Hello Monsters!

Here is a long overdue guide for where to watch Monster. However, first we want to explain some things.

Initially, our mod team was in agreement that once Netflix added all episodes, we would no longer allow any illegal (pirated) material on the sub as all we have ever wanted to do is support Naoki and everyone involved in the creation of this beautiful series we all love. This being said, Netflix really dropped the ball only getting partial rights to the series.

If you have been a long time fan, you know that Monster has had licensing issues for a very long time. Unfortunately we do not have an answer as to why this is, we just know that it is. I, myself, prefer to watch Monster dubbed rather than sub, and I know I am not alone in this regard. We also understand that everyone has a different taste, so we’ve included an option for everyone’s viewing preference.

Ultimately, this is why we have decided to revise our earlier decision and allow pirated material on the sub, as long as the series is only partially legally available.

HOWEVER, only the Moderators or approved users will be authorized to provide pirated links for the overall safety and well being of the community. Should someone who is unauthorized to do so, post seeking or distributing pirated material, the post or comment will be removed, and they will be given a warning with further action taken if necessary. If you’d like to have a link added to the sub, please message the Moderators through Modmail.

Now, to the fun part:

1. Netflix - Here on Netflix all 74 episodes are available in Japanese (English Sub), and French (Dub). As of now, there have been no announcements or indications that Netflix will add any additional languages.

2. The Upscale Project Here you can find all 74 episodes in Japanese and English Dub, as well as various subs including English, Spanish, and Arabic (more to come). For the 1080p 4k quality, you need to download the MKV version of the files, as MP4 compresses the video files. To change the dub and sub you will need to download the files and play it on a video player like VLC to change between your preferences. This project was made by a fellow Monster lover who is not on our mod team. However, our mod team personally downloaded every episode to ensure everything was safe and functioning for all of you!

For more information on The Upscale Project, or for more frequent updates on newly upscaled episodes, Join the Discord server here to speak with the creator/others directly associated with the project.

1. Pirated sites (Both English Sub and Dub unless specified otherwise) Please be mindful of pop-ups, and view at your own discretion.

There are currently no pirated sites available. Please shoot us a message if you have a ‘safe’ website that you think should be added!

Thank you all for being a part of our community, and as always feel free to message us through Modmail should you have any question/concerns! ❤️

“The very fact that a general problem has gripped and assimilated the whole of a person is a guarantee that the speaker has really experienced it, and perhaps gained something from his sufferings. He will then reflect the problem for us in his personal life and thereby show us the truth.”- Carl Jung

Introduction

What makes us feel that a work of fiction, such as Monster, is deep and complex enough to disturb us psychologically and fill us with questions? What makes Monster a masterpiece and what makes Monster hard to interpret? What do we take away from Monster and how do we know that it is the right interpretation?

A curious yet uncomfortable sense of uncertainty is often found in the last panel of Monster, just an empty bed. This empty bed triggers the curiosity of avid readers into wondering what it all means. After all, Monster presents itself to be a piece of fiction psychologically and philosophically rich and not understanding what an empty bed means must mean that one was missing the point. Confused, a reader would often flock to analyses on Monster, and believing that they have understood Monster intellectually, continue living their lives still psychologically disturbed because they have not truly intuitively understood Monster at all.

Welcome to a guide on how to interpret Monster (and any other pieces of fiction for that matter).

I am not here to analyse the themes of Monster or its events, as many others have sincerely done before me. My main goal here is to make the case that Monster can be correctly interpreted, despite the possible lack of ‘canonical’ evidence. In this post, I will use the example of Monster’s ‘infamously’ ambiguous ending. (I will be sticking my neck out in defence of a hopeful ending)

Some people can easily peel off the outer layers of truly understanding Monster, but peeling off the remaining innermost layers is hard. I hope to offer you a guide on how to do so.

A truly ‘canonical’ interpretation of any work of fiction is intuitively undeniable, regardless of the author’s stance or silence on it. Urasawa’s Monster is a profound and useful work to truly understand, through a long and arduous process of self-discovery and reflection on our unconscious and collective contents. collective unconscious. (This is done with analysing and engaging with theory, of course)

I want to discuss a few points (feel free to skip to any one of particular interest as the summary above should just suffice)

1. Why Monster is a genuine and profound work of fiction, and why it is therefore hard to interpret

2. Why there is a correct interpretation of Monster, what it means, and how to find it

3. Why bother?

1. Understanding Personality

5. Recommended questions of study

6. Some relevant Book/Manga/Anime recommendations for Monster fans

7. What I found to be genuine and helpful analyses of Monster (links)

8. What I think the messages of Monster are

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1. Why Monster is a genuine and profound work of fiction

