HiGH&LOW SEASON 2 (2016)

Moins intense...

High&Low: The Story of S.W.O.R.D. 2 s'intéresse aux origines de Mugen. Si la première saison était une explosion visuelle et d'action, la seconde fait plusieurs sacrifices, bien qu'elle explore toujours les thématiques originales.

La force de High&Low réside clairement dans les performances des acteurs. Cette suite ne fait pas exception. Qu'il s'agisse des personnages précédents ou des nouveaux arrivants, le casting continue de porter brillamment ce drama.

Cette saison plonge dans l'histoire de Mugen, mais ce choix se fait au détriment de certains atouts qui faisaient le charme de la première saison. Certes, elle connaît son lot de scènes épiques et moments d'émotions. Cependant, les combats, pourtant au cœur de la série, se font cruellement rares. De plus, la surcharge de flash-back brise le rythme et devient vite redondante. De même pour la musique qui se révèle légèrement moins entraînante (notamment en raison d'un nouveau gang qui ne fait pas grand-chose).

Les thématiques originales restent les mêmes : amitié, fraternité, honneur et rêves. High&Low ne se résume pas à de simples affrontements entre gangs. Cependant, avec le film prévu seulement une dizaine de jours après le final, il est impossible d'ignorer cette pointe de frustration. Personnellement, je reste sur ma faim, bien que l'univers ne cesse de me captiver.

En bref, High&Low: The Story of S.W.O.R.D. 2 ne parvient pas à reproduire l'engouement de sa première saison, notamment en raison d'un rythme plus lent et d'une action moins présente. Cependant, elle conserve des moments forts et un casting aux petits oignons.

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I got wrong prediction in this season. I thought it will be more action scenes after the first season that really firing me up like an appetizer before the main story. Season 2 is just like another appetizer, the action scenes only around 20% from the entire episodes. But don't get me wrong, it's still a pleasant one to watch but I didn't get that much hype with all those bunch of flashback and sentimental moments.

Like what I said, mostly are flashback stories of Mugen's main member and other histories of each gang.The more their stories revealed, the more new faces appeared too. There are more familiar actors that also featured in this season. Beside that, there is more additional gang that never be mentioned before in the first season. Season 2 is just like another season 1 but with more detail about identity of each main member of each gang. There is repetition scenes here about childhood of Mugen's main member, it's okay but if considering the duration only around 20 mins, it's a waste. I believe it can be filled with another story. So it feels a bit slow at the some beginning of episodes, but thanks for the good looking casts and the editing (also the music) I can patiently and excitedly follow their stories.

Since all the gangs already revealed (I hope all gang names already mentioned in this season, including Mighty Warrior & Doubt, maybe Later a group from Lee/Seungri), now everything must be piled up together in one line. But It's kinda look choppy, they keep back and forth from one gang to another just to tell a small amount of story. It would be nice if they tell an exact story from a certain gang in a decent length duration. Let's say in 20 minutes only about 2 gangs with 1 main story, just like they did in the first season. It's not happen a lot only in the some of beginning of episodes. Too many LDH actors that need to be appeared in the drama huh?

All the gang leaders's past stories are reviewed again except Daruma Ikkka and Rude Boys. Why? yes, why?? I yelled in dissapointment after I finished watch this drama. Season 2 didn't tell more detail
about Hayashi Kento (as Hyuga, leader of Daruma Ikka) and Kubota Masataka (as Smoky, leader of Rude Boys). It's not only that, even both of them didn't appear in this season, they didn't has any line.
They only appear in 1 or 2 seconds from the past scenes. Really too bad, they're are one of the reason why I like this series. Well, I guess it's their intention tho, they want to emphasize their own actors (LDH actors) rather than the real actors. If so, then how about Yamada Yuki? He's not LDH actor but he got decent amount of screen time.

If we talk about visual, sure H&L is still one of the best, they got nice looking actors, cool properties, detailed settings and good POV. So that's why it's a waste that they decrease the amount of fighting
scenes. Well, seems like this season still wants to tell more about friendship and family thing between them. Season 2 still using the same music from the previous season. They added 2 or 3 new songs tho, if my ears not wrong. But the intensity of the music is not as much as the first season. "Maria" and "Forever Young At Heart" were played a lot, because there are a lot of sentimental moments in the beginning of episodes.

Overall was fine with new faces and new stories. It also hints another new face for the next HiGH&LOW: The Red Rain. Also a glimpse of what will happen in the HiGH&LOW: The Movie.

Personal corner:
Can I talk a bit about how perfect Yamada Yuki here? Yes, I can say that he is the best actor here. Even thought he didn't appeared that much, I can tell his presence is really strong. The way he delivered his line along with his expression, it's just - - - wow! yeah! :D

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