Monster

Seinen masterpiece! If you read manga because you like deep plot, you should read Monster.

This manga contains one of the best villains ever created for manga. I was always at the edge waiting for the next move of the antagonist, And I was never disapointed.

The characters are so real, with a huge palette of personalities, people that dont trust you and also naive characters, people that is greed and also humble, the misunderstandings and situations that involved the main character, the mistery that surrounds him, and how he inflicts on the life of persons that came across him.

The history is developed slowly, but when you manage to reach the end, please, look back. you'll have a sense of satisfaction that its hard to achieve for most of the histories.

This was a fantastic read. While it wasn't super fast-paced the story-telling of Urasawa managed to have me on the edge of my seat throughout the entire manga. I loved that all the characters, no matter how small they seemed, tied together to tell a masterpiece of a story in the end. This beautifully portrayed issues on morality in the tale of Tenma and Johan. The character development was wonderful for Eva, and I loved watching her grow as a character. Additionally, Johan has become one of my favorite villains in manga history because of this character's complexity. He is at first painted as just a black and white evil guy, but the lines between morality are blurred as we learn more about him.

What I thought is the Real Monster. SPOILERS AHEAD TO THOSE WHO HAVE NOT WATCHED MONSTER BY URUSAWA

I believe the Monster in the series..is in every character...everyone in this series has something to drive them to do cruel or tragic things but Tenma, our protagonist overcame his Monster. In the first few episodes as a great neurosurgeon he was taken advantage of the director and others, to the point that he wishes for them to be "better off dead" or was implied but the director and others were also driven by their monster (their hunger for money and fame). Tenma when the director and the rest are killed, he overcame his "Monster" but his monster is different from the monster the other characters have. Being a naturally kind-hearted person the "Monster" he had was the cause of the "monster" the director and co. had (the one being a thirst for fame and money). Tenma's Monster was that he wants the Director and co's "Monster" to be gone. Meaning Tenma's monster was him wishing the evil desires of those people to be gone. Thus, him being kind-hearted his Monster was something for the good of other people thou his desire to obliterate those "Monster" had good intention, is still bad for it is counted as killing (though he didn't physically hurt them, wishing something is still as morally bad as the actual action) and that Monster he has is what makes him different from other characters in this story. Tenma overcame his Monster....he realized that all people's lives are equal after he saved Johan? He saves Johan who is the embodiment of an actual "Monster" being the darkest desires and nature that people can have. Performing surgery and saving Johan instead of the politician actually and metaphorically saves Tenma from his "Monster" (which is that he wants bad ppl to be gone or something along those lines).

Johan on the other hand his beliefs are so similar yet fairly different from dr. Tenma "All people are equal in death" Johan carried the burden of all the "Monster" ppl had. He killed the director and co. whom Tenma wished to be gone and as Johan keep evolving by having ppl manipulated, to exploit their deepest dark desire, and drive them to do things. He evolved to be the "Devil". Now, Tenma wants to kill Johan, for saving him, for reviving the "Monster" which affects everybody but Tenma ironically overcame his "Monster" because of Johan (by saving Johan and realizing that all lives are equal). Johan manipulates the darkness all people had that is deep within and we are reminded of that when he talks to the prostitute who pretended to be Margot. He said that there is deeper darkness. I can't blame Johan for becoming the Monster and Devil after the things he has gone through but I do not justify all the evil things he had done. I love how the ending goes. Tenma throughout this series saves everyone he has met ( even sometimes oblivious about it) by overcoming those people's "Monster" inside. And also those people he has saved in return saved other people (whom Tenma haven't encountered in this series) to overcome their "Monster". And this chain of saving (unbeknown to Tenma he has caused) reaches this story's conclusion by saving the embodiment of "Monster" who is Johan. All the side characters are important for all have shared a little bit of responsibility to create the embodiment of "Monster" a.k.a. Johan. And I guess this is the beauty of this Story. Admit it or not everyone has a little bit of a monster inside them. Sometimes in our life, we want to snap and let our shadows take over for caring in this world takes a toll on everyone. Johan with his nihilist perspective manipulated and drives the people to the point of insanity showed me that our society creates monsters that not caring and an actual person can do horrendous things and that drove Johan in extreme. He was the embodiment of our society, a monster that sadly was created by our selfish desires. However, Dr. Tenma thought to me that all lives are equal. That everyone no matter who deserves to live and we have no right to take it. He is a genuinely kind person, who has compassion towards others. He represents what our society can be, what our humanity can be. I know that even in our current state, someone and somebody definitely show compassion and that is what makes our world beautiful. It might not be a perfect world but it is beautiful. Despite all sufferings, hope and compassion would definitely shine.


