quacker

Monster is an incredible series. It weighs in at a long 74 episodes told at a slow and steady pace, with an extreme devotion to its characters and its story. Monster is the only anime of its length (that I've seen) that maintains a consistent quality for the duration of the series. There are no filler episodes; every episode is essential, each having its own relevance to the story. The plot maintains its focus and the characters' motivations are consistent from beginning to end. It's really quite a masterpiece.

Story

The storytelling and dialogue are exceptional. The themes it touches on are an interesting mixture: elitism, medical ethics, the value of life, and (most of all) redemption. Over the course of the series, every character's values and point of view are challenged in so many different situations. The execution here is perhaps the best of any anime I've seen, making no compromises for viewership or otherwise.

I took off half a point because the pacing is so lethargic, leaving an impatient person like myself a bit bored at times. This is a byproduct of the series' commitment to the complex storyline of the manga. Still though, Monster manages to incorporate some of the most gripping moments you can find in anime.

Animation

The animation is good. In particular, the character designs are fantastically varied. Eva's scrunched facial expressions are perfect for such a stuck up woman, and Grimmer exudes happiness with the smile drawn on his face. The artists were very good at showing the differing ages of characters in scenes that range over a time period of three decades. This is most apparent in Tenma, whose hair grows steadily throughout the series and whose attire changes periodically. Eva grows wrinkles on her face, and I want to say that Inspector Lunge becomes much paler in skin tone.

Other than the characters, I thought the rest of the animation - backgrounds and action scenes - was good but not great.

Sound

Not much to say here. The English voice acting is quite good, and I thought the opening and ending themes were interesting.

Characters

Monster's character development is unmatched. We see Lunge, a meticulous and methodical inspector with a perfect track record, have to confront the fact that he may actually be wrong for once. We see Eva transform from a greedy, spiteful, and stuck-up woman into a caring and thoughtful person. Even if you don't care much for the plot of the series (like me) you will remember the characters long after you watch this. Every main character (and most of the secondary characters) has a backstory, which is explored in detail to validate their motivations and their actions. This does a tremendous amount for the authenticity of the characters and the series as a whole.

Conclusion

Monster is a stellar anime, and everyone should watch it. It has very few flaws, and incredible production values. The only reason I don't give it five stars, and the only thing it's missing, is the rewatchability factor. Because Monster has a slow pace, coupled with its length (74 episodes), meant I frequently lost interest in the series while I was watching it. For instance, it took me 36 days to finish Monster which is about two episodes per day. Compare this to certain 25 episode animes which I've finished in just a couple days. I'm glad to finally move on to another series after an entire month.

Comparison to "similar" anime

Lots of people recommend Monster if you like Death Note, but I'm not sure I agree. The attraction I had to Death Note was (1) the novelty of the premise (write someone's name in this book to kill them? yes, please) and (2) the clever scenarios that are crafted and presented to the viewer as a puzzle to solve, much like a mystery book. Monster is not your traditional mystery series. Death Note focuses on a high-stakes game played between two characters, while Monster is an exploration of the nature of its characters. How did they come to be? How does a person become evil, or not? How does a person come to be happy and enjoy life? I think the attractive elements of Monster are missing from Death Note, and vice versa, so I'm not sure I'd recommend them in either direction.

It's hard to recommend something off of Monster... Paranoia Agent is not a bad choice for the themes it expands on and the complexity of the story, although it's psychologically crazier and stylistically less refined than Monster. I might suggest Wolf's Rain for its similar pacing and its focus on characters. Maybe Planetes for its quality, characters, and realism, although it lacks the thrill and the suspense of Monster.