 Alternative TitlesEnglish: Monster Japanese: MONSTER InformationType: Manga
Volumes: 18
Chapters: 162
Status: Finished
Published: Dec 5, 1994 to Dec 20, 2001 Authors:
Urasawa, Naoki (Story & Art) Serialization:
Big Comic Original StatisticsScore: 9.071 (scored by 38,353 users) 1 indicates a weighted score. Ranked: #42 2 based on the top manga page. Please note that 'R18+' titles are excluded. Popularity: #44
Members: 94,548
Favorites: 9,335 | Reviews
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I rarely give tens to mangas. But this one just deserves it! Why? I'm going to tell you:
Monster isn't a tradional manga. It isn't about fighting. I even dare to say it is a 'Love it or hate it'-manga. If you are the type of Naruto and Bleach and looking for that kind of manga, this isn't the manga for you. If you are looking for an intense, well-written manga, I would recommend this certainly for you. The story is complex and long. Altough it's long, there isn't one single filler. It is all part of the same story. The story is about several characters, whom read more
"Look at me! Look at me! The monster inside of me has grown this big!".
Is the righteous path always the right path to take? Is it possible to regret doing the right thing and standing for justice? Is a righteous choice with a bad effect a good choice or a bad choice? How far is anyone prepared to go to correct what wasn't wrong in the first place? In these questions we find the basic premise of Monster. Monster is a brilliant piece. A thriller with a story so unified, steady, complex and without plot holes that puts 99% of all thrillers (be them books, movies read more
What makes a great psychological thriller? An intelligent plot? Unpredictable plot twists? Memorable, deep characters? Or is it the overall atmosphere of the series? If you're looking for a manga that can give you all of the above, Naoki Urasawa's got your back. Chances are that you have probably heard of Monster before and was wondering if it's as good as some people make it out to be, and to be quite honest, it deserves every bit of praise it gets and lives up to the hype surrounding it. Securing a position at the top of almost every manga ranking site, Monster is a critically
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Not an overrated masterpiece but clearly a hollow one.
When the MAL user oOoOoOo wrote this in his MW review: "While an interesting character sketch, I cannot say much for the story itself. Machinations and dramatic events often seem forced and unrealistic, compared to the more carefully plotted mysteries of "Monster"." I have to admit I couldn't remove my bias even before I completed the first arc/chapter/plot event. (The way the story is told is via one huge epic. This could just have easily been a Resident Evil type of game, a film directed by Kubrick or a crime thriller novel and thus normal manga reviewing aren't as read more
The Viz Signature collections features some of my most favorite mangas of all time, The Drifting Classroom, Uzumaki, and Black & White. However, there was always one story that just caught my attention right away after the Signature series started and that was Monster.
Story: The story is completely different then any other series I have ever read and leaves me wondering what will happen next to our hero. After every volume, I feel I learned something new, but I'm still no closer to the mystery behind the villian. Art: This artist has some great skills. Every character and every location is amazingly detailed and drawn read more
I loved this Manga, one of my favourites, and the first Naoki Urasawa manga that i've read, and this has definitely made me want to read more of his work!
SPOILER FREE STORY: I've spoken with friends who are big fans of 20th century boys (which i've started to read) and i've been told a couple times that the story is a little hard to get into. I do see what they're saying, it starts off a little slow but after the short first chapters of set up the reader is thrown into an adventure and chase that never seems to have a dull moment. read more
Let me start off by saying, that this is my favorite manga of all time. I know I give it a perfect score, and there are many reasons for this. Lets start with the story.
This manga takes place in Germany and follows the main character, Dr. Kenzo Tenma, a brilliant brain surgeon. His fiance' is the director of the hospital's daughter. Tenma is torn between following orders from his boss and doing what he thinks is right. Basically he is told to opperate on the mayor of the town, but because a little boy came in first, he decides to read more
This manga is, in my opinion, overrated. The only reason I’m writing this review is because I didn't think monster was worth a 9 or a 10 and if I don't surely other people out there won't either.
The story for monster is what lets it down. The story basically follows a fugitive doctor that is chasing a serial killer. While this is happening the doctor is being chased by the police, who think he has committed the murders. Along the way the doctor meets a lot of families/individuals, makes friends and teaches people. He is helping them to grow and mature in their own right, read more
REALLY fascinating manga.
Basically about the genius neurosurgeon Tenma who choose duty over hospital politics and decides to save a young child shot in the head over the famous celebrity. Tenma loses his job because of this and worse... the boy he saves grows up to be a crazed serial killer! WHAT. Lots of twists and turns and increeeedibly addictive. Read all of it in about 2 days. Ending leaves a lot to interpretation, which was a nice touch for a manga that was so morally ambiguous throughout. Writing is very tight; sometimes some threads of the story seem read more
Oh, MONSTER does many, many things right. An American creator would surely be jealous of things that Urasawa succeeds at seemingly effortlessly. The cast is large but each character’s motivation is clearly defined. Many of the secondary characters steal their scenes (none moreso than the icy “computer-brained” police investigator chasing the lead character). Urasawa seamlessly integrates effective single-episode stories into his larger arcs, adding extra depth to the proceedings. While my initial impression was that the characterization was still far too thin, by the end Urasawa had convinced me (at least with the main character) that he’d pulled off a satisfying character arc over the
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There are few mangas/animes that I regret reading/watching, but Monster is definitely one of them. It is an absolute bore with zero payoff, an incredibly unsatisfying ending that renders a majority of the plot meaningless, as well as unrealistic and uninteresting characters.