Just a 10/10 for this perfect psychological thriller anime.

English:

Monster has everything that appeals to me in a manga, good story, character development and reading fluency. All of the plot is believable, in part by the author's effort to get a background for each character tied to the main plot, and also by talking about emotional realism that is conveyed throughout the manga, you understand each character's emotions and believe it, in a plot like Monster, this is very difficult.
Art is very good, and it goes very well with the plot, or the author really knows how to develop character movements and reactions, from simple conversation to a shootout, a quadrinization is also excellent and helps a lot in the suspense and mystery scenes.


Portugues:

Monster tem tudo que me agrada em um mangá, boa história, desenvolvimento de personagem e fluência na leitura. Tudo do enredo é crível, em parte pelo esforço do autor para obter um plano de fundo para cada personagem atrelado ao trama principal, e também por falo de realismo emocional que é transmitido ao longo do mangá, você entende como emoções de cada personagem e acredite, em um enredo como o Monster, isso é muito difícil.
Uma arte é muito boa, e acompanha muito bem o enredo, ou o autor realmente sabe desenvolver movimentos e reações de personagens, desde uma conversa simples até um tiroteio, uma quadrinização também é excelente e ajuda demais nas cenas de "suspense" e mistério.

I don't even know where to begin with Monster. It’s beautiful in its themes and character development, it’s literary in value, and it’s powerful. The very first chapter gripped me with its clear presentation of the story's main theme: what is the value of a human life? and the story never let me go. It takes an honest look at its question, wrestling with it in each of its characters and unafraid to get gritty and uncomfortable. It looks at the tendency in society to other-ize people via racism, hostility towards immigrants, and a tendency to overlook children when they usually wind up suffering the most for adult squabbling. The main character and main villain are perfect in mirroring the strengths and weaknesses of the other one, and Nina and Eva are fantastic female characters. By the time the story arrives at its conclusion (and it never drags; the suspense hits every single chapter), it has truly earned the answer it offers--nothing about its conclusions feel cheap in any way. It is a story that, ironically because of its title, really depicts what it means to be human in all its ugliness and beauty.

overrated and uneventful , i wish i could've got some enjoyment out of it but i couldn't

major problem is the characters , aside from the 2 main guys the rest aren't that well written which kinda killed the stakes for me because i couldn't care that much for anyone getting hurt or being in danger.

maybe i was expecting a haunting experience but i didn't get that from this , compared to many other manga's it is competently made but not really that engaging .
i didnt watch the anime so maybe there is something better there but i really doubt it will change my rating and thoughts about this


i wouldn't slam you for liking it but this didnt do it for me 7/10

Before Death Note there was Monster. It starts a tad bit slow and to be honest a tad bit tld'r but it did redeem itself. It basically revolves around the human condition when everything is taken away from the person. It's basically an evolved Death Note on steroids but with chattier characters, add a little history and neo-nazi's

I loved the characters, The back story of the characters and the mystery.

The only things that I didn't like about it that it had a really slow start. I even skipped a few pages to be honest. Sometimes the plot got a little bit unrealistic but it still was an interesting read.

I'd recommend this though but with fair warning.

A promising young doctor is framed by his own patient for a string of murders. He seeks revenge to clear his name, but quickly finds himself in a mystery where every answer seems to open up more questions. What happened in Kinderheim 511? What is the connection between a series of children’s books? And darkest of all: who is the Monster?

Monster is often hailed as one of the best manga series of all time. While I don’t think it's perfect like many other readers do, it is definitely worth a read. Its many thrills and continuously perplexing mystery makes Monster a page turner, yet the pacing frequently slows down and drags. In many chase scenes, for example, the climax is abruptly cut off by a fire or character injury, which results in several chapters of down time. This is also when the story gets bogged down by minor characters. These short-lived, but positive relationships are tied to the themes of the manga, but if most of them had been cut, the series could have been a little better.

