It doesn't have much in the way of waifu-material, flashy battles, or a lot of the other things people typically look for in anime, but it has a lot that most other anime series don't. It avoids virtually all your typical anime cliches, has characters which interesting personalities and interesting backgrounds, a nice sound track and opening, has an interesting setting, a nice animation style, and many other features that distinguish it from other anime series and make it, at least for, a rather enjoyable experience to watch.
My guess as to why people don't like is that they think it's boring, but I'm curious as to their reasons.
Because it is highly rated and they don't think it deserves to be. It's been maybe ten years since I saw it. I didn't think it was boring - I think it did a good job of establishing its eerie, threatening atmosphere. But I only remember a handful of the characters and don't think they're that great. Nor do I find the setting terribly interesting.
Gabriel Reyes
The part where Johan escaped from the hospital room? Or slightly before that?
Landon Wilson
>Nor do I find the setting terribly interesting. Personally, I just liked that 1) it was a non-Japanese, real-world setting (which already makes it a different experience from most anime) and 2) how detailed and (seemingly) accurate it was. Urawasa even went as far as to depict German social issues like anti-immigrant sentiment. Granted, I've never been to Germany, so I can't say with certainty that it was an accurate portrayal of the country.
Jeremiah Thompson
Urasawa is the JJ Abrams of manga; he introduces tantalizing mystery boxes and no way to resolve them
Kevin Morgan
>it was a non-Japanese, real-world setting If I wanted that I could watch non-anime.
Joseph Fisher
Lurk 2 more years.
Gavin Davis
Matter of preference I suppose
Adam Kelly
Urasawa is shit. Everything takes forever to develop with him, but the tone or logic of the story is never interesting and he never even adds pandering to make up for it
Parker Wood
Its just too fucking long, everything could had been more condensed, characters are great Grimmer and Lunge are my favorites but there is just too much in bethween with the good parts
>people complaining about slow pace or uninterestingness or ending Your taste.
Lincoln Flores
Just because it doesn't have anime cliches means it's free of general storytelling cliches. Of which there are plenty in the 10 episodes I've seen. Which wouldn't be much of an issue if it wasn't so meandering and dragged out. And in this medium I take anime cliches over western drama ones because there are at least things you wouldn't see on the other side.
Because it all falls apart in the end. The whole series builds up Johan as the ultimate villain mastermind and perhaps the literal anti-christ who is involved in this plot to come to power and bring terror to the world, then about in the last 10 eps all abandons that and has "muh perfect suicide"
Wyatt Martin
Billy bat is his best work, if you pretend the ending doesn't exist.
William Wilson
>im going to kill him >no dont, IM the one thats going to kill him >*doesnt shoot* >you blew your chance, so ill be the one to kill him >*doesnt shoot* >no wait dont go we didnt kill you yet
I agree, why didn't you like the ending? I tconsider it better than the 21st or monster ending
Nolan Torres
>It's Eva's episode time for best girl
Brayden Davis
It's overrated because you morons keep telling people that Johan is the best villain of all time, people watch it and it turns out that Johan is a Mary Sue with unexplained super powers like being able to scare people into being his slaves without question or making an entire room of people kill eachother as he watches, but not kill him for no reason. The whole stupid ''hurr this guy is an evil nazi invention to create the next Hitler'' shit has been overdone to death. It combines two tired cliches, the kids being genetically engineered to serve a purpose and the evil nazis doing evil experiments nonsense. It's stupid how Johan ordered the girl to shoot him in the head and I will not watch the anime far enough to find out why he did that, it's just stupid. It's stupid how Johan fucks with the MC because he saved his life. It's stupid how Johan knows exactly what MC is doing and where he is going so that he can arrange mindfucked slaves in advance and leave messages.
If you told people that Monster is a good series, but the villain is just terrible, people would have a much better reaction to it. It's trying too hard.
The only thing I remembered about this show was that scene where that little boy got lost and stumbles into an alley. There he meets a guy who claims to be a teacher who is about to bang a prostitute right in front of him. Goes on a tangent about how things work in the world (some shit like that). I spat out my coffee and laughed so hard at the abusurdity of it all. Good show.
