The character development meant that the audience really feels for each and every character, from the villains to the good guys. The background story and changes that the characters go through reveals a lot about human nature and you often feel sorry for even the worst natured characters in the end.
I had a lot of free time on my hands and was considering which anime to watch next, and browsing through the forums on here I found Monster. I'm glad I did, I was looking for a drama and not something farfetched from reality and judging by the reviews Monster seemed to tick a lot of these boxes. However, I do feel that it does fall short in some aspects.
*Possible Spoilers*
The main antagonist, Johan, around whom this anime centres, seems to have some attributes that are too removed from reality in some parts of this anime. I understand that he is portrayed as a genius of sorts but there are some holes in the plot that do not sit well with me. For instance, how would a boy who has just come out of brain surgery be able to poison the candy that the hospital director then goes on to eat and share?
As well as the candy, his information gathering on many of the families seemed a bit too unrealistic in my view. The manipulation aspect was overplayed in my book and need not have been stretched so far, in fact, it seemed to lose a lot of its sheen due to overuse. At first it seemed cold and quite unnerving how Johan could manipulate people but some of the scenarios weren't quite as realistic.
In my view Monster could have been cut down a few episodes and I am disappointed at the portrayal of Johan as superhuman like which is a recurring theme in many anime which I was specifically trying to avoid, in fact it had stark resemblance to Death Note at times.
The bottom line is though these gripes of mine are there because I really wanted Monster to be an anime that deserved a 10 score, and I feel that if this was fixed it would fully deserve it and more.
Would I recommend Monster? Definitely. If you're a fan of anime then I think it is a must watch at least once sort of anime. It is a bit long, not because of the number of episodes but in terms of where I feel the story seemed to be stretched out. My complaints may seem numerous, but please remember when making them I am not comparing Monster to any other anime I have seen, I am comparing it to the perfect benchmark.
