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REVIEW: Monster Episodes 1-30




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mdo7



Joined: 23 May 2007
Posts: 6264
Location: Katy, Texas, USA
PostPosted: Wed Feb 01, 2023 1:45 pm Reply with quote
I'm currently watching this series on Netflix (I'm on episode 8 as of this post). It's just refreshing and a breath of fresh air to watch this anime on Netflix. Yes, I did get chance to watch this on Syfy (or Sci-Fi back in 2009) as part of Ani-Monday, because I didn't have a DVR back then, I tried to watch it as it was.

I was really sad to see it's US run didn't do so well (remember, this was back in late 2000's before anime became more mainstream compared to today and streaming wasn't mainstream popular back then compared to today).

I'm really glad the anime has now been made available on Netflix minus the English dub (I was told and I found out that Viz Media's DVD sales for the series didn't do so well in the US, so I assume the rest of the episodes didn't get dubbed in English hence the lack of English dub option for this anime on Netflix).

But anyway, I'm continuing to watch this anime (I got other anime on Netflix to watch, along with K-dramas/East Asian TV dramas, and other stuff to watch).

But so far, I'm loving this show. I felt like I'm watching a TV series version of Perfect Blue.
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Venus_Angel9



Joined: 22 Oct 2012
Posts: 55
PostPosted: Wed Feb 01, 2023 3:02 pm Reply with quote
"director Masayuki Kojima and the crew at Madhouse have produced a shot-for-shot adaptation of Kojima's manga. "

Monster is written by Naoki Urasawa, not Masayuki Kojima. Typo I guess
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KitKat1721



Joined: 03 Feb 2015
Posts: 954
PostPosted: Wed Feb 01, 2023 4:06 pm Reply with quote
Looks like the remaining episodes just dropped on Netflix surprisingly enough.
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Gina Szanboti



Joined: 03 Aug 2008
Posts: 11384
PostPosted: Wed Feb 01, 2023 6:43 pm Reply with quote
Quote:
this is one monstrous drama with a scope and scale that goes far beyond what the uninitiated would likely imagine

This might be the understatement of the year. You don't know the half of it., and not just because you haven't seen the entire series yet. Smile The whole story goes back farther, and continues well past the ending of the manga/anime, in the novel "Another Monster" and the picture book "Obluda: The Nameless Monster." AM is largely a recap of the series with more details, but it answers some questions left hanging from the manga while (hair)raising some new ones (this is Urasawa remember).

Even though Viz has washed its hands of the anime, My hope is that its revival on Netflix might spur them to finally publish the novel and picture book (though they likely wouldn't go to the expense of reproducing the lovely lenticular cover of the monsters for Obluda).
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veemonjosh



Joined: 06 Mar 2008
Posts: 308
PostPosted: Thu Feb 02, 2023 8:31 am Reply with quote
mdo7 wrote:
(I was told and I found out that Viz Media's DVD sales for the series didn't do so well in the US, so I assume the rest of the episodes didn't get dubbed in English hence the lack of English dub option for this anime on Netflix).


Actually, the entire series was dubbed and all the episodes aired on Ani-Monday.
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Cho_Desu



Joined: 27 Dec 2022
Posts: 196
PostPosted: Thu Feb 02, 2023 8:34 am Reply with quote
A friend and I tried watching this probably 10 or so years ago, but we got bored at some point (probably around ep 15-20) and moved on to other anime. I recall the main character was trying to find a killer, and then there were Nazis up to no good (again?!), and it was all rather meandering... I recall thinking it would've worked much better as a live-action drama, since the animation/art was pretty plain, and it's just people talking for the most part. Perhaps I'd enjoy the story more now though, and perhaps I'd enjoy it more in manga form.
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ARC-1300



Joined: 06 Feb 2012
Posts: 360
PostPosted: Thu Feb 02, 2023 10:17 am Reply with quote
veemonjosh wrote:
mdo7 wrote:
(I was told and I found out that Viz Media's DVD sales for the series didn't do so well in the US, so I assume the rest of the episodes didn't get dubbed in English hence the lack of English dub option for this anime on Netflix).


