A Monstriosity
Archived from Nov 02, 2023:
It has been oddly quiet here for a place called The Cacophony, and for that I must apologise. Life has been…Happening™ over here. I haven’t been publishing for lack of writing, but rather for the type of writing that was happening. I was writing, and I needed it to just be for me and finding a thread of sanity. I promise you, my writing during a 2 week long spiral/existential crisis/loss of meaning is not terribly engaging, interesting or cathartic for anyone but me. Of course, my own bullshit and shortcomings aside, creeping existential dread is not nearly enough to actually stop my brain from churning out more noise. And so, welcome back and happy belated Halloween; let’s talk about monsters.
Monster is, in my humble opinion, a masterpiece. Anime, manga, take your pick; they’re both tense, stress inducing cat and mouse stories that drag you in and don’t let you go for thousands of pages or dozens of episodes.
Before I go on, I want to make a quick clarification for those who don’t know. I get that, especially for people who don’t enjoy it or intentionally consume it, “anime” is generally associated to a young person with extraordinary powers who is asked to save the world through a needlessly complex combat system. This certainly does describe some anime/manga, but that’s referred to as Shonen, specifically. Just like North American animation, or any other medium for that matter, anime and manga are just that, mediums to tell a story of any genre. For more information on this, buy me 3 beers and ask me to show you the 30 page powerpoint I made about anime for a friend of mine. All of this to say; Monster is not fantastical. It is cruel, violent but it is not unbelievable. When a person is maimed, they need a hospital or they will die, when neo-nazis try to burn down the Turkish sector of a German town, they intend to kill innocent people.
Monster tells a story of murder, false accusations and the horrors carried out by governments against their own people, taking place after the fall of the Berlin Wall. It is laden with intrigue and phenomenal characters, a stress inducing page turner from start to finish. I am going to do my best to avoid major spoilers while talking about it here, but if this sounds up your alley and you’re sensitive to spoilers, I strongly encourage you to seek it out for yourself.
Monster revolves around a renown surgeon named Kenzo Tenma who works at a prestigious German hospital. The main antagonist Johan Liebert and main inspiration for the title, is obsessed with the dynamic of holding someone’s life in his hands, and through many years, develops an obsession with Tenma. Johan, through direct violence, coercion and deception drives Tenma into exile, where he amasses allies and enemies as he tries to prove his own innocence. Johan is, indeed, monstrous, but he is hardly the only monster in the story.
At the beginning of the series, Tenma works at the hospital and is engaged to the daughter of the hospital director, well on his way to becoming head of neurosurgery. One evening, a Turkish worker is brought in, and as he prepares for surgery, Tenma is told he will be performing on a famous German opera singer instead. Both surgeries are carried out, with Tenma saving the singer. The Turkish man dies. Days later, his widow confronts Tenma in the hospital; she slams her fists into his chest, demanding he return her husband. She knows he was there first, she knows he was devalued and let to die in the name of fame and national pride. Despite having saved a life, Tenma is suddenly confronted with the loss he could have prevented, had politics not entered his medial sphere. By the director, he is praised, told that his goals of advancing his field are closer to reality every day. While having dinner with his wealthy fiancée, he tries to express his heartbreak at the man’s death, his regret at following orders. She smiles sweetly, heart shaped gemstone glimmering at her throat.
“After all, people’s lives aren’t created equal.”
Johan is the antagonist, yes but Tenma is surrounded by monsters to begin with, but within a culture of othering, capital and punishment, these people are seen as successful, as leaders, as aspirational. They wield the power to help or hinder, doing whichever personally benefits them most in the moment. They contribute to the consolidation of power around a handful of people whose success is so often conflated with competence and worse, with morality. Monster isn’t just about extreme circumstances driving people to the brink of violence and devastation, but about the ambient monstrosity of a culture that genuinely believes some people don’t have a right to safety, health and joy. It criticizes a society that normalizes a hierarchy and at best, denies safety, while at worst, inflicts harm. It peels back the veneer of normalcy of something seemingly as good as healthcare to reveal that we do not need fantasy for monsters to exist; they look just like us. To engage with Monster meaningfully isn’t to only hope Tenma catches up to Johan, but it is to marvel at his unwavering character, his willingness to help those in every way he can. It is to know that the extreme monstrosity of Johan is found in the very real fascists in our world, and to root for the protagonist is to know that standing against fascism is what having unwavering belief in justice and safety looks like in practice. I know manga and anime aren’t for everyone, but if you’re to ever give it a try, I beseech that you try Monster. It is gruesome and violent but it is, ultimately, hopeful. It is about the tenacity and willingness to be kind in a cruel world. Monster is a masterpiece.
Thank you for your patience, friends. As I said, I have been writing, but I’ve also been painting, reading and playing possibly too many video games. Being back at the brewery full time has really messed up my sleep schedule, but working on evening myself out. What have you been up to lately? Did you dress up for Halloween?
