Monster

A dark, suspenseful and extremely entertaining anime that boldly answers back to the skeptics who think that all anime must be as brain-dead and child-oriented as the majority of prime-time viewing. (Which is, quite frankly, usually embarrassing to watch in the presence of others.) The plot of Monster is without a doubt the best part, dark but not without cheerful scenes, and centered around the story of a Dr. Tenma, a talented Nero-surgeon, who's upright morals soon send him on a rarely chosen path to correct the wrong he'd unwittingly committed in the name of justice. Unlike other anime, most of which seem to focus on super-powers, fantasy, or sci-fi horror, this one's true chillingness is in the fact that despite being animated, it is portrayed in an all-too-real manner. In reality, the most truly terrifying people are generally people who you wouldn't think out of the ordinary in a crowd, not some supernatural monster who relies on brute force or the inability of the entire world he fights to stop him. The animation isn't the best, but the story more then makes up for it, and even watching it on a 42" TV, I was far to engrossed with the story to make more then the occasional observation that perhaps the movement wasn't quite as smooth in some places as it might be. The same applies to the sound, which doesn't quite keep pace with the story either. Nonetheless, it is one of the best shows I've seen, period.

I can't take the sadness why this anime ever ended?! I remember I felt deep emptiness when I finished it for the first time. As expected from Madhouse, Monster was a monster creation. Monster is my first work which I got to know of Naoki Urasawa. Monster is literally one of the best anime ever made.

I've watched a lot of anime, I've read a lot of manga, but Monster has managed to blow all of my former "favorites" out of the water. It manages to combine everything that's great about thrillers, mysteries, character studies, and psychological dramas all at once. The writing is superior, the direction is fantastic, and the way the story builds is slow but undoubtedly engaging. If Alfred Hitchcock had ever endeavored to create a serial work, it would be something like this.

The characters are all lovingly and soulfully rendered, and the show never seems to fall into the traps that even the best anime do - that is: needless fanservice, forced comedy, or ludicrous violence.

In addition, get ready for a history lesson. This story deals more with the social and political annals of 20th century Eastern Europe - ACCURATELY - than most classes on the subject.

This is not typical anime, it is not even a series or a video, it is an experience I have gone through watching this piece of brilliance called Monster.

I have been a huge fan of crime dramas of Martin Scorcese and thrillers of Alfred Hitchcock and totally enjoy movies that dive deep into human emotions such as 7even, Taxi Driver, V for Vendetta, Machinist, Schindler's List, American Beauty etc. For anyone out there with similar tastes, this is a must watch content. It is must watch because all those works that we have seen until now seem so little in terms of their emotional intensity before this masterpiece of a thriller.

Unlike the title, there are no monsters in this series, well actually there is one, far more deadlier than the ones in our nightmares, monster created as a result of difference in the perception of what we see in society. No, we are not talking about psychopaths with extreme emotions that enjoy hurting people here, but normal human being that can see the difference between good and bad, light and darkness, life and death very clearly and thus obviously does not agree with the society. The whole series is about a monster created out of the extreme surroundings around him and the people he encounters during his life that either get obsessed with his thinking or want to kill him for how dangerous he is.

Overall this series could be the best animated work as it would leave you with an everlasting feeling like it did on me. There has been an attempt to make a movie out of the plot and nothing seems to be happening, I wish it stayed that way. A story like this will be a disaster as a 2-3 hour movie, there is just too much good stuff in here that cannot be passed/cut-down to make a movie.

For those who watched V for Vendetta, this work will seem relevant to the main theme of series. Be ready to spend some time (74 episodes) and make sure you do not give more than 1 day break between each episode as you could forget everything very fast. You should concentrate on everything in the episode as there are hundreds of characters that have a lot to do with the plot.

People traditionally associate Japanese animes with the likes of Pokemon and Dragonball Z and it is often very difficult to convince non-anime fans that there's more to them. I'm no exception! Luckily, Monster was the third serial anime I was introduced to after Death Note and Fruits Basket (odd combos, I know). And to be honest, I was not expecting this.

The series starts off ordinarily with the traditional story of a doctor forced to prioritize between patients and his career. The story of two traumatized children is introduced along the way and things start becoming rather interesting. By the time I got to this point, I had completely forgotten I was watching an anime. See, in traditional Japanese animes (and no disrespect to the fans), the writers have no idea how to develop the dialogue and make it work with the story. The height of a character's shock will be repeating somebody's name in a low, gaspy/raspy voice. Among the millions of other queer things, I never got why anime writers felt that was a good emotional expression. I simply dismissed it as another odd Japanese behavior.

As a pleasant surprise, Monster does almost everything to stray from that. At so many points during the story, I wondered how brilliant this would've been as a non-animated series. The character development is interesting and not muggled up or confusing, the songs/music make sense for a change, there are no irritating characters trying to be funny and the plot keeps thickening ... although slowly, and that might be a flaw. But to be honest, the gradual development is what keeps you so attached to it.

So in conclusion, if you're a japanime fan and want to introduce the haters to the club, I highly recommend you make them watch this as their first ever anime. All in all, a 9.5/10 score. Definitely worth the watch!