lives again
Ep 29 -32 Duanmu’s turn for noble idiocy/Wengue dies/Duanmu and Zhanyan goes to the abyss which is basically 1000 years ago/Duanmu’s past
Ep 33-45 Demon vs Mortal war while Zhan Yan trying to change the past/General Duanmu falls in love with Zhan Yan/ the godfather turns villain/Duanmu dies again
Ep 36-52 Out of the Abyss/mortal world saved/Penglai invasion by evil godfather/Mortal world in trouble again/final battle/happily ever after

So that’s it in a nutshell. As to why the deities of Penglai are weaklings and the peach blossom never dies is still a mystery to me. No rush ending too, we got all what we are hoping for the ML and FL, perhaps just a small thing that I wished that our dear brother Magistrate also got his happy ending. Give it a try, you might also like it!

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Arguably A Good Series So Far....

This is the 2nd time I watched Darren Chen's drama, cause the 1st one was Meteor Garden back in 2018. Back then I didn't know he's of Taiwanese descent. Anyway, here's my review for this drama:

STORY
Fortunately for me, I found this series quite enjoyable to watch since the story pacing is just the right amount of speed compared to others. I'm quite contented with the love story line as it showcased the portrayal of true love between the leads.
I also like the fact that they were able to show a full story about Duanmu's past 1000 years ago and kinda made it like a separate story within the drama. If there's anything I would've wished they did, was to at least show other deities too not residing in Penglai, but from the divine palace as well. Would've been great if the writer got Jiang Wen Qing punished by the higher gods in the end for trespassing in the heavens and wreaking havoc among the three realms. I also didn't like how they made the antagonist too powerful enough to suppress Penglai - which I believe btw, was not really the main heavenly court itself. They claimed in the story that Yang Jiang, along with Duanmu Cui were the pioneer co-creators of the world, which is a mistake in the plot. Cause even if its a fantasy story, no one will buy the idea. How can they be creators when they only existed a thousand years ago in a complete civilization of humans, and during that time, Penglai already existed along with the other deities? Totally unrelated to the idea of world creation.


ACTING / CAST
Acting is on point and I'd have to commend Darren's ability to show the appropriate emotions and gestures all throughout the drama. I liked his expressions when he started to notice Duanmu's attempt to hide herself and her true emotions from him, it brought me giggles... haha.... I sooooo liked Zhang Yi Shang, she suits the role perfectly. Thank the heavens she's not like the other chinese actresses that sounded overly demure as a female lead. Always gives me the cringe when they look , act, and sound too girly. So far, no negative feedback on the other casts since they were able to give justice on their roles.


MUSIC
It so epic, I loved it !!!!!


REWATCH VALUE
Hmmm, not bad to see this again if I have the time. But I'd only see my favorite episodes.


OVERALL
I can say that for me its not totally a bad drama. It kept me entertained so far and I like the fair amount of love, loyalty , and friendship lessons from it. I was kinda surprised I enjoyed the drama. Its just that, I felt there was no need to make the godfather escape the Abyss and come back in the story again. His wickedness should have ended when he got trapped in the past. Seemed to me that the series dragged on for too long just because of it. Btw, Wengu is so cute.

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Kept me glued throughout

Season 1 of "No Boundary" ends rather abruptly and Season 2 is a direct continuation, so if you plan on watching this, be sure that you have access to both seasons.

In Season 1, the story is very nicely developed and paced. One event leads to another, so the apparent villain at the start does not remain the villain throughout. The events are intricately linked, with no abrupt shifts in the plot.

There are some allusions to classic tales and figures like Justice Bao, with the names being transformed. I'm not sure why though. The main male character, Zhan Yan, is an obvious allusion to the constable in the Justice Bao tales, Zhan Zhao. But this isn't a series about court cases in olden China but a series about immortals, mortals and demons. Still, there are elements of sleuthing in this series, and Zhan Yan is a brilliant detective in his own right.

The immortal/mortal romance in this series (both Seasons 1 and 2) is nothing new but very touching. There is some ambiguity about whether the immortals and mortals can actually fall in love in the world of this series. It is mentioned that immortals are not supposed to fall in love. However, the main reason Duanmu Cui is not "allowed" to fall in love with Zhan Yan (or anyone else) is that this would awaken her repressed memories and cause her to do something that, according to an old prophecy, would endanger the world. Of course, we know quite early on that this will happen. But the series does well in slowly unraveling the details.

Though the story really ends in the middle of nowhere in Season 1, the story is interesting and the characters are portrayed in a way that would make us care about what happens to them next, so Season 2 has a secure audience base.

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Just talk to each other, people!

This is one of those dramas where I really don't know where to begin when reviewing it - positives and negatives all the way, to be honest.

First of all, the storyline that it contains just didn't really have enough material to work properly for the length of the season - it's 32 episodes this season and a further 20 in season 2 and I wonder whether it would have partly worked better if the split had come at the apparent cliffhanger which happens somewhere in the mid-20s. That sees our ML and FL make a significant decision which propels the story into a whole amnesia/time travel subplot that I just wasn't expecting and would probably have made a good point to end that season. I haven't watched the 2nd season, so I don't know if it's going to get resolved early on in that season or if they're determined to milk it for everything it's got.

