Review of Monster

I can’t believe I cried, yelped in shock, froze in terror and drew blood from peeling my lips (from the shock) all from just one show. Monster masterfully hooked me and drew me in to the naturally captivating paragon of fiction. And what an incredible journey it is. Animation was surprisingly smooth for a nearly two decade old anime (as of writing this review), and the voice acting was down very well. You could almost feel the voice actors crying or dying - Yes, you’ll be seeing/doing that quite often in this show - behind their microphones. And that power carries over to the characters,who actually feel like they’re real living breathing people.

In our deluge of cardboard characters having a certain emotion or catchphrase being their whole personality, I can safely say that almost all the side characters have concrete development and soul in this show. Even all the one-shot characters who you’ll never see apart from an episode or two have realistic growth and reactions. And they all further serve to build and characterise our lead Tenma as quite the angel in human clothing. And these characters are the focal point in Monster; more grounded in reality, we get to experience true fear, hatred, sadness. Never has a four word phrase about munching scared me more.

I feel that Monster has reverberated with me so much because of the distinctly captivating plot - this show does not know what “filler” means. It wasn’t exactly enjoyable seeing the plot unfold and many people die, but it was damn rewarding; it was the definition of high quality to see Tenma make his impact on the world around him.

Watch Monster if you’re bored of the boring and weak character and plot developments of most standard shows that copy each other and make tiny tweaks. It may seem long, but you’ll be craving more during the watch; you’ll be entranced by the brilliant direction. And at the end, you’ll be left wondering, “Man… what a great show…” Oh! And the plot twists are a marvel to behold: they left me in sincere and profound shock, staring at my screen for minutes after the shocking revelation. Solid 9.5/10, just that some parts were a bit confusing the first time round and it’s definitely a bit slow.