Naoki Urasawa’s Monster is a big example of a series of what I believe true dark storytelling can be like when it’s done right. This is a series like Neon Genesis Evangelion that made a huge impact towards me. This series not only shows great philosophical meaning through the actions of it’s characters but a series that really brings a huge question on reality regarding the meaning of life. Life itself holds a powerful meaning and this series definitely can really creep me out with how deep the idea really is. Monster is an intelligently written and well thought out story with complex characters like nothing I’ve ever seen.
What makes this one of the greatest anime of all time? Let’s find out why.
Story + Characters:
The story involves a doctor by the name of Kenzo Tenma who gets accused of murdering several people who work in the same hospital. This was due to the fact that he helped the life of a young boy named Johan Liebert who he known nothing about. Now that Johan has been revived and off to do his dirty work, Dr. Tenma now takes full responsibility of bringing back a monster in the world.
What makes the first episode of Monster so great in my opinion is the fact that we are finally able to sympathize with a main character for once. What ends up happening with Kenzo Tenma is because of the fact he had mental blockage, he wasn’t able to operate on a person and therefore, the person died. This leads to the Turkish lady getting angry with him and how Dr. Tenma ends up ruining his own reputation.
We are also shown the fact that Dr. Tenma has a relationship with the chiefs daughter Eva Heinamann and her father is the one that ends up blackmailing him.
What makes this good in my opinion is the fact that being blackmailed is actually a realistic issue. I think what adds to this is the fact that Dr. Tenma is a man that works hard and strongly believes in the idea of saving lives because life is a very precious thing in the world and you only live once until you die.
This also works too in after Episode 4 with the confrontation between Kenzo Tenma and Johan Liebert because Dr. Tenma ends up being accused for having all these people dead in the hospital afterwards.
Now and I definitely admit. Johan Liebert is one of the greatest villains ever written in a fictional work. However, I think it’s more interesting when you look at why he’s such a great character and the real meaning behind him.
When you look at everything put together, the biggest reason why he’s such a good character is because he sees no value in life. He believes that killing people is what makes the world a better place. The scary part is is that it’s actually true. When Osama Bin Ladin was killed in the real world, the world became a better place because now we don’t have to worry about him sending Al Queda to blow us up anymore. My point is that there’s actually a meaning behind his actions.
In Episode 4 and one of my favorite moments in the series, he tells Dr. Tenma that all those people killed helped him become the new chief director because all those people would just bully Dr. Tenma and say he was a weak man. This confrontation really strikes me as a powerful scene because it shows what kind of impact dead people could really have on people. Sometimes in the real world, a single death could cause destruction everywhere like when Gavrillo Princip shot Franz Ferdinand before World War I.
I also love how it’s mentioned in the series that a person that knows about Johan even at all to begin with and shot and killed because it really ties well with his character. If people know even a thing about him, it’s better to keep yourself secret because otherwise people would come after you. His plan works on the account that his own existence is kept hidden from people and you can do a lot of shady things when you are not around.
Another one of the greatest moments in the series was in Episode 73. In this episode, Johan pulls a gun and aims it at Vinnie. He then taunts Dr. Tenma and says he must shoot Johan himself in order to save the boy. What’s so great about this scene is that it really shows that sometimes in order to save others, you must also kill people. It’s the dark truth about this world but sometimes people die in order to save lives.
I also think it’s even more fascinating when they state that Johan was also a subject at the experiment warehouse named 511 Kinderhiem where people were designed to become super soldiers. Johan himself was talked about becoming the new Adolf Hitler and in some cases even surpassing him. Even though Johan shares a different ideology than Hitler, they both share similar a charisma and it’s shown when Johan was the one that granted the accessibility for Carl to find his lost father. It’s interesting that Johan has such an amount of intelligence that he’s able to teach others how to become stronger people and impress others. The fact that he studies so much about the world is what ultimately makes him a smart character and the way he manipulates people is a perfect way to show that.
