Monster

Synopsis

Naoki Urasawa's Monster follows Dr. Kenzo Tenma, a gifted Japanese neurosurgeon working at a hospital in Düsseldorf, Germany. Praised by colleagues and patients, he is engaged to Eva Heinemann, daughter of hospital director Heinemann, and seems headed for rapid promotion. One night, two critically injured patients arrive at once: an orphaned boy, Johan Liebert, who was brought in first, and the city's mayor, whose survival would raise the hospital's profile. His superiors order him to operate on the mayor, but Tenma holds to his conviction that every life has equal value and saves the child, leaving the mayor to die. The choice costs him his post, his engagement and the respect of his peers, and it sets off events that will test his ethics and his sense of right and wrong. The series won the 46th Shogakukan Manga Award in the general category.