LogFAQs > #971335969

BONUS. Monster
https://myanimelist.net/anime/19/Monster
Spring 2004 (74 episodes)
My Score: TBA, MAL Score: 8.85/10
Best Character: Wolfgang Grimmer
Recommended by: @MartinFF7 and @LordoftheMorons

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=msTB5r8nUHU

Premise: Tenma Kenzou, a skilled neurosurgeon, has his life changed forever after operating on a young boy. Johan Liebert turns out to be a monster who leaves a trail of death in his wake, which forces Tenma to go on a journey to try and stop him.

The Good: Monster is a drama/thriller anime. It began with Dr. Tenma saving a boys life, which turned out to have unimaginable consequences when its revealed that the boy is evil. Tenma is the protagonist, and the story mostly follows him after hes forced to go on the run and try to track Johan across Germany and beyond. Still, I really enjoyed how expansive this anime turned out to be. It would often introduce new side characters or even shift focus to a new group entirely for a few episodes before ultimately tying them back into the larger story. For such a large cast of characters, its impressive how memorable most of them are. I struggled to choose a favorite! I settled on Grimmer because he had the most interesting background and his role in the story was cool, but Dr. Reichwein and Nina were up there as well, and Tenma was a solid lead.

This anime did a great job setting up tense situations, and it always built up a solid atmosphere. I went into this expecting Johan to be a much more brutal murderer than he turned out to be, like I figured hed be massacring people on the street or something. Rather than killing a lot of people himself, however, he turned out to be someone who could awaken the darkness in others. Johan felt like an almost supernatural entity, like the personification of evil. Large parts of the story were dedicated to delving into how he came to be, which was interesting. There were also the larger thematic questions regarding life and death. Tenma is a surgeon who dedicated himself to saving lives, but now hes on a quest to kill someone. Monster examined ideas like whether people could go against their inherent nature, and I found a lot of it to be fascinating. For such a long anime, I was surprised at how smooth it was to watch. Aside from maybe one or two meh episodes, there was never a lull or a crappy arc or anything like that. It was a deep and interesting story from beginning to end.

The Bad: I had a few minor problems with the story. It relied a bit on coincidental meetings, like the several times characters stumbled across someone with a deep connection to the mystery. Also, while I liked Inspector Lunge overall, his initial conclusion that Tenma was the real serial killer was kind of stupid. Doctors in general are a profession known for working long hours, and Tenma in particular was portrayed as a workaholic who dedicated himself to saving people. If he was wandering all around Germany murdering people, I think someone wouldve noticed! None of this ruined the story, but they were my biggest complaints. I also didnt like one part of the ending, but overall if was a satisfying conclusion.

Overall: Watching Monster was a long journey, but, in the end, it was definitely worth it! I liked all the main characters, and lots of side characters were memorable as well. This anime excelled at setting up tense situations. There were countless interesting moments and it examined deep themes, and all of that built into creating a satisfying overall story. However, having said all of that, this wound up being a tough anime to fit into my ranking. I had a lot of nice things to say and I dont have any major complaints. Still, I couldnt justify raising it beyond a 7/10. I can see why this anime would resonate with a lot of people and rise into their favorites, but for me it was just a solid, well put-together story. In any case, Im glad I finally watched this! Thank you to both MartinFF7 and LordofheMorons for pooling your recommendations for Monster. I feel bad for not ranking it higher and I struggled for longer than I should have trying to find a way to justify myself here. In the end, though, perhaps theres nothing wrong with thinking it was just a solid, well-told story.