I happened to discover this spectacular series as a recommendation from the forums of http://myanimelist.net/. I was searching some anime with psychological tweaks, as I was impressed by what Death Note had to offer. And that brought me to this title. Conventionally, before I start with any anime, I always like to check the first episode; whether that casts some major effect upon me or not. In this case, I was remarkably astonished at its potential. The very first episode is enough in itself to hook anyone with a knack for mind-games and it goes without saying that it’s not an overstatement. It’s not uncommon that some anime tends to start magnificently but fails to keep up the level and eventually transforms into a mass of disappointment. However, with Monster, I can assure that is not the case. Although, it is troublesome to understand certain turn of events (especially the end to me), it continues to rise up until the penultimate episode, reaching the climax at it, and then it concludes in the 74th chapter as an epilogue. The vastness of the series allowed the story to be more elaborate, and it necessarily involves larger number of characters than a 12-episode or a 24-episode anime. Nearly each episode introduces a new character more or less, and depicts his/her emotions, behaviours, thought processes quite neatly in a manner that seems to grow upon oneself. Still, it does not feel overcrowded at any moment. Each individual has parts to play to make the story progress. Again, no character is purely white, nor is it absolute dark. Each one has its own individual tone colour. There'll be certain times when one would definitely wonder as to how could we be certain about the moral stability of any person we know? Among the other notable aspects of Monster, dialogues are concise, background scores are fantastic, and animation is marvellous. I didn't have the opportunity to enjoy the manga beforehand. Therefore, I can't compare the two, but what I learned from others is that, this anime follows the manga precisely page by page. Then again, that's hearsay evidence. I can't possibly comment on that yet. Nevertheless, if I ever try the manga (and I do believe I'll try soon enough), then I'll perhaps add my experience there with the manga.