Monster is a slowly unfolding masterpiece

Kevin Hofer

10.10.2023

Translation: Elicia Payne

Looking for an anime that doesn’t serve any clichés of the medium? Like to think about topics including identity or what it means to be human? Then you should watch Monster.

Few anime have given me more to chew on than Monster. The 74 episodes, each about 20 minutes long, took me almost half a year to complete. On the one hand, this is due to the violent themes that Naoki Urasawa’s work addresses. On the other hand, I could barely stand the terribly slow pacing of the story.

Despite its slowness, Monster is one of the best stories ever told in a manga/anime. This is not least down to the terrific antagonist.

Spoiler warning: I’ll try my best not to share too much of the plot. However, I do have to give a rough outline of the content in the first few episodes so that you know what the series is about.

This is Monster

Monster was drawn and written by mangaka Naoki Urasawa in the mid-nineties. The manga was published from 1994 to 2001, and the anime with the same name came in 2004 to 2005. It follows the manga almost one-to-one, but adds short sequences at certain points.

Japanese brain surgeon Dr Kenzo Tenma is a genius. The young doctor works in a hospital in Düsseldorf. One day, eleven-year-old Johan Liebert is brought in with a gunshot wound. Tenma saves him.

Nine years later, Tenma holds a senior position at the hospital. Everything seems fine until one day Johan comes back into his life. He kills another person in front of Tenma. The brain surgeon realises that he has saved the life of a monster. A monster that has quite a few people on its conscience and will continue to murder unless he stops it.

Tenma goes in search of Johan and gradually unravels the mysteries surrounding his life and personality. This turns out difficult, because Tenma is considered the main suspect in various murder cases which Johan is responsible for. So he escapes. In the process, he meets many side characters who accompany and support him for a certain period of time.

Ingenious characters with depth

Monster’s no cliché anime. In other words, you’ll look in vain for over-the-top characters, supernatural powers and exaggerated action. The tone of Urasawa’s work is pared down and realistic.

Characters drive the story. First and foremost is the antagonist Johan. Johan becomes more fearsome with each new revelation around his personality, yet he himself is little to be seen. And when you do, at first glance you see a likeable, attractive young man. Every event is either directly or indirectly connected to him – Johan is a master manipulator and he usually lets others do the dirty work for him. This goes so far as to tempt people to commit suicide.

Like any good antagonist, Johan is dominant and thus drives the conflict between him and Tenma as well as the story. But even if Johan comes across as diabolical, it’s hard to hate him. His backstory is tragic. It becomes clear how and why Johan turned out the way he is. This in no way excuses his actions, but it shows that he isn’t only a perpetrator, but also a victim. What makes Johan stand out is that his values somehow end up making sense.

The two protagonists are accompanied by strong side characters. For example, there’s the ingenious BKA inspector Heinrich Lunge, who wants to catch Tenma. Blessed with Sherlock Holmes-like abilities, Lunge is multilayered and undergoes a transformation over time. At the beginning he puts his job above everything else and he later learns that there are more important things.

The same applies to Eva Heinemann. She’s Tenma’s partner at the beginning and the daughter of the head doctor at the hospital. Eva is the classic character you love to hate. The vengeful, selfish character experiences a great fall at the beginning and fights her way back to life as the plot unfolds. In the end, she’s even kind of sympathetic.

Not to forget Nina Fortner alias Anna Liebert – Johan’s twin sister. The initially cheerful Nina becomes increasingly bitter as the story progresses, since she represses memories of her childhood with Johan and only gradually recalls them.

Nina’s story is most obviously a search for identity – one of the central themes of Monster. Like Tenma, she stands in opposition to Johan. Nevertheless, she thinks differently to Tenma. If I had to assign schools of thought to the three characters, I would call Johan a nihilist, Nina an existentialist, and Tenma a humanist.

At certain points the story is overloaded

Monster is largely about questions of identity and what it means to be human. But that’s not all. Addressing all the topics is far beyond the scope of this article. I’ll tell you this much – Monster isn’t an in-your-face series. You have to connect the dots and interpret them yourself. If you don’t like doing that, you’re in the wrong place with Naoki Urasawa’s work.

In anime, not everything is perfect. The numerous secondary characters are well written, but they can distract from the main plot. Don’t get me wrong: on a whole, the numerous characters and storylines make perfect sense. But so much happens in Monster which makes it difficult to follow sometimes. I can understand if someone loses the thread when a plot line is paused for several episodes and the setting suddenly changes.

In addition, there’s the pacing. It. Just. Won’t. Move. Yes, so many things happen in the first few episodes. However, the narrative tempo drops significantly after the eighth episode. Towards the middle, progress is slow. I’m actually a fan of giving characters space and time. But with Monster it’s beyond bearable for me in places. Not that the points the story wants to make are bad. But at some point I got it and I wanted it to develop further.

I don’t have this problem as much with manga. That would be my alternative suggestion to the anime. Plus, it’s simply ingeniously drawn. It feels like I’m reading a movie. With greater focus on a few characters, Monster could be perfectly adapted as a live-action series. An adaptation was even in development at HBO featuring Guillermo del Toro in 2013. But it’s not come out yet.

Staging and Sound

If you’re used to animation from modern anime, the partly static settings of Monster will irritate you. At times, nothing happens on the screen for seconds. It’s almost like watching the coloured manga on a TV. I’m not being critical. The animation style of Monster perfectly matches the reduced and realistic tone of the story. I’ve got time to take everything in.

The sound design is really good too. Like the visual staging, the sound is reduced. Outside birds are chirping, in the apartment of an old gentleman the grandfather clock can be heard. The few action scenes get by without loud effects and dramatic music. Kuniaki Haishima was responsible for the latter. The soundtrack perfectly underpins the atmosphere of the anime. The title song Grain still gives me goose bumps today.

A piece you need to reflect on

Despite the many subplots and slow narrative, Monster is a masterpiece. The antagonist Johan makes me shudder whereas I just feel sorry for the lovable Tenma. The many side characters have depth. The series is a feast for all fans of dramas and psychological thrillers.

It’s fun to look at the themes of Monster in depth. But you have to be willing to do so. If you prefer to watch characters kicking each other in the nuts with supernatural powers, you’re in the wrong place with Naoki Urasawa’s work. If you prefer having everything spelled out to you, Monster’s not for you either.

Everyone else should give it a go. Monster is a journey. Only when you’ve finished it does the fun start with your interpretations.

Kevin Hofer

Senior Editor

kevin.hofer@digitecgalaxus.ch

From big data to big brother, Cyborgs to Sci-Fi. All aspects of technology and society fascinate me.

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