Wednesday, July 11, 2007

Review: Hana Yori Dango 2

WARNING, Proceed with caution! This post contains spoilers for those who haven't seen the first season of Hana Yori Dango.
(view HYD season 1 review)

Summary
Alternative Titles: 花より男子, Boys Before Flowers, Boys Over Flowers
Genre: Romance
Episodes: 11
Broadcast Year: 2007
Starring: Inoue Mao as Makino Tsukushi, Matsumoto Jun as Doumyouji Tsukasa
Related: Hana Yori Dango season one review

Hana Yori Dango 2 takes place a few months after the events in the last season. If you've seen season one you'll know that Doumyouji goes to New York to study business. Meanwhile, Makino hasn't seen Doumyouji for several months so she goes to New York. When Makino finally meets Doumyouji, he is a completey different person and he rejects Makino so she returns to Japan. Shortly after, Doumyouji's mother decides to go back to Japan to celebrate his birthday. At his birthday, Doumyouji's mother plans to announce something that is very important.

Review
In my review of HYD season one, I said that HYD was an addictive drama. Season two still holds that advantage of keeping viewers hooked through every episode. However, I thought that season one was slightly better than season two. Mainly, season one had a better story than season two. This is because in season two, there were too many reused love-triangle story lines. Let me explain, in the first few episodes, Rui likes Makino, but then later on, Rui stops liking her then he suddenly starts liking her again. Obviously, it's more complicated then that but the point is that HYD2 keeps on switching the "who-likes-who" storyline just to make the story interesting.


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Pros

  • VERY addictive, plot will get you hooked
  • Inoue Mao is still the best J-drama actress I've seen
  • Same cliffhanger endings as season one keeps the story interesting
  • Matsumoto Jun!!! (that one's for the female J-drama fans (-_-')
Cons
  • Reused story lines from season one
  • Too many "who=likes-who" (love-triangle) changes between several characters
  • The dancing at the stadium in the last episodes was terrible
Recommendation
Even though I thought season one was slightly better, I still think all J-drama fans should watch both seasons of HYD.

Rating: 9.5/10

3 comments:

selphi October 16, 2007 at 1:14 p.m.  

The manga was fun to read and the drama(if you overlook somme bad acting) is really enjoyable. I did thinh it was the best jdrma , but after watching Nodame Cantabile and Engine I've changed my mind.

thepeeps^^ August 31, 2008 at 6:17 a.m.  

I have watched a lot of romance dramas, and none of them made me ACTUALLY watch it all over again and again and again, and still love it, the way Hana Yori Dango and HanaYoriDango2 did!

So far, the best jdrama ever!

Anonymous October 14, 2008 at 12:34 p.m.  

I love Hana Yori Dango!~ it's one of the beat jdramas i've ever watched. I can watch it again and again without getting sick of it(:

Guess there won't be any of it after the movie... sigh

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