Naoki Urasawa's Monster, Vol. 1

Monster is a stupendous diversion from the manga mainstream. It's a world of stark realities and human failings, where our tenuous grip on what is and what is not blurs until indistinctness. And even as this story explores some of the darker corners of our psyches, it also evokes tremendous moments of poignancy. This is more than a manga lover's story. Anyone who can appreciate a terrific story will empathize with Dr. Tenma on his journey to combat a real monster.

I watched all 74 episodes of monster in a month, and I never do that. The anime was a masterpiece and matches the manga almost word for word. I would recommend this series to anyone, pretty much.. unless you can't handle a great story. About the book itself, it arrived on time and in great condition other than some nicks on the cover.

I'll keep this one short - you need to buy this to see how easy it is for a master to pull you in without even introducing characters or a plot! It's an incredible page-turner, even backwards and in black and white. Reader beware: there are only 4 or 5 volumes of the 18 or so available right now! If you start this you will be in for the long haul. If you get really addicted you can always torrent some fan subs of the extremely faithful anime production.

This is a very long series.. I got bored of it - not my cup of tea.. however it is an excellent story line and the illustrations are fantastic. If you are a Urasawa fan like I am - you will enjoy the illustrations even if you dont like the story.

Urasawa a beast

I adore this book! I've seen the anime, and I have volumes 1-4. I plan on getting the whole series. Some people think it's to slow moving, but that's just part of the style. It is well on it's way to becoming another classic.

Great manga, loved the anime too

Monster is not your typical manga story. Japanese manga rarely conveys a more Western backdrop for a story theme this well. The series takes place in Europe, mostly in Germany or it's sister countries. It has some historical references, but it's not really a historical tale either. It is really about the close relationship between good and evil, how difficult it can be to see the line drawn between them. Dr. Tenma is a young doctor who appears to have it all. He is engaged to the hospital administrators daughter, in line for the job of head surgeon, and gifted with great talent. He is however, a master surgeon with a conscience. When his rich benefactors attempt to use him twice in as many days, to abandon a needy patient, only to treat someone of wealth and power, he balks. He cannot stomach having his skills used to save only who can pay the most. He believes a doctor is more than that. as might be expected, the administrator of the hospital, and his pampered, bitchy daughter, no longer support him when the person he fails to treat dies. Even the boy he just saved from the gunshot wound to the head, has his treatment handed over to another inferior doctor. Tenma's professional career is nearly over before it begins. Something happens to change that, and it casts a cloud of suspicion over the doctor. The administrator, plus some other powerful doctors die suddenly, and Temna is given the post as head surgeon anyway. Nine years later while attempting another kind act he finds out why. I won't throw in any spoilers here, and many may have guessed what happened at this point reading the story, but you won't have guessed all the detail. You will ask questions that come behind all this, and in the asking is the essence of the story. What is interesting, is we ask ourself with those questions, over, and over throughout the series. For instance what if the doctor had simply allowed himself to be manipulated by the heartless administration? Does the end really justify the means? In the long run he may have saved many. Was it the right thing to do what he did, and if so why when the result was so bad? Many of us will feel the same resolve to do what the doctor is planning, but can he really do it in the end? What happens to the others if he cannot, and what happens to him if he does? There is rarely a more righteously good character created in any story as Dr. Tenma. Yet he is as complex a character as you'll ever likely see in a manga. If you are looking for comedy, go elsewhere, there's no fan service, but occasionally some adult situations. If you don't like to think, go elsewhere. This manga is often about questions, those that have only personal answers. They do not force feed anyone baby food here. This is a crisp, well paced, and interesting drama / thriller. My understanding is that a movie company, has purchased the story rights recently to turn this into a motion picture. I'm not sure they have the time to convey everything of relevance in a single movie. Reading this manga is probably the best way to experience this, or perhaps the 74 episode anime series.

