Korean Drama - Sketch

Hello

안녕하세요 

(Annyeonghaseyo)

こんにちは 

(Konnichiwa)

你好

(Ni Hao)

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Sketch is a South Korean crime television series, written by Kang Hyun Sung and directed by Lim Tae Woo. The series aired on JTBC, airing from the 25th of May and concluding on the 14th of July 2018. The series has 16 episodes with each episode running for 60 minutes each.

Main Cast:
Jung Ji Hoon as Kang Dong Soo

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Lee Dong Gun as Kim Do Jin

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Lee Sun Bin as Yoo Shi Hyun

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Jung Jin Young as Jang Tae Joon

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Kang Shin Il as Moon Jae Hyun

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Lim Hwa Young as Oh Young Shim

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Lee Seung Joo as Yoo Si Joon

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Supporting Cast:
Yoo Da In as Min Ji Soo

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Kim Hyung Mook as Nam Sun Woo

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Park Sung Geun as Doctor Oh

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Kim Yong Hee as Jung Il Woo

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Lee Kyu Sung as An Kyung Tae

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 Park Doo Sik as Jumg Il Soo

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Joo Min Kyung as Lee Soo Young

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Son Jong Hak as Park Mi Moon

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Lee Hae Young as Baek Woo Jin

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 Originally Hwang Jung Eum was offered the lead role, but she declined. Sketch reunites Jung Ji Hoon and Lee Dong Gun who worked together 15 years ago on the drama Sang Doo! Let's Go to School.
The first script reading was held at the JTBC building in Sangam in Seoul in March 2018.

Viu Singapore

What I mainly loved about the soundtrack for Sketch is that it followed the dramas theme and had darker sounding songs.

SunBee - 옅은 (Faded)

SunBee 선비

Damon - Sailing

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When Detective Kang Dong Soo's fiance is killed mysteriously, he works with a female detective who can see 3 days into the future to find out who killed his fiance. She sketches what she sees, and with her sketch, the investigative team begins to set out to capture the murderer. Meanwhile, Kim Do Jin is a former Special Forces member plotting to avenge the death of his pregnant wife.

I'm not sure what I thought this drama would be like, but I can honestly say that I wouldn't have guessed anything that happened. 
This is my first Korean drama with Jung Ji Hoon but 2nd drama with him overall and I have to say that I preferred his acting in Sketch than I did in Diamond Lover, I also felt a lot more comfortable actually hearing his voice and acting style. At times I did get a little annoyed with his character as he did put his own vendetta before the safety and request of others but, Ji Hoon played his role really well.
This is my 2nd drama with Lee Sun Bin, my first actually being my first ever drama Missing 9, I remember liking Sun Bin's character in Missing 9 because she's really pretty but with Sketch I think her acting got to shine through more as her character was more bad ass compared her character in Missing 9. Her character is really headstrong and independent, while also still harbouring fear and hatred for her past, which means at times she headed in alone even when knowing how much danger she was in. I'd happily watch Sun Bin in more bad ass leading lady roles than a more selfish and beauty based role.
I think Lee Dong Gun did amazing as his character, you spend most of the drama wanting his downfall for the crimes he's committing, while trying to avenge the death of his pregnant wife, but because of how cold he is towards others especially Kang Dong Soo, you forget about his vulnerability from losing the main reason he wanted to live his life.
You definitely see the two sides of dealing with grief when it comes to being helped with positivity and negativity, Kang Dong Soo has Yoo Shi Hyun, Moon Jae Hyun and Oh Young Shim, that helps him see that there is always someone to turn to if you need a friend and ease the weight on his shoulders and heart, while Kim Do Jin's hate and need for revenge is manipulated by Jang Tae Joon and X to get to the top to the Elder and stop his/her reign of terror to keep hidden.
I think all the cast bounced off one another really well, they had good chemistry and really made you believe in what they were saying. I think the plot was amazing, it definitely took turns that I wasn't expecting, I don't think I've ever watched a drama that has had scenes that literally made my jaw drop like Sketch did. I definitely would love a second season to see how the characters grow after the events of season 1, I think Sketch would survive a second season, I think some dramas don't have a potential to keep the story going past the first season but I do think Sketch is one of those dramas that could have a few seasons, as it seems that there is plenty of stories that could come from the concept of the show. I just hope that if a new season was brought out that Lee Sun Bin and Jung Ji Hoon would reprise their roles as the leads.

I would definitely love to watch more crime dramas like Sketch and I do have a couple on both Netflix and Viki in my list to watch, so I can't wait to get stuck into them and see how they compare.

Have you watched Sketch?
Were you a fan of the casting and plot line?
Were you a fan of Sketch?
Let me know in the comments below.

See you soon!

안녕

(Annyeong)

さようなら

(Sayonara)

再见

(ZaiJian)

Bye

Chinese Drama - Diamond Lover

Hello

안녕하세요 

(Annyeonghaseyo)

こんにちは 

(Konnichiwa)

你好

(Ni Hao)

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I'm starting to get my claws into more Asian dramas, Diamond Lover is my 3rd Chinese drama and 2nd from China, my first Chinese based drama was from Taiwan with Murphy's Law of Love. Diamond Lover is a Chinese romance drama, written by Li Jain and directed by Chen Mingxhang and Wu Qiang.
The series aired simultaneously on ZheJiang Television and Anhui Television on the 22nd of July 2015, with the series concluding on the 24th of August 2015. Diamond Lover contains 24 episodes with each episode having a 45 minute run time.

