Monster [Dub] Review

[badman]

 

Monster (2004) is somewhat of an anomaly. It first aired in Japan in 2004, until VIZ Media licensed it for North America in 2009, where it was shown on the Syfy netmork in its entirety. After this, one volume was released on DVD before the license was dropped by VIZ Media. Where does this leave us in 2014?

 

BEST FACES

 

Luckily, Monster is a good anime that will eventually find a home with another distributor, but occasionally this sort of thing happens. The odd thing is how great the dub is. It was produced by Salami Studios, using many actors in the area who have appeared in Bang Zoom and Studiopolis Productions. Consequently, this is what made the acting pool for Monster so diverse. While most minor characters and extras are played by veterans (Michael McConnohie, Kirk Thornton and Stephanie Sheh, to name a few), the main cast are a bit newer to the field, and better able to capture their character's essence without being as prolific as other VA's.

 

Not many anime are like this one, and when I began watching it, I thought of Blood+, another well cast anime of similar length. The dubs are of similar quality, and both worth watching, but Blood+ definitely has its flaws.

 

Because of Monster's 74 episode length, it allows for more talent to be featured in the ADR, rather than your average 26-episode or 11-episode series. Shorter anime naturally have smaller casts, and can also be more of a gamble for english viewers.

 

Up until episode 23~25-ish, there were a few throw-away episodes scattered around that really sucked. They just had no importance, and they really slowed the plot to a standstill. Episode 18 "Five Sugars" was one of the worst, it's actually funny how ridiculously bad it is. Fortunately, there hasn't been anything like that since the 23~25 mark. I never had any real doubts about this series' quality, and I highly recommend watching it. It makes up for all the slow points.

 

Right now I am watching episode 65. I will be updating as it nears the end. Right now, it's incredibly good and I really hope the ending is good. Series' like this, that rely on mystery and suspense, can do very well and then completely flounder on the way to a resolution. I just hope i won't be disappointed.

 

Episode 68 now, i really hope the ending is "a bunch of people die", and not "i've discovered who i am!". Hopefully.

Edited June 5, 2014 by BadmanEncodes