Review of Monster

Monster is commonly cited as one of the greatest psychological thrillers that anime has to offer. Initially serialized in 1994 as a seinen manga series, the anime adaptation faithfully follows the story of Naoki Urasawa's brainchild. Both manga and anime have since garnered widespread critical acclaim, and the series has been immortalized in media by many as 'must-watch TV.' Needless to say, I entered my viewing experience with high, nigh-on astronomical, expectations. Somewhat expectedly, Monster delivered on some of these expectations, and floundered upon others. Story: 7.5/10 Initially, I found the story of Monster to be incredibly compelling. We are introduced to Dr. Tenma, a brilliantneurosurgeon, far surpassing his peers in the field. He is confronted with a profound moral dilemma: operate on an impoverished Turkish man, or follow the hospital's directive and operate on a celebrity instead. He chooses the latter; the surgery is successful, but at the cost of the Turkish man’s life. The outcome would eat away at any caring physician’s conscience. Tenma’s emotional turmoil is further augmented by the subsequent events of the story: his encounter with the deceased man's wife suffering an emotional breakdown, his own fiancé, Eva Heinemann, telling him that “people’s lives aren’t created equal,” the lack of compassion from the hospital director and his underlings, the ineptitude of his colleagues and fellow surgeons in saving human lives. The effect of these events compound on Tenma's psyche, culminating in a decision that would kickstart the events of the next 70+ episodes. I find this plotline to be particularly compelling exposition.

However, Monster is 74 episodes long, and what I just mentioned only covers the first episode. This begs the question: are the other 73 as good as its first? Not nearly. The pseudo-episodic nature of the anime lends inherent intrigue, as each episode explores its own unique narrative, but many of them fall by the wayside in the context of the ending. You get introduced to a litany of side characters, some of whom are well developed and fleshed out, and others who leave you wondering why you ever met them in the first place (thankfully, there are more of the former). At times, the episodes become trite, the narratives predictable and unappealing. There are multiple times where an episode involves Tenma performing life saving medical intervention (some outside of the scope of neurosurgery), and then departing on a somber note to continue hunting Johan. This is particularly prominent in the middle of the series, which in hindsight, resembles a sort of monotonous intermission. The repetitive nature of these episodes detracts from the cumulative suspense that Monster attempts to build upon, as you can pretty accurately predict the ending outcome of each episode. Indeed, this experience can be frustrating, considering that each episode has the potential to explore seemingly much more interesting avenues in the narrative, yet the story frequently takes you into the most unfulfilling of those possibilities.

Another observation that a reviewer pointed out: a lot of the suspense in Monster is generated by having one character say a line or word repeatedly, the music building up to a climax, and then the camera shooting away towards another, unrelated location/scene. This happens a LOT in the anime. Suffice to say this was ineffective and only further contributed to the repetitive nature of the show.

On the positives, Monster is admittedly very effective in its portrayal of certain themes, and providing commentary on those themes. This is where its myriad of side characters is most effective. For example, you’ll come to meet an unlicensed Vietnamese physician in the slums. She’s only 17, yet she has an obligation to deliver care because members of the Vietnamese community in the country can’t actually seek conventional medical care in a hospital out of fear of deportation. Tenma stops by her clinic and directly assists in the operating room. Underlying this entire experience is poignant commentary on class and society. In essence, Monster intelligently lends purpose to its characters by utilizing them as conduits to convey themes and ideas which extend beyond the script. Bits like these in the story are refreshing plot points, and cuts through some of the monotony of the show.

Characters: 7/10
Most of the main characters are well developed, primarily owing to the use of innumerable flashbacks throughout the anime, but that is not to say that all of them are interesting. Some of the most intriguing characters were those outside of the main cast. For example, Inspector Lunge, a detective of the BKA whose profession completely absorbs him to the extent at which he neglects his familial obligations. Lunge is a man driven entirely by bottom-up processing and data accumulation. He's analytical and meticulous, but to a fault: refusing to reason or reconcile with external perspectives over his own analysis. Or even Eva Heinemann, whose character is completely despicable throughout a majority of the show, but is surprisingly well written. Johan is widely regarded as the most intriguing and most notable character from the anime, and for good reason. Throughout much of the show, Johan is very much portrayed as an enigmatic antagonist, who acts behind the scenes, and whose impact is realized by visualizing the outcomes of his carnage, as opposed to seeing him carry it out. He is certainly a formidable and worthy antagonist, and I'm sure that some of you could write video essays about this character.

However, the main ensemble (sans Johan) are not so interesting. Tenma’s character is relatively stagnant: the caring physician, never able to reconcile ending life in order to achieve the utilitarian goal of preserving others in doing so. I'll spoil a bit to convey my point further so skip ahead to the next paragraph if you don't want it. The only time where Tenma comes close to challenging his morals is when he shoots Roberto in self-defense. It would logically follow that Tenma would be more willing to pull the trigger in the future, as now he has shot a human being, or he rejects violence altogether, traumatized by the prospect of potentially killing another. Instead, the narrative continues to leave Tenma in a gray area, where he still upholds his values prima facie, but these values only serve to fuel his indecision when confronting Johan. In the end, the needle of Tenma's moral compass has not moved: he does not seem to be affected by the fact that he shot another human being, nor does he display a newfound aversion to violence. Tenma's character ultimately succumbs to Monster's stubborn and unfulfilled writing.

Moreover, Nina: the girl with a shattered psyche, who just repeats words to herself until she manifests her own memories, accompanied by crescendo music. Nina's trope is literally just edging the viewer until she reaches a core memory to the plot, and then fainting or leading to a camera cut. It seems like their characters and belief systems were just frozen in time, from episode 10 to 72. The central characters of Monster appear trapped within the confines within its own narrative. The only redeeming qualities of Tenma and Nina are their backstories, which are well-written. Had Monster carried the same consideration for the development of its characters, I have no doubt the anime would have been much more engaging, and would have warranted a higher overall score.

Animation: 7/10
Generally, I don’t have many complaints about animation, unless it is particularly jarring. The animation in Monster is relatively consistent, which is applaudable, but some characters just appear uncanny on screen. I read a comment which pretty much sums up my complaints about the animation: “Some of the women in Monster look like they’re perpetually on the verge of sneezing,” which I find to be a pretty accurate description. Eva Heinemann is probably the worst culprit of this. Also, violence is poorly demonstrated by the animation. A character could be beaten half to death, waterboarded, and kicked all over his body by multiple assailants, yet only appear with a couple of lines on his face to indicate scratches, maybe another squiggly red line to indicate blood coming out of his mouth, and a couple of scruff marks on his clothing. I expected better depiction of violence from a seinen story.

Sound: 8/10
I thoroughly enjoyed the opening and endings of Monster. The opening is a grunge composition with an ominous choir. The ending tracks also convey the overall atmosphere of Monster well and complement the tone nicely. No complaints about these. The ambient noise during episodes are nothing particularly memorable, but not bad. Overall, I have no major qualms about the use of sound in Monster.

TL;DR: Monster is a pretty good psychological thriller, but has its ups and downs. It loses a lot of its momentum in the beginning, but regains it towards the end, so it is worth sticking around if you do get around the middle. Ultimately, I quite like Monster; the narrative explores the nooks and crannies of the human psyche in a rather unique manner, and the exploration of its themes surpasses the plot.