Mixed feelings: the drama doesn't come close to reach its full potential, but it's not a bad watch

PORTRAYAL OF EATING DISORDERS
I'm starting with this point because it could potentially be problematic to some viewers.
The drama specifies right from the start that the FL suffers from anorexia, probably exacerbated by trauma. I have luckily no personal knowledge of this disorder, but even so I could recognize some issues with how the show depicted it.
I can somewhat understand why the drama has the FL start eating with gusto once she has amnesia, since her not being able to remember her past and not having to deal with her stressful job could make her able to overcome the psychological barrier she had towards eating. It's probably simplicistic, but fictionally it could make sense in my opinion.
What I found less excusable is how the show doesn't portray any of the physical issues a person suffering from anorexia might have once he/she starts eating normally. I was expecting her to show some discomfort or nausea, but nothing happens. The drama just has her going from basically only drinking juice to eating full meals (and more), as if her stomach wouldn't somehow be overwhelmed by such a drastic change of diet.
I was still able to enjoy the drama but, if this is a sensitive matter to you and you wouldn't be able to ignore it, you might want to reconsider watching this.

STORY
The plot isn't amazing, but it has its good moments.
To me the drama shined when set in the village with Chef Moon cooking, Bella being carefree and Seol Ah having fun with the rest of the villagers.
On the contrary, the parts revolving the business power struggle and family secrets were both boring and exaggerated. Having these parts is something that I have grown accustomed to in Korean dramas, but here they got tedious quite fast.
I would have preferred if the 'big bad villain' was set in ruining either just one of the two leads or maybe only the village, but he's seemingly the root of all evil in the world.
Having the same person being the catalyst of everyone's misery felt like an unbelievable coincidence and reeked of contrivance. It was also more suited to a pure revenge makjang than a romance/healing melo and so I found it quite jarring, as if there were two different stories forced into one.

ACTING AND CHARACTERS
Acting is good all around.
The two leads are very likeable and the child actress playing Seul Ah (Go Do Yeon) is a delight to watch. She's adorable and very natural on camera.
Chef Moon and Designer Bella are pleasant characters; they both have their good and bad sides and interact well with each other even if they don't have a particularly passionate chemistry together. Anyway, they make for a quite endearing couple that was easy to root for.
With Eric Mun being 40 year old and Go Won Hee just 25, I thought the age difference would be very apparent, but that wasn't the case and I could easily believe that they were only a couple years apart. I hadn't watched anything either them previously starred in and I was very pleasantly surprised by both. They really managed to give life to their characters.
I'd also like to point out (since this is usually a common fault of dramas set in rural villages) that the characters of villagers aren't annoying as I was originally afraid of. They are obviously often used for comic relief, but it wasn't overdone and the interaction among the various characters was to me one of the most enjoyable aspects of the drama.

MUSIC
The music really suited the atmosphere of the drama well.
There were some instrumental pieces which I found really pleasing, but beside those I didn't notice any particularly noteworthy song.

REWATCHABILITY
I do not exclude I might someday want to rewatch this show, but it's unlikely it'll happen soon. In that case anyway I'll probably skip all the company business and evil plotting.

OVERALL
In my opinion this drama had the potential to be something really good if the writers had put more importance on the healing aspect, by giving more space to the FL overcoming her eating disorder, the ML coming to terms with the tragic loss of his parents and Seul Ah finding her new family.
As things are, I still found the drama enjoyable, but (with the exception of a quite compelling cast) it lacks any unique feature that could have made it stand out from the rest.

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Suspenseful black comedy that will both make you laugh and keep you on the edge of your seat!

Psychopath Diary is a crime/thriller black comedy and it's its own unique blend of genres which I haven't yet met in Korean dramas.
Some of the themes are serious and sometimes even bleak, but it's the humour and surrealism that take center stage. It's the sort of show where you know you shouldn't laugh, but you end up snickering anyway!
That being said, it's definitely not for everyone.
If you think this drama sounds interesting I suggest you give it at least two episodes since the first is mostly set-up and many found it a bit boring...I didn't, but I can see why some people did.

