I got sick last week, and so I did what any normal person would do; sit around and watch TV. And I decided to spend my time watching anime. I finished Futakoi (which was good), watched Sorcerer on the Rocks (which was bland, since its an old OVA, started Futakoi Alternative (which has been interesting so far), watched ALL of The Big O (which I thoroughly enjoyed), and watched the 74 episode anime called Monster.
It was one of those one's that I thought sounded interesting and downloaded, and I figured I might as well go on a quest to finish a long anime, since I wont get a chance like this until I'm sick again. I watched it in 6 days, and finished it about 15 minutes ago.
Monster amazed me, truly amazed me. It kept me on the edge of my seat, wondering what would happen next, and constantly, constantly surprised me with twist after twist. It built expectations and hinted at things in a way that you found yourself clever for figuring it out. Then you'd be wrong. And all the sudden, while you were trying to figure out where you went wrong, they'd totally surprise you somewhere else! It left my nerves rattled and my pants wet... or maybe that was the orange juice I spilled (no really, I accidentally spilled a bunch of orange juice while I was watching it).
Monster starts off following Dr. Tenma, a genius neurologist. His work is well known... yet he is not. His boss seems to take a lot of credit for his work. But he's humble, and also dating his bosses daughter, so he doesn't care a lot. But he soon finds his boss, the director at his hospital, has putting unfair priorities on certain patients, which Tenma feels he is responsible for. It finally comes down to him making a decision to follow the director, or put a child first in line for surgery. He helps the boy with the head wound, only to find out t was actually a grave mistake... and the series goes from there. That's really only the first 10th of the anime, and there's much more detail and mystery than that.
The series felt after the first 8 episode like it was going to be full of many "filler" episodes with dull short stories... but they never came. A few short episodes occurred, but they all held significance to the plot in enough ways that I wouldn't call them fillers. Most of the story was "story arcs", multiple episodes that made one large piece of the story. They would follow characters who would seem completely unrelated for large portions of time, and then main characters like Dr. Tenma would start to fit in, and the significance would begin to appear.
There are many characters to follow. At first, many people in Monster look the same, but main characters will stand out enough that you can follow them as their influence goes in and out of the story. Characters who seemed to be of little or no significance would come back again... and again... and many were even at the end of the story in one way.
The whole series follows the adventure, yet also continually looks at the long past of many of the characters. It becomes a little tiresome to try and keep the back history you learn chronologically ordered in your mind, though it makes enough sense that you can bear with it. It wasn't a waste; all the information was important, and was required to understand the story. Information was often repeated, but it wasn't with a redundant feeling for the most part.
This anime bore minimal resemblance to most. The people's design's were all completely proportionate; no giant eyes or anything like that. There are no "Super Magic Awesome Attack" moves or ridiculous clothing attempts. There's very minimal humor, and what there is, is still in a way "serious". What's weird is the anime is supposedly German (though they are of course speaking Japanese), so there's references to "I don't understand you, please speak German", which is funny.
This show really gave many morality issues to deal with, such as the identity of the serial killer (which I can't reveal as would be spoilerific). Along with all the things that are taught and done in Germany, etc. What's interesting is the serial killer will say things that make people feel worthless, and then the good characters will say things that make them turn around and feel purposeful. But its sad because half of their justifications are actually worthless. Without God, the serial killer would be right; we are worthless. And there were many issues you really had to just think for yourself.
I twisted and turned on Plot or Emotional. There was so much plot, yet so much emotion. Twists and turns, emotional connections to the characters and moral dilemmas. But I settled with plot, because though very emotional, a lot of the emotions came from the twists and turns of the plot.
Sub vs Dub = Watched in Japanese, voices fit the characters perfectly. Dunno if I'd risk watching the dub :|
Content = Ah... I had high hopes at first, but they just had to stick some unnecessary things after a while. Monster is violent. Of course, since it deals a lot with death. It's got blood. I've seen worse. The language wasn't to bad. I think I caught about 5 f-bombs; it was the usual bas**** and hell and sh** that dominated. Plus a few necessary bi***es. There's a lot of references to prostitution. The show deals with the value of life, and orphans, so children of prostitutes becomes a topic. For the first 24 episodes, I was surprised at how clean they kept it. They had chances to expose people, yet the things in the way defied gravity by staying there. But then in episode 25, some characters went to a "red light district" and for some reason... pictures of topless prostitutes went by. This happened again in episodes 34. In episode 49, there's a painting of a naked lady, and one other bit of inappropriate content. Episode 51 you get a quick glance of a woman... And finally, at the very beginning of episode 64, there was a brief image of a pole dancer. And that's it for actual nudity. At the very least, I can say I'm thankful that nothing was actually "happening" in the show. As opposed to, say, the movie "300"... I can say that my sister will probably watch this show (she knows which episodes have this stuff in them). You wont regret it.
Sound = The OST was okay. There was an occasional track that stood out to me and made me want it. The opening was good, and very original. A synth and drums with hard bashing for a beat that created a suspenseful atmosphere that something dark and epic was happening. The show had two endings. The first was English and slow/creepy and I liked it better. The second was Japanese and also slow/creepy, but it was sung in a strange high-pitch way. Also, the previews for the next episode had an awesome melody playing that reminded my of Trace Memory as soon as I heard it.
Adaptions = The anime is based off of a 18 volume manga that appears to follow the show pretty exactly. Supposedly, there is live action American movie slated for 2009, but I don't see it happening by then.
Category: Plot
Length: 74 Episodes
Japanese Title: Monsutā
Year: 2004
Studio: Madhouse
Opening Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WwlCu5TBneE
BONUS Opening Video (In LEGO): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=28vGi7jPNrY
Ending Video 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aO4vE_xyqHc&feature=related
Ending Video 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yT7fqyOsC_0&feature=related
Wikipedia Article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monster_(manga)
AnimeNewsNetwork: http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/anime.php?id=3750
Download (Jap/EngSub): http://animestash.info/anime/show/7 (RECOMENDED)
Stream (Jap/EngSub): http://www.animekiwi.com/monster/
Download OST 1: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=7QKW3BZH
Download OST 2: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=JFWMWN9Q
In Summary: This is a great anime. Even if you hate every anime, you may like this, simply because it bares almost no resemblance to anime. But this is the equivalent to rated R, so you had better be ready for some usual content of an R movie. The twists and turns will keep you thrilled through very minute; you'll simply be on the edge of your seat. If you're willing to sit through 74 episodes (just spread it out over a long period of time if your worried), go for it. 'll tell you this: You wont regret watching this anime.
If your not sure if you wanna watch it, I recommend just checking out the first 8 episodes. They alone have tons of twists, and are the prologue to the show. You can watch them, and quit happy. Check it out!
