Hot shot young surgeons are not known for their humility, but Dr. Tenma is hard-working, brilliant, and a sincerely nice guy. He may be able to pull patients back from the brink of death, but he has no knack for politics, and in Dusseldorf’s top hospital, playing politics is what gets you ahead. For a while, things are great – excellent job, sassy fiancée, and the satisfaction of using his skills. Under the surface, though, Tenma senses the hospital administrators are up to no good, saving wealthy patients while letting poor patients wait for care. When he ignores the hospital director’s orders and saves a young boy rather that operate on an influential politician, Tenma has no idea what he’s brought down on himself. His perfect life shatters. Years later, the boy he saved comes back all grown up, but will his past action bless or curse his life? An unsettling medical thriller, the style of art is more realistic and less stylized than a lot of today’s manga. The less exaggerated style lends the whole work a sincere tone, drawing out the medical drama as well the threats Tenma suffers through.

Naoki Urusawa’s Monster Volume 1
by Naoki Urusawa
ISBN: 9781591166412
Viz, 2006

  • Robin B.

    Editor in Chief

    Teen Librarian, Public Library of Brookline | She/Her

    Robin E. Brenner is Teen Librarian at the Brookline Public Library in Massachusetts. She has chaired the American Library Association Great Graphic Novels for Teens Selection List Committee, the Margaret A. Edwards Award Committee, and served on the Michael L. Printz Award Committee. She is currently the President of the Graphic Novels and Comics Round Table for ALA. She was a judge for the 2007 Eisner awards, helped judge the Boston Globe Horn Book Awards in 2011, and contributes to the Good Comics for Kids blog at School Library Journal. She regularly gives lectures and workshops on graphic novels, manga, and anime at comics conventions including New York and San Diego Comic-Con and at the American Library Association’s conferences. Her guide, Understanding Manga and Anime (Libraries Unlimited, 2007), was nominated for a 2008 Eisner Award.

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