Product Details

• Actors: Various
• Directors: Various
• Format: Animated, Box set, Color, Dubbed, Full Screen, NTSC, Subtitled
• Language: Japanese (Stereo)
• Subtitles: English
• Dubbed: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 3
• Rated: Unrated
• Studio: Viz Media
• DVD Release Date: December 8, 2009
• Run Time: 325 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (31 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B002N1AEY6
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #26,522 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

The experiences of Dr. Kenzo Tenma, the hero of the mystery-adventure Monster (2004), prove the old adage that no good deed goes unpunished. A brilliant young Japanese surgeon working in Germany, Tenma defies his superiors to save the life of Johan, a boy with a bullet lodged in his brain. But he soon learns that the boy possesses both the power to bend others to his will and an icy disregard for human life. Tenma follows Johan's murderous career back to an orphanage in the former East Germany, where psychological experiments were performed on the children. The reptilian inspector Lunge believes Tenma is responsible for the murders and pursues him relentlessly, essentially playing Javert to Tenma's Jean Valjean. Countless anime series have focused on murderers created by misguided scientific experiments, but Monster plays like a prolonged soap opera. Everywhere Tenma goes, he meets traumatized children, unhappy adults, and strangers in need of emergency medical care. Although he stops to help everyone, he somehow stays one step ahead of Lunge. Director Masayuki Kojima's leaden pacing robs the story of the suspense it should generate. The flow of the narrative is further impeded by the endless nattering and unnecessary flashbacks. More skillful filmmakers could present the same material in half as many episodes and make it compelling. It's not clear why Monster bears a "parental advisory: explicit content" sticker. Although its suggestions of child abuse and neo-Nazi imagery reflect a regrettable lack of taste, it's far less violent than Elfen Lied, Gunslinger Girl, and other titles. (Rated M: Mature: violence, violence against children, alcohol and tobacco use, Nazi imagery) --Charles Solomon

(1. Herr Doctor Tenma, 2. Downfall, 3. A Murder, 4. Night of the Execution, 5. The Girl of Heidelberg, 6. The Missing, 7. House of Tragedy, 8. Pursued, 9. The Girl and the Seasoned Soldier, 10. A Past Erased, 11. 511 Kinderheim, 12. A Little Experiment, 13. Petra and Schumann, 14. Left Behind, 15. Be My Baby)

Product Description

What would you do if a child you saved grew up to be a monster? An ice-cold killer is on the loose, and Dr. Kenzo Tenma is the only one who can stop him! Tenma, a brilliant neurosurgeon with a promising future, risks his career to save the life of a critically wounded young boy named Johan. When the boy, now a coldhearted and charismatic young man, reappears nine years later in the midst of a string of unusual serial murders, Tenma must go on the run to uncover the story of Johan and stop the monster he set loose upon the world.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

41 of 43 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Misleading blurb, much? December 21, 2009

By Rebecca Anne Mahoney

Charles Solomon, I think the regrettably bad taste here is your own. To anyone who reads the product description, do not be put off by the negative review. He couldn't be more mistaken about this fantastic show.

To say Monster is a great anime is completely correct, but the show is more than that, too. It is simply an amazing story, with a fascinating and twisty plot and a huge cast of well-drawn characters - the original artist, Naoki Urasawa, is well-known for his complex mysteries, and this is considered by many to be his best work. The story is so well-crafted, and the way the seemingly unrelated plotlines come together is amazing to watch.

In these first fifteen episodes, these plotlines are only just being introduced, but it is hardly the "prolonged soap opera" that Mr. Solomon refers to. The story begins with the tension between Johan and Dr. Tenma, and the question of whether Tenma will give up his ideals in order to stop the "monster" he created. But Urasawa has a much more ambitious theme in mind. When Tenma leaves the hospital to search for Johan, he encounters both the best of humanity and the worst, and both he and the audience witness the latter's capacity for change. Urasawa's story is an exploration of what creates a monster, and in doing that, he presents Tenma and the audience with a complex morality play.

Monster has a huge cast of characters, and by the end, I loved them all. There are characters that are likable from the start, like Dr. Tenma, Nina, and Dieter. But even more impressive are the characters that you despise from the beginning, but change drastically but believably over the course of the series. Two of these characters in particular are Inspector Runge, the Javert-like officer convinced of Tenma's guilt, and Eva, Tenma's spoiled fiancee. These characters may not seem appealing at the start, but keep an eye on them.

