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I'm deeply disturbed by "Monster"

This is how you criticize a series.

Urasawa is too redundant. This applies to both the constant use of suspense and unchanged panels.

oh man come on it's strong drama I think u like fighting if it's

You like fighting too, don't you?

And, incidentally, that is the only respectable point that person made. The rest, stale, like Urasawa's plots or a liberal/arts degree

Dorcas_Aurelia wrote:

This is how you criticize a series.

Agreed. HellKorn didn't receive something special from me without a reason.

Johan (stupid name)

@Shadowrun20XX: Could you PLEASE put spaces between your sentences? And not put inconsequential things in spoiler tags? And not have your paragraphs resemble large blocks of text?

What the **** is "Monster" doing there in first place of the top manga list!?
What the...
I remember starting this series a year back. I had heard it was a good series and that the writer can create good suspense, and I went at it with an open mind. It completely failed to impress me; I found it completely generic and boring. When Johan (stupid name) appeared, I remember I thought I had misunderstood the series. I thought that this is some kind of parody or experimental work. But no, I went to check and confirmed that it was supposed to be some kind of thriller. What a laugh! Where's the suspense. Miss Marple TV shows have more suspense than this series, and that old granny is a lot more interesting than any character in the manga.
People are saying that this manga is somehow "adult" or whatever...excuse me? What did I miss? I found it as silly as let's say Naruto.
Though I admit that I only read 4 volumes, but I just didn't feel like buying more, because it was completely unimpressive.

Now, I can understand people liking series that I don't like or prefer, but Monster is a complete joke and this is one of those times when I think that I actually read something wholly different than what all the others read.

TJM wrote:

And, incidentally, that is the only respectable point that person made. The rest, stale, like Urasawa's plots or a liberal/arts degree

Oh, hey, clichéd flame bait by a troll -- how original.

Personally, I enjoy all the side characters. Compared to other anime I've watched and what few manga I've read, Urasawa does a great job developing them in such a short amount of time and creating a subsequent amount of empathy from me.

True, a lot of them didn't have a whole lot of relevance to the overall plot, but I can appreciate that sort of writing in a series like this (big Mushishi fan, remember?). It's what makes Monster so different from a majority of other titles I've experienced. I do not find it redundant because again, I haven't really seen it done elsewhere, or at least done adequately in comparison.

This same concept applies to my preference in RPGs. Gensou Suikoden (the first two) will always remain my favorite all-time RPGs due to the sheer amount of characters. While 108 individuals may seem staggering in thought, the games actually put just enough quirkiness and/or backstory to make them all feel attachable. I suppose I just have a thing for multi-character stories.

Concerning the issue of redundancy, I also view the suspense as being more sporadic than redundant. I've always thought of Monster as a title about characters first and story second. But when the story kicks in, it's a highly entertaining mystery/thriller illustrating various points of morality, life lessons, and of course the occasional outlandish plot of Johan succeeding The Third Reich. For me, it has enough of everything, and I enjoy it.

I was wondering... Do you read Hoshin Engi? The character design may not be to your liking, but it's a fun adaption of a classic epic story.

I disagree. It often feels like Urasawa Naoki wanted to make a certain point, teach us a certain lesson and had the characters act accordingly, inserting new characters where needed.

What I can say is that is was very annoying to see Tenma teach us about ethics and values while performing brainsurgery in some backwater town. It feels too forced. I like the series, but if you ask what I dislike about it, that is my answer.

That's the point I'm shooting for, the fact that he's trying to illustrate an allegory for whatever morals people think they can interpret. However, I feel the characters take precedence over the story because, like you said, Urasawa tries to make a point and teach us things, but I feel it's through the characters, as opposed to "with them on the side." It just so happens that these characters also serve varying degrees of purpose within the story.

Then again, it depends on the origin of Urasawa writing this title. Off the topic of Monster for a moment and in to the world of a writer, would you create characters or a story first? Based on that, you'd then proceed to build the latter around the former, right? I am not a writing scholar or anything of the sort, by the way, so I'm asking this as an ignorant and curious reader.

If Urasawa made the story first, then you're right. He made the characters up as he went along, inserting new ones here and there. But how can you make a story without first having the idea for certain character concepts in your head? Maybe he already had some kind of faint ideas for Tenma, Nina, and Johan but needed a central story as a medium to express them?

Forced in what way? Again, compared to some of the more extremely outlandish anime/manga I've seen, having a guy perform brain surgery in a run-down, backwater, immigrant bloc teaching something in the process is a lot more palpable than say.. a federation of planets holding a tournament with giant robots fighting each other to determine military and political rule for the next few years.

Is it the realism or lack thereof that you aren't believing in? Because I honestly will take anything serious in anime/manga so long as it flows with the overall continuity. Tenma helping out the Vietnamese girl, Johan manipulating the Schuwalds, or Mr. Grimmer and his "Magnificent Steiner" thing are relatively tame as opposed to a Behelit, Gundams, Shinigami, and State Alchemists.

When I first saw Monster, I thought it was such a refreshing breath of great characters and great storytelling. I'd not experienced much of anything else prior to that in anime at the time aside from a whole lot of shounen and a few over-the-top seinen/shoujo titles. Never had I then experienced something as dark and gritty, yet down-to-earth as what Urasawa had constructed. And to this day, it still resonates with me.

Troll callout eh, that's even more original of you ol'chap.

Compared to other anime I've watched and what few manga I've read, Urasawa does a great job developing them in such a short amount of time and creating a subsequent amount of empathy from me.

True, a lot of them didn't have a whole lot of relevance to the overall plot, but I can appreciate that sort of writing in a series like this (big Mushishi fan, remember?).

I do not find it redundant because again, I haven't really seen it done elsewhere, or at least done adequately in comparison.

Is it the realism or lack thereof that you aren't believing in? Because I honestly will take anything serious in anime/manga so long as it flows with the overall continuity. Tenma helping out the Vietnamese girl, Johan manipulating the Schuwalds, or Mr. Grimmer and his "Magnificent Steiner" thing are relatively tame as opposed to a Behelit, Gundams, Shinigami, and State Alchemists.

I love large blocks of text and random spoiler tags. You go cross eyed while reading it?

I don't mean to insult you or anything,but you will enjoy it (or not) after you've had more life experience.

The art direction in Monster is excellent,what the hell were you guys talking about?