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Naoki Urasawa's Monster #9

Monster, Chapitre 09 : Un monstre sans nom

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Tenma a décidé d'assassiner Johann et se tient prêt, caché dans la bibliothèque de l'université. Comment réagira Johann lorsqu'il réalisera que Tenma a une carabine pointée sur lui? La vie de fugitif de Tenma touche-t-elle à sa fin? La tension de l'histoire est à son comble!!

224 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 1998

12 people are currently reading
474 people want to read

About the author

Naoki Urasawa

356 books2,810 followers
Urasawa Naoki (浦沢直樹) is a Japanese mangaka. He is perhaps best known for Monster (which drew praise from Junot Díaz, the 2008 Pulitzer Prize winner) and 20th Century Boys.

Urasawa's work often concentrates on intricate plotting, interweaving narratives, a deep focus on character development and psychological complexity. Urasawa has won the Shogakukan Manga Award, the Japan Media Arts Festival excellence award, the Kodansha Manga Award and the Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize. In 2008 Urasawa accepted a guest teaching post at Nagoya Zokei University.

Series list (not including short stories collections):
- Pineapple ARMY (パイナップルARMY) 1985-1988, written by Kazuya Kudo;
- YAWARA! 1986-1993;
- Master Keaton (MASTERキートン) 1988-1994, written by Hokusei Katsushika;
- Happy! 1993-1999
- MONSTER 1994-2001
- 20th Century Boys (20世紀少年) 1999-2006
- 21st Century Boys (21世紀少年) 2007
- PLUTO 2003-2009, based on Tezuka Osamu's Tetsuwan Atom
- BILLY BAT 2008-2016
- Master Keaton Remaster (MASTERキートン Reマスター) 2012-2014
- Mujirushi (夢印-MUJIRUSHI-) 2017-2018, collaboration with Musée du Louvre
- Asadora! (連続漫画小説 あさドラ!) 2018-ongoing

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5 stars
1,803 (63%)
4 stars
842 (29%)
3 stars
182 (6%)
2 stars
21 (<1%)
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11 (<1%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 120 reviews
Profile Image for Rahul.
285 reviews21 followers
August 9, 2019
The best in the series so far. Filled with action, dilemma and pain. I am really frustrated with Agent Lunge , I want to beat shit out of him, why the fuck is he chasing innocent Dr.Tenma. This series is super psychological thriller.
Profile Image for Gabriel.
903 reviews1,142 followers
April 5, 2025
Ese maldito cuento es el típico cuento de hadas cruel que te deja de niño con muchísimo miedo. Da mucho repelus. Y es uno de los mejores materiales de esta historia, capaz el más divulgado y que causa curiosidad para quien está fuera o dentro de esta historia.

Ahora, en cuanto a este tomo y todo lo que se venía construyendo los hechos desembocan aquí y de alguna manera explota gracias a Johan. No del todo porque evidentemente no se resuelve el tema con el mencionado pero sí que se dan algunos conflictos existenciales y dilemas morales por parte de Tenma y lo que debe hacer o no, lo que es correcto o no.
Profile Image for Ahmed.
227 reviews30 followers
January 9, 2022
"Look at me ,
Look at me ,
the monster
Inside me
has grown
This large."
Profile Image for daph pink ♡ .
1,301 reviews3,289 followers
June 21, 2024
4 stars

This has to be my favourite volume by far; I loved how the children's story was introduced and how it connected to Johan's life. The readers are also left wondering what it truly means to be a monster after reading this. I think it's great that Johan and Anna are being brought back to let us realize who they were before everything.
Profile Image for Christina Pilkington.
1,846 reviews239 followers
January 21, 2023
Another exciting and suspenseful volume and another 5 star read!

The suspense and tension was so high in this volume. It was also very action packed. Can't wait to watch this part on the anime! And the way this volume ended? It's getting SOOO good!
Profile Image for Kaya Hayes.
Author 2 books13 followers
August 17, 2023
Good stuff all around, and I'm more than halfway to finishing this series now! I can't seem to put it down, and I need the next books from the library!
Profile Image for Kim Lockhart.
1,233 reviews194 followers
November 30, 2024
Note: I read what is known as the "perfect" edition of this series, which is complete in a nine volume set. So, for my version, vol nine was the conclusion. And what a spectacular and fully explosive conclusion it was.

