A lot of people have compared this to Death Note but that's highly decieving. The only thing Monster and Death Note really have in common is mass murder. It's not just a battle between two main characters but several, and instead of the cause and effect story telling of Death Note all the plot points of Monster are driven by Johan's magical powers. Johan doesn't really have any magical powers, in fact there are no supernatural elements to speak of in the entire anime, but seeing as none of it ever gets explained I'm calling it magic.
Art. Everything looks good and it gets the job done so I'm giving it a ten. After awhile though a lot of faces start to look the same in subtle ways, especially the little asian girl, but I guess there are only so many original patterns after drawing massive amounts of characters.
The story is very complex. Not confusing but complex. There are never parts where you can afford to not pay attention. Some parts are even worth watching again if you didn't quite get it the first time. This story keeps you going non stop all the way to the end and barely gives you a chance to catch your breath. These aren't episodes so much as they're just one long continuous story broken down into managable pieces.
The sound is hit or miss. Like a any movie certain themes play for certain situations. Somtimes they fit perfectly and sometimes they wreck the mood entirely. I especially liked the cigarette lighter static one, which made me think my speakers were broken the first time I heard it. The intro song never changes and the credit song only changes once, though both are freaky and , yes, the background pictures are relevent.
Characters are many and unique. Characterization is basically the whole plot. You will get a lot of background whether you want it or not.
In conlusion, the whole ride is interesting and enjoyable. You'll like every episode until you get to the last one. Then it all comes down to personal preference. Personally I don't like spending a full day of my life waiting to see if my questions are ansewered and then finding out they're not. I mean if the only thing that kept me watching was to see how everything turned out and then it didn't, I really just feel like I wasted my time. But that might just be me. Since the ending, if it can even be called that, frustrated me so much I don't recommend this unless you have 25 straight hours to kill or you've completely run out of entertaining anime where a single episode can stand alone. However, seeing as so much went into Mnster (not just lengthwise), I'm giving it an eight. It's a well done waste of time.
