It’s been a long road, but I finally finished watching Monster, the second longest anime series I’ve ever watched (second only to Prince of Tennis). If I ever make a top 10 list of my favourite animes of all time and tried to ignore my heavy bias towards harem, this would most definitely make the grade. The intricate plot of this anime is one of, if not the best I’ve ever immersed myself in.

When I first read the description on animeNFO and ANN, I wasn’t expecting such a deep storyline. It was described as the story of a Japanese doctor working in Germany, Kenzo Tenma. A brain surgeon with unparalleled talent, a beautiful wife and a path to sure success. However, the world of medicine soon turns political as one day he is forced to abandon a critically injured man in order to operate on an important politician. After the man dies, Tenma decides to put his duties as a doctor before politics. Soon after, a boy and his twin sister are brought in from what appeared to be a simple robbery gone awry. The boy suffers from a gunshot wound to the head and requires an operation that Dr. Tenma knows only he is capable of performing successfully. However, the mayor with financial ties to the hospital is brought in at the same time and Dr. Tenma’s superiors order him to save the mayor and abandon the boy. With his newfound sense of righteousness, Tenma declines and saves the boy’s life. The mayor, however, is not so lucky, his operation fails and he dies. This sets off a chain of events that shatter Dr. Tenma’s, his promotional path is cut off and his fiancee leaves him. But shortly after, suspicious murders begin to occur, the murders directly benefit Dr. Tenma and he becomes a prime suspect. However, the police have no evidence against him and cannot convict him. It becomes apparent that the boy whom Dr. Tenma saved had a hand in the murders, however the suspiciousness of the boy, Johann Liebert, are much deeper than they initially appear.

Now that description may seem VERY long winded detailed, but it doesn’t even begin to describe the insanely complex plot. The events that follow reveal that Johann is a being of pure evil, devoid of fear and most all other emotions, Johann is a monster. Dr. Tenma then leaves his position to pursue Johann, to kill the monster that he brought back to life. This sets off a chain of events that are apparently random on the surface but in reality are being carefully orchestrated by Johann.

To fully analyze and summarize this anime would take an essay upwards of fifteen thousand pages, sarcasm and exaggeration not intended. This anime is not for everyone, it is a homocide/mystery anime with a immersive and complex plot that many may not appreciate. The amount of imagery, allegory, metaphors and countless other literary devices that serve to build the plot are innumerable. The plot itself can be interpreted in many different ways, psychology, philosophy, logistics and criminally are a few points of view that come to mind. However, that’s not to say that a person without a PhD can’t appreciate it, even analyzed on the surface, it is an amazing anime. But when you think with a more open mind and realize just how diverse and elaborate the story is, it becomes that much better.

I can sit here all day and write about how good this anime is and completely ruin your impression by just ranting and raving, but I’ll stop here. The truth is that each person will probably end this anime taking its meaning in a different manner. Everyone will walk away from this with something different, and the only way to find out how it will appeal to you or if it will appeal to you at all, is to watch it.

Plot aside, the other aspects of the anime were also executed quite well. The animation takes some getting used to because it strays away from the generic, large eyed, rainbow colored and impossibly styled hair style of character design that is most common. It simply wouldn’t have worked in this type of anime, and I’m glad they noticed. The backgrounds and ambient aesthetics were fair, nothing too complex, but the scenery definitely wasn’t what you would call generic.

The music was somewhat of a downfall, nothing really stood out, it could have used some carefully timed orchestral themes, but alas, nothing is perfect.

Voice acting was pretty good, emotion was conveyed effectively, but only Johann’s voice stood out as perfectly matching. There were a few times when screams of supposed terror resulted in me laughing at how fake it sounded, but this was not a common enough occurence to detract from quality.

As for pacing, with 74 episodes to work with, dedicating time to backstories, full explanations and history while not falling into filler lulls was a piece of cake, no problems here.

One huge problem with this anime though, was the sheer volume of characters. There were so many third party characters that remembering names and faces became very difficult. Most of these characters had a life of about 3-4 episodes and then were relegated to cameo appearances. It would have been nice to see and event that brought them all together for some more screentime and possibly some background stories, but sadly, it was not meant to be. The main characters were built in such detail, so it was a shame to see potential in some side characters wasted. But I suppose it was a tradeoff, side characters had to be ignored in order for the main characters to bloom.

All in all, a most excellent anime, opinions will diverge, but if you check on animeNFO and ANN, it carries high ratings for a reason. Though not without its faults, Monster went beyond my expectations and I saw a complex and layered plot unfold like the blooming of a rose. As cheesed as that sounds, it’s the truth, but don’t carry impossible expectations into this anime because I can’t promise that they’ll be met. Go into this with nothing into your mind and let yourself become mesemerized by the story of a prodigy and a man who knows no fear.

~ Shirukii ~