Thematically, Monster is about the opposing forces of love and indifference. Although he mostly works off-page, Johan makes for a fantastic villain. He has great influence over others and his many followers kill without remorse. Tenma represents love. He stops to take care of any sick or hurt person he comes across. As a doctor, he believes every human (except Johan) deserves to live. Anna is in the middle, trying to find her place and uncover her true self.

Naoki Urasawa’s Monster is a classic manga series. Despite its frequent pacing issues, I still recommend it.

This is a really difficult manga for me to discuss because I feel I'm not eloquent enough to properly discuss something like this the way it deserved to be. Still, the best way I can describe it is as incredibly intelligent and well written. By incredibly intelligent, I mean that the plot has a lot of depth to it. There aren't really many deep points about society or such being pushed, but it still engrosses you in the story that makes you truly think about what's occurring. The story is both grounded, in that it doesn't involve any supernatural elements or such, but at the same time it's also incredibly extreme, and in a way, that draws the reader further in.

The plot has numerous layers, but even with that it's very character oriented. At the top it's about a complete psychopath, a true monster, that uses various others along the way to achieve his objectives. However, the various other he uses are in general trash. Many could definitely think of them as evil, but shown in contrast to Johan, they seem nothing more than pathetic. And it also shows that someone truly evil, like Johan, is quite a bit harder to hate than those that are simply pathetic. Hence, despite Johan being a complete monster, it is quite difficult to truly hate him. That can in part be attributed to the other great aspect of the series, how well written it is, especially in regards to its characters.

Another aspect of this is Tenma, who despite being completely submerged in darkness due to the plot of the manga, wherever he goes still manages to shine. This is an aspect that I feel could easily end up feeling incredibly awkward if handled even somewhat wrong, but the author does a tremendously good job of it, and it ends up working amazingly well. Tenma difficulties with his original choice but staying true to who he was despite everything made him an incredibly amazing character. He was completely pure, which in the end made him similar but opposite to Johan, which made him a good foil for him.

But while I could consider those two the main characters in the manga, they are certainly not the only two that matter, with various other characters also getting fleshed out and many of them getting a lot of character development and ultimately playing very important parts in the plot as it unfolds. I would like to highlight that I thought the character arc of Eva was especially amazing, in that she has a complete fall from grace, she pursues Tenma obsessively, but in the end, gains the strength to stand back up on her own. I really wanted her to have a happy ending, but doubted she would be able to with her broken character and personality, but the author ended up writing something that authentically grew her character in such a way that she got a happy ending that despite everything it felt like she deserved, which I think is a major feat.

Overall the plot was incredibly well paced, slowly revealing more and more about the characters and conspiracies involved, keeping a good balance of suspenseful and light, important and side information, action and drama, ultimately bringing everything to an ending that wraps up all the various plot threads tremendously well in a way that felt completely consistent with everything that occurred and ultimately leaves the reader with a feeling of having read something incredibly satisfying. The art was decent enough and fit the atmosphere.

A suspenseful and deeply engrossing manga centered around hunting for a monster at the center of a conspiracy.

10/10

Monster is a puzzle that completes itself throughout the storyline. The author puts you in the place of the protagonist Dr. Tenma and questions the mysteries surrounding Johan Liebert that one by the way is one of the best constructed characters a work could have, Johan has a very complex and mysterious history. Which makes the reader join Tenma on this journey to unravel the twists and turns about the character, this leads to a plot with several questions and Plot twists, all well thought out and well developed.


However, it is not only that that makes Monster one of the best works ever produced, the secondary characters have their importance in the script so that you can link everything to an unexpected event, Urasawa Naoki is a genius in the field of psychology, he can create such a deep dystopian mind that it really impresses readers, following this line of reasoning throughout the work you will understand this mind that is a maze that has fallen into darkness making it a character with utter emptiness.

Monster is a work for those who like investigation and mystery with many questions and an interpretative ending that is magnificent at the same time.

"Look at me! Look at me! The monster inside of me has grown this big".

The best thriller I've ever seen out of ALL form of media.

This is one of the few series I would rate a masterpiece.

