[Categories: Manga Reviews]
Monster Volume 1: The path to Hell is paved with good intentions…
As you might have guessed from my fansub series review, I’m quite a fan of Monster. Personal bias aside, Naoki Urasawa’s original manga story starts off in spectacular fashion - I’ll spare the details of the synopsis that are found in the aforementioned review but suffice to say that it is every bit as good as the animated adaptation, covering the first four episodes or thereabouts. The character designs and events are similar to the point of being pretty much identical: that is, they have an air of gritty realism that graphic novels rarely have and the pacing is spot-on.
If you have seen the anime version already, there will be no surprises to be had here: it stayed so faithful to the source material that you could follow it from the manga scene-by-scene. That said, it is the only English language version of Monster currently available so if you don’t have the software or inclination to download the animated episodes the manga is your best bet.
Viz have done well with the presentation, with the glossy cover, decent quality paper and binding. Urasawa’s art style lacks the polish of some other manga artists but considering the quality of the story and cast I can’t really hold that against him. As it is, Monster is an intelligent and thrilling read that sucks you into its cold, dark world and never lets go - it is quite difficult to find in high street shops though, so you might need to go online to buy yourself a copy.
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