Review of Monster

Naoki Urasawa's "Monster" is one of the most critically acclaimed works in the entire anime/manga medium, retaining a dedicated following almost two decades after its completion. With this praise has also come a mixed bag of reputation, with some hailing it as the pinnacle of the genre, while others see it as an overrated show that only snobby elitists would be able to appreciate. While it certainly has flaws, after experiencing it for myself, I believe that Monster is very much deserving of its praise. Monster starts off with what could be the most interesting premise I've seen in a story. Dr. Kenzo Tenma isa brilliant neurosurgeon who works in the Eisler Memorial Hospital in Dusseldorf, Germany. After being ravaged with guilt for saving the life of a performer instead of an immigrant worker who came in first, he decides to save the life of a young boy instead of the town mayor when presented with a similar scenario. Tenma's life spirals out of control after he gets demoted and his fiancee leaves him, while a string of murders runs through the hospital and Dusseldorf, with Tenma becoming the prime suspect 9 years later, with the true killer being none other than the boy Tenma chose to save, Johan Liebert. He travels across Europe in order to find Johan and put an end to the monster he saved.

Monster follows as a crime-thriller drama, an intense cat-and-mouse game as Tenma seeks to undo all the damage that Johan has done, confronting secret organizations and Europe's criminal underworld. It slowly develops its deep and complex plot over the course of 74 episodes, each of which have something to contribute to the story, be it a small hint about character's past or large foreshadowing for future events.

The interesting thing about Monster is that it's not so much its plot that makes it truly great. While it certainly is well written overall, the characters are where the show truly shines. For a show that's titled Monster, it's incredible how human and real the characters felt. They're flawed and realistic, and their development and insight truly push the story along and make it compelling. The main villain, Johan Liebert, is quite simply one of the most well-written characters I've ever seen, and the dichotomy between him and Tenma is an incredibly interesting villain/hero relationship, truly representing the idea of "two sides of the same coin."

This level of thematic complexity and depth is another strong point of Monster. It poses deep questions about topics like morality and the meaning of life. Are all lives created equal? Does everyone deserve a chance at life? Are some people so awful that they truly deserve to live? Why do we live in the first place? It is often left up to the viewer to answer these questions, and to decipher the meaning behind certain clues and events, which creates a sense of mystery and intrigue that lingers until the very end of the show and even beyond it.

However, as with any work, Monster isn't without its fair share of flaws. My biggest gripe was the reliance on convenience and contrivances to keep the plot going. Characters would constantly stumble into just the right place at just the right time to avoid some kind of tragedy or to gain an important piece of information. It often felt like they were saved by sheer luck, which really degrades the quality of the story after you notice it happen multiple times. It also had a tendency to be over dramatic and a bit sappy, with drama simply occurring for the sake of drama, and almost everyone, even minor side characters, having some kind of dark or troubled past. There was also a somewhat annoying tendency to split off from the main story and focus on side and subplots. I feel like Urasawa had lots of interesting ideas for characters and stories he wanted to implement, but he didn't know how to include all of it naturally, so he just packed in as many of them as he could in this way. A common issue people bring up with Monster is it's slow pacing, and while it could be more so seen as a matter of preference, I think it did harm the show to a degree. There definitely could have been 10-15 fewer episodes and the overall experience probably wouldn't have been brought down. There definitely are many lulls in the story, where it's incredibly engaging for one stretch of episodes and not so much the next.

I do think that in the end, Monster's strengths far outweigh its weaknesses. The characters, themes, story, and climaxes are some of the best the medium has to offer. If you're looking for a slow-burn thriller with a great cast of characters and a deep plot that will give you a lot to think about, then look no further.