all of my reviews are rated 100 because I think a numeric score is redundant for my individual reviews in many ways and also because I think numeric scoring has never been of interest to me I think its effective for having the average score most people give a show also I'd rather people read between the lines and guess for themselves if the show is for them I think a score can sometimes generalize a much more in-depth statement also I'd rather you disagree with my individual takes on the show rather than what it collectively amounts too
please enjoy the rest of your day and thank you
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Short Synopsis
skip if you know the general plot already
Monster is a show about a neurosurgeon named Kenzou Tenma a Japanese man working in Germany from Japan (who would have thought) working at the memorial hospital in Dusseldorf and the chief of Neurosurgeon and his fiance the Hospitals director
Tenma develops a sense of guilt and bitterness created by the environement revolving around hospitals' inner politics and the directors' goals to further the hospitals and by extension his own fame through choosing to save people who will bring “value” to the hospital in contrast to Tenma's stance and supposed guilt after a woman the wife of a Turkish man who came in first before an opera singer Tenma had just operated on and emotionally breaks down in anguish stating her husband had arrived long before the opera singer which shocks Tenma
This is slowly built up until Tenma decides to forgo the Hospital Directors orders and saves a boy who had come in before the Mayor of Dusseldorf who had suffered a heart attack and he was ordered to save
This is done as an act of moral fairness and equality of life years and years later Tenma finds that same boy and finds out that he has become a killer
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Outlining Anime Exclusive problems I've had that you could also have with Monster
Monster is an ever-expanding mystery with a trail of breadcrumbs it reveals one puzzle piece and each piece makes you discover how large of a set you're are actually working with and the length is a necessary factor in order to tell its story
but this can also be quite the double edged sword which leads me to my first point about the series
The Anchor of Information in Monster
Monster is a meticulous story with information that gets layered and layered as the series progresses small mysteries get solved and new one get put in their place and the cast grows bigger as more characters are introduced to connect events and or explain things.
This isn't something unfamiliar to the author as Urasawas has been known to create lots of large scale mysteries with grand sets of characters that fill the story and references events
It can turn out to be overwhelming and it doesn't help that the intake of this information is delivered in 20-minute episodes out of a complete 74 episode show.
A problem that can arise with this is if you stop watching the show cause of a break or not having enough time and let's say 40 episodes deep like I did and then you suddenly return it can be really jarring trying to remember the current circumstances or events going on in the show thus I would say this show should be binged partly but as I'll outline later there are some cons which prevent Monster IMO from being a binge-able show.
The Pro's of a Manga experience
Manga typically has these little per volume charts of the current situation of the story and these are used as recap material which is easily accessible at the beginning of the volumes whenever you might need a recap of the scenario and characters which are distinct to the specific volume your reading making it easier to pick off where you left off which I think is a better fit for a long-form mystery series.
I've gone through the trouble of blurring and smudging the informationand important aspects as for spoiler reasons
Another aspect of manga is the rate of which you consume the medium as I've previously stated the medium is less passive with the page-turning aspect thus you can read at your own speed instead of watching a set 20-minute video which makes it more bingeable going chapter to chapter instead of episode to episode which is helpful in a series where you can easily lose your footing in the story after taking a break as I've said.
Is the medium of anime an entirely good fit?
before I start this is not me addressing the music and or voice actor performances it's more a question towards the animation while they did a great job at replicating Urasawa's style to a T there's a problem I have with the show's animation
While the animation isn't "bad" (btw I love the washed out artwork of Germany it looks beautiful in an almost gothic horror sense) like say poorly drawn character faces or off-model mistakes and its quite consistent most of the time it just has this same energy for most of the series and its not like a typical anime where the goal is to create a dynamic sense of palpable energy that pops off and successfully using this can create a natural feeling of "highs" and "lows" creating clear contrasts with scenes
All in all what prevents me from coming back to the series (at least the anime) for a complete watch through is tied to this point I almost wonder if Monster needed to be an anime while its satisfactory as it covers all of the manga events and has a consistent artstyle I fail to remain engaged with the series within a long term period such that there comes a point where I feel my mind flicker into a daze as the lack of motion and consistent washed out tone degrade my attention span
This is not a factor that derives itself from the original source material and writing just how its presented within another medium that fails to touch the landing but if your not into manga because of lack of score, acting, and other aspects of animation then I'd say the adaptation is agreeable as other shows and adaptations that don't feel right a fit for being an animated show or at the very least lack a vision for transference into the medium such as the 1997 Berserk which while being faithful with a great music score by Susumu Hirasawa it exerpts necessary source material that is pivotal to the story and leaves off feeling incomplete and redacted.
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Random After Thoughts
Monster and Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein parallels
The story of Monster blends a lot elements found in Frankenstein with Monsters story at least with the initial setup and structure of Tenma in the role of Frankenstein chasing after the Monster he's created is Johan
In the story of Frankenstein, the good doctor attempts to plunge the secrets of life through creating life inversely its Tenma saving a life that creates the main conflict albeit the difference was in Frankenstein by Mary Shelly the main themes have to do with the consequences with creating life and the meaning of life as the monster in the novel has no other species to call his own and all the humans fear and despise him
In Monster by Naoki Urasawa them is recontextualized into a different question of morality being the consequences of maintaining a life despite the evil or good aspects they possess and how it affects other people on a grander scale also while inserting it into a dark historical setting in history and it works well within a grand mystery setting
Monster Ed Lyric Analysis David Sylvian - "For the Love of Life"
one of the most beautiful Ending lyrics to a show I just wanted to talk about the various verses be warned of spoilers though so its mostly for people who have completed the show or manga
####For the love of life ####There's a trade off ####We could lose it all ####But we'll go down fighting
Spoiler, click to viewfor the love of life refers to Dr. Tenma's moral fairness that all life is equal and that his ideology has its trade-off as Johan goes to murder many people and almost end the world or in other words "lose it all" which is what Tenma realizes it's his journey of coming to accept those consequences and carry them all the way down
####And what of the children? ####Surely they can't be blamed for our mistakes?
Spoiler, click to viewThe fact that Johan and Nina where highly controlled experiments in eugenics which is what caused everything creates a bit of moral ambiguity a moral grey despite the fact that Johan is a serial killer
####And slowly I've come to realize ####It's all as it should be
####That hiding space ####A lonely place
Spoiler, click to viewI think this portion references Tenma's past as when playing hide and seek with the neighbor's kids when he was a child in an attempt to make friends the kids left him and he waited and waited till he came back this might have been a traumatic and isolating experience for Tenma
####How can the right thing be so wrong? ####I've found mistakes ####Where they don't belong
Spoiler, click to viewThe mistakes being in saving a boy's life and the consequences of doing the morally fair action which was saving Johan which turns to be a not so small mistake
####For the love of life ####We'll defeat this ####They may tear us down ####But we'll go down fighting
####Won't we?
Spoiler, click to viewI think the teardown a part in this verse could be in reference to the Berlin wall but I honestly don't know
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hopefully, this review was good tried to outline my points to the best I can instead of just
general disclaimer
please enjoy the rest of your day and thank you
