Reviews

Monster: The Perfect Edition, Vol. 9 by Naoki Urasawa

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600bars's review against another edition

4.0

Okay today is 2/13 and I have to add on to this review. In the mornings I read from this stack of old new yorker magazines bc I am half asleep and don’t care if my breakfast spills on them. I read this article today https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021/07/26/the-german-experiment-that-placed-foster-children-with-pedophiles and was astounded at the similarities between this situation and the events of Monster. It’s roughly the same time period, it’s about an experimental fostering program with disastrous effects on the kids. And there are nazi tie ins. Though Monster did not have much of a sexual abuse element aside from that one incident with Milosh in the red light district, the effects on the real life kids in the experiment are pretty similar to the results of 511 Kinderheim. Similar to Grimmer, one of the victims said “As an adult, he has cried only once. ‘If someone were to die in front of me, I would of course want to help them, but it wouldn’t affect me emotionally. I have a wall, and emotions just hit against it’”. I was really alarmed reading this and wondered if Naoki Urusawa knew about this when he made Monster.

I read the remaining volumes online so I am counting them as one book because I am not sure where the delineations are between volumes.

I started to get a little frustrated with the side character situations, like the townspeople, happening right before the climax of the story. I ultimately understand the purpose of the townspeople stuff but come onnnnnn.

I really liked the way that Johan was shot– by a random drunk. Even tho the drunk man was not a great father, he clearly desperately wanted his son. Most of the characters are scarred because of their parents not wanting them.

I was surprised and almost a little let down by the way the scale shrunk down at the end. It seemed that the circle around Johan and Johan himself had plans on an extremely grand scale– transformation of society, cleansing the world, master race, starting over. I was thinking apocalyptic or at least Great Reset level ambitions. I also thought of that one rat experiment where all the rats killed eachother. I thought the plan was to make the whole globe do what happened at 511 Kinderheim. Ultimately it was just the town though.

I started to get confused on the differing purposes of the massacres. We have the 511 Kinderheim incidents, which were the result of mass hysteria and paranoia where everyone turns on each other. Then we have the Red Rose mansion deaths, whcih were a poisoning. Franz Bonaparte apparently did this because…. He loved the twin’s mom and wanted to kill everyone who ever knew her? And then she was ultimately still alive living life in France? Idk that part really threw me off. What about his grand ambitions with the experiments? Wouldn’t franz need all those officials to help him achieve those goals? Did he just not care anymore? Or are the Kinderheim experiments totally separate from the Seminar stuff? So Johan and Anna were the product of an arranged relationship for ideal genetics, part of a pure race eugenics type experiment. Then Johan by coincidence falls into the Supersoldier program at 511 Kinderheim? Or were the two projects always the same and Johan was the twin chosen to endure the experiments while Anna was the control group?

Johan seemed to lose his ambitions. When he was with the Schuwald guy and the Nazi guys it seemed like he had plans to take over the world’s economy and literally bring forth a new world order or whatever. Then by the end he just wanted to kill himself and take people down with him like some kind of lame mass shooter.

Im also very fuzzy on the timeline of when the twins were at the mansion, the three frogs apartment, and 511 kinderheim. I know the twins do not have a reliable memory. Anna is certain that she was the one who was at the mansion during the poisoning and that she just told Johan about it and he absorbed the memory as if it was his own. But when they show her coming back to the house, it’s two identical little girls facing one another. It is entirely possible that it was actually Johan who went.

I was shook when Roberto revealed that he and Grimmer were friends at Kinderheim. Grimmer’s arc ended in a satisfying way. I also liked Lunge’s redemption arc. However, Franz’s freud lookin ass got off WAY too easy! Wtf!!

The desire for nothingness and no recognition and no self was driving Johan. How can you both want to be the godlike ruler of the world and also want no one to know you. Just die and let everyone forget you why do you have to destroy the whole town lol. I guess he never actually wanted to be the leader of the neonazi group tho, that was projected on him. He never really cared he was just the ultimate nihilist playing with people like ants n watching the world burn.

I wish we got more of Tenma’s childhood. Although Tenma as the main character sorta receded from focus over the course of the book. He never really went through a big change– he still operated on Johan in the very end. Usually I don’t like uncomplicated unflawed character, but Tenma won me over. He was so pure hearted. Same with Nina.

The charts in the latter volumes were really helpful, I wish they had had those earlier. It is entirely possible that the editions the pages I read online were scanned from had this in the beginning of each book and they just didn’t scan them every single time. Bless the people who took the time to do this and who took the time to translate it just for people to enjoy.

Because rejection, childhood abandonment, and formation of self via the recognition by others are such a major theme of this series, I wish we got to know more about the twins as little babies. I am listening to an audiobook right now about a psychopath child in a we need to talk about kevin style, and the mother is going back and forth about whether her kid was just Like This or if her inability to form attachment when she was an infant due to PPD is to blame. So much of your ability to form attachment and love is determined by those first few years of life, and it seemed like the twins were 5-6 by the time they were separated from their mother.

Anyway I really did enjoy this series even though I thought there was a bit too many side characters and felt it could’ve been stronger if it stayed a bit more focused. That being said, Urasawa was very good at making you care about side character’s mini arcs even if they only show up for a few chapters. They almost all get a childhood backstory and a satisfying ending. Themes of abandonment, childhood trauma, remaking the world, revenge, it had a lot of good stuff. Also had wonderful art. It’s been quite a journey

_cuteal1en's review

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dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

godziuks's review

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

top 2 thriller manga of all time and its not the 2nd

ostrava's review

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5.0

I'm done with Urasawa's magnum opus, Monster. I read it so fast I'm not sure what to make out of it but it seems to hint at the idea of human diversity, and the forces and complex elements that make up the human condition. It's a classic example of a psychological thriller, and may take its premise to absurd territories, but it somehow manages to keep a diverse and utterly fantastic cast of characters from start to finish. For emotional gravity and consistency alone it's easily one of the best manga comic book series I've ever come across.