delaneyc's review
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Colour me intrigued
jenvile's review against another edition
3.0
Better than the previous volume because Johan IS FINALLY A FUCKING CHARACTER instead of idling in the sidelines. I’m still waiting for something explosive to happen but so far it’s just meandering right now... still going to finish the series because there’s been a lot praise and hype for this series.
evacker's review against another edition
5.0
In questo volume iniziano a muoversi alcuni degli ingranaggi più importanti della trama. La storia si snoda tra nuovi personaggi — Herr Hans Schuwald, suo figlio Karl Neuman il detective Richard Brown, la studentessa Lotte Frank, lo psicologo Reichwein — e grandi ritorni — Tenma, Nina, Rudy Gillen, Lunge —, ma nessuno di loro ruba la scena quanto Johan.
A Monaco vediamo per la prima volta Johan in mezzo agli altri — "alla luce del sole", come dice Tenma. Appare come un ragazzo cordiale, attento, disponibile, persino empatico quando piange dopo aver ascoltato la storia di Karl.
"Lui è perfetto" dice Herr Schuwald."È troppo perfetto" ammetterà poi, all'inizio del volume 5, quando comprenderà che in tutta quella perferzione si nasconde qualcosa di più oscuro.
Nei capitoli di questo volume, Johan entra realmente in azione: costringe crudelmente Richard a fare i conti con ciò che ha fatto prima di ucciderlo, fa ammazzare la falsa Margot Langer da Roberto, suo fedele seguace, e convince dei bambini a sfidarsi ad un pericoloso gioco, in cui solo chi sopravvive è un "prescelto".
Ma c'è anche una fragilità dietro il mostro, un trauma nascosto che riemerge parzialmente quando prende per la prima volta tra le mani un libro illustrato, oggetto chiave di questo manga.
"Tanto tempo fa, in un villaggio, c'era un mostro che non aveva un nome."
A Monaco vediamo per la prima volta Johan in mezzo agli altri — "alla luce del sole", come dice Tenma. Appare come un ragazzo cordiale, attento, disponibile, persino empatico quando piange dopo aver ascoltato la storia di Karl.
"Lui è perfetto" dice Herr Schuwald."È troppo perfetto" ammetterà poi, all'inizio del volume 5, quando comprenderà che in tutta quella perferzione si nasconde qualcosa di più oscuro.
Nei capitoli di questo volume, Johan entra realmente in azione: costringe crudelmente Richard a fare i conti con ciò che ha fatto prima di ucciderlo, fa ammazzare la falsa Margot Langer da Roberto, suo fedele seguace, e convince dei bambini a sfidarsi ad un pericoloso gioco, in cui solo chi sopravvive è un "prescelto".
Ma c'è anche una fragilità dietro il mostro, un trauma nascosto che riemerge parzialmente quando prende per la prima volta tra le mani un libro illustrato, oggetto chiave di questo manga.
"Tanto tempo fa, in un villaggio, c'era un mostro che non aveva un nome."
bumblebee866's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
milili's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
pligorio's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
phou's review
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
rinku's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
The fourth volume of Monster succeeds, like all previous volumes, with creating a tense and threatening atmosphere. At the beginning, we follow the former detective Richard who’s trying to figure out the mystery behind Johann and . What I didn’t like about this volume was that there was not enough Nina or Temna here since both just appear in the later chapters. I also had the feeling that the story is going in circles a bit this time.
Spoiler
is then killed by him which was just so sadI still love the art style; the faces have so much character, even though the designs of some women seem a bit misogynistic to me. The settings look also great as always. What is additionally great about this series is the fact that you can’t trust any character, leading to me always worrying for our POV characters. Furthermore, almost all characters have such dark pasts. Temna is still my favorite and Runge still annoys me. A character I really liked this volume is Lotte and her slowly blooming friendship with Nina; it was so amazing how she defended Lotte from some creep.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Gun violence, Death, and Murder
Moderate: Medical content, Child death, and Violence
Minor: Sexual harassment, Vomit, Drug abuse, Hate crime, and Racism
standardman's review
5.0
Something I enjoy in Urasawa’s work is he likes to return to smaller characters and build them up while progressing the larger story. This does that extremely well, making is care about a previously much smaller character while ratcheting up the tension.