As for the main characters, the FL has a lot more interesting backstory and character opportunities, while poor Darren gets stuck with a lot less to work with as the ML. The secondary couple are both left to pine for people they can't have, with the secondary ML's attitude annoying the crap out of me very early on. Other than them, the supporting cast are pretty good and I particularly liked the guards.

The production quality is pretty good and the CGI isn't terrible, so it's watchable. The main drawback is that the writers seem to love unnecessary drama caused by lack of communication and so the main relationship fractures and rebuilds a couple of times. This show would have been so much shorter and more balanced if characters would actually trust and talk to each other (see Imperial Coroner for a good example of how this works!) and even that cliffhanger might have hit at least half a dozen episodes sooner.

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Speak for five minutes on your last breath

No Boundary was a fun watch, especially the second half of the show where more action takes place.

Plot: The plot was detailed, and you can tell they put a lot of time expressing a complex story

Music: Not too bad, I really thought the music of doom was pretty funny actually.

Pacing: Here is where we have a major problem. Some scenes were unnecessarily drawn out like a blueprint for a stadium. There would be times where I was keyed up from a scene just to be let down when someone would die and start talking for five minutes as if they just didn't get stabbed fatally in the heart with a sword. Pacing is extremely important to me, and I would have rated this a seven if I didn't binge both seasons.

Flashbacks: Oh boy, there are a bunch of flashbacks that I feel like I traveled back in time. Luckily someone invented the skip button otherwise I would have been highly disappointed in this series.

Overall a reluctant 8 for this show...I would not be re-watching.

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What Goes Up Must Come Down

This drama started so strong and promising! CGI was good (for once), plot was engrossing, characters showed promise. The case solving formula of solving a case per episode actually worked here. But then...... we got to know the female lead is actually a child in her mind because she is young "for an immortal", and the first thing that happens to you once you make it into the immortal relm is memory erase followed by a lobotomy.

Evidence of the enforced lobotomy slowly presented itself as the drama progressed. The FL had less and less brain-cells. Her loyal, devoted, yet scorned best friend, Wengu, sacrificed literally everything just to follow her through both mortality and immortality. He also happened to be gorgeous and a medical genius, but she took him for granted and acted like a spoiled brat around him. He tried to let the ML know that she is...... simple.... in her mind (more of a lobotomy, but we'll call it autism to make it sound nicer), so it was totally creepy and inappropriate for him to be going out with her, but of course our FL and ML could not be separated.

The ML is a wooden actor with a smile that would melt even the iciest of hearts. Did I think he was great in this drama? No. Did my heart skip a bit when he smiled? Yes, yes it did, against my will. ?

I have never seen the FL in anything else, but she is not only stunningly beautiful, but there was nothing wooden about her performance. It's unfortunate that the screenwriters wrote her character the way they did, but she herself is a very good actress.

Wengu, the SML was a complex, brooding, conflicted and colourful character that stole the show from the other characters. However, his story was closely followed by the SFL character who was the most annoying perpetual victim character out of all of them! Whenever she entered a scene, it was always to whine about something, manipulate another character, or to throw herself at Wengu. I rejoiced when she finally died.

Cinematography was excellent, by the way. Very atmospheric. The overall idea of this drama was great in my opinion.

So, if you want to watch an engrossing SML get trampled on and try to get over one disappointment after another, then watch this drama. If you don't mind stupid FLs and a wooden ML as long as they are nice to look at, then go ahead and watch this drama.

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Let me help you to decide if you want to watch it or not.

1st this drama got the funniest, messy, cartoonist and worst editing. Maybe it’s a low budget drama.

2nd the casting are pretty good. They acted really well.

3rd. There are soo many plot hole throughout the episode. The characteristics of each character are not consistent throughout the drama.

4th. The 2 ML are plainly stupid. Same goes with 2FL. So bear with stubborn, idiocy, ignorant and annoying love square that going on from 1st ep to last ep.

5th. The drama start strong with showing how great FL was. But apparently she is soo stupid that she never realised any of demon around her. Not to mention always falls into trap.

6th. The ML supposed to be mortal. But dude, he can be stronger than FL or other immortal out of nowhere just whenever he wants too. Weird and funny lorh.

7th. Looking for romance between the lead ?? This drama got 32 ep for this season. First 10 ep are cute with bickering, flirting and joking around. Next 3 ep they got into relationship. And another 19 episode are all repetitive with “i left you for your own good” “I’m sorry i have to leave you” and etc. lol. Boring !!!

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No Boundaries...

Contrary to the popular opinion...
I loved this first season of The Storm of the World.
It is a very rare occurrence for me to love a production from beginning to end. Even with the cliffhanger; which to me, is more of a bridge into the next season.
This Xianxia was very entertaining with the proper amount of magic...
It was very much “Love and Redemption” meets “Ancient Detective.”
And the leading couple was simply so endearing. I found their quirkiness rather charming and engaging.
The fact that I just adored both Zhan Yan and Duan Mu Cui characters, without any complaints or reservations was extremely infrequent, for me. It also helped that neither of them was annoying, obnoxious nor childish.

