03 Nov / Monster (vols. 15-18) by Naoki Urasawa, English adaptation by Agnes Yoshida, translated by Satch Watanabe and Hiroki Shirota (vol. 15), Satch Watanabe (vol. 16), Reina Maruyama (vol. 17), Satoki Yamada (vol. 18)
Another warning: The body count is staggering by series’ end. While most are bad guys, or anonymous innocent bystanders (who are disturbing enough to see splattered across so many pages), the ONE that breaks your heart … will really break your heart. You so wish you could be there at the grave to pay homage with the survivors … just to say goodbye … oh, Magnificent Steiner … where are you now?!!
But WHAT a finale of four indeed!
Eva does her last evil deed in vol. 15 and pays an ugly price. Nina goes after Tenma in Frankfurt with more chilling answers, where he’s hiding out nursing his most recent injuries in the same immigrant ghetto that was attacked by the neo-Nazis in the early volumes.
Even the bad guys are starting to kill each other in vol. 16, and no one really knows whose side anyone is on anymore. The Red Rose Mansion proves to be the portal to unspeakable evil – where Nina finally confronts Johan, gun in hand.
Tenma appears just in the nick of time to save both twins (yet again) in vol. 17, and Nina realizes more shocking truths: who’s who between her and Johan is no longer separable. Prague’s done with providing any more answers, and one by one, everyone lands in Ruhenheim, a sleepy village far away, ironically named ‘home of peace.’
In the final, devastating volume, Grimmer and Lunge have been trying to stanch the bloodbath in Ruhenheim when Tenma arrives to find a village of corpses. “The Scenery for a Doomsday” is set … and all the players face off … Nina and Johan come eye-to-eye one last time … and just WHO, finally, IS the MONSTER?
In spite of that massive body count, in spite of all that death and destruction, Monster is ultimately about the redemptive qualities of love, as incongruous (and seemingly trite) as that may sound. Urasawa is ANYTHING but trite, by the way.
Even the most horrifyingly abused children can and do find solace with nurturing reassurance. And even the most nightmarish, incomprehensible evil-doers can be rehabilitated into a very different new life. Of course not everyone can – or will allow themselves – to be saved … but for those few blessed souls that find true, unwavering, believing love, hope shines eternal at the end of that dark tunnel.
Hey, if Eva can reinvent herself as a Düsseldorf kitchen designer … anything is possible, right?
Click here to check out other Monster volumes …
Readers: Young Adult, Adult
Published: 2008 (United States)
MONSTER © Naoki Urasawa
Original Japanese edition published by Shogakukan Inc.
I want to read this!
They are SOOO addictive, as soon as you read one, you’ll have to read them all!
I just found a great little article by 2008 Pulitzer Prize winner Junot Diaz for Time magazine about Monster being his “guiltiest pleasure of all” … it’s linked here.
Great to see you back on comments, too! Thanks, as always, for visiting!