Highly recommend this series. There is nothing quite like it.
Profile Image for Bradley.
Author 9 books4,873 followers
April 3, 2015
The reveals are delightfully slow and fraught, and the tension is fantastic. This is suspense at its highest praise. I'm fully invested and all of their decisions and conflicts are so natural. It's always one close call after another, but our nameless monster always steals the show.
Profile Image for Britton.
398 reviews88 followers
Read
July 5, 2022
"And I will keep on doing what I am doing to cut the ground from under those who want an opportunity to be considered equal with us in the things they boast about. For such people are false apostles, deceitful workers, masquerading as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light." 2 Corinthians 12-14

"He never sleeps. He says that he will never die. He dances in light and in shadow and he is a great favorite. He never sleeps, the judge. He is dancing, dancing. He says that he will never die.” - Blood Meridian

I tend to be a sucker for strong concepts. Give me a good hook for a story and I'll read it, even if it doesn't entirely grab me in the end. Much of the time, I'm disappointed when a concept is misused or the author/artist doesn't explore the concept's full potential, merely touching upon it to get the readers hooked and then going on about their own interests or in the worst-case scenario, destroying the momentum that's been built. But Monster is different, as it's the rare series that delivers on its concept, while also being a very fast paced, entertaining story.

I've tried to expand my horizons in the world of comics and read foreign comics, and manga has been on that list of foreign comics to read. I've read several manga such as Lone Wolf and Cub, Akira, Bastard, and Death Note which I've enjoyed to various degrees, but the name Naoki Urasawa has come up with almost religious reverence in the circles that I've come across in the manga fandom. I'm happy to say that Urasawa is a writer-artist combination who proves to be as skilled of a storyteller as he is a draughtsman.

Urasawa shows himself to be a master of pacing, a master of suspense, and a master storyteller. While Monster starts off slowly, Urasawa keeps the audience invested with deft plotting and intricate attention to character, before taking the audience on a wild ride from beginning to end. Much of his skill also comes from his sense of the mystique, giving us little niblets of a much grander mystery that keeps his audience coming back for more. It is this ability that kept me coming back for more. I was impressed with the psychological progression of the characters, how their beliefs change throughout the story, and how they grow from the experiences that they go through during the events of the story.

Urasawa's art is likewise skilled, it is cartoon-like, while also being filled with character and personality. All his characters have distinct designs, and a character rarely looks similar to the other. An issue I often find with manga art is that all the characters look like children, and at their oldest late teens to early 30s. I wouldn't be surprised if Urasawa was influenced by the artwork of Katsuhiro Otomo, as he shares his eye for detail and distinct characteristics of his characters. Though Urasawa's art often runs toward the gothic. My friend Dave put it nicely when he said that this series has such an ominous and otherworldly feel that it sometimes feels fantastic.

Proof of this idea is with the main antagonist Johan, the titular monster, someone who is so detached from the rest of humanity that it seems that he is something otherworldly. Like Anton Chigurh or The Joker, Johan's evil is something that is so incomprehensible to the human psyche, that even when his motives are clear we are still unable to penetrate why he does what he does. What makes him so frightening isn't that he's particularly malicious or sadistic, it's that he is completely indifferent towards the lives around him, including his own. Urasawa plays his cards beautifully by never showing Johan too much or stooping to cliches where he taunts the heroes, he proves to be more of a force of nature than a cartoon bad guy.

Much of the series explores the relationship of protagonist Dr. Tenma and Johan and how both effect the world around them. They're not merely enemies, but existential opposites who are forced to collide. As Robert McGee pointed out, a protagonist's journey is only as good as the forces that antagonize him. Tenma's journey is ripe with struggle as he uncovers the mystery of who Johan is and all the forces that seek him for good or ill. Yet what allows Tenma to win is the fact that he chooses to hang on to being good, despite being in a world that is so transparently corrupt, becoming just as incomprehensible to the people who want to exploit or use him for their own ends.

I was also very surprised with the depth of the side characters that Urasawa introduced and how many stories he weaved into the story without losing the threads of the main plot. While they might seem frivolous at first glance, Urasawa always manages to find a way to weave them back into the main story somehow, where no detail is lost in the abyss. Much of the emotion that I felt through the series came from the side characters often, and Urasawa proves to be as gifted with characterization as Stephen King, creating characters with depth and nuance that gives the story its heart despite all the horrors that happen in it.

