While last year they walked away with The Otaku’s Study Australian Anime Release of the Year Award 2013 with a more mainstream anime title (
), Siren Visual have mainly set themselves apart from the competition by licensing titles that are more niche and at times unavailable for purchase in other markets (
). But as a company who don’t usually send press releases around and instead opt to promote their acquisitions directly through social media channels – you know something big is brewing when they make a formal announcement of an acquisition and describe it during an end of year interview as not only a title that they have been after for many years, but one that has broken earlier pre-order records (Source).
Monster: Cigarettes Database
This title is Monster… a 74-episode 2004 anime adaptation of Naoki Urasawa’s original 18-volume masterpiece that while being more niche than most titles has seemingly gained a strong rapport with anime fans over the years. This acquisition is off the back of an upcoming HBO live-action adaptation (
) that has been recently announced, and while initially localized, dubbed and released in North America, is currently only being published in the Australian and New Zealand markets across five collections from this month.
While I do like to try out a variety of different genres, it takes a very strong franchise to tempt me to watch it IF it is longer than 26-episodes and unfortunately several series such as Golgo 13, Naruto, Bleach have failed to meet the mark. While I am not going to prematurely give it my praise in this respect, Monster is one of those series that looks like it will be able to continue satisfying my requirements until the end.
Dvd Review: Urasawa Naoki's Monster, Episodes 31 45
Monster follows a highly acclaimed neurosurgeon Dr. Kenzo Tenma who works at a leading German hospital and is being groomed to become its next chief of surgery. Due to events that arise which lead him to question the value of a human life, he opts to operate on and eventually save the life of a young wounded boy named John Liebert instead of operating on the city mayor (
). After losing his employers respect, wife-to-be and any prospect of any promotion because of this decision, the head of the hospital and two other staff members are found murdered which result in Dr. Tenma being promoted to Chief of Surgery.
Nine years later a series of subsequent murders leads Dr. Tenma to uncover that his former patient John Liebert was responsible for them – but a detective and the police force suspect that he is involved somehow. From there… I will let you find out!
Monster Episode 14
While the quality can shift between the episodes, the experience continues to provide both interesting and more importantly satisfying storylines that encouraged me to go straight into the next episode and didn’t trouble itself with pointless filler episodes at least so far. What’s more, given many series that focus on an initial hospital setting seem to focus on comedy (
), it was refreshing to see that they worked with the mystery thriller genre for a change and didn’t let the fact that Tenma is a medical doctor hinder the experience, but instead used his role effectively for the storyline.
I haven’t read the original Naoki Urasawa manga series and don’t plan on doing so at least until the final anime collection is released in a couple of months time. However, it is quite a shame that Siren Visual didn’t decide to release this in more expensive half-season collections as I don’t think this is a series you can just pop in the DVD player and watch without going back to the earlier episodes and still be able to fully appreciate the storyline (
Watch Monster Girl Doctor
). However so far the first fifteen episodes are a sign of good things to come, and I look forward to seeing a lot more in the near future.
The visuals of Monster are nothing fancy, but do the job consistently well with solid animation, environments and character designs which don’t dip in quality as the episodes progress. To point out an error on their DVD cover however, Siren Visual’s release is in 4:3 aspect ratio and not the listed 16:9 ratio that almost all new anime series have been produced in. The visuals and audio also dropped out to a blank screen for a split second a couple of moments across the episodes, something that you don’t usually expect to see in anime series less than ten years old.
The music quality across the episodes were solid, however lacked a defining opening and ending sequence that don’t really encourage you to watch them all the way through the first time let alone during subsequent episodes. However irrespective of if you enjoy Japanese or English dubs, you have reasonably strong voice casts either way. Commissioned by Viz Media, the English dub features strong talent like Liam O’Brien as Kenzo Tenma, Keith Silverstein as Johan Liebert, Karen Strassman as Nina Fortner and one of my personal favorite female VA’s Tara Platt as Eva Heinemann among many others.
Monster (anime): Which Episode Covered Which Chapter From The Manga?
As an anime publisher with a number of exclusives under their belt, Siren Visual either provide the most awesome Australian-exclusive on-disc extra content (
) or provide very little / nothing. Unfortunately in this case it is the latter, with no bonus content over all three discs – even content that could have been present in the original North American release.
Nevertheless with this series in tow, Siren Visual have kicked themselves off in 2014 to a strong start and have a promising next couple of months as subsequent parts are released into the Australian market. Let’s just hope it continues to be as strong a performance and doesn’t fall into the trap several long-term anime series find themselves falling into in terms of plot progression and quality. Monster may not appeal to those who like the more mainstream anime series, but in terms of being a mystery thriller, the series provided an enticing storyline in its early episodes that will hopefully continue when Part 2 releases on the 19th February 2014.
Dvd Review: Urasawa Naoki's Monster, Episodes 46 60
Founder of The Otaku's Study. I have been exploring this labyrinth of fandom these last fifteen years, and still nowhere close to the exit yet. Probably searching for a long time to come.
Established in 2006, The Otaku’s Study began as an anime-centric blog but quickly diversified to cover a multitude of storytelling mediums, such as video games, live performances, and visual novels. The site has successfully established itself as a resource for news, reviews, and articles in these fields - and more.The Monster anime series adapts Naoki Urasawa's manga of the same name. The 74-episode series was created by Madhouse and broadcast on Nippon Television from April 7, 2004, to September 28, 2005. Directed by Masayuki Kojima, it is a faithful adaptation of the tire story; esstially recreated shot for shot and sce for sce compared to the original manga. The few subtle differces include short snippets of additional dialogue and slight re-ordering of sces in places. The series soundtrack is composed by Kuniaki Haishima.
Dr. Kzo Tma, Head of Neurosurgery at the Eisler Memorial Hospital in Düsseldorf, carries out a successful neurosurgery on a famous opera singer, but the hospital Director Udo Heinmann takes the credit during a press conferce. Later, Dr. Tma is sadded wh he discovers that an operation on a Turkish construction worker was giv a lower priority and subsequtly died where his widow blamed him for not operating on him. Wh out with Director Heinemann's daughter Eva, he states that the Turkish construction worker died because Dr. Becker took too long treating him. She commts that not all people are equal. Days later, Dr. Tma is called in to remove a bullet from the head of Johan, the adopted son of Mr. and Mrs. Liebert who were shot dead in their home. His twin sister Anna is also admitted, appartly in a state of severe shock with post-traumatic amnesia, muttering the words kill... him. Wh Dr. Tma is about to commce the operation, he is called away by Chief of Surgery Dr. Oppheim on phone-based instructions from Director Heinemann to start surgery on Mayor Roedecker, who had previously committed a large amount of funds to the hospital. Wh Tma states to Heinemann that he's the only one who can operate on Johann and to have Dr. Boyer handle the mayor, Heinemann advises Tma to do the job as Mayor Roedecker is going to review Eisler Memorial Hospital next month. Due to his conscice, Tma decided to go against Heinemann's orders and operate on the small boy.
List Of Monster Episodes
Dr. Tma is able to save Johan's life, but Mayor Roedecker dies during surgery under Dr. Boyer. He and Dr. Oppheim scold Dr. Tma stating that the doctors had to scramble to cover for him at the last minute resulting in Mayor Roedecker's death. Dr. Oppheim has forwarded his report to the director. As a news report states that flowers were left at City Hall and a decision for a new mayor is taking place, Director Heinemann stated in
0 Comments
Posting Komentar