Medical dramas are prominent throughout much of Western fiction, but one anime takes it to another, more psychological level. The manga series Monster lasted for almost a decade, and though the anime only ran for a year, it had a total of 74 episodes. Deeply dark and meticulous, many have compared it to other famous works such as Death Note. Sadly, the anime is still rather difficult to watch in the West.

Produced by well-known anime studio Madhouse, Monster is considered a classic by many. This unfortunately hasn't made it any easier to stream, though parts of it are finally available on perhaps the biggest streaming service. With the anime itself closing in on being almost 20 years old, here's a look at what Naoki Urasawa's Monster is about and where it can be streamed.

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What Is Naoki Urasawa's Monster About?

Monster anime

Naoki's Urasawa's Monster manga ran from 1994-2001, with its longevity undermining the fact that his editor claimed the book's premise would not sell. The story is set in West Germany, with the post-World War II setting chosen to ground certain narrative elements. Kenzo Tenma is the protagonist, an accomplished doctor tasked with saving either two seemingly criminal twins or the mayor. When he chooses the former, leading to the mayor's death, his life unravels in ways he never expected. The town as a whole turns against him, with Tenma eventually going on the run after being connected to a series of increasingly harrowing murders. From there, he uncovers an insidious and horrifying plot, involving what were meant to be the perfect soldiers, forcing him to find the truth in order to clear his name.

Monster was one of several well-received books from Urasawa, with 20th Century Boys beginning near Monster's end. The manga ran for 18 volumes (162 chapters), with its anime adaptation coming a few years after the manga had concluded. As mentioned, Madhouse handled the series, with Kitaro Kosaka -- an animator from Studio Ghibli -- handling the character designs.

The Monster anime was lauded by fans and critics alike, with many noting how different it was from mainstream anime. Noted for the complexity of its storytelling and beauty of its animation, it was incredibly accurate to the original manga, all the way down to how scenes were framed. Given this level of hype and acclaim, it's shocking that the series hasn't become more well-known, especially seeing as how the anime industry as a whole has grown in the interim. Sadly, this can be attributed to how difficult it is to watch the series.

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Where to Stream Monster Legally in 2023

An image from the Monster anime shows Tenma sitting down with a surprised expression

Viz Media handled the English localization of Naoki Urasawa's Monster, with the dub airing on Syfy's "Ani-Monday" programming block. There were also DVD releases for the show, though low sales saw these come to a halt before the full series was made available. Netflix finally added Monster to its streaming block in January 2023, with the platform hosting a growing number of anime new and old in recent years. For those who want to watch all 74 episodes of the series, however, there's a notable catch.

Netflix only has the first 30 episodes (i.e. Season 1) of the anime version of Monster, which is less than half of the series' total length. Thus, those wanting to binge the entire thing are in for a rude awakening, especially since Season 1 ends on a cliffhanger. On top of that, only the original Japanese version and the French dub are available with English subtitles, despite the series having received an English dub years ago.

It's highly likely that Netflix will release the rest of Monster in "batches," though this might be detrimental to it as a whole in terms of generating views. After all, it's not a newer series that's being updated with new seasons, so cutting it into batches and making viewers wait for the rest feels like a way to maintain the subscriptions of anime fans. Some viewers have also noted the particularly low video quality for the Netflix release, though there's been no word on this from the streaming platform itself.

Another way to watch Monster is through Prime Video, which has all five seasons of the Monster anime; however, the catch is that it's not available in the United States. Thus, American anime fans wanting to stream the series in its entirety will have to wait until Netflix adds the remaining episodes to its lineup.