It is beyond cliché at this point to begin a review of the final episodes of a long-running series with a pithy observation on how a story "is about the journey, not the destination." I honestly can't think of a better way to start discussing the final batch of episodes for the absolute monster of an anime that is, well, Monster. It took much longer than I anticipated to watch all 74 episodes of this famous and beloved psychological-thriller epic. However, that speaks to how dense, ambitious, and occasionally convoluted this entire story is when viewed as the grand portrait of madness, mystery, and philosophical musings it aspires to be. Does the series ultimately succeed in those grand ambitions? I had hoped for an easy answer by now, but I should have known better from the start. This is Monster we're talking about; the answers never come easy.

I want to emphasize that when I say I have rarely felt so torn in trying to figure out how I feel about a series like Monster, it is not meant strictly as a criticism. The fact that such a long, involved, and confident piece of storytelling can exist in this or any other medium is an achievement in itself. If you were to ask me whether Monster is worth watching, my unequivocal answer would be "Yes!" It is a dark and daring exploration of various aspects of the human condition, the likes of which we do not see anymore, at least not on this scale. However, if you were to ask me whether you would walk away completely satisfied after investing time in the show, my response would be much less certain: "Um... well, gosh, I hope so?"

Here's the thing: It was clear, well before the last episode of Monster, that this series was never going to have a neat conclusion. If any of you are keeping track at home and thought that the story was stuffed full of characters and unresolved plot threads before we hit the final stretch, then you might (or might not at all) be surprised by just how many more characters and plot threads that Monster manages to cram into its story in its final twenty-one episode stretch. In addition to the ongoing cat-and-mouse game(s) being played by Tenma, Johan, Anna, Inspector Lunge, Eva, Roberto, The Baby, Dr. Reichwein, and practically the entirety of Eastern Europe's law enforcement and political power players, we also get wrapped up in the stories of:

• A sad puppeteer with shocking connections to the conspiracy of experiments and government coverups that resulted in Johan's crime spree.

• A children's book author who may or may not be the key to unlocking the secrets behind the brainwashing central to the conspiracy of experiments and government coverups that resulted in Johan's crime spree.

• A film-noir-styled ex-con turned bodyguard who gets roped into the conspiracy of experiments and government coverups that resulted in Johan's crime spree.

• A well-intentioned but haunted dentist with shocking connections to the conspiracy of experiments and government coverups that resulted in Johan's crime spree.

• The mysterious benefactor and (possible) mastermind behind the conspiracy of experiments and government coverups that resulted in Johan's crime spree.

• Multiple serial murderers whose seemingly unrelated crimes actually connect to the conspiracy of experiments and government coverups that resulted in Johan's crime spree.

• An entire village of people whose lives are shattered by the horrible schemes dreamt up by Johan (as a consequence of the conspiracy of experiments and government coverups that resulted in his crime spree).

To say that Monster's plot has become truly unwieldy in its final throes is a bit of an understatement. I want to point out that this doesn't mean that the story has suddenly become bad—the drama remains mostly gripping right up until the end—but if I had to lodge one genuinely major complaint against this series, it would be that I can't, in good faith, argue that it absolutely had to be this long and convoluted to get its message across. I would be lying if I said I hadn't become a little impatient for the series to get to the point before we hit Episode 74, even if I was still eager to see what that point ultimately was.

This leads me to one other major complaint about Monster's final episodes that will most certainly be at the forefront of many viewers' minds, even if I don't know that I'd fully endorse it myself. Given where Tenma and Johan's journeys ultimately lead them, I wouldn't be surprised if many viewers themselves are disappointed with the ending's anticlimax. I'd be the first to admit that, on a dramatic level, it certainly leaves viewers wanting more. That said, the anticlimax is rather important to the story's themes, and the feeling of emptiness and uncertainty we have in the show's final moments is very much intentional on Monster's point, I'd wager. Life itself does not deal with adrenaline-pumping climax and catharsis; we are all simply people. The only monsters are the ones we make in our minds and in the systems of society that we allow to become monstrous through ignorance, malice, or some terrible combination of the two. In life, we all must suffer terrible things and wonderful things at random times and often for no reason at all, and then we must keep on living long after the credits would have rolled on the movie version of our stories.

In the end, I think that Monster succeeded in telling the story it wanted to tell. The difficult pill to swallow may be in learning what kind of story that Monster was meant to be in the first place. It's somewhat bloated, fairly messy, and often needlessly convoluted. It's also brilliant in that it lingers on the quietest and most complicated moments of its characters' lives, even as they all are propelled along the tracks of the psychotic soap opera they've found themselves trapped. Keeping all of that in mind, Monster remains wonderfully and defiantly human, right until the bitter end. In that sense, you couldn't ask for a more fitting ending.