Dr. Kenzou Tenma has the perfect life as one of the world’s most renowned brain surgeons. However, one night he is presented with a doctor’s most painful choice – to save an injured child or the mayor, both mortally wounded.
Against his colleague’s advice, he saves the kid. However, when a series of crimes start happening around him, all evidence points to the child he saved.
Monster is one of those anime series that sort of transcends anime. It has a story so grounded in reality that it would be easily translated to live action and no one would even know. While it can be meandering at times, it gives everything to building some of the most complex characters in anime without ever forgetting the suspense that grabs you. If you are looking for more anime recommendations like Monster, head on down below.
Anime Like Monster
For Fans of Hunting a Killer
Psycho-Pass
In the 22nd century, the justice system has changed.
The Sibyl System now determines the threat level of each citizen by examining their mental state for criminal intent. This has become known as their Psycho-Pass.
Once criminal intent has been identified, Inspectors like Akane Tsunemori are in charge of subjugating them. However, this tough job is not without dangers. This is why Inspectors are paired with Enforcers, like Shinya Kougami, latent criminals with just the right amount of psychopathy to keep other criminals in their place.
Both Monster and Psycho-Pass are about hunting serial killers. However, while Monster is grounded in reality and follows a doctor, Psycho-Pass is distinctly sci-fi and follows duos of police officers and the latent criminals they use to help them catch other criminals.
Although Monster is a lengthy story, it all serves to flesh out the overall narrative. Alternatively, Psycho-Pass, as it switches main characters between the seasons, is a little more disjointed and plays out more like a sci-fi cop drama. However, the first season of Psycho-Pass at least is the same tautly paced serial killer hunt that you enjoyed in Monster, but without the breather arcs like you see in Tenma’s journey to build out characters.
Id – Invaded
In this world, crimes are able to be solved by piecing together a criminal’s unconscious mind in ID-wells. However, in order to enter these ID-wells, you must be a killer yourself.
Enter brilliant detective Akihito Narihisago. After his daughter was murdered, he sought vengeance on the killer and is currently serving his sentence.
However, under the name Sakaido, he enters the ID-wells in order to help his fellow detectives piece together crimes.
Monster enjoys both psychology and philosophy, going into surprising depth with both throughout the story. Id: Invaded, while a sci-fi psychological crime drama more akin to Psycho-Pass, is fully built around psychology and crime since its plot is about solving murders by entering a criminals’ mind.
Although Monster introduces psychological and philosophical concepts realistically, Id: Invaded goes much bigger with it. However, it still provides an equally entertaining crime story. Id is, however, a little more shallow than Monster, since it focuses more on the sci-fi and the characters are a bit more over-the-top.
Erased
Recently, the detached, struggling manga artist Satoru Fujinuma finds himself going back in time to just minutes before tragedy strikes around him.
He has saved many lives with this power of “Revival,” but when he is wrongly accused of murdering someone close to him, Fujinuma finds himself sent back to his childhood. As he discovers, the recent death in his life is somehow connected the kidnap-murder of three children in the area that is about to happen.
This time, he may be able to use his power to save more than just one life, easing his past regrets in the process.
In their barest bones, both Monster and Erased are murder mysteries where the main characters are framed for a murder and try to find out who did it. While Erased divorces itself from reality by having an element of time travel, it shares something important with Monster – the ability to draw you in and keep you gripped with the story.
Both Monster and Erased do murder mysteries right. The culprit isn’t immediately apparent, it has some great twists, and it becomes hard to stop watching.
Paranoia Agent
There is an urban legend going around in Musashino City about Shounen Bat, a boy that rolls around on roller blades and beats people with his bent golden baseball bat.
Numerous reports of his attacks have turned up, but the police have been unable to catch him.
As the investigation continues and more people fall victim, paranoia begins to set in.
Monster is as much a psychological story as it is about hunting a serial killer. There are many times throughout Monster where it tries and succeeds in manipulating your perception of events. It makes you wonder if Johan is even real at some moments. Paranoia Agent is actually about a similar phenomenon.
Both Monster and Paranoia Agent utilize and manipulate perception as they tell their stories. However, whereas Monster is a psychological crime thriller about hunting a serial killer and sometimes waxing philosophical about it, Paranoia Agent is a tale about the infectious nature of paranoia while also being a pretty interesting critique on our use of media as escapism.
If you enjoyed Monster for its more psychological and philosophical aspects, but wouldn’t hate a series for being a bit more comical in some moments, Paranoia Agent is a staple among psychological anime.
For Fans of Suspenseful Thrillers
Babylon
Zen Seizaki works as a prosecutor in the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office. In what originally was an investigation into claims of false advertisement, Zen uncovers that a Japanese pharmaceutical company faked clinical trials on their company’s new drug.
