Review of Monster

Most people who do not like anime feel that way typically because they do not like the tropes you often see, such as excessive fanservice, being overdramatic, and many more. Monster is definitely an anime I would recommend to those people. Story: Monster is a story that feels very grounded, while still being able to achieve thrilling dramatic highs. It delves into some very interesting topics, such as what results in someone becoming a true monster, such as political extremists. It handles these topics very well, and there is a lot of tragedy surrounding the characters. The twists that they throw out are absolutely absurd, with oneparticular twist causing me to actually shout, "WHAT!?", which is a very hard task to accomplish. The payoff to the show's mysteries is masterful, and worth the long buildup. My only criticism is the pacing of the first 25 episodes is inconsistent. There will be multiple excellent episodes in a row followed by a few slow ones, followed by a few excellent ones, and so on until a certain event happens where things stay interesting.

Art:
The animation isn't top-notch by today's standards, but given when it came out, I think some leniency should be allowed. All things considered, I think the art and animation was very good. The character designs make them proportioned like actual people, and they're detailed very well. The segments where they implement CG are bad, but again, I'm being lenient. Overall very good.

Sound:
Not the absolute best OST, but excellent nonetheless. The intro perfectly captures the somber vibes that are reflected in the anime's content, the music in the actual episodes perfectly capture the emotions they should at the time, and the ending theme is brilliantly haunting. I also appreciate the motif from the intro being used periodically throughout the show, it gives the soundtrack more of an identity.

Character:
Every single character, no matter how seemingly insignificant they are to the plot, gets a considerable amount of backstory to flesh them out. Realistically, they could have trimmed this anime's runtime in half, but by giving everyone such detailed backgrounds, it makes it all the more satisfying when all the pieces come together in the story's final act. It makes everyone feel so real; the world feels so lived-in thanks to the attention to detail with the characters, which makes it all the more intense when things ramp up later on in the series.

Enjoyment:
Lots of suspenseful and thrilling moments peppered throughout the first act makes it a lot easier to sit through. Not that the slower episodes are bad, most of them are at least good, but with how many episodes consist of the first act of the story, it would probably drive most people away if the show didn't hint at its bigger mysteries every so often. After a certain point, the rollercoaster quickly accelerates and rarely stops. The last few episodes had amazing payoff as well.

Overall:
Even if slow paced at first, this is a thrilling, beautiful, and just overall amazing tale I would recommend to anyone, anime fan or not.