So…, I enjoyed the ending right up to the last scene where (sorry talking about the Anime here) which left me a little disatisfied as I wanted more closure. Not sure if you are all saying you didn’t like it for the same reason as me, but here’s my take on it, which ultimately made me like it even more, after I’d finished watching it (last night)…

So anyway, the ending kind of reminds me of the ending of Gun Grave, another great Anime, but not on the same level…

Anyway, I remember thinking before the last episode of Gun Grave ***SPOILER ALERT*** No amount of carnage could slate my thirst for revenge as the main villian, Harry, had been such a c%&#. Then the ending came with Grave forgiving Harry, and dsepite wanting to kill Harry for everything he’d done, as what he wanted more was for them to be able to return to their lives together as friends –
Despite his thrist for revenge, the good side of his humanity to shone through – which was such a better ending
than a revenge based one.

Much the same, had there been a big carnage filled shoot out between with Tenma and Johan, or any of the other ‘hero’ characters it would have been satisfying in an Adrenaline pumping kind of way, but it would also have meant that the darker side of Humanity had won over. The fact that everything could be resolved without Tenma ever having killed anyone, is the most uplifting ending possible. Grimmers death was the most touching for me however.
Anyway. when the twins Mother says, “who is the real monster” who was she referring to? Herself, kind of… but more specifically it was Johan (whom she chose to save) who turned out to be the psychopath, despide it being Anna who was taken to the Red Rose Mansion. It was because of her attitude “Even if I die, one of these children growing inside of me will punish you”. Where as Bonaparte’s final words to Anna were something along the lines of, you can become anything you want, you don’t have to become a Monster like I was training you to become… So, just as the picture books stated that people had the Monsters inside of them, not they were monsters themselves, the real Monster was the propensity for people to be driven to evil acts through emotions such as hatred, sadness and revenge. That Tenma, the embodiment of ‘goodness’ to be saved from this so important I think.
So what will become of Johan, a the final scene shows him having escaped from the hopsital… perhaps he will go on to live a life like Bonaparte did, after he wrote the book “a quiet town” – maybe he will continue to be a psycho… but I don’t see how he could be as bad as he was before, he has a real name now, people know who he is, maybe he’s been changed… who knows but the ending was not that evil acts will always beget evil acts (Tenma/anyone getting revenge on Johan) but in a world filled with deprived acts, it is still possible that goodnes of humanity can survive.

so thats my take on it, very heavily influenced by my take on life no doubt – what do you guys think? Is this the conclusions you all came to also?

Cheers

After reading volume 18, though, it does seem a bit hollow as to how everything played out. I thoroughly enjoyed most of the volumes prior, with all the twists and turns, but when you stack up this last volume to them it kinda makes you feel shortchanged about the whole thing. Not that I expected overt dramatics at the end; it may just be the whole buildup put my expectations at a different level.

Still, the comic makes me tear up so much, because the emotions are so raw, and Urasawa is so good at “acting-through-character-face-drawing.” The part about the reformed-Nazi birdwatcher who is sad because the birds won’t forgive him for his war-crimes makes me flat-out blubber & bawl.

I do plan to binge-read the remaining books very soon, if only to have my plate clear for when the two new (at least stateside) Urasawa books launch next month.

Another part is that several main characters are sidelined for the final: e.g. Dieter, Tenma’s wife, and others. Much of vols #17 and #18 doesn’t read like it’s gearing up to a big finale; instead Urasawa keeps introducing new characters almost up to the very end. I think that diluted some of the emotional pay-off for me.

Urasawa excels at suggestion more than anything– those wonderful last page cliffhangers of so many chapters– I just remember so many giant panels of people looking terrified not by something happening but someone saying that something had happened. So much of the book is people telling stories about things that had already happened. That’s taken away from him for the ending.

17 books of “what is that Johann up to”– it’s hard not to want more. When it comes time to see Johann be present on the page, it’s competing with the Johann of the Imagination that Urasawa so skillfully created.

The actual character arcs– I think a problem with Monster (though a problem I’m impressed by, in terms of its nerviness…?) is the length of time Tenma goes missing. I think Urasawa solves that in 20th Century Boys by having that be more of an ensemble piece, but… Of course, I haven’t read the ending of 20th Century Boys yet, and I’d be deeply shocked if he found a successful way to end that series, given how much further he goes with the shocks & twists and the level of building craziness upon craziness.

For me, Urasawa’s really at his best at around the volume 4 or 5 mark of whatever he’s working on, when he’s just really settled into his universe and can leap around chapter by chapter adding multiple strains of incident and tension at-will, but when he’s also starts weaving in pay-off moments. Tenma vs. that whacked-out Detective in Volume 5 or 6 is just some of the best stuff ever. The short guy with the fingernail clippers. That amazing stretch with the recovering alcoholic detective. Any chapter with Tenma’s wife, especially– god, I loved those.

He’s one of my all-time favorite guys, notwithstanding the endings.

No matter how you slice it, Monster is definitely up there on my best continuing series of 2008 list. Now to brace myself for the end…

Case in point, the huge role that books play in the second half of the series, how the Monster is created and all that.

I saw Tenma and Johann as the two main forces an author has to fight with, when creating a work of fiction.

Tenma – the good guy – as the author´s side that is necessarily in love with the characters he created, who wants to preserve them, save them and keep the safe from harm.

Johann on the other hand as the destructive force, that knows that there must be destruction, tragedy, to propell the story forward to a conclusion.

So is Monster just an author´s extend internal monologue on how to treat his creations? Might be. Might be I´m reading too much into it. But at the very least I think people are not giving Urasawa quite as much credit as would be due.

there is a book that came after the series
“Another Monster”
I think it fleshes out some stuffs. I haven’t gone through what was translated yet haha. but if you know japanese, go for it.

Here’s the place that has 19 of 31 chapter translated… if you care that is.
http://www.mangascreener.com/stephen/monster/am/amonster.html

Myself, I’m sort of ambivalent about the way so many manga end up getting “hog tied” at the end…if that’s the metaphor I’m looking for. Most of the time (eg, Junji Ito’s “Tomie” series) I just go “oh” at the end (since those are a series of stories to begin with), but sometimes (30% of the time?) I get the “wtf?” moment at the end you’re talking about.

Best advice is probably–sit down and write us a review. That oughta clarify things, and I’d appreciate such a thing since I’m leery of spending a couple of days reading a series that is supposedly great but ultimately baffling.