Further investigation leads Zen and his entire department into a growing case of suicides spreading across the city linking to a plot in the mayoral election of a newly formed district in Tokyo. As Zen gets caught in an increasingly more complex whirlwind of an investigation, he finds the truth challenges his very sense of justice.
Babylon starts off rather similarly to Monster in that it is about a man hunting, not a serial killer, but someone who can talk anyone into anything. In this case, they use that ability to talk people into killing themselves.
While both series are suspenseful thrillers that, on occasion, perhaps get too caught up in philosophy, what they share most is a sort of antagonist. There are complicated characters, but the antagonists are both mysterious and uncomplicated evil.
Terror in Resonance
After a terrorist attack on a Japanese nuclear facility, the country was paralyzed to act. After six months of searching for the perpetrators, the public is shown a video of two boys known as Sphinx who take credit for a recent bomb attack. The pair are soon linked to the terrorist attack on the nuclear facility by police.
Threatening more mayhem to come, it is up to the police to catch these terrorists. However, Sphinx has been very careful to never kill anyone with their attacks. Instead, they hope to use them to expose a secret government experiment and its cruelty.
Although the root cause of Johan’s actions is ultimately a mystery, Monster and Terror in Resonance actually tell a similar story when it comes to its “antagonist” characters.
Both Johan and the main duo in Terror in Resonance were part of an experiment that saw a lot of kids suffer and they came out of it as the result. However, unlike Monster that is very unambiguous with Johan’s evil, Terror in Resonance goes the opposite way.
If you enjoy the conspiracy of how Johan was created, and want a similar sort of thriller story like that, Terror in Resonance is very much that.
Banana Fish
During the Iraq War, a soldier named Griff goes insane and starts killing his own platoon. After being subdued, all he kept speaking was the words “banana fish”.
Years later, Griff is taken care of by his brother Ash, a boy who ran away from home and was taken in by mob boss Papa Dino who abused him.
Now, Ash seeks to unravel the mystery of this banana fish, a phrase that keeps mysteriously popping up in his life.
Although Banana Fish takes place in the criminal underworld, it features the same sort of unraveling conspiracy that Monster features. Furthermore, while not the singular main character, Banana Fish also features a rather innocent Japanese man who gets wrapped up in all this foreign intrigue.
Both series are one of the better examples of thrillers all the way through without completely undercutting the intensity. However, they do tell pretty different stories with Monster focused on psychology and philosophy while Banana Fish is more focused on conspiracy and crime drama.
My Home Hero
When Tetsuo Tosu went to visit his daughter at her apartment near her university, he discovered that her thuggish new boyfriend Nobuto is beating her. Upon following him, he also overhears that he is only using her for money and that her has done it to other women in the past before.
When discovered by Nobuto listening in on him, Tetsuo kills him in the fight that follows.
Now, this once-average office worker and mystery novel enthusiast has to dispose of the body and, with the help of his wife, cover up Nobuto’s murder from his yakuza associates. Using all the cunning and ingenuity they can muster, the pair take every avenue possible to protect their daughter and their own lives.
Instead of being about hunting the serial killer that framed him. My Home Hero is instead literally about getting away with murder. However, the main character is presented as the same sort of “good, average guy” like Tenma. He’s not trying to fool police, but rather trying to not be murdered by yakuza for killing a yakuza.
While both Monster and My Home Hero highlight various plots ad clever manipulation put into place by the murderers, My Home Hero does have a sort of degeneration of morality for the main character. He starts off very “Tenma-esque,” but inches closer and closer to Johan on the spectrum of morality as things go on.
91 Days
Set during Prohibition, a man named Avilio returns to Lawless, a town famed for brewing illegal liquor, after the murder of his family by the mafia. A mysterious letter prompted him to return and infiltrate the Vanetti family to get his revenge.
This anime tells the story of the 91 days leading to the tragic end between Avilio and Nero Vanetti, the Don’s son.
Although Monster and 91 Days are both more realistic, “western” stories told in anime, they also highlight complicated characters and the relationships they form with each other.
Not unlike Tenma and Johan, Avilio and Nero form a complicated relationship with each other even if one is trying to ruin the other’s life. However, while Monster is about stopping a killer, 91 Days is a more straightforward revenge story.
For Fans of Clashing Genius Minds
Death Note
Light Yagami is a high school prodigy and genius. However, he has an ever-increasing boredom and disdain for this rotten, violent world.
One day, he happens upon a notebook, called a Death Note, which states that if you write a name in it, the person will die. To his surprise, the notebook’s claims turn out to be true.
This Death Note, the property of the Shinigami gods of death, gives Light the power to change this world and he decides to become its new God by executing all criminals.
What Monster presents in Tenma’s chase after Johan, Death Not presents between Light and L. Both series are about an unapologetic killer and the people who are trying to stop them. They end up as some of the best cat-and-mouse mystery anime series ever made.