Aaron Brooks
Monster is shit and is fundamentally in disagreement with itself. The manga spends eons illustrating that Johan was a product of circumstances, that he was made not born. So what do we get as the finale? A complete non sequitur where were told that nothing has changed Tenma, he's still what he was in chapter 1 and countless more people will be subjected to Johans sick game but it's ok because no one really changes right? Fuck I hate Monster. It is so bad.
no fucking clue. someone said it one day and then people started believing it. my faggy anime "friends" showed me aquarion or some shit with alien ghost robots having sex and I just said fuck anime until I saw this.
Jaxson Morgan
It just didn't feel complete to me at all. 20th century boys at least felt like a decent wrapup, even if the whole ending bit was sorta rushed
Logan Edwards
Yea Forums are contrarianfaggots but really, it's a meme
ending was and still is a plebfilter to this day
Landon Wood
20th century boys is objectively shit and poorly written, I'm sorry hipster.
Charles Baker
>Granted, I've never been to Germany, so I can't say with certainty that it was an accurate portrayal of the country. I remember reading online from some German who was actually alive in the 80s and 90s that Monster really captured the Germany of that time insanely well.
Camden Phillips
>Urasawa is the JJ Abrams of manga Please kill yourself.
Adam Fisher
>Its just too fucking long >162 chapters/74 episodes is too long Stick to your shitty soulless mass-produced 13/26 episode series, idiot.
Easton White
too long
have the episodes would be enough
even if it´s good it´s a snorefest
Michael Lee
>20th century boys at least felt like a decent wrapup Lol no it fucking doesn't. The ending makes you feel like "why the fuck did I even bother in the first place?"
What was the point of "Friend"? Why were there even 2 Friends to begin with? The whole story is childish as fuck. 20th CB is fun garbage at most with its insane plot twists and dozens of nonsensical and pointless plotlines.
Thomas Jackson
Fucking retarded brainlet. Killing Johan would be absolutely pointless. Tenma didn't make the same mistake Nina did when she was a kid when she shot him.
Another Monster novel also confirms that Johan turned a new leaf and became a successful businessman.
Jaxon Cox
>call me a brainlet >refute nothing The manga is at odds with itself and no amount of your stupid buzzwords will change that. Johan's life and Tenma's ending are irreconcilable. Either deep down you don't change or deep down you can be changed by everything.
Jackson Morgan
>too long B R A I N L E T Go back to /mal/
Nathaniel Allen
>The manga is at odds with itself This makes no fucking sense and you're just spouting buzzwords without knowing what you're really talking about.
Brayden Johnson
I literally can't dumb it down any more for you. >The manga spends eons illustrating that Johan was a product of circumstances, that he was made not born. >were told that nothing has changed Tenma, he's still what he was in chapter 1 These no fit together. Me use small word.
Carson Gray
That's your dumbass interpretation. You think Tenma couldn't change, the thing is that Tenma didn't want to change. There's a difference. In the end he didn't want to kill Johan, that's his selfishness. You could say that's his inner monster. Tenma has many chances to kill Johan throughout the series but his selfishness prevents him from doing so.
As the series proves, change is indeed possible. Eva is one such example.
The whole concept of Tenma vs Johan is that of Hope vs Hopelessness. Tenma believes everybody is equal while Johan believes that can only be possible in death.
Austin Mitchell
Just because you're insecure that Johan is better than your favorite villain doesn't mean that Johan is a shit villain.
Mason Parker
see 20CB was worse than LOST at writing itself into a corner
Gavin Thomas
fpbp All that build up for a letdown "endgame". Fuck that.
Eli Baker
I posted both of those posts lol. Just because 20th CB was shit doesn't mean he's Abrams-tier bad though and Monster is a masterpiece.
Dylan Long
How was it a letdown? How the hell would you have ended it? It's not liking killing Johan would have even been satisfying and it's not like it would have even fit the series thematically.
Ian Turner
Billy Bat is Urasawa's real masterpiece since it introduces itself as a bunch of crazy shit where a cartoon bat talks to Hitler and Einstein and ninjas and you know that none of it is ever going to make sense and you can just go along for the ride.
