Summer 2018 Dramas Preview: What's Hot In Dramaland?

by Ceki, June 12, 2018

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Hi guys! For most of us, the summer is almost at our doorstep so it is time to see which dramas we will be getting this season. As far as I can tell, there are some really exciting and interesting titles that will hopefully make this summer of 2018 unforgettable. So let's check them out!

NOTE: This article does not guarantee accuracy since information regarding these dramas can change in the future. The synopsis have been taken from MDL respectively. Drama specials have been excluded on purpose.

JUNE

_tvN

What's Wrong With Secretary Kim?

Lee Young Joon, the vice president of a company run by his family, is very self absorbed and thinks highly of himself, so much so that he barely acknowledges the people around him. His secretary is Kim Mi So who has remained by his side and worked diligently for 9 years without any romantic involvement.
But Mi So decides to resign from her job, thus hilarious misunderstandings ensue. After 9 years of their strictly-workplace relationship, can it now develop into something more?

Starring: Park Min Young, Park Seo Joon
Genre: office romance, comedy, rich-boss

_BTB

Lost in 1949

On New Year’s Day in 1949, female accountant Huang Li Wen returns to her hometown Shanghai in order to commemorate her husband and comrade’s death. As a Communist agent, she is ordered to obtain valuable information for the Communist Party and aid them in their quest for liberation.

During her mission, Li Wen reunites with her family members and becomes acquainted with the streetwise Qiao Zhi Cai and his younger twin brother Qiao Li Jie, who turns out to be a key player in Huang Li Wen’s mission.

Starring: Chen Kun, Wan Qian

Genre: historical, WW2, politics, action, romance

_JSTV

Sweet Dreams

Hotel employee Ling Ling Qi is a sincere, kind girl who's always happy to lend a hand to others, but she also has low self-esteem.

One day, Ling Ling Qi and Bai Hai take part in a company's high tech experimental bracelet test to improve sleep patterns. During the test, the bracelet malfunctions, leading Ling Ling Qi's electro brainwaves to be keyed into Bai Hai's dream sequence, which allowed Ling Ling Qi to enter Bai Hai's dreams.

Starring: Dilmurat Dilraba, Deng Lun

Genre: romance, supernatural

_OCN

Life on Mars

As leader of a crime investigation team, Han Tae Joo has propelled his career and risen through the ranks by trusting data over all else. One day, while investigating a serial murder case, he has an accident. When he wakes up, he suddenly finds himself in the winter of 1988. He doesn't know why, but he's now a detective appointed to work at a police station in a small city. To get back to the present day, Han Tae Joo tries to solve the case.

~Based on British TV show of the same name.

Starring: Jung Kyung Ho, Park Sung Woong, Go Ah Sung

Genre: time travel, crime, mystery, action

_KBS2

Are You Human Too?

The drama tells the story of an android called Nam Shin III, who must pretend to be the son of a rich family when the real Nam Shin falls into a coma.

However, things get complicated when not only friends, but enemies as well, begin to notice differences in the android Nam Shin III, when he falls in love with his hired bodyguard, Kang So Bong.

Starring: Seo Kang Joon, Gong Seung Yeon

Genre: sci-fi, romance, action

_ZJTV

Legend of Fu Yao

Meng Fu Yao is a woman born from a divine lotus petal. She journeys through the five continents towards the heavens in search of a secret order and to reveal a conspiracy originating from the heavens.

In the process, she falls in love with the crown prince Zhangsun Wuji.

