Review of Monster

Monster is an adaptation of a manga by Naoki Urasawa and it's done really well. Story (9/10) The basic plot line of the story revolves around a Japanese doctor who is living in Dusseldorf, Germany named Dr Tenma who goes against his superiors orders and saves the life of a child named Johan Liebert when he is supposed to save the life of a mayor, however that child grows up to be a nihilistic serial killer and the doctor has to chase down and stop the madness that he believed he was responsible for creating. On the way he ends up investigating and meeting many different peoplethat are very uniquely written and deep despite being side characters.

Characters (9/10)

The characters like mentioned before are heavily deep and uniquely written. What I mean by this is that you get heavy information on their backstory, lives, ideas etc you can also see their very ideals and beliefs being challenged by many circumstances around them, this is especially prevalent when it comes to the main character Dr Tenma as he faces numerous ethical dilemmas but it can be seen in numerous other side characters as well. The main thing about Monster is it's focus on all characters including the side characters which is something that many other anime and media in general struggle to focus on.

Setting/World building (7/10)

There isn't really too much to say about the world building and setting other than it has realistic ideas of what Dusseldorf, Germany would look like, especially in the timeframe that the anime was set. The ideas of architecture and background buildings are very accurate to real life however other than that the world building is pretty insignificant but still has effort put into it and you can see many scenes that are absolutely beautiful and well made at times.

Art Style and Animation (7/10)

The art style is very realistic, unique and pleasing to the eyes, the characters all have their own unique designs about them and are atypical to the "big eyes and multicoloured hair" indicating that this show is serious and needs your focus. However the animation can drop at parts like with heavy keyframes and still images (which is a problem anime has in general but this can be heavily prevalent in Monster) and it can lead to some scenes that are supposed to be dark and grim lose some of their meaning.

Pacing (5/10)

The pacing is quite slow and many episodes can feel that they have been dragged on and on, for some this can add to the idea of mystery that Monster wants to encapsulate however in some episodes it can get to the point of being really annoying as many watchers may feel like some of the episodes are an excuse to drag so more revenue can be made out of this anime. However with it's slow pacing you can also feel a sense of curiosity of whats to come next because despite the pacing being slow, the ending of each episode leaves with a huge cliffhanger.

I will being this up now though, the ending is a complete and utter piece of crap but I won't tell you anything further in case of spoilers.

Overall (8/10)

Overall, Monster is an anime that does exceptional when it comes to it's story and characters, it has solid worldbuilding, art style and animation, however it's pacing is very mediocre and the ending is abysmal. I recommend this anime to people who like slower anime with heavy themes of ideology and ethical dillemas in characters as well as a unique sort of story that can be explored and understood in numerous different ways. However if you like fast paced, fun shows then this anime won't hit for you.