Dream High 2 (2012)

I was trying to wait until the season had finished before writing a review but I don't think I can wait any longer >.<

I'm going to start by saying that I didn't hate this drama. In many ways it was really good.... however..... compared to season 1, Dream High 2 is a little disappointing.

I like how the plot this time round is completely different, I liked that there was a new cast of actors to play with and that the writers gave us an entirely new story of the problems idols face once they've 'made it' rather than more students trying to achieve their dreams of becoming idols. I also like that the couple pairings could go either way, this drama has kept me guessing the whole way through (but often for the wrong reasons).

The story had a lot of potential but I felt was slightly let down by the characters. Hae Sung is fairly lukewarm, she doesn't have much fight and her relationships with other characters are unclear. For example 14 episodes in and I have no insight into how she feels about Yoo Jin. And what reasons (besides the fact he's an idol) does she have for liking JB? I just don't know.

Im Jae Bum did very well to get the part of JB as his debut part and I initially felt his character was very strong. I disliked him for his arrogance but at least I felt something about him. As the series progressed his character became more and more confusing, I failed to notice the point at which his character began to change and develop, it went from one extreme to the other so I can't decide if anything he actually does is serious or not. Furthermore the JB and Hae Sung story line is unconvincing, both characters are so watered down and fickle that I just can't work out what their motives are for doing anything.

Yoo Jin was one of my favourite characters but I also felt as a main character, there should have been a little more focus on him. He seemed to get shunted into the background slightly towards the second half of the drama but every second he was on screen I enjoyed. He's funny and his emotions are convincing, his 'G minooooooor' had me in tears of laughter.

Overall Rian was by far the best character in this drama. I began the series thoroughly disliking her but as I came to understand her more she began to grow on me. She's the only character, in my eyes, that really shows a true passion for performing. The others didn't appear to have much fight in them, however much they claimed they did, for this reason Rian shone in this drama more than all her co-stars put together.

One redeeming feature of this drama was the music, there wasn't one song that I disliked or bored me and 'B class life' is probably one of the catchiest songs I've ever heard. The drama really lives up to Dream High 1 in this category.

Overall I did enjoy this drama, the individual story lines never dragged on for more than a couple of episodes each and SOME of the characters are likable. However after about eight episodes or so I stopped feeling excited about new episodes coming out. I think it was the characters that did it for me, I don't think the actual actors are to blame but the way the characters are written, many being weak and unconvincing.

I was putting off writing a review in case my views on this drama dramatically changed, but with 14 episodes of dreary characters and confusing plots I don't think there's going to be a sudden change in the last two episodes. Sad but true.

Alone I think the drama is pretty good, but anyone who watched Dream High 1 will agree that in a fight, Go Hye Mi would definitely floor Hae Sung.

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Story: I felt the drama had no defined, real story. I also felt it was all over the place since it didn't feel consistent. I actually skipped a bit towards the later episodes.

Acting: It was just OK (though some were less than OK), but to be honest I had hoped that Kang Sora would do a better job since she was one the actresses in the group. I did like JinWoon, he did better than I had thought he would and I, also, liked Jung Yeon Joo's character and her portrayal of it.

Music: The music was great. For me, it was the best part of the drama. I loved the performances and the preparation scenes which took place before them. I also liked the "non-competition" music scenes.

Re-watch: I do no plan to re-watch this drama since I found it lacked a lot and I can just search for the clips involving the music parts, which is the reason why I even rated it a 5.

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To be fair I have to warm you that is a totally biased opinion, because I has a fan of the first installment of the drama , I felt totally cheated with the direction that these opus took. If I was fair and still try to rate this show I would just say that if you took away the music there were nothing good to redeem this show in my eyes, it was over acted, scattered to the point of totally loosing me, I wonder most of the time what was going on. The addition of new characters that pop out of nowhere it was as if the writers where writing the story has they went. To be true I came back too it just because I like watching Jung Jinwoon , oh yes there were a lot of eyes candy in these drama , probably the only thing that brought many viewers back, trying to support they little sweet tooth ( even though it's the eyes that get satisfy.) I not even going to try to explain that ending , it was simply disappointing. So my recommendation is too watch this when you really have nothing to do, it's raining outside and you are looking for a well construct story that can keep your attention, then you are welcome to waste 16 hours of your life on Dream High 2.

