LogFAQs > #898544841

Monster (And BONUS 20th Century Boys)
@LordoftheMorons



A very slow paced anime that is fairly different from a lot of things that get made. I had a lot of trouble making it through the anime due to the slow pacing, so I can't say much about it, but I did read the entire manga so I'll talk about that instead. Also just a good chance in general to talk about why I often prefer manga over anime and some good reasons why.

Anime almost always cuts material (because they think viewers don't have the attention span) or adds unwanted material (to pad the story for time or budget reasons). Both of these things tend to negatively impact the quality of the overall story the original author told.

Anime relies on a director, while manga has no such restriction. Let me explain what I mean here. If I'm watching Monster and there's a scene where two characters are having a conversation... the director needs to decide how quickly the actors will deliver their lines, even how long of a pause there is in between each line. There could be still shots of characters reacting to different lines, and those can vary in timing. You can have different shots of objects around the room or emphasizing the scenery. All in all two different directors could make the scene last 30 seconds or 3 minutes. The difference could be even bigger than that! In the manga the same conversation is two pages long and 11 panels. There's no changing that. You simply read through the dialogue at your own pace. For me, especially because I tend to read quickly, I greatly prefer this pacing.

Anyhow, with regards to Monster, I thought it was a great story but it didn't particularly blow me away in any fashion. By the end I honestly felt a little bit disappointed if I'm being totally honest. I know those statements sound a bit weird together but with the level of quality and the unique premise Monster really sets itself as something that has the potential to be perfect. In the end I only rated it an 8/10 which does feel like a bit of a "disappointment" in that sense. Urasawa has a tendency to tell very detailed and long stories with a deliberate pace, which is a good thing. It all leads to a conclusion that was built up from the beginning. The extra details and story elements, character development, and subplots you pick up along the way enhance your enjoyment of the story as a whole. I will also say that his stories, the ones I've read at least, tend to take place in settings that are very near to real life but not... quite the same. Of all these elements I feel like Monster does them fairly well but it doesn't QUITE get the formula right: The final conclusion of the story didn't feel like it was worth all of the build up, at least not for me. The semi-realism ended up being a hangup for the story because, honestly, there are many points where you're left wondering how deep this mystery goes. Does it push the boundaries of common sense? That's how I often felt at times. In a good way, if I'm being unclear. But then in the end I feel like the solution and answers never become weird enough and everything feels too mundane in a way.
---

~* Why can't anyone else see the walls? ~*
https://i.imgur.com/wc4HQ5x.png