David Fincher has made some incredible movies over the years, but when it comes to crime thrillers, few come close to Se7en and Zodiac. Both films understand that the scariest serial killers aren’t always the ones with the highest body counts. Sometimes, it’s the ones who stay several steps ahead of the people hunting them. Bringing the psychological games of Se7en together with the relentless manhunt of Zodiac sounds like a pretty tall order, but Netflix has an anime that manages to pull it off.
Adapted by Studio Madhouse from Naoki Urasawa’s acclaimed manga, Monster is a 74-episode psychological thriller that deserves a spot alongside the genre’s best crime dramas. Rather than squeezing its mystery into a two-hour movie, the series takes its time building tension across post-Cold War Germany, letting every new clue and encounter add to the bigger picture.
Skeptics shouldn’t write it off just because it happens to be animated, either. Completely free of superpowers, fantasy tropes, or typical anime clichés, Monster plays out like a grounded HBO or Fincher thriller, following a brilliant surgeon who risks everything to hunt down a former patient who grew up to become an untraceable, manipulative serial killer.
Johan Liebert Gives Monster A Serial Killer That Easily Rivals Se7en’s John Doe
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Monster‘s story kicks off in 1986 at Eisler Memorial Hospital in Düsseldorf, West Germany, following brilliant Japanese neurosurgeon Dr. Kenzo Tenma. Life couldn’t be going better for him. He’s respected by his colleagues, engaged to the hospital director’s daughter, Eva, and on track for a major promotion.
But everything changes when a young boy named Johan Liebert arrives with a gunshot wound to the head. Around the same time, the city’s mayor is rushed to the hospital, and Tenma is ordered to abandon the child and operate on the politician instead. Refusing to put someone’s status above their life, Tenma saves Johan, but the mayor dies.
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The decision costs Tenma his standing at the hospital, and Eva ends their engagement. However, the hospital director and two other doctors are soon found dead, allowing Tenma to regain his position. Nine years later, the consequences of that fateful surgery come back to haunt him. Johan has grown into a cold, calculating killer, and Tenma discovers that the boy he once saved is connected to a string of murders across Germany. Worse, BKA Inspector Heinrich Lunge suspects Tenma himself. With the police closing in, the doctor abandons his career and sets out to find Johan before more people die.
This is where Monster really earns its Se7en and Zodiac comparisons. Like John Doe, Johan knows how to turn other people’s fears and weaknesses into weapons, often making others carry out his plans. Meanwhile, Tenma’s search for Johan’s past becomes a long, exhausting manhunt, while Lunge’s fixation on proving Tenma’s guilt adds another layer of tension. The real nightmare isn’t just finding Johan. It’s figuring out what makes someone like him tick before he disappears again.
The 74-Episode Commitment Gives Monster The Perfect Pacing For A Murder Mystery
What makes Monster so easy to get hooked on is how naturally it builds its mystery. The first ten episodes lay the groundwork for Tenma’s life-changing decision, his encounter with the grown-up Johan, and the manhunt that follows. But the series doesn’t just use its characters to move the investigation forward. Everyone Tenma meets has their own story, whether it’s a traumatized boy like Dieter or Wolfgang Grimmer, a former spy whose friendly smile hides years of pain. Even characters who appear briefly can leave a lasting impression, making the world feel much bigger than just Tenma’s search for Johan.
Fans who enjoyed the slow-burn tension of Zodiac should feel right at home with the 74-episode run. And just like Se7en, Monster saves one of its biggest payoffs for the end. The rainy finale in Ruhenheim brings the story’s many threads together and puts Tenma through one final test of his beliefs.
The series has also caught the attention of Hollywood, with Oscar-winning filmmaker Guillermo del Toro spending years trying to bring a live-action adaptation to HBO. That project never made it to the screen, but it says plenty about the kind of story Urasawa created. For anyone looking for a crime thriller with the patience of Zodiac and the darkness of Se7en, Monster is absolutely worth the 74 episodes.
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