Back to gyatso's Profile gyatso's Profile

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 ... next moves in my mind and connecting with him in a quite odd, fanboyish way. i loved grimmer and his little side-story, i even managed to like lunge and his weird finger moves. this manga had a lot of things that should normally work for me, and for the most part, it did.

however, i quickly got bored of waiting for the story to unfold. it's just 140 chapters of constantly teasing and teasing, with little to none johan screen time, and then another 20 of rushed, unsatisfying final act that leaves a bittersweet taste in your mouth when it concludes. i mean seriously, we barely even see the absolute star of the show throughout the manga. i understand that this is a mystery manga and we're not supposed to figure out the antagonist from the get-go, but it's still not enough. this shouldn't have been tenma's adventures of helping every single troubled person he encounters, even though i'll admit, it's very heartwarming and cute. i might sound ridiculous for saying this but this whole experience felt like far cry 5 the way the story almost never showed the villain(s) and explain their motivations.

needless to say it was flat, on the hoof and confusing at times. there are a lot of things left unexplained about johan and the story itself. still, the characters and the overall atmosphere somewhat made up for it and provided enough enjoyment for me to go the full distance. would i give it a 9.15/10, though? nah

what an emotional collercoaster this was. studio trigger x cdpred collaboration did not disappoint one bit, as expected.

being a huge fan of the game; i'd been waiting for this to come out for a long time, and boy was it worth the hype. you get to see similar faces, iconic places from the game, experience the masterfully made soundtrack once again beautifully spread throughout the whole show, meet new characters that are well-written, so on and so forth. the whole setting just fits almost perfectly with the animation/drawing style of the studio. kudos to cdpr, they couldnt've found a better match.

you instantly connect with the ... characters, even in an insanely fast paced show as this one. there's barely any stop from the action and that's not necessarily a bad thing, considering the fact that trigger hands down makes the best looking action ever in anime (non-negotiable). it's just that it feels like you're speedrunning the main story of the game, without doing any side quests, hence my only complaint about the show. i wish we got to see more of our beloved characters, their interactions with each other, maybe their pasts and how they all ended up being cyberpunks, robbing and killing people all over the city. but oh well, night city gets the best of everyone i suppose.

without a doubt, studio trigger's best work to date, and a near perfect adaptation at that. do not miss out on this one