Monster

I love Monster so much... my absolute goat Kenzo Tenma... I love stories about absolute pacifist-leaning men who just want to right their wrongs. And in this one he never even did anything wrong, the plot itself just wronged him.

The basic plot is that Tenma saved a child, risking his career to do so, and in return the child grew up and became a Monster who killed on a whim and was revered by the worst people imaginable. The non-basic plot involves child brainwashing, Nazi experiments in Germany, and two twins who were the prime jewel of the operation.

The twins at the center are Nina and Johan, twins that had been passed about a few times due to the evil behind their creation. They were meant to be born in the sense that they were curated... So even with a natural birth, they were artificial by nature. Eugenics is the underlying theme of Monster, underneath the theme of the actual show, that everything deserves to live, regardless of creation, and that we shouldn't interfere with life. And what makes it just that much more interesting is the mix of what that means when we encounter pure evil.

So here, enter Johan.

Johan is very interesting. The story makes it clear their circumstances impacted them and that both children were victims, but Johan... was not the victim he claims. Nina was the one who saw the massacre, the unraveling. People can be whoever they want to be is what she was told at the last second, and she escaped on her own two legs. But Johan, empty and desperate for a name, took on Nina. And he keeps taking on Nina, dresses as her and wears his hair like her. And he waits for her, going on about his own life while baiting her back in.

So much of this story is ambiguity. Characters act on it, live in it, and wait for nothing because of it. It drives men crazy, the vague idea of Johan, only for him to appear and command death like the Reaper. I heard him compared to Hannibal, but that isn't so.

Johan seems to act for two things: Nina and himself, or to be killed. The 'being killed' part was tacked onto himself in the human world, but his fascination with Nina is built from the book he read. He himself was built from that same book, because Johan was such a wonderful name, after all.

I wish I could deliver some deep dive analysis, but the truth is there is nothing but ambiguity and headcanons or theories. This series thrives in that space, and it belongs there.

Where Johan is consumed and exists in complete nihilism and... Johan-isms, Nina was able to live the life of an ordinary girl. She was loved by her parents, but Johan sabotages her endlessly. And then Johan plays 'Anna' becuase he can't separate the two and is obsessed with playing with names. Nina got the talk of YOU can be whoever YOU want to be, and Johan internalized the tainted truth that was the original lesson. Both truths taught by the same man in a single moment, but they produced the opposite effect.

Nina has friends, a college career she graduates from, and a family. Johan has entire groups of men falling at his feet for a dead mission, but he has nothing but enemies for personal relationships. Plus, he ruins everything he touches for no reason other than he exists.

The man that tied these two together, he ended up regretting everything he did and fostering a real relationship with the town and children. Exiling himself under several names while the books he wrote ruined and killed children. So someone can be a repentant monster, and leave one last book behind.

Now, imagine being Tenma, a doctor who only wanted to save lives and having to uncover this little web as he goes along. Everything unspoken is NEVER spoken, and all he can understand is what created Johan, but not Johan himself. And Johan is the prey of several people, as everyone wants to kill him to protect Tenma.

I haven't even mentioned Eva! Eva who set Tenma off on this path, ruins her life through alcohol and stalking Tenma for the truth, turns into a badass woman and remakes herself after a second loss? Even though EVA ruined his life, Tenma still protected her. And Eva, who genuinely believed that some people were worth more than others, fell to the deepest pit just to rise again in understanding. By the time she knew Johan as Tenma did, even she wanted to kill him... Even though she pointed him out at those parties. Eva might be the best secondary character, aside from Johan and Tenma. I might write a separate analysis of just her because dear lord, conversations about her are completely abysmal for a character whose start and end are like night and day. Plus, then I get to talk about Martin who I love the most of all the side characters.

We want to take this small space to talk about Grimmer as well, the only piece of actual proof of what happened to those kids that isn't mythological word of mouth. Best guy there is, someone who kind of goes through life to do his best. All those people from Kinderheim-related things are so emotionless almost, some of their lives fall apart from under them and they don't feel anything. They were all made to be pleasant-toned and void of anything but a smile, but Grimmer seems the most human of them all.

Johan has a tinge of that was well, that even voice and so, but he is able to feel disappointment and perhaps a little sadness, too.