# Monster (2004)

> A respected Japanese brain surgeon in Germany is pulled into a relentless moral struggle after saving a boy who grows into a psychopath.

Canonical page: https://ember.film/tv/28562

## Facts

- Seasons: 1
- Episodes: 74
- Episode runtime: 24 min
- Status: Ended
- Genres: animation, drama, mystery, crime
- Network: Nippon TV
- Cast: Gorō Naya, Mami Koyama, Masaru Ikeda, Yasuyoshi Hara, Masahiko Tanaka, Hiroshi Yanaka, Kiri Yoshizawa, Mitsuaki Madono
- TMDB rating: 8.8/10
- IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0434706/

## Ember's analysis

- Pacing: measured
- Intensity: strong
- Complexity: layered
- Violence: moderate
- Tone: philosophical, melancholic, dread-filled, tense, bleak

## What critics say

Viewers broadly acclaim Monster as a rare, thoughtful anime with a gripping moral thriller structure and philosophical depth.

## Synopsis

Monster (2004-2005) is a Japanese seinen psychological thriller anime produced by Madhouse and Shogakukan Production for Nippon TV, adapted from the manga. Its central figure is Kenzou Tenma (voiced by Gorō Naya is a supporting credit, so the principal voice cast here is Mami Koyama as Eva and Tsutomu Isobe as Inspector Lunge), a brilliant Japanese neurosurgeon working in Germany whose career and conscience collide after he makes a fateful choice to save a child. The engine of the series is Tenma's pursuit of a charming, manipulative killer whose trail of deaths reaches across German cities, while police detectives close in and Tenma wrestles with the cost of his own decisions. Each episode feels like a patient, deliberate step through a web of clues, paranoia and moral unease, built as one continuing 74-episode story that rewards close attention. The Cold War era European setting gives the story a grey, unsettled atmosphere of hospitals, orphanages and back alleys. Its tone is melancholic, philosophical and dread-filled, with an ethical weight that lingers long after each chapter. Fans of Death Note, Mindhunter and The Wire will find resonance in its patient moral investigation and its portrait of a villain who unsettles everyone around him.

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