Starring: Yang Mi, Ethan Ruan

Genre: historical, romance, fantasy, wuxia

	_iQiyi Hello Dear Ancestors During the Han Dynasty, Zhen Jun is driven off a cliff in a struggle for leadership of his family. Saved from plummeting to his death by a being from outer space, Zhen Jun is placed in a healing, deep sleep. In the year 2020, Zhen Jun wakes to find his prolonged sleep has granted him superhuman abilities. A time travel adventure now begins... Starring: Dong Qing, Chen Zhe Yuan Genre: time travel, comedy, romance, fantasy
	_Youku Lady Meng is Here A story revolving around the mischievous Concubine Meng, who starts out at odds with the King, but falls in love with him in the process. Bu Meng is the daughter of a prominent public official during the Sui Dynasty. After entering the palace, she is exposed to the lies and intrigues surrounding the imperial family. Unwilling to have her fate decided by others, she pretends to be perpetually ill. Starring: Wang Jiro, Jin Chen Genre: historical, palace romance, love-hate relationship
	_iQiyi My Story for You To court her, he wrote 137 love letters in a year, exceeding 1 million Chinese characters. To guard her, he created 16 novels with more than 40 million words, working a wonder of internet literature. This is the love story that unfolded for 16 years already between Tang Jian Shao and his wife. Starring: Luo Jin, Zheng Shuang Genre: romance
	_ZJTV The Evolution of Our Love Ai Luo Man is an outstanding and independent career woman with good qualifications, however, she is not favored by men. Her best friend of fifteen years is Lu Fei, a gentle and easy-going man who is always ready to adapt to others and loves cooking and taking care of his house and plants. Women love him, nevertheless, he hasn’t dated a lot and doesn’t even want to consider marriage. Both Luo Man and Lu Fei have already reached their thirties and strive to better themselves and live a better life in the big city. While doing so, they finally find love as well. Starring: Zhang Ruo Yun, Crystal Zhang Genre: romance, friendship-to-love

(Already started airing, but will continue throughout June)

Summer's Desire	The Ex-Man	Come and Hug Me

Love Won't Wait	Sketch	Handsome Guy and Jung Eum

JULY

_{Fuji TV}

Good Doctor

When Minato Shindo was little, he dreamed of becoming a doctor. He met Doctor Akira Shiga who was surprised by the 7-year-old's memory of the human organs and he decided to support Minato Shindo in achieving his dream. Eventually, Minato Shindo graduated from medical school and passed the national exam for medical practitioners.
Now, Minato Shindo has savant syndrome. His memory is amazing, but he has difficulty communicating with other people. He starts working in the pediatric surgery department at the hospital.

Starring: Yamazaki Kento, Ueno Juri

Genre: medical, life, romance

_{Hunan TV}

Meteor Garden

An ordinary girl is admitted to the most prestigious school in the country, where she encounters F4, an exclusive group comprised of the four wealthiest and handsomest boys in the school. She immediately clashes with her classmates, especially Dao Ming Si who is spoiled, arrogant and a bully.

Starring: Shen Yue, Wang He Di, Guan Hong, Liang Jing Kang, Wu Xi Ze

Genre: romance, school, youth, rich-guy-poor-girl, reverse harem

_SBS

Thirty But Seventeen

Woo Seo Ri, a violin prodigy at 17 who was about to study in Germany, got into a bus accident and fell into a coma waking up 13 years later. Mentally she is still only 17, while physically she is now 30.
Gong Woo Jin is a 30 year old single man who works as a set designer. Due to a trauma he experienced 13 years before, he does not want to have a relationship with others.
This series is about a man and a woman whose lives have been mangled due to a grisly accident. Together, they use all their might to try and open the door to happiness that they once thought had been closed to them.

Starring: Yang Se Jong, Shin Hye Sun
Genre: romance, drama

_tvN

Mr. Sunshine

The drama is set in 1900 to 1905 and tells the story of a soldier in the righteous army falling in love with an aristocrat’s daughter. It begins in 1871, when the hero boards an American military ship as a little boy during the Shinmiyangyo, a U.S. military expedition to Korea that resulted in a battle. He lands in the U.S. and then years later returns to Korea as an American soldier, to the country that abandoned him. While stationed in Korea, he’ll meet and fall in love with a nobleman’s daughter.

Starring: Lee Byung Hun, Kim Tae Ri

Genre: historical, romance, military

_{TV Asahi}

dele

Freelance programmer Sakagami Keiji (Yamada Takayuki) is paralysed in the lower half of his body because of an unknown illness and confined to a wheelchair. He sets up a company called dele. LIFE in partnership with the law firm established by his late father. At the request of clients, Sakagami works together with the freelance jack-of-all-trades Mashiba Yutaro (Suda Masaki) to delete all unfavorable digital records left in their computers and smartphones after they die.