This manga may hands down be one of the best that I have ever read. And I do not make that statement lightly. I may not have the biggest manga shelf in the world, but what I have read of Monster makes me want to sing its praises from the rooftops. It's very rare in my history of reading manga for me to have given 4 or 5 star ratings with every single volume I've read. Usually with manga you get one bum volume every now and again, with a story arc that goes nowhere or just silly one-shot gag settings that may have seemed hilarious to the creator at the time, but are lost in translation. Not in Monster. Oh no. Urasawa has a gripping, clever crime thriller to tell, and you're going to want to be with it every step of the way. Monster tells the story of Dr. Kenzo Tenma, a brilliant Japanese neurosurgeon working in West Germany in the 1980s. He has a beautiful fiancée, he's the head of the neurosurgery department at his hospital, he has the blessing of the hospital director, and the respect and admiration of all his colleagues. However, Dr. Tenma is shaken one day by the hospital forcing him to operate on a rich patron rather than a poor Turkish man, who had more severe injuries. So when the hospital try to force him to operate on the town mayor, suffering from a stroke, rather than a little boy who's been shot in the head, he follows his heart and saves the life of little Johan Liebert. This act puts Tenma in incredibly hot water, though. His fiancée Eva breaks off their engagement, he loses his position as chief of neurosurgery, and the hospital director now refuses to back him at all, following this 'irresponsible' act. Dr. Tenma refuses to be shaken, however, and after ranting to an unconscious Johan, he assumes it's the end of his career and just continues working day to day. ...That is, until the hospital director and two other doctors mysteriously die. And oddly enough, around this time, Johan and his twin sister escape from the hospital. An investigation is launched, and even though from an objective standpoint, Tenma had the greatest motive to kill those men, no evidence is ever found, and the case grows cold. Nine years later, Tenma is now chief of surgery at the hospital, and taking care of a patient named Adolf Junkers, who was hit by a car after running away from a 'monster', and is being questioned by the police for his involvement in a spate of recent serial burglaries/killings. One night, terrified out of his wits, he escapes the hospital, with Tenma in hot pursuit. Tenma follows Junkers to a construction site, where he meets with the real serial killer who's been terrorising Germany: Johan Liebert. All grown-up. I just love the moral choices of this story. Tenma loses everything but then gains it back, and Johan claiming to be responsible for this (basically, he killed those hospital staff, having listened to Tenma's 'wishes' and giving them poisoned sweets) really struck a chord for me. Johan is also a genuinely terrifying presence. He's attractive, has a sweet, childish lilt to his voice, but on the other hand, he's utterly brutal and heartless. The way he taunts Dr. Tenma before killing Mr. Junkers... and then he just walks past Tenma with a calm, gentle smile on his face - I've never gotten chills reading a manga before, but I have now, thanks to Monster. Tenma is also an incredibly interesting character. He followed his heart to move to Germany after reading a medical paper written by the current director of the hospital, and while he's a very kind and wise doctor, he's polite enough to say he's still got a long way to go. The reader feels Tenma's heartache when his waxen wings mount above his reach, and he loses everything in the space of a few hours. It also makes the reader question what they would have done in that situation: would you have followed orders, or let more lives die on your watch because they couldn't afford their health insurance or weren't financially affiliated with the hospital? And what would you do if that one crucial misstep in your career ended up working out for the better... then took a horrifying turn for the worse? I may have started this series rather haphazardly (I found volumes 10-15 in a comic book shop and read them last weekend), but I'm going to finish the series come hell or high water. I just want to know why volumes #3-9 are out of print and so bloody expensive. Come on, Viz! Reprint some of them. If I could afford upwards of £50 every time I wanted to buy a manga volume, well... I'd be a lot richer than I am now. 5/5.

I have read many Manga book series in the past, but if I were to pick one series that most stands out in my mind, it has to be Monster. This series has so many elements that are done well, including a wonderfully suspenseful and engaging plot, a number of complex and interesting characters, as well as artistic illustrations that not only are visually appealing but greatly enhance storytelling. I would give it 5 stars, 10/10 score, or 'excellent' in any review!

Although not different to the anime in content, the manga is the superior to the two. I feel that the previous reviewer did not do this manga justice. 'Monster' is not just an incredible thriller, but is a compelling moral tale. Tenma is an expert neuro-surgeon with a promising future ahead of him. However, after his director instructs him to abandon his treatment of a Turkish worker (thus leaving this man to die) in order to perform a relatively minor opperation on a well known opera singer, he begins to see that his hospital is corrupt to the core and the people in positions of power do not believe that all men are created equal. Therefore, when Tenma is later ordered to stop operating on a boy with a serious head-wound in order to treat a richer client, he refuses to do so. This choice will set a series of events in motion which finally end several years later with Tenma as a wanted man, accused of several murders, and fleeing the police while trying to prove his innocence by revealing the true identity of a mysterous young man called Johann. As I said before, Naoki Urasawa is a visionary. 'Monster' is so much more than just a thriller. It focuses on many moral implications such as whether or not one life is as valuable as another, the nature of choice and what it really is that makes a monster. On top of this is the historial aspects of the plot, as it is set mainly in Germany just after the fall of the Berlin Wall and does an incredible job of realistically presenting this time period. I have been following this series since the first volume was released and have just finished reading volume 13. As this series is 18 volumes long, and so far has never lost its knack for keeping me enticed and excited since the first volume, I can honestly say that it is one of the best series's that I have ever read and could not recommend it more to anyone.

TOEIC 620点の者です。 日本語版は読んだことありませんが、英語版を読んでもストーリーは分かるので、 ちょうどよいレベルかもしれません。むしろ文章的にはやさしいでしょう。 それよりも会話の表現を認識するには良い本かと思います。 細かい表現が間違っているのかどうかまではわかりませんが。 読む場所はトイレonlyなので、一日５分程度読んでいませんが、勉強になります。 総合しては買って良かったと思います。

This is the first volume of a good manga series! I've seen most of the anime of monster (which is also worth checking out!) and this manga sticks pretty closely to the anime, This is ideal for you if you are a fan of psychological/mature manga - not for younger fans!