'Monster' anime

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'Monster' anime

Post by Henry Spencer »

I have been watching this anime, goes by the name, 'Monster'. And I must say, it is extremely well written, and contains a lot of parallels with Policenauts's plotline, I think. Conspiracies (involving crime, hidden agendas and medical), mysterious characters, burning questions, everybody being connected in some way. You really must watch this. Not only that, but there is going to be a feature length movie about the anime (New Line have the rights), written by the same guy who penned the screenplay for A History Of Violence. Hopefully, it will turn out okay. I'm looking forward to it anyway.

Thoughts?
Last edited by Henry Spencer on Sat Feb 10, 2007 4:04 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by Duo »

You've got good taste,
Spoiler:
said the butcher to the dead prostitute.
I really enjoyed what I've seen of this series. I have them all, but I've only watched up until about episode 15. It's a long series, so I'm wondering if a bulk of the rest of the episodes are filler. How far have you gotten?
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Post by ShinjiPG »

Duo wrote:It's a long series, so I'm wondering if a bulk of the rest of the episodes are filler.
Hum, that is not the case.
The Monster anime has 74 episodes, which adapt 18 volumes from the original Manga. So they don't need filters, because the manga already has a lot to draw from. In fact, the anime is one of the best adaptations I've seen, because it doesn't leave anything behind: everything in the manga is in the anime.
About that Policenauts connection, I can hardly believe that. Naoki Urasawa is known for his brilliant plots and cinematic touch to his manga (reminds us of Kojima, I know), so I believe it's all from him.

About the movie, it has been announced like... 2 years ago (or more). So I'm kind of losing hope. But anyway, I don't know if a movie would work that well, I would prefer a tv show.
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Post by Henry Spencer »

I'm merely into episode five at the moment, and I already was so astounded by the storyline, I just HAD to make a topic about it. Sure, the animation is rather bad (I think anyway), but daaaamn, the story is great! I love the way the characters are introduced (same way as in Kojima games).
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Post by ShinjiPG »

Henry Spencer wrote:I'm merely into episode five at the moment, and I already was so astounded by the storyline, I just HAD to make a topic about it. Sure, the animation is rather bad (I think anyway), but daaaamn, the story is great! I love the way the characters are introduced (same way as in Kojima games).
The animation is rather bad?
Comparing to other Madhouse productions, I think Monster did quite well. You're probably not used to watch anime series, since the quality of animation can never be the same as an anime movie's animation (this is kind of redundant, lol).
I dunno why, but I've heard lots of people saying that animation in anime is bad and whatnot, but I can't understand why. Sure, they use less frames per second than an average Disney movie, but what would you expect? Disney makes a movie per 2 years or more. Japanese studios need to make 2 or 3 episodes a week. And even so, the animation is sometimes top-notch.
There's something wrong with the eye of the average ocidental guy xD
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Post by Henry Spencer »

No, no, I didn't say I disliked anime's animation, in fact, I prefer it over most animation, it's just I have seen anime such as Trigun, Gungrave, Akira, GITS and Bleach, Bebop, Death Note etc and thought they all looked better in comparison. The best looking animation I have ever seen though, has to be Batman TAS, I love the dark colours, you see. Anime is very nice though, better than Disney overall.
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Post by ShinjiPG »

Those are all more action-oriented series, so they probably show more movement, while Monster is much more still. But yeah, you can't compare GITS to Monster, give the production-values. That much goes to Cowboy Bebop, one of Sunrise's best and Shinichiro's too.
But between those, Bleach and Gungrave (also from Madhouse) are probably at the same level as Monster. Death Note is also from Madhouse, but it's more recent and has a (huge) bigger production-value than Monster.
Oh, and never do the mistake of comparing Akira to any anime series, at all xD
Anyway, my point is, Monster is not that bad comparing to some other Madhouse titles, or even Gonzo. It's actually quite good animationwise and really captures the essence of the manga, if not just for the perfect character design "copy".
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Post by Henry Spencer »

Alright, you have your own feeling son the animation, whilst I have mine, let's just accept that and move on. Regarding the anime; whereabouts are you into it? Have you finished it yet? And how do you rate it overall?
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Post by shidoni »

*wikipedia time*
Spoiler:
"Dr. Tenma is a Japanese brain surgeon working in Germany. He has it all: incredible medical skills, a great job, and a beautiful fiancée who also happens to be the daughter of the hospital's director.

One day he is ordered to forgo operating on a critically injured man in favor of a more illustrious patient. Disillusioned by the hospital’s politics, he decides from then on that he will do what he thinks is right, regardless of politics.

Some time later, a young boy and his twin sister are brought in. The boy has a bullet in his head and requires an operation that Dr. Tenma knows only he is capable of performing successfully. Just as Dr. Tenma is about to begin the procedure, the mayor is rushed into the hospital and the director instructs Dr. Tenma to leave the boy to operate on the critically ill mayor. Dr. Tenma decides that he will do what is right and go ahead with the boy's operation.

The young boy's operation ends in success but the surgeons operating on the politician fail. As a result, Dr. Tenma is passed over for a promotion and his fiancée calls off their engagement.

Soon after this incident, strange murders begin to occur, all of which benefit Dr. Tenma greatly. As a result, he becomes the prime suspect although the police have no evidence against him. It seems that the boy whose life he saved is heavily involved in it somehow and that there is much more to him than meets the eye."
Sounds hot, the description above pretty much spoils the beginning, but its good for anyone who's wondering what it's about... I'm gonna download it, thanks for the exposure...

