Monster

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.

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.

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!

I was always a bit negative about anime because of the childish, almost cringy ways of delivering stories that have the potential of being really good.

And that's when I came across Monster. The first episode immediately got me scared and hooked at the same time, and it wasn't necessarily the episode itself that got me. It was the credits. The image I saw, the music that played gave me an indescribable feeling of terror, loneliness... and great anticipation.

So I continued watching. Every episode was even better than the last. The story was extremely engaging. I had strong emotions about every character, whether it was love, hatred, disgust or fear. The tension was constantly there, and it was great to see the mysteries unfold. What was so great about it is that the mysteries don't stay mysteries for too long, I always found that when unanswered questions drag on for too long, I lose my interest to even find out the answers (I'm looking at you, BBC Sherlock and the Kingdom Hearts Saga), but this show really got me going.

The small backstories were also a lot of fun, I've told people various small tales that come from this show and I always manage to pique their interest. And I'm not even a good storyteller, that's just how amazing the concept of each backstory is!

Well, I think I've said plenty. If the animation quality/style is what throws you off, which I can kind of understand, please do keep watching anyway. It's really, really worth it.

Monster is an incredibly satisfying watch and rewards paying attention to smaller details. The story is intricately woven to make even the smallest advancements seem well worth it. The characters are all very well written and they all have a very distinct role in the story. Tension is built perfectly and the realm of safety doesn't apply to any of the characters. Monster successfully crafts one of the most engaging stories of all time and is one of my favorite anime of all time.