Starring: Yamada Takayuki, Suda Masaki
Genre: action, friendship, business

_Youku

Bloody Romance

A story about a young woman who was exploited in the past, having gone through hell and back to become an assassin.
During the chaotic period towards the end of the Tang Dynasty, Qi Xue accidentally enters a mysterious city and was given the name Wang Mei. Tasked with dangerous missions, she puts herself in danger for each task but gains the protection of Chang An who is a man mysterious as a shadow. The two become embroiled in greater conspiracy involving a deadly struggle for power

Starring: Li Yi Tong, Qu Chu Xiao

Genre: fantasy, romance, wuxia

_TBS

Blues of Stepmother and Daughter

Miyamoto, a divorcee and father of an 8-year-old daughter, proposes to and marries Akiko Iwaki, a career-minded 32-year-old woman.

Now, both unaccustomed to household tasks, they must learn on the fly as they raise their daughter.

Starring: Ayase Haruka, Sato Takeru

Genre: family, life

_{TV Asahi}

Sachiiro in One Room

A girl is just 14-years-old, but she endures a difficult life. Her parents abuse her at home and she is bullied by students at her school. She doesn't have a place where she can feel comfortable.

One day, the girl is kidnapped by a man wearing a mask. The kidnapper names the girl Sachi, while wishing her to be happy. For the first time, Sachi can feel happiness.

Starring: Yamada Anna, Shuhei Uesugi

Genre: drama, abuse, kidnapping

_NTV

Survival Wedding

Sayaka Kuroki now doesn't have a job. At this time, Hiroto Usami suggests to her the chance to get reinstated. He works as the chief editor of a popular magazine. He tells her that if she wants her job back, she must meet two conditions:
1) she must find a man to marry within 6 months and get married;
2) she must write down her experience getting married and publish her experience in the magazine.

Starring: Haru, Iseya Yusuke

Genre: romance, comedy, marriage

_NTV

Takane no Hana

The eldest daughter of the distinguished head family of the famous Tsukishima style of flower arrangement, 29-year-old Tsukishima Momo has everything – beauty, talent, career and wealth.

However, she discovers her fiance has been two-timing her and cancels their marriage on the day of the wedding. A shattered Momo has a crisis of confidence all at once. That is when Kazama Naoto happens to show up. The owner of a bicycle shop, he is an ordinary man who has nothing, and she is a woman out of his league. In spite of this, the two of them fall in love.

Starring: Mineta Kazunobu, Ishihara Satomi

Genre: romance, comedy, drama

_iTBC

Life

A medical drama that depicts the power struggles and human stories that take place within a university hospital.

Starring: Jo Seung Woo, Lee Dong Wook

Genre: medical, drama. life

_j_TBC

My ID is Gangnam Beauty

Adapted from a popular webtoon, this drama tells of Kang Mi Rae, a girl once bullied for her looks. As a result, she became insecure, cautious around people and withdrawn. However, Mi Rae decides she wants a fresh start away from bullying and gets plastic surgery to transform her face. When she begins university, she meets Do Kyung Suk from their middle school days, who sees people for what they are on the inside and not the outside; he then becomes attracted to Kang Mi Rae.

Starring: Im Soo Hyang, Cha Eun Woo

Genre: drama, romance

AUGUST

_tvN

Knowing Wife

A married couple suddenly finds themselves living entirely different lives after their fates magically change through an unexpected incident.

Starring: Ji Sung, Han Ji Min

Genre: time travel, romance, supernatural

_iQiyi

Heavy Sweetness, Ash-like Frost

In ancient times, the Flower Goddess dies after giving birth to a daughter. Before she passed, she fed her daughter the Unfeeling Pill, ordered her subordinates to keep the girl’s birth story a secret and to imprison her within Shui Jing for 10,000 years. The girl’s name is Jin M

Starring: Yang Zi, Deng Lun

Genre: romance, fantasy