Monster

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Japanese: MONSTER

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Information

Type: Manga

Volumes: 18

Chapters: 162

Status: Finished

Published: Dec 5, 1994 to Dec 20, 2001

Genres: Award Winning, Drama, Mystery

Themes: Adult Cast, Psychological

Demographic: Seinen

Serialization: Big Comic Original

Authors: Urasawa, Naoki (Story & Art)

Statistics

Score: 9.16¹ (scored by 101,159 users)

¹ indicates a weighted score.

Ranked: #5²

² based on the top manga page. Please note that 'R18+' titles are excluded.

Popularity: #29

Members: 251,741

Favorites: 21,567

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Wikipedia

9.16

Ranked #5Popularity #29Members 251,741

MangaBig Comic OriginalUrasawa, Naoki (Story & Art)

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Volumes: /18

Chapters: /162

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Synopsis

Kenzou Tenma, a renowned Japanese neurosurgeon working in post-war Germany, faces a difficult choice: to operate on Johan Liebert, an orphan boy on the verge of death, or on the mayor of Düsseldorf. In the end, Tenma decides to gamble his reputation by saving Johan, effectively leaving the mayor for dead.

As a consequence of his actions, hospital director Heinemann strips Tenma of his position, and Heinemann's daughter Eva breaks off their engagement. Disgraced and shunned by his colleagues, Tenma loses all hope of a successful career—that is, until the mysterious killing of Heinemann gives him another chance.

Nine years later, Tenma is the head of the surgical department and close to becoming the director himself. Although all seems well for him at first, he soon becomes entangled in a chain of gruesome murders that have taken place throughout Germany. The culprit is a monster—the same one that Tenma saved on that fateful day nine years ago.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

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Background

Monster won the Grand Prize at the third Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize in 1999, as well as the 46th Shogakukan Manga Award in the General category in 2000.

The series was published in English by VIZ Media under its VIZ Signature imprint from February 21, 2006, to December 16, 2008, and again in 2-in-1 omnibuses under the subtitle The Perfect Edition. The manga was also published in Brazilian Portuguese by Panini Comics from June 2012 to April 2015; in Polish by Hanami from March 28, 2014, to February 1, 2017; in Spain by Planeta Cómic from June 16, 2009, to September 21, 2010; in Argentina by Editorial Ivrea and LARP Editores; and in Turkey by Marmara Çizgi.

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Characters

Liebert, Johan

Main

Tenma, Kenzou

Main

Liebert, Anna

Main

Grimmer, Wolfgang

Supporting

Lunge, Heinrich

Supporting

Heinemann, Eva

Supporting

Dieter

Supporting

Reest, Martin

Supporting

Reichwein, Julius

Supporting

Roberto

Supporting

Reviews

Feb 7, 2024

oswalld

Recommended

Well-written

✳️ This review will be written in both English and Portuguese (PT-BR) - Essa crítica será escrita em inglês e português (PT-BR)✳️
𓐚𓐚𓐚𓐚𓐚𓐚𓐚𓐚𓐚𓐚𓐚𓐚𓐚𓐚𓐚𓐚𓐚𓐚𓐚𓐚𓐚𓐚𓐚𓐚𓐚𓐚𓐚𓐚𓐚𓐚𓐚𓐚𓐚𓐚𓐚𓐚𓐚𓐚𓐚𓐚𓐚𓐚𓐚𓐚𓐚𓐚𓐚𓐚𓐚𓐚𓐚𓐚𓐚𓐚𓐚𓐚𓐚𓐚𓐚𓐚𓐚𓐚𓐚𓐚𓐚𓐚𓐚𓐚𓐚
🇺🇸

🔶"The monster in 'Monster' isn't as monstrous as it seems"

My experience with Monster was quite interesting, to say the least. Initially, I must confess that the size of the manga made me a bit lazy to start reading the work, which delayed me from picking up the manga and reading it from cover to cover. However, after overcoming this barrier, I was immersed in a story rich in philosophical reflections on life, morality, and human nature. But despite everything, the monster in "Monster" wasn't ...

