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Book Review: Monster: The Perfect Edition, Vol 8 by Naoki Urasawa

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Monster: The Perfect Edition, Vol 8   

Author: Naoki Urasawa

Publisher: Viz Media

American release date: April 19, 2016

Format/Genre/Length: Paperback/Manga/Horror/432 pages

Overall Personal Rating: ★★★★★

Reviewer: Julie Lynn Hayes

 

Tenma has been asking questions about Eva’s bodyguard, trying to learn her whereabouts. The man roughs him up and refuses to tell him, but he lets Eva know he’s seen her ex. Tenma persists, returning the next night, with a gun. He tells the bodyguard he knows the Baby hired him, and he wants to know why. Martin explains that all she does is go to parties, and all she did for the Baby was point out a blond man with a pretty face. Of course, Tenma knows who that is.

Martin rushes back to the hotel. His instructions are to kill Eva, but he can’t bring himself to do that, so he asks her to run away with him. She says has no interest in that, so he gives her the address of Tenma’s hotel, trusting the doctor will keep her safe. When the men come for her, she isn’t there, and now he has to face the music. Martin is shot but lives, and manages to reach Tenma’s hotel, only to discover that Eva never arrived. Martin tells Tenma that the experiments at Red Rose Mansion are still going on, and now the devil has an apprentice in the form of Peter Capek. Tenma finds Eva at the train station and tells her what has happened.

Nina is trying to jog her memory by returning over and over to the Three Frogs. She tells Dieter he needs to go back to Munich, back to school, but he refuses and insists on accompanying her. She remembers being taken to the Red Rose Mansion, and something terrible happened, but what?

We’re finally at the beginning of the end. Everything is becoming clearer, and more and more people are becoming aware of what is going on. But can they stop it? Can they catch the devil before his final grand plan is set in motion? How is Franz Bonaparta at the center of everything? What exactly happened at 511 Kinderheim? And why?

One more volume to go, can’t wait!

Book Review: Monster: The Perfect Edition, Vol 7 by Naoki Urasawa

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Monster: The Perfect Edition, Vol 7   

Author: Naoki Urasawa

Publisher: Viz Media

American release date: January 19, 2016

Format/Genre/Length: Paperback/Manga/Horror/416 pages

Overall Personal Rating: ★★★★★

Reviewer: Julie Lynn Hayes

 

As the news spreads that the serial killer long sought by the police, Kenzo Tenma, has been taken into custody, certain people listen with disbelief. Detective Suk is determined to go to Prague to speak with Tenma before he is extradited back to Germany, but runs into two other detectives, who inform him that his name has been cleared thanks to a journalist named Grimmer. Meanwhile, Detective Lunge, who is supposedly on vacation, is also in Prague, following various leads. He learns certain things which point away from Tenma’s guilt. Will he believe them? Or is he too obsessed with the idea that Johan is Tenma’s alter ego?

In the jail, Tenma is called upon to treat a fellow prisoner, due to the doctor being otherwise occupied. The prisoner knows who Tenma is and asks if he wants to escape with him, but Tenma declines. An attorney, son of an accused spy, is enlisted to aid in Tenma’s defense at the request of a number of people, including a group of his former patients who all believe in his innocence. He goes to see Tenma, who tells him everything, and decides to take his case.

After his own meeting with the attorney, Dr. Reichwein goes back to Eva and tells her she needs to cooperate with the lawyer in order to help Tenma. But she isn’t interested in helping him. She wants to see him suffer for the rest of his life for breaking up with her. She blames him for the way her life turned out, rather than blaming herself. Tenma receives a surprise visitor – Roberto, the assassin he shot the night of the fire. Roberto tells him he might kill Eva. Now Tenma has no choice but to escape in order to save her.

There is so much going on in this volume. The tension is rising, and it feels like we are close to the end, to the truth. So many burning questions. Will Eva change her mind and testify for Tenma, now that she realizes she actually saw Johan that night? How are we supposed to tell the difference between Johan and Nina, when he looks just like her when he’s in disguise? The secrets of the Rose Red Mansion are coming out.  The story with Eva and the detective was pretty interesting, I’ll have to admit, although I can’t stand the woman. Will Tenma’s escape lead to anything? What will Nina do? Guess we have to wait for the next volume to find out.