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I usually don’t write reviews for dramas I drop but I think after watching 10 eps I have a good grasp of what the drama was about and after finding out the ending I really wanted to put my two cents in…

Story- The first 2 episodes are entertaining and fun. However, plot wise they were a waste of space. The characters are not really introduced in the way they should be so you can get a feel for who each one is. After that you will find that once the story starts to stabilize it becomes just another predictable school drama with no substance. It really becomes just mindless watching. I didn’t like the way the romances were written and they just made the drama feel drawn out. Other than that, nothing really happens to keep your attention. The ending seemed just really lame and it made me super happy I did not waste my time and watch the rest of the episodes.

Acting/Cast- The acting wasn’t that bad actually. It wasn’t award winning or anything but everyone pretty much managed to make their characters watchable. I do have to say that I enjoyed watching both Ji Yeon and Jinwoon’s performances because they brought energy to their characters. Another thing I wanted to mention is they wrote in too many characters, which made the drama, seem all over the place at times. They should have focused on the core 6 and add in some characters here and there but I really didn’t like having to keep up with all these side characters. This time around I didn’t like most of the adult characters except for the former rocker principle and JYP’s character. My final thought on the casting is they could’ve done better.

Music- I loved DH 1’s OST so much I put it on my ipod straight away. Unfortunately I didn’t get the urge to do that this time around. Sure there were some catchy and memorable songs that fit the drama well but I only really liked 2 which doesn’t make this an OST I really have to listen to. That’s pretty disappointing considering this is a MUSIC themed drama.

Rewatch- Couldn’t finish it so Id pass on watching this again. I can just watch the frist one again.

Overall Dream High 2 tried too hard to live up to its predecessor coming in to the game with too much confidence and instead gives the audience a bitter taste and longing for the first one all the way throughout.

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So , okay . Well , when this first came out I was like eh .. I'll watch it because it seems interesting . Well . The first couple of episodes were a KILLER . They were GREAT ! But then as it progressed I felt like the acting got a little worse and the storyline really just faded .

I felt like .. There really WAS no storyline as the drama progressed . I never actually KNEW what the storyline was . I thought it was about bringing the school back it's popularity and fame . But it turns out to be something TOTALLY different ...

I thought the music was great it was really nice and the voices are beautiful.

I probably wouldn't watch it again , like i said the acting wasn't all that good and i feel like the storyline just FADED .

Overall I give it a 6. Storyline is a little iffy and acting is not that good . The only reason why some people are still watching it is because of new IDOLS and Idols . So yeah . But I do recommend for the music(;

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A little bit about myself of writing this review:

> Dream High was my first KDrama and Dream High 2 my second.

> I mainly watch Anime but enjoy Dramas as well.

With that in mind, here's my personal review of Dream High 2 (With NO SPOILERS).

Many people have said to NOT compare the first season with this. However, it's rather silly because this is a SEQUEL and you probably have watched Dream High and wondering if you should watch this one.

Story - With a similar plot to Dream High, I was really hoping for an improvement in order to make up for repetitive themes. It failed to meet my expectations and overall was fairly dull. "A very slow start and pick up speed later on but never reaches a sprint" would be a suitable metaphor to describe the pace.

Acting/Cast - I have only recently starting engrossing myself within the Korean culture but even I have heard of "T-ara", "Ailee" and "Sistar". If you're fans of the actors themselves then I'm sure that you'll tend to enjoy the Dream High 2 more than the usual viewers. In terms of acting, it was very cheesy and inferior compared to Dream High. However, this seemed to fit the theme of this series fairly well.

Music - I was really pleased with the Music. In-fact, I would say that this is the area that Dream High 2 succeeded the most. There were a variety of songs from popular KPop songs to even a few English ones. This blended with the feel of the show itself really well and I greatly enjoyed the music.

Rewatch value - There plenty of moments that made me go "Daebak" with a huge grin on my face; I would love to see those moments again. However, I wouldn't want to watch the whole series again because of the problems with the Plot.

Overall - The overall feel of this show tends to be a lighter, less serious and doesn't take itself as seriously compared to it's predecessor. Between surprise Cameos (which I'm a huge fan of btw) and great songs, Dream High 2 was been a good experience for me.

That's all this was... "Good".

If you still decide to watch this, I highly recommend that you watch Dream High first. Afterwards, keep your expectations at a reasonable level because Dream High 2 is not the same as it's older, better and more preferable brother.