Before you continue you reading, if you go into this expecting too much, you'll be disappointed. You need to see it as it is, and find somewhere in the middle of expectations. I feel as if my enjoyment level was effected a little bit, due to being so highly praised, but once I gave it some thought, it still is a brilliant and masterful piece.

It's not you're typical manga, there's no superpower, supernatural, or overly depressing life stories with this one. This honestly feels like an American made TV show. It's very eerie, and very suspenseful. It is definitely worth your every penny. (Please, purchase if you are going to read it. Support this brilliant Author/Mangaka "Naoki Urasawa".)

It's also worth your full attention; as there is so many characters introduced, with meaning. Even the smallest character you meet, effects the story and might even show up 10+ volumes in after only seeing him in the first couple.

It's a story about this neurosurgeon "Dr. Tenma" whose faced with the choice to save the mayor, and get a promotion, or choose a young boy, who came in before the mayor, and get a demotion/never be promoted again. Either way, one of them dies.

Well, he chooses the boy feeling emotional, and saves his life. Thus getting demoted of Lead Neurosurgeon, and never going anywhere with his career again. But, a couple days later, everyone in power of keeping Dr. Tenma from his rightfully deserved position, dies. and Tenma is then promoted. Naturally, the investigators suspect Tenma.

Now, if you don't want spoilers to who the killer is, don't read any further. Personally, I would recommend stopping here, and reading it yourself. (Even though they tell you who the killer is in the first volume)

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The killer... is the boy Tenma saved. He finds out 10 years later, after all these strange murders are taken place, the killer then tries to kill one of Tenma's patients, to which the killer revealed himself to Tenma. So, Tenma sets out on a journey to kill this MONSTER, this Devil... and it's just... An amazing story.

Overall I give it a 10/10, perfectly done. The ending was a little anti-climactic for most, but personally I think it was very well done. The story was never meant to end is a super, climactic battle between the two. But that last page... Ughhghh it gave me shivers. 10/10, can't say it enough.

Please, read this masterpiece. Purchase this masterpiece and support the series. But, like I said, don't go into it expecting TOO much. Just, read it. Stop reading reviews, stop watching videos. Just READ it.

Naoki Urasawa is one of the modern greats of manga. This is not an arguable statement. Everything he writes is intriguing, entertaining, and suspenseful. All of Urasawa’s work that I have read feels like a natural evolution of Tezuka’s seinen stories, and Monster is no exception.
Monster follows Dr. Kenzo Tenma, a gifted Japanese brain surgeon living in Germany, as he flees from the police and attempts to find Johan and fix the mistake he had made years prior when he saved Johan’s life on the operating table. This plunges him into a world of mystery, political intrigue, and murder. The book forces the reader to ask themselves several questions. What if the right thing to do isn’t always the right thing to do? What makes a person a monster? What does it mean to be wanted or unwanted, and how does that affect a child? All this and more as the story unravels and more questions are asked and answered.
The story itself is told extraordinarily well. The pace is excellent, with very few lulls in story and natural breaks where they need to be. It is tightly woven, with no noticeable plot holes and plenty of foreshadowing and metaphor. The resolution is satisfying, putting each character where they should be in a believable way, while not leaving me hungry for more. As always, Urasawa’s art is gorgeous. The amount of facial expression he is able to get onto each character all while keeping each distinct is astounding. Urasawa is one of few mangaka I know of who can draw a face so simply but so accurately that I have absolutely no question as to the person’s ethnic background. Japanese characters look Japanese, German characters look German, Turkish characters look Turkish, etc.
Although I preferred 20th Century Boys, the only other lengthy Urasawa manga I have read, to Monster, it is an excellent book and is one of the stories that truly lets the art form shine. There are some similarities between the two works, common elements and Urasawa’s particular style of storytelling and withholding of information, but this is to be expected. Monster will draw you in and make you read all 162 chapters as fast as you possibly can.

tuesdaysdusk.tumblr.com/tagged/review

I came late to this classic. Often considered one of the all-time greats, 'Monster' takes on ambitious subject matter - an exploration of the nature of evil itself, taking place on an international stage, wrapped up in an epic conspiracy thriller - and feels appropriately worthy because of it. Johan Liebert is one of manga's all-time charismatic villains, and rightly so; his unique genius is understated and all the more terrifying for it. And though his motivations suffer a little from Jokeresque non-directional nihilism, it does seem a shame to criticise this manga's writing in light of the derivatives that came after it. Like I said, I came late.