STORY / WRITING
The premise is a fun and unique twist on the amnesia plot. The story blocks aren't new, but they were used in a fun and quite refreshing way. It actually felt like one of the most unpredictable shows I ever watched, even if I can't really figure out why...I think they just managed to set the tone perfectly and make me completely invested with the drama.
The plot keeps going till the final episode, which is quite important since sometimes Korean dramas derail towards the end. There were a few episodes in the middle which I felt were a bit slower, but for me they were preceded/followed by more eventful ones, so I never felt the plot dragging. The ending was a tiny bit underwhelming, but satisfying enough and in any case it didn't depreciate the drama's value for me.
I personally found that pretty much all the decisions made by the characters made sense, if one takes into consideration the weird logic of the drama. There were no baffling moments were I couldn't understand why a character did something, in the context of his/her characterization.
A warning, though: you'll be disappointed if you go into this expecting a serious and realistic drama...the plot does indeed have quite a few contrivancies, I just didn't mind because...well, it's just so **** fun, okay!?

CAST
The casting for me was spot on!
I honestly can't think of a better actor than Yoon Shi Yoon to portray Dong Shik who can be both adorable yet downright scary at the same time. I personally think he really has a comedic talent and his style of acting perfectly suits the tone of this drama.
The other two leads deserve praise as well.
Park Sung Hoon managed to be extremely charismatic even when portraying a quite deranged serial killer. His character became more interesting as more details about his background came up in the story, but it was pretty fascinating even in the beginning.
Jung In Sun is likeable as always; even that sadly doesn't save her character from being the least compelling of the 3 leads. I liked Bo Kyung well enough, but she never really felt as important as either Dong Shik or In Woo.
In any case, I think all three leads played well with one another and had overall a good chemistry.
The supporting cast was also great and I honestly couldn't find a single weak link.
Special kudos to Heo Sung Tae whom I'm used to see in villain roles, but here is so cute and funny. I'm converted to a fan!

MUSIC
The main song "Wanna Be Bad" is catchy, but beside that I didn't notice any particular noteworthy song.
Sound design though was really well done!

PRODUCTION
The production value is quite high and the settings well made.
I am no expert, but I found certain scenes and shots to be particularly visually appealing and the camera work and editing were quite impressive.

REWATCHABILITY
Some of the suspense will certainly be lost upon a second viewing, but I'll definitely rewatch this drama anyway.
I think there are several visual details which I have missed and that will for sure prove to be funny or interesting to discover a second time around.
Yoon Shi Yoon's acting alone might simply provide enough entertainment to make it worth the time for me.

OVERALL
Basically...I've really loved this show. It's the first Korean drama I've watched during airing and I definitely do not regret it!
I recognise there are a few issues and that is a drama that probably won't appeal to the greater audience, but right now I don't feel like giving it anything less than 9.
I've actually rated it 9.5 on my watching list, because I really had so much fun.

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Unique take on the ghost-seeing premise

WARNING: Before even starting, let me say I personally found the first episode to be extremely lackluster on all fronts, but the show improves a lot (in directing, sound design and even acting) from the second episode. So if you think you might find the premise interesting, I suggest you give this drama at least two episodes before deciding wheter to continue or drop it mercilessly.

I don't usually write reviews, but this show currently doesn't have any and I think it really deserves at least one.
This drama isn't exactly binge-watching material, but it's interesting enough to keep you invested and I came back to it for one or two episodes between other shows. The pacing is slow, the tone sometimes really dreary other times downright weird, but I found it to be different and fascinating in its own way.

STORY: The premise isn't new, but it's explored differently than usual. It has a few horror elements and comedic scenes but the tone of the story is quite serious and somewhat bleak. The ghost seeing premise is taken in a straight way and it doesn't even seem like such a supernatural ability...it's there but it's as if in the background of it all.
I really liked how the characters are written. The show relies quite a bit on silent moments so it requires some attention from the audience to capture the different shades of the various characters.
A thing that took me by surprise was the structure of the story. It's both episodic and yet not so. The cases (even when not included in the sort-of overarching story) aren't distributed exactly in a one per episode basis; which means that a mystery is often left unresolved at the end of one episode and then solved by the middle of the next one.

CAST: I found the performance of the two leads and the main supporting actors to be good, with the exception of the first episode. I wasn't exactly blown away by anyone in particular but if it was just for them this aspect of the show would have deserved a 8.5/10. Sadly some of the less important secondary characters were less talented and their perfomances did ruin things a little bit in my opinion.

MUSIC: I really like the opening song, but for the rest I didn't find the music to be particularly amazing....but it's not bad either.

REWATCH: I don't think this show is rewatch material.

FINAL OPINION: I honestly think more people should give this show a try. It's not for everyone, but I found it refreshing as it's a paranormal crime series with a bleaker and somewhat more realistic twist compared to most I've seen.

