3 years after the events of Dream High, a strict 10pm work curfew for all minors hurts the Korean Pop Music industry. All the stars of OZ Entertainment (Talent Agency) are suspended from public performances for 3 months after one of OZ's boy bands, Eden, rebelliously broke the curfew.
And Kirin Arts High School has lost its former glory. Now filled with misfits and third-rate students, the school is taken over by OZ (led by Dir. Lee) in an attempt at redemption.
Dream High 2 provides examples of:
- All Men Are Perverts: When the fire alarm is pulled in the dorms late at night, the first thing that boys do is ogle at the half-dressed girls running to safety.
- Apathetic Teacher: Principal Joo
- Bad "Bad Acting": Poor, poor Lian
- Big Eater: JB and Lian
- Brilliant, but Lazy: Yoojin
- Biting-the-Hand Humor: Take That!, K-pop idol singers!Yoojin: "If you can't sing, you can lip-sync. If you can't dance, you can wear flashy clothes. You have no passion or talent for music; you just want to be famous. So be like everyone. Laugh the same, dance the same, sing the same."
- Boarding School: Kirin now has dorms.
- Broken Pedestal: While not exactly a character, Kirin is now a shadow of its former self.
- Bystander Syndrome: JB says something is someone else's problem, not his, to Haesung to disavow her of the notion that he's a hero.
- Callback:
- Yoojin steals one of Prof. Yang's bananas in episode 1. Later, when Yoojin needs a place to stay, what does he bribe Prof. Yang with? Bananas.
- The Cameo:
- A number of characters from the first series show up.
- Cloudcuckoolander: Haesung's best friend, Park Soondong
- Cool Teacher: Miss Ahn starts off her first appearance by letting the students sing with buckets over their heads so that they can listen to their own voices.
- Cruel to Be Kind: Dir. Lee believes that cutting students with no promise is better than giving them false hope, so that they can find something else that they're good at.
- High School: Kirin
- High-School Hustler: Yoojin
- Idol Singer:
- Jerkass: JB
- Kick the Dog: While Shiwoo is eavesdropping, JB complains to Dir. Lee that he has to make up for Shiwoo's lack of talent. When Shiwoo confronts him about it later, JB simply says, "Just be glad that you got to enjoy the ride."
- K-pop
- Loony Fan: Haesung
- Lovable Coward: JYP is back as Prof. Yang!Professor Yang: I haven't even fallen in love yet. Or debuted as a singer ...
- Mythology Gag: Lian is playing Hyemi and Samdong is playing himself in this universe's version of Dream High.
- Music Video Syndrome
- Next Sunday A.D.: Dream High 2 takes place 3 years after Dream High.
- Obfuscating Stupidity: Principal Joo
- Only in It for the Money: JB wants to be recognized for his talent, not his looks. A bit difficult as he is an Idol Singer.
- Paparazzi
- Plagiarism in Fiction: Eden's pop performance is intercut with Yoojin's street performace of the same song. Subtle.
- The same song was actually plagiarized in the previous season by Baekhee for a class composition assignment.
- The Pollyanna: Lian
- Preacher Man: Haesung's father, who does not approve of his daughter's attempts at becoming an Idol Singer
- Reasonable Authority Figure: OZ director, Lee Kang Chul
- The Rival: JB vs. Yoojin
- Rock is Authentic, Pop is Shallow: Yoo-jin wants to be a rock star, and thinks that K-pop stars are manufactured and talentless industry hacks who are in it for the fame.
- Sequel Escalation
- Shout-Out
- "Even Cinderella's curfew is midnight."
- The Ghostbusters theme plays as Prof. Yang rushes in to save Haesung from the fire.
- Haesung compares the OZ takeover of Kirin to Dances with Wolves and Avatar, wishing for JB to be the hero who switches sides and fights for the "natives."
- Later, the "native" students are standing in Dir. Lee's office dressed as either Native Americans or Na'vi.
- Show With In A Show: Samdong stars As Himself in Dream High.
- Small Name, Big Ego: "Star hidden in the ocean," Shin Haesung
- Stepford Smiler: JB puts on a big smile — but only to his fans. (Actually, more of a Honey Trap.) To everyone else, he's a Jerkass.
- Stupid Sexy Friend: Yoojin appears to feel this way about Haesung.
- True Art Is Not Popular: In-Universe. Though Jin Yoojin's criticism of K-pop artists being talentless seems legit, he also hates K-pop because of its popularity.
- We Have Reserves: JB's stunt (performing after 10pm) causes one of their backup dancers to be dropped from his dancing group.
