Recently I saw the anime "Monster" and it goes straight up in my list of favorites. With so many animes I've seen, I wonder how I've missed this one.
Anyone who says that Deathnote is the best psychological thriller anime there is probably only saw Deathnote from the thriller genre. Deathnote is a masterpiece no doubt but it's not the only one.
Written by Naoki Urasawa, the story of Monster follows Japanese surgeon in Germany whose life takes a u-turn when he decides to save the life of a young boy shot in the head.
I can't tell too much without spoiling the series, but events because of that decision start a completely different story that you've ever seen before.
What makes this a masterpiece is its s3nse of realism and danger for all the characters.
There is no trace of magic, ki, nen, haki, chakra that animes nowadays have been accustomed to.
Just human beings doing humanly things, having human issues and struggles and dealing with them as normal people would do.
Even every minor character is given a backstory, a unique and a relatable personality, understandable motivation and a purpose and are important one way or other in this show.
Again,I won’t tell you too much in depth because of spoilers,but the main motives of this anime are to explore themes of duality of human nature, nihilism vs understanding of life, nature vs nurture, the delicate human psyche, redemption,and keeps reminding us o the question "is human nature good or evil?
Sometimes the author shows his own view and sometimes he leaves everything open to interpretation.
One more thing that pulled me in was the dynamic between the three main characters: the villain, the surgeon and the villains long lost sister. It's better than anything I've ever seen before.
I've always liked with great villains and this one is considered one of the best villains in anime and most will agree to this.
Source
Even though this show is a bit old, all the technical details like sound, animation still hold up pretty good. The voice actors in both the sub and dub are good.
Ive watched so many animes, some I've like a lot, some not so much but Monster is clearly worthy of the masterpiece title.
The pacing is a bit slow so you'll need to give it a few episodes, and you won't regret watching this masterpiece.
For all Anime lovers out there this is not something you want to miss out on.
This was a completely different anime experience and I loved every bit of it.