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Unique slice-of-life black comedy

The tone is bleak, yet comedic. It has a bitter and realistic connotation, but it doesn't feel hopeless. It manages to make you smile with your lips and sometimes also drop a tear from your eyes.
I don't think I ever watched anything quite like this and honestly I'm glad that the description of the drama was so vague, because otherwise I might not have given this show a chance.
I usually prefer more boisterous black comedies (like Psychopath Diary) but I found Big Forest to be appealing as well with its melancholic, slice-of-life and somewhat sad but hopeful approach to comedy.

STORY
While I do think this show does have some sort of plot, I couldn't really describe it without either spoiling or risk giving a wrong impression of the drama.
It's a slice-of-life kind of story...there definitely is some character arc and especially relationship arcs, but most episodes have to do with a few conflicts and situations either of the two male leads have to deal with and generally these issues are solved by the end of each episode. The situations are mostly played with comedic undertones, but they are sometimes (especially in the beginning) quite sad.
The pacing is very good, I never felt bored and since the drama is only 10 episodes (more than a third shorter than the usually common 16-episodes dramas) the story never felt dragging.

CASTING
First of all, while the cast lists 3 leads, only Dong Yup and Sang Hoon could be consider in my opinion real leads. Cheong Ah is more of a recurring supporting role. That being said, the acting was very good on all fronts.
I personally found both leads to be quite charming in their roles, they really felt real. The supporting cast and the guest actors/actresses (and if you watch Korean dramas you'll notice several common faces) also managed to bring to life their quirky characters really well even with the little time at their disposal.

PRODUCTION / DIRECTING / MUSIC
The directing was good. It didn't blow my mind, but it was interesting. The setting were very well made and suited the drama really well. The dramas is never 'ugly' even in its bleakest scenes.
The music was used well, but I personally didn't notice any particularly noteworty song in the OST.

REWATCHABILITY
While I really liked this drama, I do not think it would make a good rewatchable series. This doesn't lower my overall rating for me, though.

PERSONAL OPINION:
It's an unique drama and I'm very happy I stumbled upon it quite by chance.
It's a pity that it received so little attention both in SK (where it received only around 1%, even if was critically praised) and in the international scene. The latter is partly due to the fact that it seems there were no English subtitles till quite recently.
Now they are available, though, and even if they aren't the best out there (they do not always make much sense and some things are definitely lost in translation) the overall meaning is clear and the drama is totally worth watching anyway. So, please, go and give this show a chance!

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Pleasant makjangish family drama with a quite unique take on the ML

Pity that the only version that is available online has very bad subtitles and poor video quality.
The meaning of the dialogues is understandable if you have the sort of basic knowledge of Korean culture/language you get after watching a lot of K-dramas, but the English wording by itself doesn't make much sense and the personal pronouns/adjectives are often used the wrong way.
Still, it was an enjoyable watch and I didn't consider this lack of a better version a reason enough to drop the show.

This drama itself isn't special, but it has an old-fashioned charm. The editing and directing is very bland, but functional. The acting is decent (I'd dare say even good by the main cast) and the overall story has heart even if it's not particularly great.
The writing isn't exceptional, but I found some of the story beats to be quite original for this kind of drama.
I felt the ML and the little kid to be quite realistically portrayed/written instead of overly romanticized as it usually happens. The ML is good-hearted but also quite lazy, cowardly and generally weak-willed and we get a kid that actually feels and behaves like one instead of the usual perfect, angelic little geniuses whom I'm used to see in dramas. It was quite refreshing!
On the other hand, the FL is the typical naive, overly kind, self-sacrificing heroine. I'm not particularly fond of her characterization, but the actress' performance made her likeable to me.
The two second leads are quite uninteresting characters. The second ML is bland and uncompelling from the start; there was some potential there, but it was not used. I actually liked the second FL at the beginning, but I think her character was sacrificed to drag the love triangle on and on...
The love triangle (square?) started off interesting enough, but got tiring especially in the middle of the show, where we keep seeing very similar confrontations one after the other with little progress.
The ending was a bit rushed and simplistic, but decently satisfying.

One has to keep in mind that it's a family/makjang-ish melodrama and it has almost all the typical tropes of one...I personally found the extremely dramatic/emotional music at the end of each episode particularly hilarious!
But if you don't mind this kind of genre and you can tolerate bad video quality and horrible subtitles...well, this show may certainly prove to hold some entertainment value for you!

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