I continually stand in awe with how Urasawa manages to connect all these seemingly loose threads together to create one big story. It's rare that a story delivers on its core concept so adroitly, yet Urasawa does this and then some. He puts many comic creators around the world to shame, and he has fun doing it. His boundless imagination and his sense of set up and pay off will keep readers entertained as the story moves along as it does, culminating to an ending that is as oddly fitting as you could be with this story.

It's rare that a story explores evil with such nuance and creativity, we see all aspects of human evil be laid to bare through this series without reservation, rather it be the casual indifference of Johan, the selfish opportunism of the neo-Nazis, or the banal cruelty of the scientists from Kinderheim 511. One can also see the film Halloween being an influence on this series considering how Johan is much like Michael Myers, especially with the ending which I won't spoil here. Good might have triumphed today, Johan might be stopped, but he'll never truly be gone...

After all, evil never really dies, does it?
Profile Image for Diandra Fernandes.
797 reviews8 followers
May 17, 2017
Senti falta do ritmo frenético que a história consegue ter em alguns momentos. Neste volume as coisas começam super agitadas, tensas e aterradoras.

Já não procuro mais respostas, a cada manga só mais perguntas aparecem e mais mistérios. Só espero que o desfecho da história ligue os pontos sem deixar pontas soltas.
Profile Image for Kristin.
574 reviews27 followers
October 16, 2018
3.5

We've hit the halfway point of the series and just as you think this may be getting repetitive, Urasawa busts out a character pivot.

I am still sick of Tenma's inability to take out Johan. There's no reason he should still be angsting over taking out a sociopathic serial-killer.
Profile Image for Zachariah.
1,214 reviews
October 22, 2019
When you put stuff on hold at the library and it all comes in at once. At least most of it was entertaining.
Profile Image for rita.
210 reviews32 followers
May 29, 2023
:'> tâm lí nhân vật đỉnh chóp
16 reviews
June 17, 2024
lunge u crazy bitch leave tenma alone u fuckerrrrr
Profile Image for Abdullahi  Gelle.
239 reviews40 followers
November 5, 2017
Halfway through the series already, and I found this volume the best of the best. It's a gift to everyone who loved and enjoyed the series from the beginning. Urasawa knows how to tell stories. Hope the rest will be never less.
Profile Image for Alayna.
9 reviews
August 20, 2025
OHHH MY GLOB bro this series was incredible!!! so many twists and turns i audibly gasped so many times. the art is beautiful !!!! now one of my top manga series ever read !
218 reviews1 follower
July 20, 2021
I adored A Greater Monster (ch 69). Naoki Urakawa's Monster detailed a food chain of sorts: Schuwald had empires in his name, while Johan built and destroyed them. Will Tenma be able to grow and devour Johan? As a sucker for the "sacrificing one's own humanity for the sake of humanity" trope, I have grown to love this series and Tenma even more. I loved the incorporation of Johannes's Apocalypse and Tenma's flashbacks into the build up.

I never really liked when other characters would refer to Johan as a demon because that implied sinister intent. But it seemed that he was completely devoid of such sentiments- he really just wanted to play.

My heart was about to burst by A Monster of Chaos (ch 70). Was Schuwald prepared to embrace death?? Was it his last will and testament inside the envelope in his study?? Or was it the information collated by Gillen, Brown, and Reichwein?? Was Lunge counting on the fact that Tenma was preying on Johan?? So he could catch him in the act and he would be correct?? Gosh. This man was the true antagonist. Was the storybook used for reformation or re-education of sorts?? Honestly, I want Johan to meet his end at Nina's hands, but I also wanna see Tenma become a monster too...

Oh my fucking god. I have no words for how much I loved A Nameless Monster (ch 71)! It was amazing, and it really suited my taste! It was perfedt timing too because I felt like I was about to go crazy not seeing the illustrations in the storybook. I am already so scared for Tenma. Although I have to admit that there was something quite satisfying about the way things played out in the final panels.

Feast of the Ants (ch 72) was a car crash. A beautiful wreckage. I cannot look away or stop backreading.