Even more fascinating is the fact when Johan and his sister Ana finally confront one another in Episode 65. Despite the fact seeming that Ana was the one who went through all that pain looking for The Three Frogs Cabin, Johan think’s that he went through it. This is a powerful scene because it really challenges your mind. Was Johan really there? Is he just playing tricks with her? All of it can be attributed to how smart he is. He’s that intelligent that he could bend your own way of thinking by almost like transforming into another person.
Considering everything the two siblings went through, it’s implied also that they never really had names hence why Johan was deeply disturbed but also deeply in love with the book “The Nameless Monster”. He himself relates to that book because he and his sister also don’t have names just like the monsters don’t. I think the book by itself is also brilliant because it really teaches an idea what what human nature is like. When people are corrupted by power, they turn into monsters. Hence for example when The Monster Of The East devours the blacksmith. That’s the meaning behind “The Nameless Monster”.
When you factor everything together, the biggest reason Johan Liebert is such a great character is because he has no value for life. He believes in nothing more than burning every last person alive. It was even stated in Episode 13 where that one guy said that Johan wished he was the only person left when he was 10 years old. It’s a scary thought but it’s almost kind of true what Johan is trying to say.
I also want to mention that Franz Bonaparta was the creator of 511 Kinderheim to begin with who wrote “The Nameless Monster”.
Dr. Tenma on the other hand believes in saving other people’s lives. It is really sad that a man that becomes a criminal is really someone who works there heart out to save others. Like that one time he was in another hospital helping a woman who was shot by someone. Another being himself helping Deater escaping that cruel old person. And another was helping Eva Heinamann from bleeding to death near Episode 25 and saving Vinnie in Episode 73. The best moment and the one that was probably the most powerful moment in the series also was when Dr. Tenma was talking to Johan’s mother. It’s because despite how Johan feels about the world, she will always love him. The biggest reason why this is so sad is because Johan is a man that believes in nothing more than taking lives. Despite all this, she loves him and she would never be able to see her “Baby” again if he died. Yeah, technically he was her baby. It doesn’t get anymore sad than that.
The thing I love most about Dr. Tenma is that he believes that saving lives matter. He believes a new life makes a new good thing happen in the world. All lives are created equally and it’s sad such horrible things are done to him too.
One underrated character I really like is Roberto.
One thing I like about him is how smart he is. He’s someone that takes out the trash when people grow suspicious of Johan. It’s quite intelligent for a man to tell Dr. Tenma that killing Eva would not only help himself keeping the secret but it would also help Kenzo Tenma because it would prevent him from staying in prison. Think about about that. I also loved this cool line when he told this one idiot that he should just stay in his little fairy tale. Totally a cool line.
I also liked figuring out that he himself was actually a person trapped in 511 Kinderheim. He himself was really just another nameless monster. You learn this when he is fighting against Inspector Lunge.
I also thought that Eva Heinamann and Inspector Lunge were also great characters too.
The thing that’s fascinating about Eva Heinamann is that she starts off as this person who wants total revenge on Dr. Tenma for her fathers death. This also creates her drinking problem and the fact throughout the series losing everything she has as she ruined her own reputation.
After Episode 60, everything changes with Dr. Tenma once she realizes what horrible things she’s done as a person. Having sex with people, having a drinking problem, lying and cheating on people, and being ignorant until she herself for the first time encounters Johan. These are all horrible actions she has done as a person and it’s interesting how someone could realize and feel so sorry for themselves afterwards. Afterwards, she tries to make amends by hunting down Johan.
Inspector Lunge is also very interesting in the sense that throughout the entire series, he’s stubborn and only believes in one case. He believes Dr. Tenma is guilty and sticks only to that belief. His mind finally changes around Episode 70 when he realizes how pathetic he really was as a cop. He didn’t think to ask himself if there was another suspect in the crime and even Roberto definitely calls him out on that.
I also think it adds to the meaning that life holds meaning when the fact Lunge has a grandchild and is now a grandfather. If he died, then he would never be able to see him again.
