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Dr. Kenzo Tenma is a brilliant Japanese surgeon living in Germany in 1985, engaged to the daughter of the head of the hospital where he works. Sure, he's writing theses that others put their names on and directed to operate on famous and rich patients so his skills make the hospital look good, but overall life is sweet.
Then two patients arrive in quick succession, a young boy shot in the head and the mayor who's had a stroke. The boy arrived first and should have priority, but Dr. Tenma is ordered to operate on the mayor. He disobeys, sticking to his principles that all lives are equal and his job is to help people, and operates on the boy. The mayor dies under the hands of a less skilled surgeon, Tenma's demoted, and his fiancee dumps him.
Then a sequence of very strange events occurs, in which the boy and his twin sister vanish without a trace, and several people in the hospital are murdered. Tenma regains his position, though he stays single, and his principles remain intact.
Ten years later, Tenma discovers that the boy he saved has become a stone-cold killer, leaving a trail of murders and broken lives. Is it Tenma's responsibility to stop him?
This manga has a fantastic premise and is fantastic all-round: very well-drawn characters (including very minor ones), striking cinematic art, assured plotting, lots of suspense, and genuinely deep moral issues. Sure, it's not literally Tenma's fault that someone he saved is killing people, but it's really about how much responsibility we have to do the right thing. Should we do right if it costs us? How far should we go? If everyone agrees that something isn't our fault, but no one else is doing anything about it, what then?
I have no idea where this is going, beyond the obvious cat-and-mouse setup, and I'm very excited to find out.
( Read more... )
Links go to the current in-print English editions, which are 2-in-1 volumes. This one contains v. 1-2. (Annoyingly, this means I am going to have to buy v. 11 twice as I don't have # 12 and the 1-volume editions are now out of print.)
Monster, Vol. 1: The Perfect Edition
Then two patients arrive in quick succession, a young boy shot in the head and the mayor who's had a stroke. The boy arrived first and should have priority, but Dr. Tenma is ordered to operate on the mayor. He disobeys, sticking to his principles that all lives are equal and his job is to help people, and operates on the boy. The mayor dies under the hands of a less skilled surgeon, Tenma's demoted, and his fiancee dumps him.
Then a sequence of very strange events occurs, in which the boy and his twin sister vanish without a trace, and several people in the hospital are murdered. Tenma regains his position, though he stays single, and his principles remain intact.
Ten years later, Tenma discovers that the boy he saved has become a stone-cold killer, leaving a trail of murders and broken lives. Is it Tenma's responsibility to stop him?
This manga has a fantastic premise and is fantastic all-round: very well-drawn characters (including very minor ones), striking cinematic art, assured plotting, lots of suspense, and genuinely deep moral issues. Sure, it's not literally Tenma's fault that someone he saved is killing people, but it's really about how much responsibility we have to do the right thing. Should we do right if it costs us? How far should we go? If everyone agrees that something isn't our fault, but no one else is doing anything about it, what then?
I have no idea where this is going, beyond the obvious cat-and-mouse setup, and I'm very excited to find out.
( Read more... )
Links go to the current in-print English editions, which are 2-in-1 volumes. This one contains v. 1-2. (Annoyingly, this means I am going to have to buy v. 11 twice as I don't have # 12 and the 1-volume editions are now out of print.)
Monster, Vol. 1: The Perfect Edition
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