[Anime Review] Monster

'And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy. [...] And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast. And they worshippped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him?'
--The Book of Revelation, Chapter 13 [1; 3-4]

You're a surgeon at a hospital in West Germany and it seems that fate is smiling on you. You've worked hard and your skill has been recognized, placing you next in line for promotion and earning you the affections of the hospital director's daughter. It may not be the most glamourous of lives, what with the small apartment you still reside in, but you're doing what you truly enjoy -- helping others.

. . . but if everything is going as well as you think, then why is this woman standing in front of you, crying that you are responsible for the death of her loved one? It can't be true what they say, that the hospital director delayed surgery on the first patient in order to save another simply because the second had a higher social status, that you're just being used to improve the hospital's reputation, that not all human lives have the same value. . . . can it?

No. You could never accept that not all lives have equal value. And so even now as your fellow doctors warn you of the consequences of refusing to lead the surgery on the mayor, you turn your back and step through the doors of the operating room - the room in which the patient who was brought in first lies - and begin extracting the bullet from the young boy's head.

You won't realize it for years later, but this single act will lead to the death of hundreds.

And so begins the story of Doctor Tenma Kenzo and a monster with the smile of an angel.

* * *

From the very first episode of Monster, you know you're in for something dark and different with the quote from The Book of Revelation [at top] that precedes the hauntingly beautiful opening. And though there are a few slow sections, Monster more than lives up to its intentions.

Story-wise, Monster is very well planned; it has to be in order to keep the audiences interested over 74 episodes and balance the pace at which secrets are revealed. That said, I did find the plot twists in the early episodes fairly easy to predict, but as the story expands, it becomes much more complex and intriguing. One very clever thing that I didn't realize until almost half-way through the series is that the imagery in the closing tells the same story as the series and moves in time with the plot.

As good as the story may be, it's the characters that truly make Monster shine. For a series with such a sinister title, it's actually quite hard - if not impossible - to mark out people as either good or evil. Just when you think you have a character nailed down, something happens that gives you a deeper glimpse into their personality that alters your view of them. Each one is a living, breathing human being with their own desires and none of them are wasted. There honestly isn't a single character I didn't end up liking.

I don't want to discuss the character that gives the series its name too much since he's the centre of the mystery, but I will say that he's very well crafted. He's actually somewhat like Kuroro Lucifer from Hunter x Hunter -- highly intelligent and charismatic despite that fact that we've seen the kinds of horrors he's capable of committing -- and the best parts of the series are always when he's actively involved.

It's always disappointing to invest so much time in a series only to be met with a sour or half-hearted ending. Fortunately, this doesn't happen in Monster. I can't say that I love the ending - it left a good deal still open to interpretation - but it was also able to obtain a sense of closure. However, what really stood out for me was Doctor Tenma's final scene; the implications of it leave a chill in the air right before the closing credits. Personally, that scene alone was worth watching the series for.


[I originally meant to type this up after I watched the last episode, but was working on the Hunter x Hunter Tarot at the time and it got put off until now. Unfortunately, this also means the review isn't as detailed since it's not as fresh in my mind.]