The final scene reminded me of that from Attack on Titan wherein Squad Levi was being chased by the Anti-Personnel Squad yet again.

The world went up in flames in The Demon in My Eye (ch 73). When Tenma was investigating Johan's past, one teacher mentioned that the faculty room burnt down. The Turkish ghettos were supposed to be burnt down by neo-Nazis to summon Johan. The same thing happened with the municipal hall (?) Richard visited; the fire destroyed all of that respective town's records. And now the prophecy about how the Thursday boy will bring about the apocalypse is being fulfilled.

Tenma also finally took a life. There was just something about a renowned neurosurgeon having trembling hands. And the fact that they steady again after he finished the deed.

Letter from Mother (ch 74) revealed information about Johan and Nina that I did not expect to be relevant at all in any way whatsoever, and I feel foolish. Tenma grows more badass with each chapter I swear to god.

I was stupid for expecting a warm family reunion of sorts in Traces of Heart (ch 75)...
Lunge was as crazy and stubborn as ever. My favorite part was when he tried getting into Johan's headspace, but then decided that he was a demon and therefore does not exist. All while holding his photograph. The lack of tapping fingers was such a creative and incredible way of showing how he disregarded evidences that would not support his theories. Especially compared to when he took that random cuff link from the rubble saying that there is always traces of evidence in crime scenes. Gillen really was right about how his fingers were subjective.

I am quite surprised by how the dust had settled by The Hell in His Eyes (ch 76). As much as I prefer Nina being the one to end Johan, Reichwein and Tenma were right about her having so much ahead of her. I enjoy seeing her and Dieter together, and a part of me hopes that they would be living with Tenma by the end of the story.

I like Karl, but him choosing Schuwald over his last foster parents really left a bitter taste in my mouth. I wonder if he would ever come home to Schuwald...

I thought that Frogs in a Fairy Tale Land (ch 77) would give some more insight about Kinderheim 511, and that Schuwald was actually one of the four pears who saw Johan's potential. I am only realizing now how nonsensical that is given how he was too involved with the economy and they have never met before this. Anyway, I really did not expect that the Liebert twins' biological parents would be relevant much less present.

The adults throwing shade at Lunge was hilarious. I need that man to die by Johan's hands. Or maybe not because it might be funny for him to still be so adamant on his theories by the end of his arc.

Mauler and Lotte remind me of Dimo Reeves from Attack on Titan and Shezka from Fullmetal Alchemist respectively. Schuwald's development from this cold "vampire of Bayern" to this frail old man who trembled at Johan's name was one of the things I appreciated about this arc. I love the bonds shared and formed in this story especially when they're celebrated over meal times. I love how the people touched by Tenma were working so hard to prove and preserve his innocence.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Federico Elías.
120 reviews11 followers
June 8, 2019
Interesante el aura "mágica" que le dan a Johan, hay cierta sensación de ambigüedad entre lo real y lo fantasioso pero al mismo tiempo se siente "coherente", todo se basa en la construcción narrativa, que Urasawa sabe manejar muy bien. Me gusta lo responsables que se siente Nina y Tenma respecto a Johan, y cómo cargan con ella. Además un gran detalle es el debate entre asesino y sanador que Tenma está llevando a cabo.
Pero no puedo evitar reírme un poco cuando veo que Johan parece ser inmune al fuego o al humo.
Profile Image for Zaz.
1,932 reviews60 followers
October 7, 2017
Really interesting this time, with a lot of action and things falling into place. I liked how every character played a role and the picture book was a welcome creepy addition, as I was curious about it in the previous volume.
Profile Image for Laras.
202 reviews10 followers
March 5, 2017
Lunge is as stubborn as ever. So obsessed that he's oblivious about the scattered facts that can be used to reconsider things. He's determined to set Tenma as the bad guy and closes all possibilities of his innocence or other suspects. His obsession really gets at me.

From Vol. 7 up to this, Tenma has gotten new allies: psychologist Reichwein, Rudi who's proven to be a valuable friend, and the Schuwalds.

In Vol. 8, there's an unsettling revelation that Johan starts to teach kids what he was taught that made him like he is now. What his reason behind this is still to be found.

This story observes the interesting sides of humans, both the invidual psychology and interpersonal relationships.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 120 reviews

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