Jason Smith
Because, like you've already lined out in your OP, it's an anime/manga with relatively rare themes and with an unusually high western appeal, making it enjoyable by people not used to the medium, and making it look like a masterpiece to veterans used to much more cookie cutter stuff you're likely to have watched by the boatload. Regardless of whether or not it's a masterpiece, it's definitely above average, which in this incredibly repetitive industry might as well make it a masterpiece by comparison. Which, ultimately, is the real problem here.
With movies/books/music there is such a variety of quality and themes that you're likely to have 'masterpieces' in every genre, which you will gravitate towards while ignoring the others that might not cater to your tastes. But quality in anime is so sparse and sporadically seen that you're forced to consume genres you might not give a shit about if you want to limit yourself to "good stuff". Ask for "good anime" anywhere and, regardless of the genres you've asked for, you'll always be told to watch the same shit, the same list of about 20 titles that has barely changed in the past 20 years. Which, in turn, produces hate towards them, from people who would simply ignore these "masterpieces" if they weren't shoved down your fucking throat whether you've asked for them or not.
It all comes logically. The point of the story is not to build up anything about Johan, it's always to make you understand there's something deeper than what's been said about him. The more it progresses the more Monster makes you realise he's not this anti christ devil figure or whatever bullshit but just a boy who got mentally fucked as a child repeteadly.
Jaxson White
HURR DURR IT S UST STUPID MY FAVOURITE VILLAIN IS BETTER !!! JOHAN OVERRATED
Ian Gomez
>Another Monster novel also confirms that Johan turned a new leaf and became a successful businessman. It literally never never never says that in that novel
Brainlet did you ever question why Urasawa left it as an open ending ? He doesn't tell you Tenma did the right choice. Tenma is a fucking saint which is why he saved him. Most people would've pulled the trigger. He doesn't tell you to be like Tenma you cretin, you're the one who wants to believe if Tenma made the right choice or not, if you agree with Tenma or Johan.
Gabriel Evans
The ending was really good
Jaxon Hernandez
Everything Urasawa's ever done is overrated. The only thing Monster's got going for it is the unusual setting, but if it were a European TV serial instead of a manga and anime no one would give a shit. Johan is a text book case of a villain being too brilliant for what the author is capable of portraying. It tries to be a Hannibal Lecter type of bad guy but there's really nothing to him, he just goes around magically brainwashing people that become obstacles for the protagonist and the whole is tedious and way too long for its sake. Also: "muh neonazis" and "muh oppressed Turks". Dumb nips trying to pontificate about shit they know nothing about is cringeworthy. Monster is still better than 20th Century Boys though. That one was the straw that broke the camel's back in regards to me ever again listening to mainstream advice on manga.
Jose Price
Johan's endgame was a total letdown, user. All that power, influence and schemes - for what? Assisted suicide plan in the middle of nowhere. How was that NOT a letdown?
Lucas Ramirez
I have two questions : by letting Johan escape at the end, isn't he going to continue his work and bad deeds ? Even if he remembered his past and wants to be forgotten, he's still sick and unstable. Isn't it pure madness to let him free ? And second question, if it was Nina who was in the Rose Mansion when the slaughter happened, why did Johan become a monster ? Did he take magically her memories ? Why did she forget everything(so did he)? It wasn't the orphanage thing that created Johan as a monster, so what ? that's more than 2 questions sorry
Austin White
Just watch a 2h utube video "Monster explained", then share and like it. Alternatively, you can switch your brain to "on".
Aiden Hernandez
Did you even pay attention to the story. Johan doesn't really have a goal besides killing all of humanity. He basically believes that what he's doing is right. But Tenma challenges his viewpoint by saving his life the first time and choosing not to kill him in the end when anyone else(including his sister) was prepared to do it.
Basically Tenma stuck by his guts and thus Johan's worldview that he's had since he was a kid was completely shattered.
Jackson Phillips
>Monster >overrated Only retarded Yea Forumsutists think so. Fact is Monster is pretty damn obscure and Naoki Urasawa is not that famous.
Eli Morales
>It literally never never never says that in that novel It was either that or that he built his life back up or something like that.
Xavier Reyes
Because it doesn't have waifus like Madoka and Evangelion. That's really it.