However, while Monster is realistic and dives quite deep into a variety of characters, Death Note is more – for lack of a better word – “anime” about things. It has supernatural elements, it can be so over the top in moments that they turn comical, and its characters are not nearly as complex.
However, like Monster, Death Note has everything you need in a mystery anime – it is clever and filled with twists to keep you invested and surprised. While Death Note lacks depth, it is still gripping and entertaining while showing ponderous concepts like morality and justice without needing to force your focus on them.
Moriarty the Patriot
William Moriarty is the second son of the noble Moriarty family. During the day, he is a mathematics professor, but at night he uses his keen mind in order to work as a consultant for individuals with a particular need for his intellect.
He has dedicated himself to revenge against nobility in order to crumble the crushing social hierarchy that oppresses much of England.
Moriarty the Patriot is like if Monster followed Johan instead. It follows the murderer as the main character, and the tense suspense comes from how he gets away with his crimes even when faced with a master detective like Sherlock Holmes.
While Moriarty the Patriot is set in a different era, it keeps everything that made Monster great. It is suspenseful and clever while presenting complicated characters that are put in a variety of situations.
Both series are excellent mystery thrillers that enjoy pondering the morality, psychology, and philosophy of murder.
Gankutsuou
In the year 5053, French aristocrats Viscount Albert de Morcerf and Baron Franz d’Epinay attend Carnivale on the moon. While Franz wants to have fun, Albert is looking for something more fulfilling.
However, after catching the eye of the Count of Monte Cristo at the opera, he finds more than he bargains for. Albert introduce the reclusive Count into French society, but the Count has vengeance on his mind as he seeks to ruin those who wronged him.
While Gankutsuou is a fantasy retelling of the Count of Monte Christo, that classic tale of revenge features a similar antagonist to Monster’s Johan.
Both series present their protagonist as a normal, nice guy who gets caught up in the whirlwind of the antagonist, who is both charming and an absolute master of manipulation. It will ruin their life, and watching that is what draws you in.
While both series tell a gripping psychological thriller story, Gankutsuou is a more compact and linear tale.
For Fans of Dialogue-Dense Mature Stories
Odd Taxi
Blunt walrus Hiroshi Odokawa drives a taxi for a living, which has caused him to get to know his various eccentric customers.
One day, his simple life is turned upside down when a missing person case is tracked by the police back to him.
Now a person of interest to both cops and yakuza, he becomes increasingly entangled in this complicated case.
Odd Taxi is definitely one of those anime series you should not judge by how it looks. Yes, it has animal characters, but unlike other series, they aren’t animals for the sake of cuteness. There is, surprisingly, a reason for why the characters are animals, and it isn’t just symbolism.
Regardless, both Monster and Odd Taxi are about normal guys getting caught up in a murder mystery so much so that they get carried away by the events. While Monster is a long journey, Odd Taxi is kept fairly compact.
Both series touch on psychology and the vast majority of their story isn’t an action-packed mystery, but rather is slow and filled with long, meaningful conversations.
Master Keaton
The son of a Japanese zoologist and an English noblewoman, Taichi Keaton grew up to be a man of many talents and interests.
As a veteran of the Falklands Conflict and a member of the SAS, he uses his military knowledge to fuel his present globe-trotting career as an archaeology professor and part-time insurance agent.
Known for his unorthodox methods of investigation, Master Keaton always solves the case.
As Monster and Master Keaton are made by the same author, you will find that there is quite a few ideas and concepts shared between them. While Master Keaton is more the straightforward detective story, the detective is, well, he’s Tenma but with more military skills and only half-Japanese.
Both series follow main characters that are almost the pinnacle of morality as they investigate murders and solve mysteries while they travel. However, Master Keaton skips the deeper psychological and philosophical concepts to be a more adventure-focused story.
Rainbow – Criminal Seven of Compound Two, Cell Six
In 1955 Japan, delinquency is on the rise. For Mario Minakami and six other teenagers, they are not alone when they are sent to Shounan Special Reform School on criminal charges.
Once in their cell, they meet the older inmate Rokurouta Sakuragi, a former boxer, who teaches them how to survive in their new harsh prison environment.
In all honesty, Monster and Rainbow differ wildly in terms of plot. However, what they have in common is a similar way of presenting characters. Both Monster and Rainbow really highlight the realistic complexity of their characters. People are neither good or bad, but they run the gamut in their actions.
Outside of that, both Monster and Rainbow provide a gritty and sometimes dark look at the lives of its characters as they do whatever they need to do in order to survive. Both shows can be incredibly bleak, but they never abandon that sense of hope either.
If you enjoy your realistic stories with deep character development, but don’t want them to be so unrealistically happy all the time, Rainbow is a great option.
Do you have more anime recommendations like Monster? Let fans know in the comments section below.
