Is Monster Worth Reading? Review & Where to Read

Overview

Monster is a thriller by Naoki Urasawa, the same author behind 20th Century Boys and Pluto. It ran from 1994 to 2001 and is complete in 18 volumes. The setup is simple: Dr. Kenzo Tenma is a gifted Japanese surgeon working in Germany, and early on he makes a decision about which patient to save. That choice follows him for the rest of the story and pulls him into a hunt that spreads across Germany and central Europe.

That's about all you need going in. Monster is the kind of story that's better when you let it unfold, so this review stays away from spoilers.

What it does well

The biggest reason people rate Monster so highly is the writing. Urasawa treats nearly everyone in the cast like a real person, including characters who only show up for a chapter or two. You get their background, their motives, and a sense of how they ended up where they are. It makes the world feel lived-in, and it means the tension lands harder, because you actually care what happens to the people caught up in it.

The suspense itself comes from choices and consequences rather than action. There are very few fights here. Instead, the story keeps raising the stakes by putting characters in situations where the right thing to do isn't obvious, and then showing what their decisions cost. That's a harder trick to pull off over 18 volumes than a fight-of-the-week structure, and Monster manages it.

Urasawa's art supports all of this without showing off. The pages are clean and easy to follow, and a lot of the storytelling happens in characters' faces. It reads less like a typical action manga and more like a grounded crime drama, which suits the material.

Where it falls short

The flip side of that patience is that Monster is slow, and it's long. If you want a quick hit, the early volumes can feel like they're taking their time, because they are. You have to be willing to settle in.

The large cast is also a double-edged sword. It's part of what makes the story rich, but if you read in big gaps it's easy to lose track of who a returning character is and why they matter. Reading it in longer sittings helps.

Finally, the ending divides people. Plenty of readers find it satisfying, but some feel it leaves a few questions looser than they'd like. Where you land on it probably depends on how much you need a thriller to tie every thread into a neat bow.

Verdict

Monster is one of the best thrillers in manga, and it earns that reputation through character writing and slow-built tension rather than spectacle. If you like grounded, patient stories and you don't mind a long runway, it's an easy recommendation. If you want fast action or a story you can wrap up in a weekend, this isn't the one to start with.