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Feb 18, 2024

gyatso

Mixed Feelings

having also read billy bat previously, i think i can say that i am not the biggest fan of urasawa's works. for monster, perhaps it's my expectations being too high, but there definitely was something missing for me.

don't get me wrong, it was mostly an enjoyable experience. i adored tenma, his work ethic, him always putting others first even if it means sacrification, him not being able to shoot even the most evil 'monsters' out there, and his long journey into reversing his damage done and discovering the darkness that roams. i often got goosebumps whenever johan appeared, theorising about his ...

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May 22, 2023

tragedyhero

Not Recommended

Funny

I've read and seen a lot of critically acclaimed fiction in my life. Some became my favourites, while others were so-so. Monster, however, is the first instance of me coming across a critically acclaimed fiction that turned out to be truly, truly terrible. And I'll be honest, even though I have tried to be as objective as possible, my intense hatred for its completely undeserved reputation is what motivated me to publish this review.

It's ironic that my single biggest issue with Monster is what its fans claim to be its greatest asset, the villain Johan Liebert. It's very clear what Naoki Urasawa's motivation was behind ... creating him. Johan was supposed to be the embodiment of evil, someone who could commit crimes without the least bit of guilt and remorse. That's all very scary and stuff, but I ask you this, my dear reader. If I raise a person to be a terrorist, and the person turns out to be a terrorist, does that make the person evil? Because without spoiling anything, that is who Johann Liebert is. A person designed to be evil, and therefore not evil at all. Naoki Urasawa failed to comprehend this simple fact that what makes a villain interesting are their own convictions and emotions, born out of an intensely personal birth; not some contrived backstory where every Tom, Dick and Harry would influence the character.

But Urasawa's amateurism doesn't stop there. Not only did he make his villain essentially meaningless, he genuinely doesn't believe it's possible for people to turn out to be evil unless someone conditioned them to become as such. We come across many bad guys in his manga, but time and again, we see that the only ones capable of committing crimes in cold-blood are the ones who have been conditioned to be like that; everyone else, be it alcoholics, robbers, murderers or whoever, end up feeling guilty or remorseful. Hell, even the people who made Liebert who he is have become kind and empathetic with age. I’m sorry, but this is an unbelievably juvenile understanding of human psychology. People don’t need to be conditioned into becoming terrible, and more often than not they aren’t. And as far as fiction is concerned, the greatest villains are always the ones who became who they are by their own convictions and ideals; Bondrewd, Griffith, Makishima, just to name a few.

Talking about Liebert is incomplete without talking about Tenma. Tenma is the single most archetypal “good guy” that you can imagine. He is very kind and friendly, he always helps everyone out and he thinks all lives are equal. Of course, there’s nothing wrong with all that, but there’s nothing interesting either. On one side, you have a villain who isn’t evil or frankly even interesting, and on the other side, you have the most naïve do-gooder in the history of popular fiction. The result? One hundred and sixty-two chapters of mind-numbing slog, filled to the brim with filler which only serves to show you how much of a good guy the good guy is. I hope this doesn’t count as a spoiler, but the good guy is vindicated in the end. So yeah, the message of Monster is, everyone is equal, everyone is inherently a nice human being, and the only way you can become terrible is if someone turns you into one. Even if you believe in such a comically simple worldview, I’m sure you didn’t need Urasawa to realize it.

Thank you for reading.

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Recent Forum Discussion

Poll: Monster Chapter 127 Discussion AlexSadist-sama - Jan 31, 2012	5 replies	by LightNoragami1 »» Jul 8, 3:47 AM
Poll: Monster Chapter 162 Discussion ( 1 2 ) Darkreaper70 - Dec 16, 2008	76 replies	by clamatias »» Jun 21, 6:06 PM
Poll: Monster Chapter 32 Discussion AlexSadist-sama - Jan 29, 2012	7 replies	by meyve »» Jun 13, 1:08 PM
Poll: Monster Chapter 115 Discussion AlexSadist-sama - Jan 30, 2012	5 replies	by LightNoragami1 »» May 25, 3:33 AM
Poll: Monster Chapter 155 Discussion AlexSadist-sama - Jan 31, 2012	11 replies	by Tamasul »» May 16, 12:20 AM

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