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Stumbling upon La Storia della Arcana Famiglia, the summary got my expectations a tad high there. It had a great potential but the moment I saw the rating I understood that the potential would disappear somewhere in between. Of course, this is just the start of it. Do bare with me.

So, the rating as you may know is 13+. Now, this lowers the potential for realism and so, the whole anime itself is an experience of a girl who cannot choose who she loves and thus going for the middle option that she could accept them as friends, of course, presented in a much more ... heroic way for the cause that's being chased. Also, since they have to make a decent footage for 13 year-olds, they bring in abit of unnecessary slice-of-life moments, halting the development of the plot; and the duration of the series IS 13 episodes. Another aspect of realism brought down are the fighting scenes but at the very least, do make it believable - there was a scene where one of the main characters hits a guy with the blade of his sword and the guy falls neither wounded nor dead but unconscious. So, as a summary of all of the above, I felt I was watching a really spoiled kids' show of which its plot and characters Do actually bare great potential for development and leaves you with the hope of the next episode being, okay, not gory, but presented well enough story-wise, so it feels completed with the actual great animation and art.

Moving on, although I believe everything comes from the rating of the show, is that the chracters are left undeveloped and brings you a really average show just to pass the time. Because the series do start really badassly-like announcing a tournament that you wait for about 7 or so episodes before it starts and in which the characters are supposed to be developed but somehow they are not. That is due to the fact that you see that there is a struggle to focus on the character (that is to be revealed of more) to be the main one for the episode, yet we always go back to actual Main protagonist (the afore mentioned girl) struggling with choosing between two boys just because she is entering puberty. Summary of this paragraph: watching the episodes, you feel there is some kind of chaos throughout of it that causes no satisfaction after you finish watching it.

As for the rest of the technical aspects, they were good. I regret that such a great art and plot went to waste. It doesn't even answer to the manga that much. So, my overall score is 5. Because of the potential it keeps, I have respect for it. Also because of the ending credits song!

This is an old-school and a classic. It is a must-watch and probably anyone who has seen the movie would reccommend it.
The first time I got to watch this movie was on TV. I was even very little, yet the movie had left a great impact on me that after a few years I searched for it in order to watch it again.
Rewatching it didn't lower its value. On the contrary, it made me release the great value it has, both in exprience and moral.
The film has phantasy elements and rewinds the gears back to a more distant time, with strong traditions and morals.
The art ... is really good, and though it is an old film and the quality isn't at best, I believe exactly this fact turns the defect into an effect. It somehow puts you better into the world and gives it that push because the arts are different from what we are used to today.
The characters are well presented but I believe there could be always shown abit more about them.
All in all, as I said in the beginning, the movie is a must-see and I don't believe there is anyone who would turn the movie down because of it being a waste of time.

As I first stumbled across 'Monster', I was kind of skeptical of it. That is because of the number of episodes. I feared there could be fillers or anything that could just take up the time, yet, I started watching it and the anime tiself proved me wrong.
I watched it in one go because the story took me in immediately. It is a story connected to the people of the previous century and that includes me too. As much as I haven't lived through the reality of the time depicted in the anime, it is really nostalgic, in the good way.
What I first took note ... of in the anime was the art. It gave a strong impression. The chracters are really well drawn that you can judge by their looks and facial looks what kind of people they are. That is really something difficult to achieve in animation.
As for the sounding, I give it a ten because it is well picked and submerges your senses completely into the story and places you right where the story takes place.
As for the story and characters, I give them a 9. The script, as much as there is a center figure in the plot, some episodes highlight other characters, making them the main ones for that time. I really enjoyed that because it builts the story itself and gets you into it, thus clears the picture more and more. So, as the story is mainly built by revealing the characters, I have marked them both the same. The reason I don't give them a 10 out of 10 is because even after finishing the anime, I had some questions left answered and noticed there are some events not answering to the facts. Maybe I have dismissed some facts from the plot itself or, as it is an anime made after a manga, some things have not been managed to be included in the animation.
Nevertheless, donnot let the last paragraph let your spirits down. 'Monster' is one of my favourite animes ever since, and I would reccommend it to anyone because it is worth the watch no matter what!