Josiah Nguyen
Another Monster Novel says that he didn't do shit anymore. Original ending leaves it ambiguous. But I think the point Urasawa tried to portray with Tenma not shooting Johan is that of Unconditional Love and that even the worst person needs love(which Johan never got in his life). It basically means that despite how horrible Johan was he's not a monster and that he's still just a human.
I always thought that Johan forced himself to believe all that shit happened to him either because he wanted to protect his sister or because he wasn't sure which kid his mother wanted to give away.
Landon Hughes
>Impyling Nina isn't waifu
Christopher Morris
She's not a teen/prepubescent kawaii desu grill. I said 'like', not lacking waifus.
Cooper Bell
Can you really read your post without thinking there's something more in there? >pleb filter
Hunter Diaz
>She's not a teen She's like 19 at the beginning of the series.
Owen Ross
Doesn't look her age.
Andrew James
Why yes, I payed attention to the story, as Monster has literally nothing else worth watching for. > Johan doesn't really have a goal besides killing all of humanity. In the end however, he didn't do jack shit about humanity but tried to off himself yet again with someone else pulling the trigger. And lo and behold, failed again. Yawn. "Mastermind" and "villain" my ass. Don't get me wrong, for 3/4 of the series he did a decent job. But the ending was utter shit. And the epilogue? Open ending, the baddie is alive and at large - how original... not.
The ending is literally the best part The show started out great in the first 4 episodes then the pacing put me off, I had to force myself to continue it, although Lunge carried it for me. Then it hit the last arc where Tenma had to find Johan in that town, the entire thing was easily the peak of the show.
the pacing is glacial at times and the story gets too convoluted and absurd by the end it's still good, just not the super deep amazing masterpiece people hype it up to be
I appreciate it for the reasons you listed, but people hail it as one of the greatest works of manga/anime. It isn't. It still contains many simplifications and cliches that make it less interesting. I like Urasawa's art and some of his Tezuka-type characters, but beyond that he isn't great. Also, people compare Urasawa manga to the best western comics, as if it's at the same level. It's middling capeshit-tier at best. 20th Century Boys is even worse.
Mason Morgan
I don't remember much but it's the only anime I've managed to make my father watch, he was legit intrigued.
Mason Johnson
In the real world, about half are ugly bastards too.
Caleb Foster
When I was watching this it seemed like there would be one or two 10/10 episodes followed by one or two terrible episodes where nothing would happen. Overall the show has a little bit too much padding. It's got great characters, a compelling central narrative, and some awesome set pieces, but a lot of the show doesn't really do any work to move the story forward.
Also the fluctuations in animation quality were batshit.
Chase Hill
I want to replace this raped prostitute with Nina. Nina is smart,but she should be educated by the "wonderful teacher".
or maybe you have shit taste motherfucker, always when a fucking guy say a great manga isn't one of the best of all time , he has shit taste, always ! Go read snk or naruto fucking bastard.
Henry Diaz
>he didn't do jack shit about humanity He was gonna continue killing mankind slowly. He was traumatized by the prospect of his mother not wanting him, that's why he asked his sister to kill him when he was a kid. He was unconsciously looking for someone who would deny him.
Cameron Butler
>Implying it wasn't amazing all the way ythough Found the heretic
Angel Allen
Retard
Aaron Bailey
not to be a saucefag but where can I read it?
Jason Green
Because is popular. And we hate everything that is popular because we are differents from those normiecucks. Any other argument is just filler.
Nicholas Bennett
No idea. For me the overrated one is 20th century boys.
>Monster only needed like 30 of those episodes You're wrong and you're a nigger.
Blake Diaz
Western comics are overrated trash. Even the French shit is not that good besides for the classics like Lucky Luke and Asterix.
Colton Brooks
The top-tier western shit is much better than top-tier manga. It's not even competition. In general, manga is better, but Japan's best doesn't compare to the best of US, Britain, France, or Argentina.
Easton Harris
Thats how germans really look.
Benjamin Ward
>boring >shit ending Done in two. The only reason it is popular is because it is a "not anime like" anime so unlike your moe moe uguu shows or homoerotic battle shounen you can show it to your family and imagine they don't think of you as a complete failure (They do anyway). It's popular for the same reason Cowboy Bebop is but Cowboy Bebop is a lot less shitty. Oh for sure.