I was surprised at how plotty this work ended up being. In 18 volumes, Urasawa squeezes a lot of mystery and a lot of characters in. For all the publicity surrounding its protagonist and antagonist, they appear surprisingly infrequently after the inciting incident. This truly is an ensemble piece, though some characters are more interesting than others: my personal favourites being Mr Grimmer and the 17-year-old Vietnamese doctor whom Tenma meets in the second act.

Thematically the manga is a meticulously crafted prism, refracting what I believe is its ultimate question - could a person exist who cannot be redeemed? - through its dozens of subplots. Everyone here has a detailed motive for doing what they do, often explained fairly conventionally through flashbacks or long speeches. This is not necessarily a misstep either, since the Campbellian conventionality of its storytelling is part of its charm and it keeps the pacing nice and brisk. (Personally, I found the deep dive into Czech political intrigue late in Act 2 to be a bit of a slump, and would have preferred more time with characters like Eva, Roberto and Dieter in that space - but this is likely a matter of subjective taste.) The diversity of the characters in age, temperament and motivation is appropriately reflected in art which makes everyone distinctive and characterful.

This is an eminently critic-friendly work, as you have probably gathered - it's worth giving a try for its sheer renown, and if you like the thriller genre you can't go far wrong with it. A bleak but fast-paced and graceful noir about the scariest human being you could possibly imagine, 'Monster' hasn't lost much of its impact in the 25 years since it first began serialisation.

I've heard a lot about this manga and people often made it out to be a difficult read because it is supposed to be very deep. However, this turned out to be a supremely easy read and very enjoyable too.

This does not mean it wasn't deep. Instead, the author struck a fine balance between ensuring the manga remains easy/enjoyable to read, yet keeping the readers thinking about the circumstances and morals of the actions/intentions involved.

However, I think this had a negative effect on the manga's pacing/progression.

I'd say roughly 70% of the manga is fluff wherein readers are introduced to new circumstances to have them think about right/wrong or introduce new complexity to the plot -- complexities, which, honestly, do more to detract from the story than add to it.

Truth is that I enjoyed most of the fluff as I thought they were heart warming, but later on, it really distracts from the plot as the author continuously introduces new characters (and there are a great many of them), new plot points, and etc.

I hate to say it, but the later story just doesn't flow well and makes the story more a convoluted mess than a complex story on morals.

Still, I don't think anyone should take this to mean 'Monster' is a poor manga. As I said repeatedly, it is a very enjoyable read and often does make you think. I'd highly recommend to anyone thinking of reading.

Story: The story is PERFECTLY paced. It's honestly outstanding, top 3 best manga's I've ever read. Perhaps the best. the twists and turns were excellent and left me wanting more after every chapter.

Art: The art is fantastic, never sloppy, and keeps the serious tone very well.

Character: The characters are great, with awesome growth and connections throughout the story. I believe the author perfectly depicted each character to give off a certain look and feel.

Enjoyment: I couldn't stop reading this manga. I just binged chapter after chapter and loved everyone.

Overall, this is a fantastic manga. Heavily recommend it, even if you don't like mystery mangas.

It is important to know before starting Monster that this is a manga for mature readers. There are no chibi characters, no comic relief moments when things get too serious. The art is very realistic.
I read the manga after I had already watched the anime. Even though I knew most of the stories and the ending, I can say that Monster is a truly remarkable manga. It is one of the greatest psychological thrillers for more mature readers. It keeps you on your toes often. It is interesting and spooky and almost supernatural at times. The stories of many characters are developed very well (some even too well, considering some characters are not very important to the story).
The only reason I am not giving it a 10, is that the ending is a bit anti-climactic, compared to the big buildup towards the end.

