Naoki Urasawa’s ‘MONSTER’ (2004-2005): Dark, psychological anime masterpiece available on Netflix

Why am I writing this post when I could be watching the show?

A problem arises when you finish Death Note, especially when it’s your first anime, as it was mine. You wonder: will I ever find something that thrilling, that in tune with the darkness and light (ha, ha) of human nature? It turns out that such a masterpiece does exist and it might even surpass the brilliance of the aforementioned show. For your “Noir-Vember” pleasure, I present MONSTER. 

Kenzo Tenma is a brilliant doctor from Japan living in 1986 Germany. His talents there do not go unnoticed: he is head of neuroscience at his hospital in Düsseldorf; beloved by the hospital director; even engaged to the hospital director’s daughter. The show opens with a colleague pointing out Tenma’s good luck accompanied with a little warning that Tenma will do well to abide by the ways in which hospital politics dominate more so than actual medical skills. It might seem, to the viewer, rather naive of Tenma to have not realized this before, but his talents lie in surgery more so than psychological acuity. 

Despite Tenma’s good luck, something is amiss with regards to the patients that the hospital director asks him to treat, suggesting that they prioritize patients whose good health will benefit them more than respecting the order of patient arrival. After another instance of this politically motivated treatment, Tenma decides to forgo the hospital director’s—and his future father-in-law’s—orders and performs surgery on a little boy found in a gruesome family murder, rather than on the mayor who has just arrived. The repercussions of that choice are tragic and long-lasting. The series explores a cat and mouse game between a fundamentally good human and another human as the titular “monster.” As Tenma falls deeper into the darkness, the show seems to be asking: Are monsters made? Or is that monstrosity a fundamental part of human nature? 

While the dialogue is spoken in Japanese, the specificity of taking place in Germany is not simply a quaint detail of the show, but points to the larger meaning of the plot. The show offers a greater commentary on West v. East Germany, as well as life post-Soviet Union. The message is not yet fully formed, but I imagine it’ll be clearer as the end of the show approaches. Granted, I’m only on episode 13, and there are 74 total. The show offers plenty of images of charming German architecture. I’m not sure if all of the buildings seen in passing are real, but there are certainly real spots, like Heidelberg Castle. Emails are also written in German, which adds to the world-building.

The general atmosphere and style hit the beats of a noir thriller. Think: long shadows; billowing smoke from cigs; headlights on dark streets; blood splatters on the carpet; puddles of rainwater in the night. Overall, cool colors dominate in this world, such as ice blue, pale yellow, shades of grays, various browns. While the series dates from 2004-2005 (and the manga from 2002), its beautiful character style is also reminiscent of 90s anime. 

There are twists and turns and plenty of memorable characters so far. The lead inspector Heinrich Lunge, for example, has a unique tick where he moves the fingers of one hand as if he’s typing, an action to help remember the details and dialogue pertaining to each case. Although this detective doesn’t boast a title as grand as ‘world’s greatest detective,’ such as, let’s say, L from Death Note, he does state early on that he has never failed to solve a case. But will he? Watch with me and find out.