Doctor Kenzo Tenma is a promising young brain surgeon who makes an ill-fated decision to save the life of a young boy who had been shot in the head over the life of the Mayor. This decision turn out to be the beginning of the end of his good fortune. The boy lives and becomes the Monster and possibly the Antichrist. The good Doctor is then plunged into a struggle to find this cold blooded killer and try to stop him before all of humanity is lost.

Highlights

Monster, Box Set One covers the first 15 episodes of the 74 episode anime series. It sets the stage for the drama to play out. The beginning puts the tragic aura around Doctor Tenma. He comes across as a humble aspiring doctor who is headed for a stellar career. There is just the little issue of hospital politics. The head of the hospital would rather treat important people than those who are less deserving. When Kenzo turn to the basic principles of the Hippocratic Oath, he finds the cold reality that just being gifted is not enough. The death of the Mayor is blamed on his non-action even though there where 2 other Doctors taking care of the Mayor. The fact that their incompetence was the main reason the Mayor dies is not the point. The point was that Dr. Tenma turned his gifts to save a poor boy who was not going to bring any fortunes to the Hospital. The irony is that, in hindsight, he should have let the boy die. 

Kenzo's life begins to spiral downward, but then suddenly the head of the hospital and the two doctors who worked on the Mayor end up dead. Kenzo looses his fiance, whose father was the head of the hospital. The boy saved by Dr. Tenma and his twin sister go missing from the hospital. No one connects the two things and Dr. Tenma is made the head of surgery and 9 years pass like nothing is wrong. 

A string of murders begin to happen and one day a man reveals that the Monster is coming to Kenzo. One thing leads to another and Kenzo discovers the truth and that the serial murderer is Johan, the boy he saved. He realizes that he must stop him and the quest begins. 

Overall

I found a great deal of this to be worthy of much praise and it is clear why this story has won so many awards and found its place in the manga and anime world. The one thing that comes out is that the main characters are so very tragic. Almost too tragic.  It seems as though, as the series progresses, Urasawa was looking for ways to out do the prior tragedy, but there is no character more tragic than Kenzo Tenma. It feels as though Naoki Urasawa wanted to tell the world that if you are good it is a waste of time and that you will always be sorry for doing the right thing.  I even found myself laughing at a point where every step of he way it just got heavier and heavier. I thought the character would just pop due to excess bad karma.

Of course I was glued to the story and found it to be a real grabber of a story. It started hard and cold but sucked me in and would not let me go. Even the opening music tract is mysteriously bitter sweet. I did find it very easy to want more even though I know it will be awhile before I learn the outcome.

Naoki Urasawa is a masterful weaver of a tale and you never know where it will lead you. If you know the series and want to get to know it better, or if you are not familiar but love a good suspense thriller, this is for you. It is rated M for mature, but that is for the mature nature of the subject matter and some of the murder scenes are a little graphic. This one is a real hit that should be given serious consideration.

ComicsOnline gives Monster, Box Set 1, 5 out of 5 Boys from Brazil.