Review of Monster

When I first came across a Pluto tankobon translated to Brazilian Portuguese — it feels like it was yesterday, but it's been a year already! —, I had to stop myself from cartwheeling across the bookstore. Actually owning the physical volumes was a dream I thought would never come true, because of this manga's complicated relationship with Astro Boy; now that I've acquired the last one, I just keep staring at my manga shelf, savoring the spark of joy Marie Kondo talks about. As I was buying the volumes, of course, I started rereading the story... And that reminded me how much I love the themesNaoki Urasawa works with, the complex characters he creates, the designs he uses for them. In the intervals between publications, I would remember some of his other works — mainly, the story that made me consider him the best mangaka currently in business, and that is still one of my favorite mangas of all time: Monster. Excitement and enchantment were bubbling inside of me when I finally managed to finish Futari wa Pretty Cure, and the disappointment that anime caused me bade me to look for something *good*, something that wouldn't bore me or make me angry.

That was how, three years after I had finally finished reading Monster, I decided to go through the 74 episodes of the animated adaptation.

It was released in 2004, ten years after the manga was first published, by the studio Madhouse, with Masayuki Kojima acting as director. Kojima had already worked with Urasawa's material before — he directed the adaptation of Master Keaton — and, since the first episode of the anime, it becomes clear that he and the rest of his team revere the plot; they try to reconstruct all the dialogue from the paper, adapting some scenes panel by panel. Considering the anime as a whole, I cannot recall any dramatic exclusion, and I believe I am not exaggerating when I say 99% of the content of the manga was transposed to the screen with minimal alterations.

Which leaves me with what I think is the main problem with this adaption: the snail-pace rhythm.

Monster is not only a psychological thriller series. The story also explores philosophy in general and ethics in particular, discussing concepts such as nihilism and religion to give the reader a better understanding of the characters, slowly leading towards the great finale. One consequence of this is the enormous amount of dialogue; there isn't a single volume without someone trying to explain the reasons behind their actions, or discuss the mysterious nature of Johan and Tenma. This is not an actual problem; these dialogues make the characters more complex and memorable.

It's just that the TV screen doesn't work exactly like the pages of a manga. Turning the written word into sound and intonation takes time and gives the adaptation a completely different rhythm. If, on paper, we read the conversation between psychologists at whatever speed we want to — fast, to get to the action soon, or slowly, to fully comprehend what they're talking about —, in the anime, we are forced to hear the actors enunciate everything, without being able to go back or forward.

In a manga as full of dialogue as Monster is, that means that we spend most of the 74 episodes in scenes with little action, involving long conversations and narration. Although this works on paper, the animation seems to be dragging towards the end of each episode. I believe that the creation team may have lacked a little adventurous spirit — or an understanding that, maybe, making some changes to the story of Monster might be a better way of recreating the atmosphere of Urasawa's manga.

Another aspect of the anime that bothered me a little was the dreary colors of the scenery. I don't know if that is characteristic of the studio's work, or of Kojima's own style — the adaptation of Master Keaton seems to suffer from a similar problem —, or of the technology used at the time of release; I know that the whole thing looks sort of funereal. That works well in the sequences that take place at night, inside pubs and brothels, but it seems to take some of the shine of the scenes in daylight... and Monster is, for me, a manga full of daytime dangers, made more evident by the contrast with bright, vivid, urban landscapes. This, obviously, is my own personal opinion, and not necessarily a production flaw; some people will disagree.

I find the soundtrack interesting, even if it's not in the same level of classics such as Cowboy Bebop. For me, the most memorable song is the opening theme; it creates an awesome unity of effect when played along the sequence of Tenma as a fugitive. The choir invokes the Christian allegory motifs for the main conflict of the story, and will probably still be echoing in the spectator's ears after the episode ends. In comparison, neither of the ending themes seems as strong, although the second one works very well with the illustrations of "The Nameless Monster". The songs inside each episode are not as impressive; I cannot recall any occasion of musical dissonance... but neither can I recall any occasion the music called my attention by its own merits.

As for the rest, I think the anime was fair enough to Urasawa's work. As a devoted fan, I was worried I would stumble into one of my favorite stories twisted beyond recognition, but what I found was characters dear to me gaining movement and voice. Tenma, Nina, Johan — they all have amazing voice actors, whose intensity and subtlety make us cry and laugh. I especially liked Tsutomu Isobe's performance as Lunge; I had never seen any of his roles before and I was amazed by the way he brought the inspector's obsessions to life.

It's hard to go wrong when you're closely following one of the most interesting mangas ever written; the animated adaptation of Monster is *good*. It could have been better; it could have been one of the masterpieces of Japanese animation. As it is, it will always come second to the story on the paper.