I also really enjoyed seeing Grimmer as a character. Considering the fact that he really had emotions but tried to hold them in is pretty sad. I liked his fun personality when he liked playing around with the kids and it was also sad when he died because all those kids would never be able to see him again. People also thought he was a monster when he didn’t cry for his dead son but he cried at the final moments of his life knowing he would never be able to see people again and have fun with them.
The last important character worth mentioning is of course Ana Liebert A.K.A. Nina Fortiner.
What makes Ana such a great character is who she is as a person. She had strong feelings for those people that adopted and took care of her. She’s sad that she would never be see them again and she vows revenge upon the people that let them die.
What I find really interesting though is that she forgives Johan. I understand this because all Johan wanted to do was do what he believed was right for the world. It might have been messed up but he believed that killing people was the answer.
She also had some strong development helping out Dr. Tenma and learning how to use a gun properly also in a realistic nonbuttpully way by having the shop guy teach her how to use it.
I also mentioned the ending was perfect when Johan’s mother says that she loves him. Probably one of the saddest endings ever written.
Ultimately, the deeper meaning behind Monster is the value of life. Does life really matter, or is it just pointless? It’s this strong question that really makes the story in this show deep and compelling. Life holds a strong value towards everything.
How Monster Nails Horror:
The biggest reason why Monster nails together horror elements so good is because it’s actually creepy. There’s no over the top blood. No jump scares. Just the creepy atmosphere and the music that nail together. You can’t tell me that Ana shooting her own brother wasn’t creepy. Not happening. 511 Kinderheim is also one of the creepiest locations in anime history because the atmosphere is so dark and quiet.
I also thought it was really creepy when some of these people were trying to create more Johan Liebert’s. Basically, taking away kids from families and brainwashing them.
This is what sets this show apart from bad horror anime like Deadman Wonderland, and Another because they are so over the top with blood and become more silly to me than actually scary. It’s also darker than Re: Zero because unlike a character we are supposed to have feelings for but can’t because he keeps on coming back to life which deletes all the pain measured towards him, in Monster, there’s no going back when you are dead.
Once you are dead, you are gone for good and that’s all there is to it.
That’s not to say coming back to life can’t be done right though. In Neon Genesis Evangelion, Rei Ayanami is an experiment created by Gendo Ikari who is supposed to really be Shinji’s mother. There’s a difference between buttpulling your way back to life and actually realistically find a way to bring people back until you realize it’s really not the same because people are never truly back once their dead hence why Rei is still an incomplete being and betrays Gendo at the end.
This all makes sense because it’s meant to feel the viewer with the dark perspective that life is a precious material that can never be returned and adding a nice atmosphere to it.
Animation + Art:
This is actually the best animation I’ve ever seen to date in an anime. For once, the characters actually look like real people. They are so well drawn to the point where I can actually say the artists have talent. Nobody has the same haircut. Nobodies faces look the same. Nobody has weird hair colors. Truly a sight to behold.
The backgrounds are breathtaking. Each area is filled with tons of atmosphere. I feel like I’m actually watching Europe being displayed.
Soundtrack:
Maybe if not the best soundtrack ever composed.
The opening theme and the ending themes are incredible. They really add to the creepy element of the series.
Each track in the OST is really well composed. It all really adds well to the atmosphere.
Conclusion:
With everything put together, this is a series about teaching the value of life. Life is something we must respect dearly with our lives. It’s a series that teaches that monsters do in fact live inside people. People do in fact cause hideous crimes and show off their true colors once the lights are off. It’s a series with a deep philosophy about human nature and one I think requires a lot of understanding to fully comprehend. It’s a series that realizes that pain and suffering truly matter from people dying. Not from living over and over again. It makes you question and think hard whether life sucks or is great.
That’s why Monster get the final rating of a 10/10 (Masterpiece/Legendary).
Monster is also the second greatest anime of all time recorded in my data log.
Hope you can’t wait for the most epic reviews you’ve ever seen and have an amazing day.
Submitted July 06, 2019 at 09:49AM by Jack-Fitch https://ift.tt/2JskxtM
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