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Finished reading Monster a couple weeks ago and here are my thoughts on it. The story is great but a I do have a couple critcisms with it so I'll get those out of the way. There are a few things in the series that is straight up filler and are pretty inconsequential to the story.
Example: Petra and Schumann, English couple & the one where Tenma meets the young Asian nurse. I enjoy them for what they are (the English couple I could leave it) but they are filler. This leads me into my 2nd criticism as it can affect the pacing. Its more so early on though.
After the Heidelberg arc, it definitely slows down with the pacing. Part of that I can understand is because they want to try fleshing out the character and steadily building up the mystery which is fine but compared to 20th Century Boys, you could keep the plot rolling
whilst fleshing out the characters and building up the mystery. When it reaches the Munich arc, the pacing becomes more along the lines of what Urasawa typically does. But I don't consider them that major and are pretty much my only criticism because overall, its tightly written.
If I were to give my top 5 favourite characters in Monster:
1. Kenzo Tenma
2. Wolfgang Grimmer
3. Johan Liebert
4. Anna Liebert
5. Inpector Lunge
I'll discuss each of them
1. Kenzo Tenma
2. Wolfgang Grimmer
3. Johan Liebert
4. Anna Liebert
5. Inpector Lunge
I'll discuss each of them
Kenzo Tenma is a really good protagonist and works very well with the themes of the series with its commentary on humanity. Specifically here where Tenma is a deontological character with his overall value for human lives. Although I do like how that gets challenged with Tenma
as throughout the series he has qualms about wanting to kill Johan given how much of a threat he is and how he feels its his personal responsibility as he was the one who brought Johan back. Tenma's value of humanity contrasts very well with Johan whom I'll discuss later.
Wolfgang Grimmer is a character who was taught to surpress his emotions during his childhood but after getting out of his predicament, he wants to learn how to be free and embrace those emotions more. Which ties along well with the theme of humanity that Urasawa has going on.
Johan Liebert is a really good villain as he works well in juxtaposition to Tenma as he definitely harbours some nihilistic ideals. I don't think that in of itself makes him some deep character like some people do but the overall mystery surrounding his is done well.
It definitely makes you question the Nature Vs Nurture aspect to his character as it keeps the true motives for him kinda vague. Plus I like that he's a very intelligent villain and in a sense portrays him as this force of nature with wide but subtle influence.
Anna Liebert is interesting where despite being Johan's twin sister, she's definitely a polar opposite and more like Tenma in some respects. But as you steadily learn more Johan, it also helps uncover more Anna as well as her past is heavily tied to Johan.
Inspector Lunge definitely a character that works in trying to oppose Tenma as he believes Tenma to behind most of these key murders in the series. As well as showcasing how consumed he can be with his work that he doesn't leave much room to spend time with his family.
Like I mentioned before with the commentary on humanity, its not only about its value but also appreciating the smaller things for more quality of life. Even the subtle stuff with killing and suchThe art is great and is probably tied with 20th Century Boys in terms of consistency
Overall, I consider Monster a great series. Its probably my 2nd favourite Naoki Urasawa work behind 20th Century Boys which I believe to be his best work. But Monster certainly doesn't fall that far behind. I'd give it a 9/10 factoring in my critcisms that I've mention earlier.
