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Monster

People traditionally associate Japanese animes with the likes of Pokemon and Dragonball Z where all that happens are flashy fights. So, it is often very difficult to convince non-anime fans that there's more to them. Monster is not typical anime, it is not even a series or a video, it is an experience I have gone through watching this piece of brilliance called Monster. It is a masterpiece.
The show started and the art was realistic for an anime, something I hadn't quite experienced before. The opening theme song wasn't an annoying pop song that grated on my ears and made me snicker. The characters were real. The background music always fit the scenes and was never overbearing. The language spoken was honest and like something I could hear on the street. Germany looked like Germany and not some twisted version of Japan. The story was compelling. You can truly connect with every character. You'll see a person on screen for, at most, five minutes, but they'll have more depth to them than the main protagonists of other anime. You will feel overwhelming sorrow whenever someone is killed after only one episode. You will decide that a certain person fits the title "Monster" only to decide a few moments later that no, someone else is a monster. And you will even feel empathy for people you long to hate.

In life, there are two types of monsters. The first is the type that most of us have probably thought of in our childhood, the type that we feared under the bed or in the closet, the type who our parents or guardians told us didn't exist. The second type, however, is what the title of this series refers to. This is the type in which adults do fear, the type that does exist. This monster can plan human deaths with the same nonchalance that others have when they decide the details of getting their next coffee.

Naoki Urasawa's story is one that covers such a monster, but this monster isn't the main character. Instead, the main character is the highly skilled Japanese neurosurgeon Kenzou Tenma, working in Germany shortly after its reunification. Tenma believes that all life is of equal high worth and that the value of life isn't changed with wealth, fame, nor with celebrity status. But he discovers that the hospital itself doesn't share that belief. The life that he saved, the life which more desperately needed his skills, looked so much like another anonymous life that was about to get wiped out by the hospital's lack of ethics. But Tenma unknowingly gave life back to a monster. And for the first time ever, Tenma regrets the life that he saved; so much so that he finds himself forced to correct that mistake.

There will be a few times where the main storyline seems to be put on hold, and a new storyline with new characters will be introduced. And you'd likely be wondering why things have taken a detour, or when they'll get back to the actual story. But the overall plot is much more complex and detailed. The seemingly disjointed storylines in 'Monster' slowly build to be a critical part in the overall plot, and the series overall doesn't have any wasted scenes or episodes (filler), nor the jumps and jolts which betray signs of last-minute rewrites.

In some ways, I think Monster even surpasses Death Note by its themes and dark vision on humanity.

Recommendation: Highly Recommended.
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