Main Cast:
Rain aka Jung Ji-hoon as Xiao Liang

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Tiffany Tang as Mi Mei Li/Mi Dou

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Luo Jin as Lei Yiming

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Dilraba Dilmurat as Gao Wen

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Supporting Cast:

Yao Yichen as Lin Ziliang

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 Guo Keliang as Liu Siyuan

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Zhang Wen as Ye Qi

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Wang Dong as Shen Dongjun

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Bai Fan as Xiao Zhendong

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Haou Xuelong as Qi Yu

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Bo Fangjun as Han Lin

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 Diamond Lover was a commercial success in China, with a peak rating of 1.249 and more than 3.3 billion views online, Rain spoke in Korean for his role, with him later being dubbed over in Mandarin.

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Even though I did like quite of few of the songs on the OST, they were harder to find than I was expecting, so here is a few of the songs I loved and could find.

Rain - Diamond Lover

yen nguyen

Ivy Yan - 每一次让人心碎的 (Everytime I am Heartbroken)

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Due to her obesity, Mi Mei Li has low self-esteem, and suffers in both her work and life. One day, she meets Xiao Liang, CEO of a diamond company, and falls in love with him. However, due to circumstances, she isn't able to confess her feelings to him. A car accident then changed her fate. After cosmetic surgery, the once obese Mei Li becomes a slim beauty and also changes her name to Mi Dou so no one from her past can recognise her. However, after suffering setbacks in both her relationship and career, she realises hat her physical appearance is not a "free pass" to love. She is no longer bothered about how she looks, and sets her mind to become an accomplished jewelry designer. Her optimism attracts Xiao Liang, and he falls in love with her. At the same time, her good friend Lei Yiming, who has always stayed by her side, also confesses to her. 

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I've had Diamond Lover on my watch list on Netflix for quite a while and last month I decided to get stuck into it. While this was my third Chinese drama, this was actually my first drama starring Korean superstar Rain. I was slightly put off by the fact that Ji Hoon had been dubbed over in mandarin, knowing that, I was often watching his mouth to see how it differed from Korean to Mandarin, bonus was that he was at least dubbed over by someone with decent voice acting.

I thought the casting was a pretty good ensemble, they all seemed to have good chemistry on set, which made their acting believable. This being my first time seeing all the cast acting I was really intrigued to see them in other dramas, I have watched Ji Hoon in a Korean drama and I enjoyed comparing the two, he's able to bring different emotions through well for his characters. I think Ji Hoon's character was the drama cliche, rich, powerful and holding back his heart because of a past heartbreak, for him to soften up as the drama continued.

I have another drama starring Tiffany Tang on my list which seems to be a period drama, so I look forward to comparing her acting in both dramas, while I really enjoyed her acting, it was her character that I wasn't really fond of. At times I felt really confused about her personality, one minute she would be shy as well as clingy, then there would be a quick change and she was sly and headstrong making sure she got what she wanted, I also didn't like the selfish element added to her character.

I absolutely loved Dilraba Dilmurat and her character, it was obvious her carer was her life and she did it because it was what she loved, she's also your cliche rich character that thinks her beauty and wealth gets her what she wants. I honestly thought that our 2nd female lead and 2nd male lead would end up together so was surprised when that actually turns out not to be the case.

I think Luo Jin and his character definitely often added the comedic aspect to the drama, I loved that he and Mi Dou were the best of friends and no matter where he was, if his friend was in need he would be there, which I think towards the end of the drama it annoyed me that they were pretty much using each other to get what they wanted, especially Mi Dou, I think she took their friendship for granted and even after learning about his feelings she still strung him along.

I think the rest of the cast also did well but I got really bored of the whole Lin Ziliang and Liu Siyuan constantly trying to destroy Xiao Liang as well as his relationship with Mi Dou, personally for me that shows that they didn't have much confidence in their own work, relationship or lives and had to resort to dirty tricks to get the power they both desired.

For the plot itself, when I got to the final episode, I felt that it seemed rushed, and I later found out that the reason I felt that was because the series was incomplete and Netflix just ended it how they did because in the original run the drama continued without Ji Hoon, as he had other contracted schedules and couldn't continue the drama. While I did enjoy watching Diamond Lover, there were aspects of the drama that left me cringing and curling my toes because of the plot and script, I also felt at times that there was some emotional abuse, especially between Xiao Liang and Mi Dou, Mi Dou and Lei Yiming and Lei Yiming and Gao Wen. At times it seemed like a drama that the characters just wanted to string each other along to benefit themselves.

Overall I think the cast was good but the plot could have been a little better, I think sadly sometimes a poor script can come across as bad acting but I don't think there was any bad acting anywhere within the drama.

I'm slowing increasing my Chinese drama watched list, I've watched 2 other Chinese dramas since Diamond Lover and I'm also currently watching a Chinese drama alongside a Korean drama. I'm trying to watch more dramas that have been released this year so that I can do a Top 10 Drama List, like I do with my K-pop albums at the start of each year.

Right now I'm currently watching Hotel Del Luna and Love 020.

Have you watched Diamond Lover?

What did you think to the casting?

Did you enjoy Diamond Lover?

Have you seen the full drama or Netflix's run?

Let me know in the comments below.

See you soon!

안녕

(Annyeong)

さようなら

(Sayonara)

再见

(ZaiJian)

Bye