Merryberry

Intro...

When a top neurosurgeon decides to save the life of a boy over the mayor of the town, he hadn't anticipated awakening the monster within...

Story: 9

For me, Monster is one of those series which is incredibly long.  While most other series of this length suffer from a storyline which gets subjected to filler, Monster doesn't.  Instead a beautifully woven plot underlies all the episodes, leading like an avalanche trying to gain momentum, before it realises it travelling too quickly, taking everything in its path with it.  For me, the only reason why this series doesn't get the perfect 10 for story, is simply because it was painful to watch the start.  For all its amazing storytelling, beautiful script writing and characters, Monster had an incredibly slow start, one which may put people off.  However, about episode 25, you get the feeling that its finally found its footing and makes you watch more...for no other reason than the intense story pushing you to want to know more.  Fantastic if you get over the initial slow pace.

Animation: 9

A series this long, should suffer from animation deficiencies, which have a habit of cropping up.  However, something which I had noticed was that, out of 74 episodes of brilliant animation, there was only a single time when I thought that they had it wrong.  To be honest, that's not bad and when you add to the fact that the quality of animation didn't disappear, it should be regarded as perhaps on the of greatest animation achievements going.  The pallet chosen, helps to capture the raw drama with which the series unfolds.  Unfortunately, most of the characters were butt ugly, but there's always a dark cloud to every silver lining.

Sound: 9

I must admit, that despite watching the entire series, I can't remember a single piece of the accompanying music.  However, this is not because it was bad, but rather that it perfectly complemented the scene without having an overbearing presence.  Parts which needed the aid of music to create the atmosphere got it, while those scenes where music was not needed had the raw intensity of either silence or crystal clear sound effects.  The voice acting throughout was solid and consistant.  The opening is rather haunting and brilliant match the series and the endings are just creepy, but become more apparent to their meaning as you progress through.

Characters: 10

If there is one thing that Monster does better than all series out there, is its characters.  Never before have I seen a collection of characters with such uniqueness and individuality.  Even characters who share a side plot or only small sections of screen time have time made for their development.  This series is the pinnacle for character development and if anyone says otherwise, they should become part of the villians plans.  The fact how we can chase a character around for literally 74 and like pieces of a puzzle a character profolio is built up and so we feel as though we personally know them.  If everything puts you off, watch this series just for the character development...its surprising as to just how good it is.

Overall: 9.5

Its taken me a while to watch Monster as the slow pace start put me off watching more.  However, as the series and mysteries began to unfold themselves, I felt strangely drawn closer and closer to the story, wanting to know more about the world in which we find ourselves.  Its a truely epic storyline, one which when you've finished watching, you'll need to take a vacation from life to relax afterwards and unwind, but still feel absolutely statisfied with the ending.  A masterpiece of a series.