Fans of mystery thrillers will also love this for its nearly constant undercurrent of suspense. While the show doesn't often use overt violence, as Mr. Solomon points out, several scenes throughout the series present very disturbing implications, and is deserving of its "adult content" warning. If you enjoy getting chills from your entertainment, Monster gives plenty.

Even if you aren't a fan of anime, I suggest giving the series a try. Monster is not a cartoon - it's a taut, gripping story that just happens to be animated.

45 of 48 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Finally in the US, hurt by Viz October 16, 2009

By Evan R. Cassity

Naoki Urasawa's psychological crime drama MONSTER is, as the other reviewers have said, undeniably one of the most accomplished anime series of all time. It is a near shot-for-shot adaptation of Urasawa's manga, and it is a testament to the strength of the story that almost nothing was changed. It seems almost too good to be true that this series is finally seeing a release in the United States.

Speaking of that, you can currently catch two episodes every Monday night on SyFy's Ani-Monday block. They are airing the English dub.

The story takes place in 1986 Germany. True to the times, the plot is rife with political drama; true to Urasawa, though, you will find a slowly arching, psychological thriller emerge in this gem of a story. Tenma, a Japanese doctor working in Dusseldorf, decides to go against the orders of his hospital's director by operating on an injured child instead of the rich Mayor. Demoted, he loses his fiance and his position in the hospital. In one of the best twists to come out of any fiction recently, the child he saved ends up being a manipulative psychopath, bred by others to be a successor to Hitler. The series begs the question, what do you do when your altruistic intent turns into something wholly horrible? Tenma sets out on a quest to fix his mistake, and the plot slowly unravels along with the mysterious past of Johan Leibert, the monster he brought back to life.

Now, the pros versus the cons. Anything good that can be said about this release is said about the show itself. Before I watched the show, the premise itself was enough to make me sit back for a few minutes and wonder what I might be getting myself into. There was no question in my mind that I would have to watch. And it excels in areas where few anime excel. Perhaps it is the intrinsic advantage that an animated work can sometimes have over a live-action one, but the directing of this series is stellar. As I mentioned, it follows the cinematic scenes and pacing of the manga so closely that it is represented like a film from a master director. Urasawa has a lot to be proud of in his creation, and in this adaptation.

There are bad things about this release, however. The series is 74 episodes long, and these 13-episode DVD releases by VIZ are simply too small. There is no reason to divide so few episodes on so many discs. A 24 episode episode set, even a 16 episode set, would be infinitely better not just for ease of consumption but for the wallets of consumers, too. At the Amazon pre-order price of $32.99 for all 6 anticipated DVD sets, this series will end up costing almost $200, around $2.70 an episode. Still, this is a small complaint when weighed next to the worth of the series, I suppose. The only other nitpick is the quality of the dub. Where characters appear menacing or calculating in the original language, the English dub can, at times, make them appear almost laughable. We have seen, especially recently, that dubs can be done right, though with this series the massive cast of characters and sweep of location can possibly make that difficult.

In short--this series is worth watching. These DVD sets may get expensive over time, but luckily the show is also airing on SyFy for those strapped for cash. Get a taste of it one Monday night and you will undoubtedly anticipate the next episode. This is a great series, not to be missed.

Revision 12/24/2009: I'll leave the review as it is, but as can be seen in my comments (and indeed on the box itself), the product contains 15 episodes. We'll have one less DVD set, it seems.

20 of 22 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Tight, Complex Psychological Drama October 13, 2009

By L. Rutter

Monster is simply one of the best psychological dramas around, in any visual format. Forget merely being one of the best animes, this would more than hold its own as an HBO series. The storyline is deep and involving, with flawed, wonderful characters, and twists you will never see coming. Sometimes the plot seems to veer off in odd directions, but hang on tight, it's coming back to tie itself together in endlessly surprising ways. Throughout, it keeps subverting the expectations, and in the end, the question is not so easy to answer - who really is the Monster?

I've heard some people say the start feels a little slow (though it didn't seem that way to me), but it's well worth sticking with it.