Review of Monster

This anime is my favourite show of all time. It is the only anime on my list that I gave a 10/10. I believe it to be absolute perfection. I will go into detail as to why. Story: The story connects all the characters so intricately, it's bordeline insane. However, it does so rather slowly. Now, I understand that many people believe the pacing to be equivalent to the speed of a snail, however even though the story is based on a manga with decompressed story-telling, imo the story doesnt develop that leisurely. The show surely takes its time to develop the plot, but where it takestime most is the development of its characters. Since there are so many and are so incredibly well written, a lot of time has to be spent on discovering their own secrets. This can be mistaken as very slow pacing, but the amount of information you learn in an episode is not small. Even though it may seem many of the episodes are completely isolated from the main plot, every single episode still manages to nudge the viewer closer to the truth, bit by bit. That is, as I said already, because every character is essential for the story. I will go in-depth with the characters later.

Art and Sound:
The art is something you like or hate as it seems. I personally like Urusawa's artstyle a lot, and the animation isn't bad at all either. It's often very expressive.

The OST is perhaps the weakest part. Many scenes have somewhat fitting music, but I sometimes have the feeling something better could have been used for a particular scene.

Characters:
As I said, every single character is unique and essential for the story. They are all so well written and have extremely interesting personal arcs. The fact that there are so many of them and each one is a joy to watch is proof of Urusawa's excellent writing.
Here is also where one of, if not the strongest aspect of this show is present: the titular Monster: Johan Liebert
Johan is my absolute favourite antagonist of all time. I will not discuss him further, as you should experience him in the show yourself.

Enjoyment:
I have to admit, this show may not be everyone's cup of tea. Even though I explained why imo the pacing isn't flawed like many people make it seem to be, it is still quite a lot slower than the vast majority of other anime, or other shows in general. Even if you don't like such pacing, maybe try watching about 2 episodes a day.
I, however, was hooked from the very beginning and enjoyed it thoroughly until the end.

Overall:
This is as mentioned my favourite show if all time, and one of my favourite works of fiction. It's a dark, yet beautiful story about nihilism and all the reasons to reject it. It's about self identity. It tackles many topics such as abuse, redemption, forgiveness, empathy and so much more. It will leave you crying, laughing, shocked, terrified, hopeful and once the show is over, depressed. Because you know, you will never experience a show about this again.

And hey, if you hated this show and want to see me burn in a fire; just remember that killing someone is easy. You just have to forget the taste of sugar.