World Famous Comics: Naoki Urasawa's Monster, Vol. 1
Naoki Urasawa's Monster, Vol. 1
By: Naoki Urasawa Publisher: VIZ Media LLC Average Rating: Binding: Paperback Label: VIZ Media LLC Number of Items: 1 Number of Pages: 224 Publication Date: February 21, 2006 Reading Level: Young Adult
Product Description: Brilliant doctor Kenzo Tenma risks his reputation and promising career to save the life of a critically wounded young boy. Unbeknownst to him, this child is destined for a terrible fate. Conspiracies, serial murders, and a scathing depiction of the underbelly of hospital politics are all masterfully woven together in this compelling manga thriller.
I'm officially intrigued Volume #1 of Naoki Urasawa's sprawling manga-epic, "Monster" certainly had me hooked within the first 2 chapters. While the artwork is somewhat manga'ish generic the narrative and characters are first rate and based on feedback i've heard from friends who have read through this series in its entirety it only gets better.
Volume #1 starts off feeling like a medical-drama series but within the first several chapters spins off in a crime-drama direction and eventually this volume finishes in a manner sending the narrative spinning in an entirely new direction. Call me intrigued. Eagerly looking forward to tearing through the rest of this series.
Absorbing beginning Naoki Urasawa, Monster: Herr Dr. Tenma (ViZ, 1995)
This is a volume of setup, but it's the kind of setup that shows that Urasawa had a strong sense of where the story was going from day one, and the more I read manga, the more rare I find out that is.
Herr Dr. Tenma introduces us to Kazuo Tenma, a promising young doctor (who bears more than a slight resemblance to Black Jack) who left Japan, where his outlook was bleak, for a more promising career path in Germany. He finds himself unwilling, and ultimately unable, to cope with hospital politics, however, when he is given the choice between saving the young son of an obscure East German official who fled to West Germany not long before and saving the Mayor of Dusseldorf. The choice he makes turns out to have consequences beyond any he thought it would, however.
An excellent beginning to what promises to be an exciting series. Hopefully I'll get the next few books soon. ****
Great Book, Very Poor Supplier The book is fantastic, but I bought #1 and got #8, tried to contact the supplier and have never heard back, I will never purchase anything from them again and suggest you don't either unless you like surprises and love the fact that you don't know what you'll get when you place an order. (SELLER: COMICS-NOW)
Incredible! I adore this book! I've seen the anime, and I have volumes 1-4. I plan on getting the whole series. Some people think it's to slow moving, but that's just part of the style. It is well on it's way to becoming another classic.
A memorable manga! The villain and driving force of the story was a gentleman named Johan. Soft-spoken. Perceptive. Charismatic. Admired by those who wanted him to further their end. He was highly sought after. He knew it and played along, if only because the world was a chaotic mess to him anyway. His disciple said to a psychoanalyst, "Johan is special - he toys people like ants, squishing them with his fingers, making them suffer cruel fates. Just for kicks." His teacher remarked, "Johan is Hitler reincarnated. No, he's greater than Hitler. He's a demon from Hell." He was once been taken down by his twin sister, who, loving and hating him much, decided to appease his disquiet soul with a bullet. Doomsday, however, was postponed when a kind and noble doctor Tenma, his antithesis, saved him in a surgery that brought down his own career. By operating on Johan, Tenma brought back the Monster in question.
Story aside, I like the manga for its zig-zag technique, delivering the story Urasawa Naoki's way.
He likes to shift focus to divert attention. First, you find yourself following storyline A. The moment it leads to a revelation, as you turn the page expecting a conclusion, you realize you're elsewhere entirely, reading storyline B with another circumstance and set of characters. You don't know how B connects to A, or A to B, and really, the abruption throws you off because you're still biting your nails anticipating A. However, you're patient and follow along. Soon storyline B becomes meaningful as you learn about the new characters and how B affects A. A and B melt & fuse, and you grasp more meaning in the story, only to turn the page and yes! his trick, another plot twist - storyline C. The closer you get to the climax, the more curves and twists, almost like Urasawa's playing ball with you, returning it at evermore odd angles and testing how long you can hold court. Your mind gets like a newspaper editing room, in a frenzy to straighten out facts and questions. This wouldn't be half as interesting if clues from the plot twists did not slowly demystify the character and enigma of Johan. When you're at book 13, 14, or one of the high numbers, and familiar with the countless faces and background settings, you look back at the seemingly random developments and bemuse how they actually work together. You then realize the planning involved, Urasawa's sensitivity to tension and momentum, along with character design and perspective in the story, and eventually *insert applause* the kind of storytelling magic at hand.
The journey to discover the evil within a suffering soul is exciting. Reading it doesn't burn your fingers, but it's nice to feel a little heat.
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