Actually, the entire series was dubbed and all the episodes aired on Ani-Monday.


this is correct, they did in fact air the entirety of the show on scyfy. the dvd releases are a different matter and was cancelled due to low sales. though it did have a brief stint on iTunes also in its entirety.

it is an absolute tragedy that they couldn't acquire the rights to put the English dub in. and it is legendary, pretty much what I associate with the show.
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LegitPancake



Joined: 26 Jun 2017
Posts: 1296
Location: Texas, USA
PostPosted: Thu Feb 02, 2023 12:06 pm Reply with quote
Netflix actually used to stream the entirety of Monster with the English dub back in 2011, possibly for a couple years.
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Dark Mac



Joined: 17 May 2008
Posts: 313
PostPosted: Thu Feb 02, 2023 12:11 pm Reply with quote
Quote:
I am begging Netflix to keep the wait for future installments as brief as possible.


Kinda funny that this review was posted after Netflix uploaded the rest of the series.
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FlamingFirewire



Joined: 03 Jun 2013
Posts: 463
PostPosted: Fri Feb 03, 2023 4:55 am Reply with quote
ARC-1300 wrote:
veemonjosh wrote:
mdo7 wrote:
(I was told and I found out that Viz Media's DVD sales for the series didn't do so well in the US, so I assume the rest of the episodes didn't get dubbed in English hence the lack of English dub option for this anime on Netflix).


Actually, the entire series was dubbed and all the episodes aired on Ani-Monday.


this is correct, they did in fact air the entirety of the show on scyfy. the dvd releases are a different matter and was cancelled due to low sales. though it did have a brief stint on iTunes also in its entirety.

it is an absolute tragedy that they couldn't acquire the rights to put the English dub in. and it is legendary, pretty much what I associate with the show.


The dub really was quite excellent! I remember the entire series was available on youTube streaming for free on one of Viz's channels around 2011-2012(?), but I can't remember exactly when that was. It probably wasn't up there for very long either way.

Hope it sees the light of day in a physical release if someone can pick it up for a full release (Discotek maybe?)...
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gsilver



Joined: 04 Nov 2007
Posts: 618
PostPosted: Sat Feb 04, 2023 10:00 am Reply with quote
I absolutely love Monster, and am so glad that it's finally available again via legitimate means.

Netflix means that having the whole thing on Blu-Ray/DVD is still out of reach, but at least it's watchable. I hope that a lot more people come to enjoy it with this release.


Naoki Urasawa's manga is a *huge* part of why I'm an anime/manga fan. I was already into is stuff when the Monster anime started coming out, but it was really exciting to see it come out. Monster was a big step above previous adaptations like Yawara and Master Keaton.
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yuna49



Joined: 27 Aug 2008
Posts: 3804
PostPosted: Thu Jun 08, 2023 10:58 am Reply with quote
How can you not mention that episode 15, entitled "Be My Baby," replaces that iconic song with elevator music in the Viz release that airs on Netflix? I know Viz could never have afforded the US rights, but it's a giant hole at a critical moment in the series.

BTW, if Viz had actually localized all 74 episodes, why were only fifteen ever available on DVD?
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Gina Szanboti



Joined: 03 Aug 2008
Posts: 11384
PostPosted: Thu Jun 08, 2023 1:44 pm Reply with quote
Because the sales for the first release were so dismal they figured it would cost them more to release the rest than they could recoup. Sad I think sales would have been better had they released it in different packaging (so that the entire series wasn't going to take up 2 ft of shelf space). Also, people were already gun-shy of VIZ not completing releases they started with many other series*, so I think they were waiting to see if they'd be left holding a brick or not, which became a sort of self-fulfilling prophecy.

*Zatch Bell, Hikaru No Go, Corrector Yui, Hamtaro, Prince Of Tennis, Blue Dragon (both hackdub US & uncut UK DVDs), MAR, Megaman NT Warrior Axess
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