Review of Monster
Monster is a messy and sprawling story, spanning over the course of many years, characters, and ideologies. It is a beautifully told and written moral dilemma that explores and understands the human condition, while simultaneously remarking on how far a person can be pushed into the depths of darkness. This is a story without much light, which is conveyed in both the literal sense and the narrative sense. The art and the color pallets for this show are muted and dim, in order to reflect the ever-oppressive atmosphere. The scenery mostly consists of German architecture, with impressive attention-to-detail with everything from rural villages, to elaborate castlesand landmarks. The setting is constantly changing, and yet remains consistently impressive throughout the series.
The characters are all impressively detailed, and every single one contributes to the overall momentum to the story. Some characters are more relevant than others, and some serve to reinforce previously explored ideas, sometimes to the point of redundancy, but the humanity displayed within this writing is downright marvelous. Not only do these characters serve to fulfill their narrative purpose, but they think, feel, and act of their own volition, with clearly defined ways of thinking and mannerisms. They feel like more than words on a page - they feel like people you could come across in real life. Everyone from kids, to adults, are carefully crafted and explored in this story.
The narrative is extremely dense, but never to the point of being convoluted. It’s easy to follow decisions that are made, and the story beats that unfold. However, for a mystery anime, there isn’t much that can be figured out on your own - the audience simply has to wait for information to fall into their lap before any conclusions can be made, and this continues right up until the very final episodes of the anime. This isn’t a bad thing necessarily, but it doesn’t allow for the audience to decipher the riddle on their own. However, one thing this does lend credence to is that it allows the story to unfold in an unpredictable manner. Stories that are boring are often predictable, but Monster is unpredictable, with all actions, character moments, and narrative choices with two or more possible outcomes, and an argument for any avenue. But every choice and every outcome feels like a natural progression of the last. As the credits roll on this series, it is clear that the main ideas of this series are up to the audience’s interpretation, and the series is asking the viewer to ponder the events of everything that came prior. It is a masterful balancing act, that doesn’t hand an answer over on a silver platter, because at its core, Monster is interested in questions without real answers. This is by far its greatest strength.
Should you commit to this 74 episode experience, you will find a deeply honest and tangled exploration of the human condition, told through a brilliant series of dilemmas and tragedies.