Ultimately it boils down to a mostly episodic series where the main character Tenma roams around Europe helping everyone in his path. There are a lot of sappy exchanges, but I really couldn't find myself caring about any of these random people. The evil characters are over-the-top and sinister, something I noticed right away, and that never stops. Since the show tries to portray read more
Finally read Monster after countless years, and it's an amazingly good manga,free from most traps that make especially seinen manga a dreadful cornucopia of blandness, and managing to claw its way to classic status.
Story : 9/10 Easily Monster's strong suit, the storyline is extremely, be it plot , dialogue, and even the translated text holds some literary value in parts. Naoki Urasawa here, as he does with Pluto later, sets his story mostly in Germany , something unusual for a manga but I reckon even more close to the affections and experiences of most Western readers. He masterfully weaves long, seemingly totally disconnected threads read more
It kind of offends me that this manga is so praised.
If you are considering taking this up let me tell you one very important thing. It's a spoiler for sure, but it's a fair one because without knowing this you can end up accusing the manga of false advertising: you will not learn here how a monster is created As I am sure you know, the story is about a surgeon on a road trip looking for a kid he saved on the operating table, a kid that turns out is pure evil, a monster, something like a murdering psychopath/genius tactician/politician/businessman and also, oh man was this read more
Look at me, look at me! The monster inside me has grown this large!
- The Nameless Monster (Obluda, Která Nemá Své Jméno) What does a man have to do to become fictitious? How does one make his existence merely fiction? It's dubbed as the "perfect suicide". Kill everyone who has had memories of you, and finally, kill yourself. Somewhat long summary, or rather, plot introduction: The plot of Monster revolves around Dr. Tenma, a surgeon with a bright future in his field of work, and engaged to the beautiful and glamorous daughter of one of the medical world's most influential players, his hospital's director, Udo Heinemann. One day, he read more
Although I gave the same 8/10 to Urasawa's other manga 20th Century Boys and Pluto, overall I like Monster the most. I think Urasawa is really good at writing thrillers but he has a bad habit at messing up in some areas that prevents his manga from being super classics. That being said Monster is one of my favorite manga.
I am going to assume everyone already has a basic grasp of the premise to Monster, so I'll skip that introduction. The first thing I would like to talk about is the characters, since they were one of the most notable parts of the manga to read more
There is only one world, and it is false, cruel, contradictory, corrupt, meaningless (...). We need to lie to win this truth, that is, to live (...). The metaphysics, morality, religion, science (...) are taken into account just as many ways to lie: with your contribution if it is believed in life.
Naoki Urasawa (Pluto, 20th Century Boys and Billy Bat), through its unquestionable resources, develops Monster in a dual premise, which we can consider as manichean. This challenges the moral behavior of the characters. On the one hand, Tenma, "the doctor", on the other, Johan, "the depravity", dueling in an paradoxical ideological confrontation. Monster read more
Before Death Note there was Monster. It starts a tad bit slow and to be honest a tad bit tld'r but it did redeem itself. It basically revolves around the human condition when everything is taken away from the person. It's basically an evolved Death Note on steroids but with chattier characters, add a little history and neo-nazi's
I loved the characters, The back story of the characters and the mystery. The only things that I didn't like about it that it had a really slow start. I even skipped a few pages to be honest. Sometimes the plot got a little bit unrealistic but it read more
This review is written in Spanish and English. / Éste reseña está escrita en Español e Inglés.
[English - US/UK] On the approach of Monster, trying the same history from the point of view of different characters that perform separate actions, in separate times, and flow into a great frame attached, you could say it is a comic adaptation of the literal format novel river. This format, so little used in the manga, is excellent since it doesn't allow knowing in naturally and efficiently details that otherwise would have seemed forced. When I finished reading it, I remember the aftertaste spiral, as a more or less general and read more
I've heard a lot about this manga and people often made it out to be a difficult read because it is supposed to be very deep. However, this turned out to be a supremely easy read and very enjoyable too.
This does not mean it wasn't deep. Instead, the author struck a fine balance between ensuring the manga remains easy/enjoyable to read, yet keeping the readers thinking about the circumstances and morals of the actions/intentions involved. However, I think this had a negative effect on the manga's pacing/progression. I'd say roughly 70% of the manga is fluff wherein readers are introduced to new circumstances to have them think read more
It is important to know before starting Monster that this is a manga for mature readers. There are no chibi characters, no comic relief moments when things get too serious. The art is very realistic.
I read the manga after I had already watched the anime. Even though I knew most of the stories and the ending, I can say that Monster is a truly remarkable manga. It is one of the greatest psychological thrillers for more mature readers. It keeps you on your toes often. It is interesting and spooky and almost supernatural at times. The stories of many characters are developed very well read more |