EDIT: watched ep. 1, it is hot. lol... he's got some morals for where he stands....
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Post by ShinjiPG »

Henry Spencer wrote:Regarding the anime; whereabouts are you into it? Have you finished it yet? And how do you rate it overall?
I only went through episode 20 or something. Had to stop because of school, since I don't really like to watch a show I'm addicted to with big pauses. So I'm planning to do it this summer. I could do it right now, during my semester's break... now that I think about it, lol.
Having read a big part of the manga, one of the points that actually make me like the anime version is the fact that it adapts perfectly everything from the manga. Which is good for the fans, Urasawa and the general public, given that the manga itself has a very cinematic touch, so everybody gets to feel what they would feel with the (original) manga.
The animation may not be the greatest, but there's something very mature about it, and not just the character designs, but all the composition of the scenes.
One other thing I really like is that the buildings, places, etc, look a lot european (german, more precisely). And the character design doesn't look like your typical "big-eyes-lots-of-hair" anime style character, which creates a certain european feel. Since the story takes place in Germany, this adds quite well. At least that was what I though, and since I'm european, I may be right xD
The story is what you know, what and who the hell is pulling the strings and how will Tenma find it. Then you have all these bits of information that show up at the end of the episodes just to keep you waiting for the next, lol. In the detective story genre, Monster is probably at the top.
Another thing that I quite like about animes is the soundtrack. However, Monster's soundtrack isn't all that great. It does the job, but it's not remarkable. The Opening Theme is alright, but the Ending could be better.
Anyway, since I only saw like 21 or 22 episodes, I can't tell more and my opinion is well incomplete, but I'll give it a 9/10 with no problem. But my rates should not be considered that much, because when I like, I like it a lot, when I don't like, I don't like it a lot, and when I'm indiferent, I don't like it xD Very extreme.

Oh, btw, one thing I noticed through all those episodes I saw, is that they do 2 chapters of the manga per episode. Without fails. By the 5th episode I could already see how many episodes there would be xD
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Post by Henry Spencer »

Yeah, it is incredibly long isn't it? I fail to see how they are going to fit it into one Hollywood film. I think it will suck now, to be honest.

It is a faithful adaption, I have heard that many times before, and yeah, Urusawa is a very good writer. The animation is grand for capturing the feel of Germany, sure, since I am from the UK (English) myself and have been to Germany, and it did bring back some memories of my time there. The character designs are quite masterful, since nobody looks the same at all in it I must say. I love mystery fidction, mystery has always been my favourite genre in fiction, so of course, so far, I am loving this series, I am currently downloading episode eleven now, and it isn't letting down on quality in each episode, its actually getting better and better, so yes, this is one of the best pieces of fiction I have seen for some time, it must be said.
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Post by ShinjiPG »

Henry Spencer wrote:Yeah, it is incredibly long isn't it? I fail to see how they are going to fit it into one Hollywood film. I think it will suck now, to be honest.
It's sad to say this, but I agree with you. IF they do make a movie out of Monster, I'm hoping for the worst :S
I wouldn't mind watching a TV Series though. Actually, I remember reading the manga (long before the anime was released) and thinking about how cool it would be if they made a live-action series.
Oh, and btw, the only thing we know so far is that New Line bought the rights for a Monster live-action adaptation. They could still make whatever they want (movie or series), right? I dunno if New Line is into series or not, tho.
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Post by Henry Spencer »

The guy who has written History Of Violence has supposedly finish it recently, claiming it to be the hardest thing he's ever done! No wonder, I mean it's pretty much impossibly cramming so much story into ONE film. :???:

I hope New Line turn it into a series, since it more than deserves it, I doubt they will though...
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Post by ShinjiPG »

Gee, I didn't knew he already finished the screenplay. Well, I guess that means in a few months we'll have some more news about pre-production ending, and production starting: the moment of truth (lol).
They could always do a trilogy, since it's usual these days. One of his other manga, 20th Century Boys, will have a movie adapation too (2008), but it'll be japanese. However, since 20CB is even longer than Monster, they will do many movies instead of just one. I guess it's because they are more familiar with the material, whereas in America they probably don't know if it's safe to risk.
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Post by Henry Spencer »

Great to hear they're doing a movie for 20CB, I've heard many good things about it, but never read it myself. Has there been any plans for an anime as well?
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Post by ShinjiPG »

Henry Spencer wrote:Has there been any plans for an anime as well?
Nope. But having Death Note has an example... there could be one in the near future :D
But I wouldn't count much on it.
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Post by Henry Spencer »

Shame. Do you know whether or not 'Monster' was a hit in Japan, or was it just a runaway hit for the US and Europe?
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Post by ShinjiPG »

Henry Spencer wrote:Shame. Do you know whether or not 'Monster' was a hit in Japan, or was it just a runaway hit for the US and Europe?
The manga was a big hit in Japan, but almost all Urasawa's works are xD
The anime also did pretty good but I think what it did best was to promote the series in Europe and America. The anime is even airing in France right now, in a normal chanel (which means, not an anime dedicated chanel).
But I'm not aware of the share numbers (or anything like it) that the anime did.
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Post by jcgamer60 »

I hope they make an anime of 20th century boys some day, its really good, along the lines of Monster in terms of quality imo.
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Post by secretplot »

have only watched the first few anime episodes, but i've read up to book five of the manga.

and wow. best thing i've picked up in years. a genius work ripe with social commentary on 1980s germany, and the 1980s itself.

viz have done a great job on this one. even with the death of their PULP label, their high quality seinen releases continue.

good to see more fans!
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