Monster
Episodes: 74
Genres: Mystery, Psychological, Horror
Aired: Apr 7, 2004 to Sep 28, 2005
Producer: Madhouse

I’m not particularly sure what brought me to this series. For some reason I believe it had to do with a severe misunderstanding that arose when I was looking for the series Darker than Black. It ended up being a stroke of luck though, because this series was truly amazing.

The only other series I can compare this to is Death Note. Both have a very real feeling. Both their animation and tone are similar, although Monster has no supernatural elements what so ever. This is a very long series, so don’t criticize me if some of these details are incorrect xP (Minor Spoilers)
The story starts off centering around a Japanese brain surgeon working in Germany named Tenma Kenzo . He is a genius doctor who truly cares about the welfare of his patients. All seems to be going perfect in his life until a poorly fated night in which a beautiful blond haired boy arrives at the hospital with a bullet in his brains. Tenma is luckily able to save the boy.

Nearly a decade later people Tenma know are being murdered left and right. Before long Tenma is accused of being the murderer; all exsisting evidence points to him. He soon realizes that the true murderer is the boy he saved so many years ago. Tenma runs from the cops to clear his name and put a stop to the death and destruction this boy is causing because he feels personally responsible for saving that “monster.”

There were only two real complaints I had about this series. The first is that its just too long. I believe that the real plot could easily have been explained in half as many episodes. While the immense details and tangled web of connections between hundreds of people and events is a strong point of this series; some episodes just drag so much it becomes hard to watch.  My only other complaint is because there are so many characters; many start to look and feel identical after a while, though this may have been intentional.

Disregarding the few flaws; Monster is truly a well written story. Even though we are shown who the killer is very early in the story, the mystery behind it left me in doubt about what was true and what was false. At some point I really did believe that perhaps Tenma had a crazy split personality. At times I wondered if the “Monster” had some hidden motive. I truly wanted to know his backstory and what made him so twisted. The story keeps you thinking and doubting yourself right up to the end of the last episode; infact, I feel that I would have to watch it a second time to truely understand everything. Monster is one of the most suspenseful series I’ve ever seen.

I’d recommend this series to anyone who likes horror/mystery series, but I would not watch it all in one sitting. It took me about two years to get through it completely. I also would not suggest people looking for fast paced action/horror watch this; you will not last past the first arc xP

And since I have nothing else to say; here is the Lego version of the monster opening… because legos are serious business.