Dream High

I'm going a little crazy and giving it 5 stars. Admittedly, I wasn't that into it at first, and I wondered what would come out of it again. In the end, something came out of it that didn't have that typical melodramatic side that just about every Korean dorama has, and on top of that it managed to surprise me. It showed all those emerging Korean idols beautifully. It had a beautiful song (“I Dream High") that I fell in love with. Sometimes I was annoyed that it skipped weirdly, I figure it was poorly edited, but otherwise... awesome. It was a very nice treat for my hormonal little soul. Dance. Singing. Rivalry. Friendship. Even the love is handled in a very nice way. I enjoyed it and from about week 3-4 of the show I was looking forward to the next episodes. You like kpop? Grab this with all ten fingers. Do you like kdorama? You should, too. The references...! (Cinderella's Sister, Boys Over Flowers... there was also Rain's song playing near the end... it's a pleasure if you recognize it ^^) No, everyone should grab it, get over the beginning, and then if you don't like it, it's just not for you (obviously... :-D). It's hard to say who to recommend it to, because it's just got something going for it. Man they set the dorama bar pretty high in Korea for 2011. A weaker 5 stars. (03/01/2011)

I had no expectations at all when I turned this on, I just wanted to listen to some nice songs and chill out. So if I don't go into it with any expectations, it might surprise me, I thought. And it did – it surprised me by being really worth it. Only one song caught my attention and that was “B Class Life", otherwise it was just the same old shit. Yes, it was nice when they played around with the background music occasionally and slipped in some western production. It was nice that I wasn't sure who the heroine would end up with. I also made tick marks, and in the entire 16 episodes I laughed 5 times. Those are the positives. There are many more negatives – characters I didn't connect with, unappealing actors (I'm not saying they were all like that), the mentality of Korean fans, boring filler episodes, the obligatory corner of picking out clothes for the love interest, boring songs when you’re looking for excitement, and on and on... Even though I wasn't expecting anything, it was a disappointment – I went into it expecting I’d at least hear something, check out the dance numbers, but it was far too bland for what the show should be about... The first one captivated me, but I'll quickly forget the second one. A weak 2 stars. (01/31/2013)