Monster Review: Doesn't deliver

Monster tells us a story of Dr. Kenzo Tenma, who is a highly respected Japanese surgeon working in Germany. He is living a very prosperous life having everything: a beautiful girlfriend, respected job etc. One day he faces a decision: whether to save a child who had been shot in the head or the Mayor who arrives to the hospital when Tenma is beginning to operaten on the child, Johan. Tenma has a high sense of moral which forces him to operate on the child and the mayor coincidentally dies on the table of surgeon that was less skilled. This is the turning point of the series where everything starts to go wrong: the child seems to be more than just a child and Tenmas prosperous life begins to fall apart, he is even accused of murder. Monster is about Tenma's journey to discover the kid's identity.

Monster is in my opinion a lot different what you would think at first. It relies a lot on the suspension, thrill and mystery in most of the cases and it indeed succeeds in it, but in the end the build up doesn't really deliver. It's like saying to a kid that he'll receive candies later, but then giving him a carrot to chew on. However I can easily see why people actually like monster: it does the building up part very well and it's a thrilling story, but I belive that I expected a little bit too much from it.

The Art of the Monster can be described as good considering that it started publishing almost twenty years ago. However when comparing to todays art quality of many mangas the art is decent at best. However it improves throughout the series pretty well, the character design stays pretty much the same, but the background art deserves some praise.

Characters of Monster are it's obvious strength: Dr. Tenma is in my opinion pretty likable main character and it would be pretty much enjoyable to follow his journey if the story would hold up. The antagonists of this story don't fall much behind, but they however rely too much on the mystery aspect which isn't bad in itself, but I like to believe that on the other side of the mystery there should be reasonably good explanation for the "build up". Side characters are often the strength of this manga and also one of the weaknesses, that is to say that there's couple of very good side characters, but most of the feel mostly like fodder.

The Story of Monster can also be described as it's strength and at the same time weakness. As I wrote earlier it does it job very well in order to raise hopes in readers, build up the suspension, but it just doesn't deliver. That's how it in my opinion can be described the best. It's not a total disappointment I must admit, I read it through, but I really can't praise it either. I'd say that you have a possibility of liking it if you don't often find yourself hoping too much from the story. I myself was constantly thinking all the possibilities to which the series could go and in that way Monster succeeded wonderfully. However I did expect a little bit too much and the series ended up being too 'flat' in my mind.

Conclusion: Monster, for me, didn't live up to the hype. People have praised monster a lot and I understand why: it really has some good aspects, but it's relies a lot on the tastes of the reader. This one surely isn't for everyone.