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Don't be fooled, this manga is full of flaws.
Don't get discouraged, this manga is full of epic moments.
Don't get too excited, you can write everything that happens in this manga in such a way that it becomes obvious how formulaic it was.

Infinitely better than Monster, though, and I say that really being objective.
20th Century Boys has a lot of nonsense that's there to lead to great payoffs. Monster has nonsense that leads nowhere.

I remember this manga especially because of this:
-You anounce what you are going to do
-You go ahead and do it
-Everybody who heard you the first time is still very surprised because you did ... it to perfection, or in such a way that you turned it on its head while remaining true to your initial announcement.

It's hard to put that in a better way without spoilers.
Bottomline, it's a nice manga with great moments that maybe didn't deserve the goosebumps I got when I read them, but goosebumps I got nontheless.

It kind of offends me that this manga is so praised.
If you are considering taking this up let me tell you one very important thing. It's a spoiler for sure, but it's a fair one because without knowing this you can end up accusing the manga of false advertising:
you will not learn here how a monster is created

As I am sure you know, the story is about a surgeon on a road trip looking for a kid he saved on the operating table, a kid that turns out is pure evil, a monster, something like a murdering psychopath/genius tactician/politician/businessman and also, oh man was this ... silly, a master of disguise. The surgeon will follow the kid's trail through the years, learning what he's been up to both before and after that fateful surgery.
To me, with a total of 162 chapters, this was about 100 chapters of hate reading. Do not think for a second that any part of me thought this was a good manga just because I read all of it. This was like watching the American TV show Heroes, a show famous for declining in quality season by season until I was honestly relieved it got cancelled.
It's the "I'm sure it'll get better" effect, and Monster truly doesn't. You meet one or two nice characters here and there (right now I only remember one but I am sure there were others) but there is just no payoff.
Apparently with this author, you'll probably like one of his works and feel some form of disdain towards the other, the two works being Monster and 20th Century Boys. I am indeed a 20th Century Boys guy. Full of flaws for sure, and kind of annoying patterns and tons of evidence that he did not plan to write that one for so long, but at least there is payoff, good payoff, and something that ties it all together and leaves you feeling something.
Monster is likely to leave you empty, but then of course people here give it 9s and 10s, so maybe I am just not smart enough to understand the nuances of this masterful piece of work...

*Bit of an angry review. If you like this show maybe you shouldn't read on*

4.3 episodes in and I already feel comfortable enough to say this is the stupidest anime I have ever seen. I know there's worse, stupider and less deserving of existing anime out there, but it takes a lot for me to even check out a new show and this one particularly pissed me off, so here,
My big problem with this anime:

*Some spoilers needed, to warn off discerning folk*


Episode one: a very famous singer has escaped capture from some military force but then gets captured again. Then the main character helps free ... her again.
I insist, a very famous singer. Even foot soldiers would know who she is, and I say this based on the images of her present around the city. However on episode two she joins the school the main character is attending and is seen in public all the time and recognized by fans. Do the military take the chance to aprehend her again? Nope. It's like they aren't even seeing her. They capture the main character at the subway, with her right there next to him, and they don't even aknowledge her presence. Stupid.

-The leader of the resistance is a not a secretive man. This is no Code Geass Zero, no, he shows his face all the time, even on camera. and the military force knows his name, however on episode 4 he infiltrates a building run by said military, posing as a lawyer for the main character, who has proven ties to the resistance, and he does this by doning a pony tail and glasses. Stupider.

-The main character begins each of the 5 episodes I watched (well, you know, 4.3 episodes, I watched four whole ones and I just couldn't get past minute seven of episode 5) being a coward and a weakling, but by the end of each of those episodes he pulls increasingly flashy stuns where he is all brave and uterly badass. I had to stop at minute seven of episode 5 because at the end of episode 4 he did something awesome and now they are training him and I just can't, I can't. With what he did on episode 4 he should be the one training everybody else, yet because the story needs to move at a ridiculous pace he resets his guts every morning, and goes back to being the useless MC archetype we all know and (I hope) despise. Stupidest.

It seems they put together elements of other famous animes to make this up and it's painful, veeeeery painful. Maybe simple people can watch this and their brains won't catch all the glaring plot problems, and the impossible resets of Most Wanted Lists and Combat Prowess.
Or I suppose those who are able to completely turn off their brains to watch this crap can get some value out of it. Good for you, I guess.

Sidenote: I gave it a two because the animation is great, and so the anime becomes yet another good example of how wrapping something in pretty won't make that something pretty.

I'm writing this review to warn off people like me.
The show made me laugh pretty damn hard in the first 3 or 4 episodes. Belly laugh, tears and all; the main character particularly had amazing, hilarious reactions.
Sadly, soon the comedy pretty much disappears and it turns into annoying highschool drama. It's the kind of drama I usually can just ignore and fast-forward through, but the drop is so intense and sudden, from the good comedy to the stupid teenagers with their nonsense, that I have to rate the anime poorly due to what I'll have to call false advertisement.
Maybe I am simply too old to ... tolerate that crap, but in case you think you are too, either stay away from ReLIFE or watch only until somebody yells in a serious tone for some dumb reason, then you better stop and move on to something else.