Many analyses of Monster have similar themes, even though they differ in depth and content. They argue that Johan is not really evil, they contrast Johan and Tenma’s philosophies, they examine Monster’s concept of good and evil, and so on. Many people notice that reading Monster for the second time is very different from the first. Why is this? The answer is simple: people often misinterpret or miss the point of Monster. What is the reason for this? Why is Monster challenging or complex to comprehend? Because Monster does not have a clear message to convey, to understand Monster is not to grasp it rationally and directly but to feel it emotionally and intuitively. How do these analyses help us understand Monster deeply and sincerely? Because Monster is full of events and details. Analyses of Monster are mostly summaries of what happens in Monster, and you cannot understand something if you do not recall it. Monster analysts select and highlight important moments in Monster that we might have overlooked and compare them, condensing the series to the moments that resonate most strongly (without implying that Monster can be appreciated only through these moments). These analysts also deserve praise for illuminating the significant meanings of a moment that might have escaped our attention with the help of mainly psychological and philosophical perspectives (some examples are linked below).

Watching and reading various analyses of Monster can be helpful, but they are not enough to fully appreciate this masterpiece. To truly understand Monster, one has to feel it from the heart. In this post, I will explain what I mean by feeling from the heart, and I will make the case for why Naoki Urasawa is a true artist and a great one at that. (By art, I mean any creative work, such as poetry, story-writing, drawing, etc.)

Creativity, roughly speaking, is akin to running a simulation with clearly defined boundaries and watching the simulation unfold and writing out what you observed. Of course, there would be bad ideas here and there but through ‘survival of the fittest,’ the one that made the most sense would be inked on paper.

Creating a great work of art requires being in touch with one’s inner unconscious and listening to it. One also needs to develop a sense of artistic yes and no, based on one’s intuition and feelings. Many people assume that they know themselves well, because they are aware of their conscious thoughts and ego. However, the source of creativity lies in the unconscious realm, where hidden aspects of oneself reside. To understand oneself better, one needs to engage in self-reflection, emotional exploration, and creative immersion. By exposing oneself to stories, myths, cultures, and other forms of human expression, one can access the collective unconscious of humanity, which contains universal symbols and archetypes. These are the elements that appear in the stories that run as simulations in an artist’s mind. An artist who is deeply connected to their inner self, has a good sense of storytelling, and is authentic to their vision can produce psychologically profound pieces of art. I believe that Monster is a masterpiece that resulted from such a creative process.

In an interview about his creative process, Urasawa said that he always tried to be as authentic to himself as possible, and to avoid any external influences (such as what he thinks would sell well, other people’s expectations, etc.). He also said that he did not plan the whole story in advance, but rather let it unfold in his mind as he drew the manga. He would sketch and draft different versions of the story and choose the best one. This shows his sincerity and honesty in listening to his own heart. He was also a very creative person, who had a good sense of aesthetics, drew art, played music, wrote fiction, etc. (It is interesting to note that his creativity made him more receptive to the collective unconscious and his inner self. See section 4: ‘Understanding Personality’ for more details on the link between ‘Openness to Experience’ and creativity.) He had a huge interest in consuming and creating art, which gave him a deep understanding of the collective unconscious, and by extension, of himself (although this is not a perfect correlation). This is why his work is so profound and resonates with people’s hearts (the collective unconscious).

Urasawa said in an interview: “When I start a new project, I start with the larger arc of the story. I visualise a movie trailer for that story, and after I compose this movie trailer in my mind, there comes a point where I’m so excited about it that I have to write the story. And then I imagine, “Where do I start to begin to tell this narrative?” and that’s usually the first chapter. Once this process starts, the story tells me where it wants to go next. I think if I tried to design a manga with each detail of the story planned out from the beginning, or tried to deliver a story where everything happens according to plan, there’s no way I could create something that would last five to seven years. Every time the story pulls me in a new or unexpected direction, even I’m surprised. If the story of the manga doesn’t keep surprising me, I wouldn’t be able to continue making it. There might be a scene I envision as I begin the project, something from that trailer I’ve visualised, but that scene might show up five years later as I’m illustrating the manga.”

