My ‘Monster’ 3D experience

For a change, and because I’m currently too lazy to read a lot of manga, this post will neither be a review nor a rant. Instead, I’ll show off some photos I took a while ago. They are manga-related, don’t worry. You see, a few years ago, I read Naoki Urasawa’s ‘Monster’ faithfully and with joy, but it never amazed me as much as I had been thinking it would. Specifically, Johann was a bit of a disappointment to me. Now, don’t get me wrong, I liked the manga, I read the entire series, but I am not a fan and I did not reread it as often as I reread other manga.

That’s probably why it took me a few weeks after moving here to remember that a part of ‘Monster’ takes place in Munich. At my university. I go to the same university as Johann.

Enough babbling, on to the photos and comparisons!

First off, main building of the Ludwig Maximilian University, main entrance. Evidently, I took that photo months ago when it was still winter. Good thing I did, because you can tell by the tree that Urasawa paid attention to the details.

(The photos are only displayed as 450×450, but they are actually 500×500. If you care enough, riight click, view. Sorry.)

It is rather nice in front of the main entrance, where students hang out on the Geschwister-Scholl-Platz, a standard spot for meeting people and lazing about. Urasawa sure got that right, too.

Meh, apparantly, I do not have photos showing the fountain and the grass, and I am rally sorry that I could not bother to find the exact angles… but you get the point…

Next is still the main entrance, an open, arching hallway thing. I should maybe catch up on my architecture vocab, geez.

There are more hallways in the manga that look familiar, but I cannot say for sure whether they were drawn after specific places, and if so, which. It is a pretty big building and some places look similar.

Next, the library! You know which? I am not sure how open I can be here concerning spoilers, I better not ruin the plot for anyone. But if you’ve read Monster, you’ll remember that a library played a role in that story arch.

It was impossible for me to get a proper angle because the building is directly at a street, and I don’t want to be run over… Urasawa passes this off as the university library, if I recall correctly, but it’s the Bavarian State Library. Of course it is used by students, who affectionally (or just lazily) call it Stabi.

At one point, Nina is shown standing on the Geschwister-Scholl-Platz, next to the fountain, looking up at the library. This is not actually possible, as the library in question is situated a bit further down the street.

That’s really the only nitpick I have. Oh, wait, there’s something else. It’s incredibly world-shattering! The main entrance’s doors cannot be pushed to the inside, as shown in the manga, but must be pulled to the outside. I know because I keep running into them.

Last but not least, I was very determined to locate the stairs from another, very memorable scene. When I had found the stairway rather by accident, I spent a lot of time trying to find the right angle. I hope the result is convincing enough.

The funny thing is that when I came across this place first, it was a Saturday afternoon and the university was silent, almost deserted. Everything about this empty, old stairway told me: You should not be here. This is an evil, forbidden place. Run! Run for your liiiife! Remember what happened in the manga!!!

Then my sister told me she uses the stairway a lot when going to the Slavistic Studies library, and I felt silly.

Tags: monster, naoki urasawa