Alright, I'll say it's my first review so notice me if I fuck up, also, the English isn't my mother language so sorry if I misspelled something.
What can I say about Monster, it's not that it's my favorite book, it's one of my favourite whatever , let's just say that this is the best and the worst drug you will ever have, why you ask? I'll tell you, it's the best because you don't notice that it gets you even when you run to the shop to buy the next volume minutes after finishing the one you have previously bought that day, and it's the worst because after finishing it you feel bad, why? Because you need more! Chapter after chapter you need more, that's why I love Naoki Urasawa, he did the best job as a writer I have ever seen.

Story (9/10):The story of a fugitive that is innocent and tries to find the real killer is almost a cliché, but in this case it looks completely natural it doesn't force the situations and everything is related between the events that happen in the story, the only thing I can find wrong at the story is that after finishing, you look back and it looks like a bit of luck from Tenma's part.

Art (9/10): As I don't know much about the art In Mangas I'll just say that every location and character are pretty well detailed, and it looks great, it knows how to show you the important things of the scenario without making you feel stupid.

Characters (10/10): This is the point that makes Monster one of the best Mangas ever, everything main or secondary character is so charismatic, all of them have some effect on you, maybe you want them dead or you love them more that you love your mother, most of the characters evolve during the story and you can feel it, at this point is like Toradora but better because every character has his plans for their life, they're opinions and feelings, ¡those are not characters, they are real people!

Enjoyment:(10/10):I really enjoyed Monster, it's really thrilling and has you continuously waiting for the next movement, you can't wait to know what will happen next, what character will appear, it's slow but very addictive.

In conclusion, I personally think Monster will be impressed for a long time, I'll say more than a hundred years, I'm not joking, it will be remembered, at least by the people who recognize a great character development, at least for the thriller lovers, at least, by me.

Look at me, look at me! The monster inside me has grown this large!
- The Nameless Monster (Obluda, Která Nemá Své Jméno)

What does a man have to do to become fictitious? How does one make his existence merely fiction? It's dubbed as the "perfect suicide". Kill everyone who has had memories of you, and finally, kill yourself.


Somewhat long summary, or rather, plot introduction:

The plot of Monster revolves around Dr. Tenma, a surgeon with a bright future in his field of work, and engaged to the beautiful and glamorous daughter of one of the medical world's most influential players, his hospital's director, Udo Heinemann.

One day, he is instructed by Udo to abandon a young boy's surgery, who is in critical condition from a bullet wound to his head, and to operate on the Mayor who came in later. Infuriated by the hospital's politics and haunted by his past mistake of giving in to it, he defies his superior's order and operates on the boy, while leaving the Mayor's operation to his colleagues.

The boy survives the operation and Dr. Tenma feels liberated. He did the right thing. As a doctor, he had been fair in his duty, he had saved the life that was to be rightfully saved. But are everyone's lives truly equal?

That's when his reality turns into the most horrifying nightmare he could imagine.

The Mayor dies, Tenma's status is revoked, the director who had taken him under his wing to bring him to the heights of the surgical field casts him away, and his fiancee abandons him.

Consequently, the director dies and the killer is none other than Johan, the boy that Tenma saved. Johan was a mass serial killer, and now that he was brought back to life, goes on a killing rampage, a seemingly mad massacre of countless people.

Agonized, Tenma then sets out to find Johan, and with his own hands that brought this monster back to life, kill him once and for all.


This is a manga that is a true thriller; it's intensely psychological, chillingly creepy, packed with fast-paced action, and builds up the suspense perfectly.

Monster will stay with me as one of the most memorable and impactful mangas I have ever read, not because of the plot and it's expert story-telling (though that is of course what makes it the outstanding manga that it is), but because of the ending.

The ending still creeps me out and it was that moment that made me realise that Monster was, at its heart, a true horror story.

Never before have I experienced a manga that ended at such a bone chilling climax with no trace of closure. This is scarier than those fucked-up horror mangas because at least those have some sort of ending, no matter how warped or disturbing.

I heard the ending is even more creepy in the anime, what with the animation and music. (wow ok I just jumped when I heard a scraping sound outside my room I'm scaring myself shitless writing this) But don't think of watching/reading the ending before even reading the manga, it's only scary if you've read the entire story.



"Tell me, what do you think is the ultimate fear? I thought I'd reached the darkest part of the abyss. But then, ahead of me... There was an even greater darkness."