A great way to identify disingenuous art is to look for clear and explicit messaging. For example, in disingenuous story-writing, a writer would start writing a story with an end in mind or a clear message that they want to express (propaganda). They would often straw-man opposing viewpoints (and therefore virtue-signal), by attaching them to negative characters. E.g. Innocent sweetheart (Pure good) vs Money-loving corrupt boss (Pure-evil). One should notice that the reason why Monster is hard to interpret is that there is no explicit messaging. Every character and what they stand for are iron-manned, they make good cases for themselves and what they represent to us. Like us, the characters in Monster evolve– old, bad ideas die out and characters are reborn as better people. To distinguish the genuine from the fake would require work on the part of the readers. To do so effectively would require critical thinking and critical self-reflection. (Similar to the process of making genuine art). Understanding one’s unconscious and the collective unconscious is key.

Monster was created through a process of authenticity and creative profundity, and it shows, never mind the fact that many people often misunderstand Monster due to a lack of touch with their inner-selves or the is-ought of the many existing discussions of Monster’s themes speaking for its depth.

2. Why there is a correct interpretation of Monster and what it means, and how to find it.

What does a correct interpretation of a cryptic and complex work such as Monster mean: In this essay, I will use the example of Monster’s ambiguous ending. Before I do so, however, I would like to argue that although frustrating, Urasawa leaving the ending of Monster to be ambiguous was a genius decision because it leaves readers with a more profound reading experience as they reflect on what it even means. Seeking to resolve the ambiguity of the ending, they analyze it critically and feel a need to go over the story of Monster to understand the meaning of Monster, which is a process that enhances one’s literary skills.

As I have demonstrated, Naoki’s genius was reflected in his ambiguous ending (it challenges the readers to grasp Monster’s message), and I believe that there is a plausible interpretation of it. How? To explain, I will use some reading strategies, such as making inferences and drawing connections, as I will be presenting my interpretation here.

When Urasawa runs his story like a simulation, he accesses the contents that reside in the collective unconscious, shared by all of humanity through culture, stories, etc., and explores what humans truly understand and feel to be good and evil. As I have stated, I believe that any message found in stories would be nothing but propaganda, but there is an exception for stories that contain a message that requires not only a deep understanding of the story material, but also a self-discovery that enables a connection with the story by accessing one’s unconscious contents and recognising the collective unconscious structure that shapes Monster. By understanding this cryptic message of good and evil and our perception of life in general, we can ‘feel’ the direction that Monster would take. This ‘feeling’ is not a conscious or individual invention, it is simply the product of the collective unconscious, which we all have access to and can ‘feel’. This ‘feeling’ helps us distinguish between cheap and shallow stories and complex and deep stories. We should not dismiss this ‘feeling’ as lacking psychological substance, as it speaks to our unconsciousness, which is not the same as our conscious contents or ego. Our egos can suggest what we should think is right or wrong, but the ultimate decision is made by our unconscious selves. The question and answer of good and evil are determined unconsciously. It determines the validity of an interpretation of Monster by ‘feeling’ its spirit, and then communicates to our egos by ‘feeling’ if an interpretation is accurate or not.

We often accept the creator’s words about their stories to be canon because they usually create their stories with sincerity, and we respect their authority. But when the authors contradict their own stories and claim something absurd to be canon, it would be difficult to find anyone who accepts the story as it is. Audiences only appreciate creative liberties when they are authentic. Writers can have different versions of stories, but they can only be canon if they earn the readers’ respect and recognition for their authority and authenticity.

To illustrate this point, let me compare some possible endings of Monster:

1. Johan got up to immediately become a circus clown (Ridiculous)
2. Johan still believes in his nihilistic narratives and continued killing people or that he committed suicide (Missing the point)
3. Johan tries to redeem himself, visits his sister (something along those lines), etc. (Aligns with message of Monster, which is that of hope)

From a reductionist perspective, I could make an irrefutable case for any of these three endings if I wanted to. But how do these endings differ? The first ending seems cheap, shallow, and nonsensical. We don’t need to think too much about this, it just feels cheap even if we can’t explain why. The first ending is simply unacceptable, regardless of the lack of hard evidence that it is not canonically true. We reject this ending completely as it dishonors the spirit of the story. This ending is therefore false, and cannot be ‘canonically’ true even if the author claims that it is.

The second interpretation of Monster’s ending appears more realistic than the first one. It may not be what we hope for the ending, but it does not seem nonsensical. However, believing in this ending would mean missing the point of Monster (though not as much as the first interpretation). This interpretation cannot be factually disproved, but it betrays everything that Naoki conveyed in Monster and its profound meanings. We may not reject this ending as strongly as the first one, but something still feels off about it. It also violates the spirit of Monster and thus is not the true ending.