*Now, it is a waiting game for the second season.
I also hope they release the opening instrumental OST. It is so beautiful.

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If you really like Xianxia You Can Watch it!

A first I decided to watch it for Darren Chen but after watch 4 episodes of the drama makes me excited.

Two Couple of drama are really cute and nice.

I love the storyline and music their really good

I feel that if it had been aired now, this series would have been much more famous and seen.
The number of serial episodes is high and this is normal in Cdrama.
If you are thinking of dropping the series while watching the series, you are completely wrong, you can take a break between the series and watch its continuation.
I was very happy that the series had a good ending, but I was very sad that the second couple did not get together and one of them died.
Darren was great in this series and he was different from all the characters he has played so far and I hope he plays more in this type of series.
Zhang Yishang also played well and shined as a newcomer in the entertainment industry.

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Review of seasons 1 & 2 . . . you can't do one without the other

The story is what kept me going in the first season. I was really annoyed by Duan Mu Cui's personality, mostly when she starts falling in love, and I couldn't deal with Darren Chen playing Zhan Yan. I saw him in The Sleuth of Ming Dynasty and that's all I could see him as during the first season; he didn't fit the character of a constable. So when they fell in love, it just didn't work for me; there was no chemistry in my opinion. However, towards the end of season 1 and mostly during season 2, I feel like their chemistry got better and it was more believable.

The story is somewhat unique. Humans and immortals fighting demons/evil, solving crimes, falling in love (nothing new); travelling to Shen Yuan (aka "The Abyss") was something new to me, and probably my favorite part. You get to see a different side to Duan Mu Cui and see what she was like; I really enjoyed it.

I really don't know what to say about Zhan Yan. He's what you expect his character to be like: righteous and loyal. There's not much development in his character, which makes sense since the drama is basically about Duan Mu Cui.

I just feel sorry for Wen Gu and Hong Lan's characters. They are just so tragic in my opinion (oh, unrequited love...the bane of all dramas). I loved Yang Jian as Duan Mu Cui's brother. He's serious and funny. He cares about his sister the most, and does everything he can to protect her and make her happy. And lastly, I can understand Jiang Wen Qing because seriously, why was everything left to Duan Mu Cui to deal with?

Anyways, overall I liked this drama. I'm glad I stuck it through the first season because the characters really annoyed me, but the story was interesting enough for me to keep going. And I'm glad I did because it got better.

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Illogically yet logical

Some things just don't make sense. How does the power dynamic work? My goodness, sometimes I forget the status quo. It's just weirdly laid out and how could the citizens calmly walk away after seeing an immortal? Is it such a common sight to see?
Didn't the people not believe in demons and immortals? Why is it that after the female lead appears and spread her "wisdom" that the citizens think it's such a normal occurrence? Truly mind-blowing how the writing can be so convincing despite it's plot holes.

Of course after a long time with demons and mysterious ailments, the citizens have gotten use to it. But it's still illogical to go up against a higher power when you are unable to even put up a fight. Has the citizens lost their minds?

Jiang Mo, the black cat was at least 1 thousand years old. Considering their experience in the mortal world, it's illogical that the spirit will reveal itself to their master when being chased. Does the cat think that their mortal master can protect them? If it was truly logical, the cat would go into hiding and lurk around for a better chance to strike. It stayed in the mortal world where it starved and stole food.

Such naive and loyalty should've been influenced negatively but for some reason it wasn't. It's obvious that this character is 2D and not even fully a functional character that can think on its own. It's like the purpose of the character was to shed light on the female lead's past and then thrown in who knows where.

It's so disappointing to see such a good script be ruined with illogical events and character setting.

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No Boundary ( Season 1 & Season 2 ) is unique in its plot setting, also in its characterisation.

In fact, I'm not a movie buff although I'm pretty into watching different types of movie, especially those have meaningful lessons left behind.
Personally,
*No Boundary ( Season 1 & Season 2 )
which to be considered as not only the most impressive drama but also the first drama I have ever seen fully completed from the beginning to the end, not skipping just a single scene.
There are many factors that make I admire, keep I want to come back to rewatched No Boundary more than any other drama.
*First: Good Cast
Talented, Beautiful Actor & Actress
"Darren Chen_ Zhang Yi Shang"
Their acting skills are quite professional, naturally make great sparkling chemistry among main characters
The True-Enternal love between an immortal ( Duanmu Cui ) and a mortal ( Zhan Yan ). They create contented things together with many worthly unforgettable moments, besides they go through lot of hardships they never give up on each other make their bonds of love grows stronger and deeper.
*In addition, I really enjoy the OST.
Those songs have pleasing melodies with nice lyrics.

Thank you for being patient to read my review.
Stay Safe.<3.

*Last but not least:
I'd love to say: Thanks all the film crew's effort for producing such an amazing, meaningful drama.
Hope my favorite actor_actress
Guan Hong_Yi Shang
will be more well-liked and more successful in every aspect of life.

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