- Johan Liebert

Do we all in humanity contain a "Monster" inside of us? Can even the brightest of souls purge to darkness when led to?

These are some of the thematic questions that Monster is based on. Throughout reading this manga, you both follow the development of a seemingly righteous protagonist and misguided antagonist, but follow an initially convoluted story that continues to surprise while reading, leading to the grand climax at the end. While it may primarily sound similar to any other mystery, what separates Monster from other anime/manga is the well-executed philosophical take on society, and how some of the characters shift their ideals after experiences, and how others remained true to their beliefs.

[Story] - 9.8/10

Reading the synopsis, it will likely be difficult to understand the direction of the story, and the reason is without spoilers the direction is meant to be complex, as the story is directly based on the interactions between characters leading to large scale consequences. Seemingly unrelated interactions to the main characters all piece together the story up until the climax, helping to aid the readers understanding of the motives and backstories of all relevant characters and truly appreciate the events that occur. As a result, there may be parts in which you feel the story drags on, but after reaching the end of Monster, you will likely realize all of those events were essential to the central plot.

[Art] - 8.3/10

The art is the weakest section for the manga, as there is not an immense focus on the details of the art, but the art accurately encapsulates the mood throughout the story. The facial expressions drawn on the characters accurately portray their appropriate emotions and personalities, and I found minute details such as when a character smiles or frowns to display the development of either characters or their situation. Some panels, especially at the end, are truly stunning and completely do the scenes justice. However, do not expect the art to continually be breathtaking, while it is in no means poor.

[Characters] - 9.2/10

Monster has a very large character cast, and sometimes it may seem difficult to remember reappearing characters and their personalities (MAL's character database helped me with this), but a large amount of the characters reach individual attention and development, and all relate to the central protagonist and antagonist. Speaking of which, what makes the characters so intriguing is the relationship between the main character and 'villain,' and the brilliant dialogue used by both. The antagonist is truly one of the best I have ever watched/read, and every interaction with him is bound to be enjoyable. During the beginning of the manga, I found there to be a large number of characters who I felt distaste for, but as their character and intentions fully mold throughout the story, I was able to end Monster with a strong appreciation for each character, and admittingly getting largely attached to many of them.

[Enjoyment] - 10/10

From start to finish, Monster never fails to satisfy, constantly pushing me to read further in the night, with many chapters ending in a development I would not have been able to predict. From the dialogue, actions, and thematic idealism throughout the manga, Monster truly was and is a masterpiece. I recommend it for anyone interested in a reasonably lengthy mystery and thriller which pays homage to the characters while following an intricate plot leading to a breathtaking conclusion. After reaching the end of the final chapter of Monster, I hope the questions I brought up at the beginning of my review now fascinate you as much as it does for me.

Let me start off by saying, that this is my favorite manga of all time. I know I give it a perfect score, and there are many reasons for this. Lets start with the story.

This manga takes place in Germany and follows the main character, Dr. Kenzo Tenma, a brilliant brain surgeon. His fiance' is the director of the hospital's daughter. Tenma is torn between following orders from his boss and doing what he thinks is right. Basically he is told to opperate on the mayor of the town, but because a little boy came in first, he decides to go against orders and save the young boy's life. The mayor dies, and he gets demoted, but is finally feeling good about his life, until he realizes he just made the biggest mistake of his life.

The story and art is done by Naoki Urasawa, who has won numerous awards for his manga. Which are much deserved.

I enjoyed every minute of this manga series.
Monster is a thrill ride the whole way. I couldn't stop reading this series, there was never a dull moment.

The characters are all very realistic and have their own unique personalities. There wasn't one character that annoyed me or that I disliked. I cared about what happened to every single one of them.

Dr. Tenma is my favorite character. You can really feel the emotional struggle this character feels. I really feel for him and wish I could help him in his struggle. I look up to him for his bravery, itelligence, and morals. He's one of those characters that makes you realize what it means to be human.

The art in this series is unlike any I've ever seen. It's a very unique art style. To me, it's got more of a realistic look to it than most manga. I can instantly identify Naoki's artwork. Much like a lot of people can recognize Akira Toriyama's art.

These are all the reasons why Monster gets a perfect score from me. I hope you enjoyed my first review and more importantly, pick up Monster. You will not be disappointed.