▪	RELEASED BY:		VIZ MEDIA
		▪	ASPECT RATIO:		4:3 FULL SCREEN
		▪	AUDIO:		ENGLISH AND JAPANESE DD 2.0
		▪	RUNNING TIME:		330 MIN
		▪	RATING:		MA
		▪	RELEASE DATE:		12/08/2009
		▪	REVIEW DATE:		12/16/2009
		▪	REVIEWED BY:		HOLLY ELLINGWOOD

Conspiracies, serial murders, and secret government experiments set against the grim backdrop of the former East Germany are masterfully woven together in this compelling work of suspense.

Contains the first 15 episodes on 3 DVDS in one box set.

REVIEW:
The masterpiece thriller in manga by Naoki Urasawa is given an enthralling and disturbing life in this animated series. Brilliantly adapted and faithful overall to the series, the anime tells the story of a promising surgeon under pressure at a hospital and in his personal life. Tenma has a fiancée who is ambitious and opportunistic as the daughter of an influential father. Tenma’s position as Chief of Surgery at the hospital is bright and hopeful. However when he is confronted by the grieving woman whose husband died because Tenma was taken away from operating on the construction worker to instead save a celebrity, Tenma questions the ethics of the hospital’s director and his own choices. When he is again presented with the ethical and moral dilemma of saving a child or the mayor, he goes against the director’s orders to save the child. This seemingly selfless act will throw the lives of Tenma and those around him into chaos and murder.

The first set of episodes begins with the ominous quote from the Book of Revelations. In 1986 Germany, Tenma thinks his life is in ruins when his fiancée Eva leaves him, he is demoted by the director, and must deal with his own ideals dashed. However, in saving the young boy he saves a small portion of his soul, or so he thinks. When the director, Eva’s father, and the surgeon who eagerly took Tenma’s job all turn up murdered, it is Tenma who is the prime suspect. When no proof can be laid at his feet, he is suddenly given that which he lost – his ideal job back, his fiancée begging to return to his arms, and suddenly he has no obstacles. This blessing seems like a fine thing until nine years later when Tenma cares for a wounded criminal. The criminal escapes, Tenma in pursuit and it puts him face to face with the boy, now a man, that he saved nine years ago. Johan has grown up to be a handsome and charismatic killer. Suddenly Tenma is confronted with the fact that his act of saving a boy’s life has instead cost several people their lives when he learns that Johan is the one behind a string of serial killings and perhaps more.

Tenma’s world is again turned on its axis. His oath to save lives has turned into a nightmare when the life he saved is the one committing atrocities. Tenma is determined to find Johan and stop him but on his tail is Inspector Lunge who is obsessed with proving that Tenma is the killer. So begins the journey into death and madness that may see few, if any, survive.

Part Fugitive, part, Les Miserables, and part Omen, Monster touches on many of the themes in those films such as a good man chased down by an obsessive cop, a boy who may be the anti-Christ, and Tenma’s own journey into Dante’s hell. As in the Fugitive, Tenma meets and touches many lives in his pursuit of Johann, including a young boy named Dietr who ends up joining the good doctor on his journey. Another person of note is Nina, the twin sister of Johan who is determined to find her brother for her own reasons. As the crimes pile up, so too does the evidence pointing to Tenma as the killer. It only fuels Lunge’s determination to capture Tenma also driving Tenma further and further apart from society as he must hide in the shadows and deal with criminals in order to survive. As the story progresses, Tenma learns about the horrifying experiments at the orphanage Kinderhein 511 that appear to be Johan’s origins. It is how Tenma found Dietr in the hands of the child psychologist that performed the heinous experiments. Tenma also learns around the same time as Nina’s independent investigation that a Neo-Nazi organization that was perhaps responsible for the orphanage, desires Johan as their new leader, a new Hitler. Both end up in the hands of this organization by the end of the first box set, with Nina being used as bait to lure Johan closer and Tenma in the harsh hands of the unsettling man known only as The Baby.

It is a riveting tale of suspense and horror. Lives are masterfully woven together with killers and evil everywhere. Tenma’s pursuit is one to undo the evil his good act contributed to, but it comes too late for many. It is also his pursuit to recapture the ideals he had as a doctor and a kind man, qualities Johan galvanizes him with by every atrocity Johan commits. Considering his oath as a doctor that is so precious to him, the question is if he does find Johan, just what will Tenma do?

The anime is directed by Masayuki Kojima who had a hand in other grim series such as Gungrave, Trinity Blood, and most notably Gunslinger Girl. The animation was produced by MADHOUSE which created some of the more striking anime such as Vampire D Bloodlust, the bloodthirsty Claymore, and the mesmerizing Death Note. With the haunting instrumental opening and endings along with the keen insight into suspenseful imagery in animation, Monster is one of the studio’s most impressive adaptations from manga. Kitaro Kosaka (Character Designs) has long worked for Ghibli Studio on such esteemed films as Princess Mononoke, how’s Moving Castle, and Ponyo as well as the unforgettable Akira. The designs clearly captured the art style of Naoki Urasawa while the animation adds to it with the right choice of dark, often washed out, even bleak colors, and excellent timing in how it presents the shocks and horrors found in each and every episode.

EXTRAS:
Bonus features include manga ads, anime trailers, and Official Monster File which has extensive notes on the anime series characters, geography, culture, episode summaries, and interviews with the creators.

IN SUMMARY:
Haunting! A must-see for fans of Death Note!