Review of Monster
"Tell me, what do you think is the ultimate fear? I really thought I’d already reached the darkest of the dark, but then, ahead of me, I beheld a darkness even greater still.” – Johan Liebert Monster is extremely different than most modern anime, in that there is basically no fan service and no high schoolers. Hell, Monster doesn’t even take place in Japan; the majority of it takes place during the 1990s in Germany. So when I watched Monster I was looking for something different no slice of life or action, I wanted a real psychological thriller and damn did I get what I camefor and it even lasted 74 episodes with absolutely no filler episodes just exposition and plot.
Story – 10
Monster follows our Protagonist Kenzo Tenma who is a brilliant Japanese neurosurgeon working his way up Eisler Memorial Hospital in Dusseldorf, but he makes a judgment call and decides to save a young boy over the life of the city’s mayor. Was this really the choice? Most people would agree that saving a young boy over an older man is probably the morally correct choice, but Dr. Tenma is left debating that decision over the rest of the series as he realizes that he didn’t save a boy but instead he saved a monster. Dr. Tenma then decides to hunt down this monster for himself and solve this problem, because it becomes clear the police can’t seem to handle this monster for multiple reasons. My first thought after plot line of this series was, how the hell does it last 74 episodes? Now I might be wrong on this point as I watched the series a couple of years ago but I do believe there is absolutely no filler and every episode is canon. Monster is one of those series that uses their time really wisely, you’ll probably always be interested in whatever is going on, trying to solve the multiple mysteries of this show while enjoying the seemingly casual dialogue between two characters. Though our Protagonist is Dr. Tenma the show does switch off to other characters quite a bit, probably 32 episodes switch the point of view of the story and follow a different character. There isn’t any way for me to really describe how great the Story for this anime is without giving any spoiler’s but a lot of fucking people die and their deaths are usually pretty brutal. The pace of the show is slow because it lasts 74 episodes but man does it captivate you bit by bit and leave you wanting more, the ending is also extremely climatic.
Art – 9
Something that people usually aren’t comfortable with while watching monster is the art style, not the animation but the art style. Unlike some mangaka Naoki Urasawa (the person who wrote and drew the manga for Monster) has a really distinct art style; nothing is kawaii or moe. Though I’ve only read two of his works (20th Century Boys and Monster) they both have a very realistic art style which I feel is to attempt to make the viewer realize that this series is something that you should take rather seriously. Anyways the animation is decent for its time, nothing really flashy happens in this series so none of the animation is very flashy.
Sound – 10
Monster OP and ED are unique to say the least, I can’t say if I really enjoyed them, but I do feel that the fit the eerie and mysterious tone of the series really well. The OST is on point, and this show almost never has the problem of misused BGM. The voice acting is on point in the Japanese Dub, I can’t say too much for the English Dub because I never heard it though I am a fan of Liam O’Brien.
Characters – 10
Every main character in this series is extremely interesting the least of which is the protagonist and the most of which is the antagonist. Johan Liebert tops the charts of evil villains in Anime/Manga. I really don’t know who is eviler, Johan or Griffith from Berserk. Johan Liebert is a god of manipulation this man is a fucking genius, but he is seriously fucked in the head. Ok, sorry had a bit of a fan boy moment but seriously he Is my favorite antagonist from any anime series and I do believe him to be the most evil and quite possibly the greatest antagonist any anime series has ever seen. Most people who have already seen Monster will hopefully agree with me on this point. The characters really just make the show the masterpiece that it is, though some characters are one dimensional and rather pointless most seem to have unimaginable depth and make me question how Naoki Urasawa came up with all these brilliant characters. From the extremely likeable Wolfgang to seemingly bitchy Eva, I find this cast of characters extraordinary and very realistic though they still entertain me.
Enjoyment – 9
I admit, every once in a while I wasn’t entertained. This anime certainly isn’t action packed like SAO and SNK, and it isn’t comedic like Gintama and GTO. It’s a thriller and sometimes I just wasn’t too thrilled. But that’s literally impossible for a 74 episode series to keep me thrilled for every second specifically one that has an extreme amount of exposition. The mystery element of this show always did keep me guessing, but I wasn’t smart enough to figure it out without the show explaining it to me. The main enjoyment for me came out of the great storyline and characters. I feel to enjoy this show you do need some level of maturity, though I don’t know how much that means coming from a 17 year old kid.
Overall – 10
Though there are some things that aren’t done absolutely perfectly I feel that they are damn well near perfect, and for whatever Monster messes up on one aspect and makes up for on another aspect. If you aren’t a fan of psychological thriller’s in genre this just won’t be for you. If you watch anime for the Japanese culture this won’t be for you either because it takes place in Europe. This is some really dark shit you’re getting into my friend, if you only watch light hearted stuff like Slice of Life or your typical shounen series then I recommend at least branching out and trying something new like Monster because it’s a hell of a series. But don’t forget my friends “Evil sometimes wears a pleasant face”.