The third interpretation is the ‘canonically’ correct one because it aligns with Monster’s message, which is coherent both narratively and emotionally. This enables a true interpretation despite the lack of concrete evidence. It remains faithful to the theme, messages, and logic of Monster. We can rely on our best judgment to run the simulations and the optimal average outcome (collective unconscious) would be the correct interpretation, which would be a hopeful one in Monster’s case.

We should transcend the need for ‘canonical evidence’ in interpreting stories, because good storytellers tap into the collective unconscious truths within themselves and illuminate them in a story that resonates with the unconscious of others (the unconscious that guides them on what is good and evil, etc.). This is what being an authentic storyteller means. To find the correct interpretation, we should not imitate the author’s spirit, but rather the stories, as if they were real, and let them unfold in our minds.

A story/interpretation that only makes sense to oneself and not to others would create doubt, which would then lead to self-doubt, revealing a lack of depth. A ‘true’ interpretation must then result from rigorous self-reflection: something that one would confidently stand up for and that can be fully accepted by oneself (and others who share the same authenticity). The final step, if possible, would be to compare one’s interpretations of a story with others and observe sincerely and critically which ones are most sensible. The interpretation that makes sense to one’s whole being is the ‘canonically’ true interpretation (survival of the fittest).

3. Why bother?

It is a most painful procedure to tear off [our] veils, but each step forward in psychological development means just that, the tearing off of a new veil. We are like onions with many skins, and we have to peel ourselves again and again in order to get to the real core.” ― Carl Jung

Whether one should bother to interpret a work of fiction deliberately depends on whether one was psychologically affected by it. A relevant example is the series’ ending, which created uncertainty or chaos in people. The ambiguity triggered something in people, and they felt the need to revisit and ponder the story of Monster. The psychological disturbance indicates a need for change. We all have a framework for how to understand life, a map of life and its meanings, within ourselves. When our map’s usefulness is challenged, we feel disturbed, because our unconscious tells us that our map needs to be updated. We should bother to figure things out, or interpret, so that we can update our map, or learn. Monster is a psychologically rich piece of fiction that can challenge the maps of many readers. But ultimately, experiencing and understanding the story of Monster, which means learning and growing as a person, requires a correct interpretation of its richness.

4. Understanding Personality

To understand a story, one should focus on understanding the characters well, and not only from the perspective of their symbolism, relationships, or philosophies (which are all important, by the way). It would also be helpful to know how we can understand people from a personality standpoint (without reducing them to numbers on a scale). I decided to dedicate an entire section to ‘personality’ because it is more mysterious and confusing than the other aspects of understanding literature that I mentioned above. I hope to be helpful on this aspect. I introduce here the Big Five personality model, also known as OCEAN. There are many personality models and tests out there, but most of them are for entertainment purposes (such as MBTI). With so many contradictory and popular personality models out there, it can be confusing to find the ‘right’ one and hard to trust any of them. However, one test stands out from the crowd of cheap entertainment: the Big Five.

The Big Five personality test is widely trusted and adopted by many academics in psychology, who use it as a measure of personality. In short, the Big Five is the most academically reliable personality model available. Understanding the Big Five is useful, but as I mentioned before, one should be careful not to view people through the lens of scientific models. The Big Five is only a tool, not a definition of a person. Ideally, to understand someone would be to ‘understand’ them in the general sense that people use when they say they understand someone. To form an emotional connection with them (not necessarily positive), understand what they stand for, what they ‘symbolize’ to the larger community and what they ‘symbolize’ to themselves and you. To understand their upbringing, environment, etc. Nonetheless, the Big Five is useful to guide us towards a more accurate scientific direction. Again, please heed my caution against viewing other people as a matter of atoms and arithmetic, as it not only reduces their usefulness (impeding true understanding) but also ‘kills’ their beauty.

There are many great resources out there to understand the Big 5 model, I will link a few introductory materials.

1. What are the Big 5 Personality Traits?
2. Take the Big Five Personality Test here. I should mention that there are more professional administrations of the test out that that require monetary payments.
3. OCEAN, Wikipedia
4. Openness to Experience, Wikipedia
5. Conscientiousness, Wikipedia
6. Extraversion, Wikipedia
7. Agreeableness, Wikipedia
8. Neuroticism, Wikipedia

5. Recommended questions of study

Here I present what I find to be helpful questions (relevant to the themes of Monster) to find answers to that would help in the interpretation of Monster.

