Customer Reviews

Naoki Urasawa's Monster, Vol. 1

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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 It has some historical references, but it's not really a historical tale either.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.

I've read both volume 1 and 2 of Urasawa's Monster and find it excellent. Even if you are not a fan of manga, and you find a little odd reading "backwards", these books worth it.
Urasawa's art is (and is not, at the same time) the typical japanese manga art. Is good, clear and well paced. The story is interesting, intriguing and, even if you have the main elements of the story known from almost the beginning of volume 2, your "need" to go on and read the story, and to see how it develops until the end (and what will be the end) is great. An the "need" turns on to be more important while you turn the pages.
I don't know exactly how many volumes it will take to get to the end, but you can count on me to faithfully be there to read it. And I think if you give it a try you will surely be there too.

Unbelievable! You will be engrossed in the world created by Naoki Urasawa. The story is superb and the character development couldn't be more detailed. The pychoanalysis of each player is unmatched in other manga. You can't get better than this. The content is intelligent and accurate. The author did his homework on psychology, neurology, surgical procedures and the history of Germany around the time of the fall of the Berlin Wall. It's impressive. Not much on Japanese culture but that's also interesting. You have a Japanese protagonist and you have German culture. Morality and how far you can push someone until they loose their humanity is explored. The antagonist is facinating. In some novels he doesn't even make an appearance yet you feel his presence throght the elaborate descriptions of his character from the mouth of others. Nicely done. The action is non-stop, especially in volume four. The violence is very real and it will get to you. But you won't loose hope because the main character is so amazing.

To put it simply, the first volume of Monster is the best manga I've ever read. The art isn't that good, the story is slow, and I know I'm contradicting myself, but I still believe that it's the best I've ever had a chance to read. Why? Because of the hard work put into this graphic novel, and the promise that this first volume presented. Either Naoki Urasawa is a doctor, or he spent some time around doctors, because all of the hospital jargon seems authentic. And the setting of Germany, with it's very specific police forces (example BKA), character names, and locals, makes you feel as if you are within that country. My guess is that Naoki Urasawa spent months preparing the story of Monster before actually putting it together. As an aspiring writer, I appreciate this immensely.

As for the story, while yes it is slow moving, the future is very bright (or very dark, but in a good way) for this series. Without spoiling this volume much, it presents the main character of Dr. Kenzo Tenma, who is a Japanese doctor working in Germany, with some very impressive skills with the scalpel. But when his skills are taken advantage of, he decides to make his own choice, and saves a little boy instead of a high-ranking German official. But this choice is what starts Dr. Tenma's nightmare. Not only is he discredited, but mysterious murders begin to happen, and all of them are centered around him. That's when he realizes that, though indirectly, he may be responsible for the murders, by his choice to save the boy, who carries the namesake of this graphic novel, Monster.

This is also a very refreshing manga to read. It's obvious that the story in this is meant for an intelligent audience, and in many ways the level of detail is something more expected from a Tom Clancy novel than from a manga. That's why it's difficult to compare this to other manga. The only one that comes close is Death Note, but that manga still isn't anywhere near as smart is this one is, though maybe equally as tense. What can I say about it, really? If you want something different, Monster is definitely it.

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.

"Monster" is a great achievement and a fantastic endeavor in manga. The story is great, sprawling through many years and full of small contained side stories within a investigative tale into the soul of a serial killer. The characters are well rounded, as deep as in novels, their personalities distinct and the narrative keeps secrets within secrets, that makes you keep on reading until the last page of its many volumes. It's a fantastic tale, full of philosophical insights of what is this thing we call "human nature" and the role of memories and emotions in giving one's life some kind of meaning in an indifferent universe. Fantastic!

For Dr. Tenma, a Japanese surgeon who's moved to Germany to work in a Dusseldorf hospital, work is all about saving people's lives. He's frustrated by the politics of the hospital, and how the lives of "important" people are put ahead of the lives of everyone else. When a boy with a bullet in his head is brought in, Dr. Tenma works on him instead of the mayor who's brought in shortly afterward. Dr. Tenma knows he's the only chance the boy has for living.

And the boy does live. But the mayor does not. Dr. Tenma is blamed and his career is virtually over. But then some of the hospital staff is murdered, including the director who was so opposed to Dr. Tenma's decision to save the boy over the mayor. Soon afterward, the little boy disappears and we learn that his parents have also been murdered. The only one left untouched in the bloodbath is the boy's twin sister, but she too has gone missing.

Years pass. Dr. Tenma is again a well-respected physician. The murders have yet to be solved and a serial killer (or killers?) is on the loose. And now well-to-do families with no children are being killed.

The lead suspect for all these murders? Dr. Tenma.

But who is the real culprit? Well, it appears to be the little boy Tenma saved, who's now grown into a man with blood on his hands. Yes, Dr. Tenma put his principles before his career, and it backfired, because he let the mayor die and saved the life of a monster.

All the same, how could a boy kill people? Let alone a boy who was wounded when the killings happened? There is more to this than meets the eye, so Dr. Tenma, needing to clear his name, investigates the background of the monster he helped unleash on Germany. The story gets stranger and stranger, and at this point, the reader is figuring out things alongside Dr. Tenma. We don't know any better than he does of what's happening.

Monster is really an incredible read in every sense. The drama is there, and the intrigue, and the passion for Dr. Tenma, who's a hero in the story from the very beginning. The art is also terrific, from character expressions to realistic portrayals of Germany, like the details done on Heidelberg Castle. The only real negative side would be the necessary suspension of disbelief at parts, but if you go along for the ride, it's absolutely worth it. This series is highly recommended.

-- Danica Davidson

Volume #1 of Naoki Urasawa's sprawling manga-epic, "Monster" certainly had me hooked within the first 2 chapters. While the artwork is somewhat manga'ish generic the narrative and characters are first rate and based on feedback i've heard from friends who have read through this series in its entirety it only gets better.

Volume #1 starts off feeling like a medical-drama series but within the first several chapters spins off in a crime-drama direction and eventually this volume finishes in a manner sending the narrative spinning in an entirely new direction. Call me intrigued. Eagerly looking forward to tearing through the rest of this series.

Naoki Urasawa, Monster: Herr Dr. Tenma (ViZ, 1995)

This is a volume of setup, but it's the kind of setup that shows that Urasawa had a strong sense of where the story was going from day one, and the more I read manga, the more rare I find out that is.

Herr Dr. Tenma introduces us to Kazuo Tenma, a promising young doctor (who bears more than a slight resemblance to Black Jack) who left Japan, where his outlook was bleak, for a more promising career path in Germany. He finds himself unwilling, and ultimately unable, to cope with hospital politics, however, when he is given the choice between saving the young son of an obscure East German official who fled to West Germany not long before and saving the Mayor of Dusseldorf. The choice he makes turns out to have consequences beyond any he thought it would, however.

An excellent beginning to what promises to be an exciting series. Hopefully I'll get the next few books soon. ****

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.