Viz Media recently announced that Naoki Urasawa’s psychological thriller manga - Monster - will debut in the United States on February 21, 2006. The retail price is said to be US$9.99. Read more about the release at Viz Media.

And if you do not know anything about Monster, I might just be able to tempt you to read my review of the anime version of Monster, though unlikely as that may seem.

Okay, I have to admit that I’ve never read the manga version of Monster since I can’t find any English-subbed version online. But the anime is a breath of fresh air and I reckon the manga should be pretty good as well. Given that the US will see their copies of Monster soon, I suppose I could expect some to filter all the way to my tiny country soon enough.

Title: Monster
Year: 2004
Total Episodes: 74
Categories: Drama
Fansubbed Version Watched: Soldats, Anime-Kraze
Episodes I Watched So Far: 46
Episodes Available ATM: 67

Dr. Tenma, a Japanese doctor working in Germany, is a brilliant, and rather handsome young man. Add a beautiful fiancee and prodigious talent as a neurosurgeon and we have a man with a really bright future.

But if that was the case, there would be no story, would there?

One day, a boy in terminal condition arrives for treatment in Tenma’s hospital. Based on the boy’s condition (a bullet in the head), no one else but Tenma would be able to save him. For that reason, Tenma refuses to operate on the town’s Mayor - who arrives for treatment not long after the young boy - and instead continues surgery on the boy. As a result, the boy lives, but the Mayor dies. This prompts his whole life to fall apart.

Because the Mayor was a potential sponsor of the hospital, Tenma loses favour with the hospital Director and thus, is ignored for promotion. His fiancee - who is the Director’s daughter - abandons him. That’s not all though. Murder after murder occurs. Every single one of them beneficial to Tenma, but none leaving evidence that points to him. All this occured right after he had saved the boy, Johan…

Personal Comments:
I found Monster to be an intriguing series, especially the earlier part of the series. In fact, I was interested enough that I downloaded more than 10 episodes a day to watch. Psychological thrillers such as Monster are rare among today’s fansubs, with light-hearted dramas being a particular favourite with producers for some reason.

But for some reason, I’m losing steam. The only reason why I want to continue watching Monster is to see whether Johan eventually gets killed (this isn’t a spoiler, really). And that’s wierd because its about now (i.e. mid-series) that the mystery starts getting revealed. Maybe it is because I saw too many episodes, too fast. I’ll give it a rest, for now.

In any case, Monster is definitely an anime to watch, simply because its different from the rest on the fansub market at the moment.

anime, monster, reviews
(more…)