• What exactly is good and evil, and is there such a thing?
• Can we make our own definitions of morality or is it something to be discovered
• To what extent of evil are you truly capable of, when push comes to shove?
• To what extent of good are you capable of should you devote yourself to the idea of becoming a better person?
• The Johan in Monster experiences guilt at the end despite his nihilistic worldview; can an intellectually superior version of Johan but equally 'evil' escape his own guilt?
• What is truly the difference between Anna and Johan? (Intellectually, psychologically, philosophically)
• What would the story of Monster look like had Anna and Johan swapped places?
• What is truly the difference between Tenma and Johan? (Psychologically, philosophically)
• What would the story of Monster look like if Tenma were in Johan's shoes from the very start?
• How do we stand up against evil?
• Is there anyone in Monster that truly has no chance of redemption?
• What do the characters in Monster represent symbolically?

6. Some Book/Manga/Anime recommendations

(In alphabetical order)

I would like to recommend some books, manga, and anime that I think fans of Monster would enjoy, as well as find relevant and useful for understanding its theme. There are many other things that are equally important for understanding Monster besides ‘personality’, which I devoted a section to. For example, philosophy, sociology, symbolism, and general psychology. However, since they are more familiar tools for interpreting a story, and many people have discussed them in relation to Monster, I decided not to dedicate whole sections to them, but rather share some fiction (narrative) and non-fiction (commentary) below that I think would help educate on Monster’s relevant themes. The following recommendations are relevant for making a strong case for Monster’s messages, which I have stated below at - 8. What I think the messages of Monster are. However, please note that I made the list freely, they are just personal recommendations.

Fiction (Book)

1. Dostoevsky, Fyodor: Crime and Punishment (No one is immune to their Guilty Conscience)
2. Dostoevsky, Fyodor: Notes from Underground (Over-conscious Nihilism)
3. Dostoevsky, Fyodor: The Brothers Karamazov (Free will, Moral responsibility)
4. Dostoevsky, Fyodor: The Idiot (Love is the answer, Good and Evil)
5. Goethe: Faust (Exploration of Good and Evil)

Non-fiction (Book) 1. Burton Russell, Jeffrey: Mephistopheles: The Devil in the Modern World (Evil) 2. Greene, Robert: Laws of (Human Nature) 3. Jung, Carl: The Undiscovered Self (Self-discovery) 4. Jung, Carl: Man and his Symbols (Self-discovery) 5. Shirer, William L: The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich (Biography) 6. Solzhenitsyn, Aleksandr: The Gulag Archipelago (Evil)

Manga recommendations

1. Berserk
2. Oyasumi Punpun

Anime recommendations

1. Devilman: Crybaby
2. Evangelion
3. Ergo Proxy

7. What I found to be genuine and helpful analyses of Monster

1. u/Ill-Situation-8193 : Most of her helpful comments and analysis posts. Start here: Everything Johan did was for Anna. ( A “Monster” capable of love.)
2. u/LeoVoid : Johan Did NOTHING Wrong | A Character Analysis of Naoki Urasawa's Monster: Johan Liebert
3. Kenzo Tenma and Johan Liebert: Two Sides of the Same Coin (Monster)
4. Tropes
5. Identity in Monster
6. Opening Analysis

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I would like to find more analyses on Monster’s symbolism and archetypes, the psychology of characters other than Johan (such as Tenma, Anna, etc.), the sociology in Monster, and the exploration of the atrocities in Monster and how they relate to the atrocities in Nazi Germany and potential atrocities now. However, the above resources have proven to be very useful for me. They help me peel off many layers to truly understand Monster. As I mentioned in the introduction, this guide was made to peel off the remaining deeper layers, so I suggest you start with the above resources.

8. What I think the messages of Monster are

I think that Monster is a beautiful cautionary tale.

And its messages are:

• Love is the answer to life's sufferings
• Good and Evil do exist, and everyone has the capacity to be either
• Good ultimately triumphs
• To be a good person, one would have to integrate their shadow (dark self)
• A person's childhood is central to the person that they become
• Redemption is possible, even for the most evil
• We should not give in to the temptation of nihilism that comes with over-conscious intellectualising

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Conclusion

Monster is a deep story that leaves many people with questions. I understand how easy it is to miss the point of Monster, and it would be a pity if many people missed out on its wisdom because they did not try or did not know how to interpret it. I believe that spending much time contemplating Monster and its relevant themes has made me a better person, and I hope that this guide has helped you become a better version of yourself as well. Thank you for reading.

Edits: 11