P.S This was my first Drama review :)

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I'm not going to sugarcoat: I was a HUGE fan of DH1, so I went into this with high hopes. The first 6 episodes were a bit of a chore to get through at times (mostly due to spotty writing & varying acting levels) BUT once I got to episode 7 the show majorly improved until the end! Once DH2 dropped the attempts at sitcom humor & started focusing on establishing characters, it was like watching two different shows. I began to care for each individual and found myself laughing, frustrated, & tearing up more often than not [it's not a good drama if I don't yell at my screen or cry AT LEAST once]. I've read a lot of reviews where people understandably but unfairly compared it to DH1 (I'm guilty of doing the same) or gave up on the show too soon. I suggest you give DH2 a fair shot. In the end I still prefer DH1, but I'd be lying if I said I wouldn't watch DH2 again!

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If you love music and idols you should go for this Drama,its all about Music and Friendship and little bit for teenage love
Dream High 1 was great, but Dream High 2 was not bad it was also good The ending is satisfactory i won't compare them both this drama was all about dreams and friendship, and it depicts how friends are important even to acheive One's Dream . i loved it and also accept the fact that it was a tear jerker for me in a good way ,it made me laugh at moments and i enjoyed all the songs i loved Jb,Kang So Ra, and Jin yo Jin and the teachers in this Drama
As for couples i think JB & Kang So Ra were cute Together.

i felt the acting & Cast was better than Dream High 1

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Potential.
(but failed)

This drama had SO much potential. I remember looking forward to this drama so much because I was a huge fan of Dream High. I watched the first one like three times and I just loved it so much. But Dream High 2? It disappointed me.

I watched Dream High 2 putting all flaws aside because of my bias towards Dream High up until probably episode 8 or 9. The story was fine prior to those episodes because the script was SUDDENLY 'revised' and changed the love lines and changed the emphasis on certain characters.

The casting of Jinwoon was great and he was supposedly the leading man, but heck who knows what the writer pd was thinking and changed it to JB. He can sing, he can dance, but acting is just something he cannot do. His facial expressions look awkward and the same all the time and I can't stand it. With Kang Sora, she annoyed the hell out of me and I honestly think JB and Kang Sora have no chemistry. JB and Jiyeon matched so much better. Only if the writer didn't change up the script halfway I would have enjoyed it so much more.

Out of the main characters(Haesung, JB, Yujin, Rian) I liked Rian and Yujin's acting the most. I loved Jiyeon and Jr. in here though, they knew what they were doing and despite Jr. being a rookie, he did well and was natural. Jiyeon was just so cool and she was able to portray Rian's more complex character. Haesung was so annoying it got to the point where I laughed every time she cried because she made all these sea lion noises.

The story, again, had so much potential. this could have been a GREAT drama only if the writer stuck to the original plan, and not to the request of the viewers. What good can the drama be when you scrap everything halfway and start a new story. It's stupid. It disappointed me so much I didn't even watch the last episode because I was wondering why I was even still watching it.

Overall, the only parts I enjoyed in this drama are the music, and Rian(Jiyeon) because she is just so cool and Haesung annoys me and she looks like a creepy pedonoona with JB. I really like Jr. too. JYP, you ruined JB's image for me and when they debuted I still feel awkward when I see JB in his mv.

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I contemplated writing a review of this drama for so long. Because i had not seen all 16 episodes, i thought myself unfit to review Dream High 2... But i have come to the conclusion that I will never finish this drama, so now is a better time then any to finally write a review.
Let me start off by saying, I did genuinely enjoy some parts of this drama, which led me to continue watching until the 14th episode where i finally gave up.
It seems the best part of this drama was the music, which of course coming from JYPE was very good. The story was mediocre at best.. It started off on a good note with a completely different plot from the first season which i liked a lot because you can't have the same thing twice. Unfortunately it went all down hill from there.
The two leads (i consider them the leads, but really I'm not sure at all..it was that confusing) have absolutely no chemistry whats so ever which is strange because one would think a popstar dating a talentless nobody would be pretty interesting. it ended up being quite the opposite. When they finally do get together they suddenly both become shells of their former quirky selves and I just can't wait for them to break up. This is as close to a spoiler as ive ever written in a review so im going to stop here.
The main antagonist is just completely unrealistic and unreasonable.
It's not very clear what the actual big 'conflict' is in this drama.. its really just a bunch of random occurrences.
That's all i really have to say. Maybe one day i'll watch the last two episodes and my mind will change, but i doubt two episodes can make up for 14 mediocre ones. take care ^^

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