Progression (10): This is a long anime/manga (74 episodes, 161 chapters), however it does not felt like it was prolonged unlike many other anime. The story ties together very well, and in no part of the story did I ever ask the question: "Was this part actually necessary?" as all of the parts were necessary. The only thing I can nitpick at here is that all of the characters seem to be conveniently related to each other, however I cannot really take off points for this since in almost all great literature and media this occurs as well.
Story (10): The story and themes of Monster are very deep and dark. The story is very complicated and actually quite unique. The identity of the villain is always a mystery, and because there is so much within this story that is unknown you are actually somewhat scared at times (and this is the first time in any anime/manga have I ever been afraid). The subjects of brainwashing, psychology, child soldiers, prostitution, addiction, and much more are presented in a disturbingly genuine fashion and knows how to draw the attention of the audience to make them either frightened, amazed, or just downright shocked. The themes within Monster are also amazing, it often questions the fundamentals of human nature. It is not all darkness however, as redemption, unity, and hope for happiness in the future are shown as small glimmering lights at the end of a long tunnel. More than ever, Monster feels like real life, it makes you disturbed at the things a human can do, but often it makes you hope for better times that can and will occur in the future as you live on.
Art (10): The artstyle of Monster is quite unique and quite good. It is not an extremely "anime-ish" artstyle, rather more realistic. It draws the characters and their faces well enough that often you can tell what ethnicity said character is. The colors within the anime are not very strong, and feel somewhat faded, but this fits the atmosphere well because it only further enhances the realism that you often feel within this world.
Sound (10): The soundtrack in Monster is very good. It adds to the mysterious and creepy tone that the show has. Silence is one more thing portrayed very well in the show. Some shows attempt to play silence on as creepy, but more often than not feel cheap as the tone isn't creepy enough. With Monster, it is overflowing with disturbing moments, and the silence just adds to the tension and the fear of the anime. Although, I would normally suggest subbed over dubbed for voice acting, the voice actors in the dubbed did spectacular. The setting is also in Europe, and the dubbed voice actors nailed those unique, varied accents.
Characters (10): Let me put this straight, this anime/manga has some of the best characters in all of anime/manga. It doesn't matter if they're main, major, minor, or antagonists, they are all interesting characters. The main antagonist of the show (who I shall not name because that is a minor spoiler), is not only genuinely frightening, but has a way of making you cringe at what he's thinking about. Throughout the show, it feels as though the main antagonist is just "beyond the veil" poking at strings and playing with the other characters as though they're puppets. The main characters all have great development, and more so than anything else feel very human and very responsible. You can feel the sorrow that they go through, and the moments in which they feel genuinely hopeful as though you were feeling it yourself. Even the minor characters who come up but once feel amazingly real, and often I felt that I would not even have minded if I could see more of that character because they were that interesting. They all had interesting back-stories that made them varied and unique, and none of the characters suffer from any type of cliche writing. Even the characters, who you find out later are basically "redshirts" are not expected to be "redshirts" because of how developed they can become in one episode.
Enjoyment (10): I enjoyed this show immensely, however I must warn that if you are just looking for something lighthearted, this may not be your show as it pulls no punches back for those types of people. Even then, I would recommend it to those people because of how it draws you in, and especially because of how it is unique enough that it breaks most of the cliches of thrillers, mysteries, and even just anime in general.
TLDR?
Pros:
*Amazing storyline, despite being somewhat long it has kept me interested and on the edge of the seat the whole time. Everything feels necessary in this story.
*The artstyle is unique and great, you can even tell what ethnicity a person comes from in this manga/anime, unlike most other manga/anime.
*The soundtrack is amazing. Also, silence is used very well. When silence befalls this anime, you start worrying and getting a little scared whereas in many other anime, it sometimes feels cheap.
*Tension is amazing, I have heard Urasawa being called the Japanese Alfred Hitchcock because of this manga/anime alone.
*All characters are very interesting, even the ones that only show up for an episode have interesting and deep back-stories.
*The themes are extremely interesting and well developed. The themes aren't all just about darkness either; there are some that depict the good of human nature.
*Very realistic world, this anime/manga has one of the most realistic worlds I have seen within anime/manga.
*Both dub and sub are very good, in fact, this is a rare case that the dub might be even better than the sub.
Cons:
*Very few cliche scenes that involve the "Who's going to shoot first?" question. Does occur occasionally, but not often enough that it does much damage to the product as a whole.
*Not for the lighthearted, some scenes can even get genuinely disturbing as it questions the fundamentals of human nature and things that could have actually occurred during World War II. I would still recommend it though because of how it breaks other cliches because of its uniqueness.
*This is as perfect as an anime/manga gets. After I watched this, a lot of the anime that I previously thought was good became pale in comparison (I am not taking points off for this point)
Overall Score: 9.9/10 (Just round it up to 10/10)
***Please keep in mind that this is just a review and a personal opinion. I am just being entirely honest here about what I thought was good and what I thought was bad. This is not a hate review or a love review, and I try my best to be unbiased and write what I truly thought about the show/manga after watching/reading it. If you enjoy/hate this anime/manga, feel free to accept my thoughts on said anime/manga or discard it.
