I literally made an account on MAL to post a review of this masterpiece, the product of the genius Naoki Urasawa. I was always a fanatic of psychology and drama overall, and I thoroughly enjoyed anime of the type, and when I watched Monster, it was like I was rediscovering not only the genre I love the most, but in the same while, revisiting the human mind and how it functions.
Let's cut to the chase, though.
Monster tells the story of a brilliant neurosurgeons; Dr. Kenzou Tenma. Tenma is a Japanese (go figure) surgeon who came to Germany under Udo Heinemann's will, for his amazing
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work and great benefit to the Eisler Memorial Hospital. Tenma has it all in the beginning, appreciation from his co-workers, a hot fiancée that 'loves' him, a bright career under the care of Heinemann, the guy has it all.
One day Tenma operates on an Opera singer under the order of Udo, which is completely typical, but on the other side of things, a Turkish man enters the hospital before the singer, yet dies because Tenma doesn't operate on him. The encounter with his wife and child marks Tenma. The main reason for the whole plot is Tenma's reaction to this event, it marks him psychologically.
Tenma chooses to operate on a child who was shot in the head instead of the Mayor, the child came in first, and keeping in mind the whole Turkish guys' death, Tenma after a lot of psychological struggle saves the young child.
In exchange for saving the young child, not only his career but his life falls apart; Fiancée leaves him, loses his position, and loses all hopes for a brighter career.
...Until one day, the killing of a few individuals restore everything to Tenma, his fiancée, his position, his career... After years of this event, Tenma seeks to know the truth after witnessing a terrible event, and seeks to correct the right he had committed by saving the life of the boy.
Monster drives us around many parts of the world, mainly Germany and the Czech republic, other countries are mentioned but ever so rarely. This anime literally depicts every single psychological phenomenon that could happen. Fear, despair, horror, sadness, joy, hope... Monster has it all.
The story itself is just amazing. Every single episode left me breathless as to WHAT would happen to the characters I loved so much. You won't only get attached to Tenma, but people who are with AND against Tenma throughout the story, the characters have such great charisma, the secondary characters who play a large role also have an established storyline. Tenma's path to justice, making things right after the killings of innocents demonstrates polar morals at their finest. The antagonist is a pure genius who lacks empathy for people, the devious in the antagonist's character is so mysterious that you'll really wonder 'What the fuck is he doing?' at some point in the anime. Every character aside from the ones Naoki Urasawa has made unpleasant are really likeable. The story has a lot of depth and you'll always have a certain clue for things, but that makes things even more exciting.
The art is great as well. The character design is pretty neat, every character is well designed, even the ones that don't look so good, you can clearly see the complexity in their design, the main characters are very charismatic design-wise throughout time, there isn't much of a comment that can be made on art other than that.
Sound was pretty good. The sound effects when Tenma takes a turn, or when there's a suspense are just very VERY fitting, and make this suspenseful mood for you. The OST is very good, I loved the opening and the endings were pretty well-made as well. The music that can be heard throughout the anime is very fitting with the situations at hand, calm music, desperate music for the frustrated, sometimes joyful... Monster has it all.
As I said, the characters are very charismatic overall, their development in-depth is pretty much what makes Monster so special, going so deep into psychology, showing us the very raw despair and frustration people have, manipulation of the characters occur many times, some of them have great moments of genius as well, the whole plot is very intriguing and will make our hero(s) wonder about 'what's happening' more than often. The personality of the characters are very well established, and some completely differ from your expectations at first sight, nevertheless, I can't say I've felt any disgust for any character, even the really 'bad' ones (bad morally, that is), they all play a part in the plot, there isn't much fanservice if at all, and a lot of the characters are straight up badass veterans.
I really enjoyed this anime, perhaps my enjoyment was one of its kind because I felt something unique, different, while watching Naoki Urasawa's Monster. After the 74 episodes I've watched, I can say I feel no disappointment, not even one bit, but I was delighted to watch such a masterpiece, each special anime leaves a certain feel in you, well, I'm mad Monster is only 74 episodes, that I actually finished watching Monster, because I had such a great time watching it. The suspense, the psychological struggle, how well nihilism is demonstrated at many points, the political nature of man, etc... Monster has it all.
So, if you're ready to be amazed out of your mind, just watch this. There is no reason ever NOT to watch this. People speak of horror but personally I wasn't scared at any moment (and I can be sensitive when it comes to violence but Monster had acceptable-tier stuff).
Sep 5, 2015
I literally made an account on MAL to post a review of this masterpiece, the product of the genius Naoki Urasawa. I was always a fanatic of psychology and drama overall, and I thoroughly enjoyed anime of the type, and when I watched Monster, it was like I was rediscovering not only the genre I love the most, but in the same while, revisiting the human mind and how it functions.
Let's cut to the chase, though. Monster tells the story of a brilliant neurosurgeons; Dr. Kenzou Tenma. Tenma is a Japanese (go figure) surgeon who came to Germany under Udo Heinemann's will, for his amazing ... |
