Review of Monster

MASTERFUL WRITING Overall: 9.5/10 It has been several years since I have seen a masterpiece (last time I think was when I was in high school). I'd like to think I have grown mature over the years, but as I revisit my MAL account from a decade ago, the sentiments on what makes a good anime a masterpiece still holds true: great world building, plot with unpredictable twists that does not deviate from said world building, circumstances of the characters and motivations; the development of key characters (including the anti-hero/villain), and with a theme that resonates with reality or that reflect the current problems of society.This anime checks all the boxes. Since this anime is quite old, the cinematography or animation itself was not gripping. Due to this, it took me multiple attempts to finish Monster; but finally, I decided to give it a chance and look past the art and animation. This time, I allowed the story to reel me in and boy oh boy did it deliver!

WORLD BUILDING - 10/10
Since the story is set in the real world, I guess it has been easier for the author to create settings which were conducive to the story. I guess the main challenge of this is that you need to research the location of the story so you could build a compelling picture of realism. The author and the animators were so well informed of the history, architecture, culture, and geography of both Germany and Czechoslovakia that I really felt myself being transported to Europe during the entire experience. I even thought Kinderheim 511 and the Rose Mansion were real!

PLOT - 10/10
Until the end of the series, what "Monster inside" truly meant was not clearly elucidated. Maybe I was just looking for a psychiatric pathology to be established and revealed. To my surprise, this is an effective way to maintain the overall theme of the project: mysterious, dark, and thrilling. Usually, you could identify a flop when plot twists feel rushed, unimportant, beyond the scope of the world which was built and/or if the pivot does not align with the motives of the characters. This was not the case for Monster. The plot twists were masterfully executed and made with intent. Every episode was key to the progression of the story and the development of the characters.

CHARACTERS - 10/10
Every character was well written. You could really feel that they are different people without latching on to tropes or forcing quirks into the each one. The differences were shown through a variety of scenes. As I observed with current anime, main characters usually narrate to the viewers how they find a certain character- basically telling, instead of showing who they are with defining scenarios. Moreover, Monster is one of those animes with masterful creation of rounded characters. Heck, even villains changed along the course of the story! Although, I think Tenma was basically a flat character after a few turning points. This being said, this "flatness" was crucial into mobilizing other characters to prevent him from falling into depravity.

ANIMATION - 8.0/10
For the year it was made, the animation is subpar to Studio Ghibli. But hey, this is not a fair comparison! First of all, Monster is not a movie! Second, nothing compares to Ghibli when it comes to animation (especially that time)! In addition, the theme of realism did not require those beautiful or action-packed animation we see with other animes that aired that year as well. It is just not fair to assign a rating based on unhinged expectations, and should be adjusted to the year and the importance of the art in the story telling. Sufficiently enough, they were able to paint a picture of Europe excellently, and I feel more would not be necessary.