This review contains a lot of spoilers about the whole show.

This wasn't my first experience with Monster. I actually read the manga a few years ago, but recently I realized that I had forgotten almost everything, so I decided to watch the anime. The overall cast is exceptional. Dr. Tenma and his altruism to save people while chasing a monster, while at the same time never backing down from his principles as a doctor and trying to rescue everyone in his path, including his enemies, became a great protagonist and one of the most admirable characters. Grimmer was charismatic from his first episode and won over many with his plot about the "Magnificent Steiner", which ended up having a tragic but beautiful conclusion. Eva Heinemann and Inspector Lunge bothered me at first and I even hated them, but as they developed I ended up loving them both and they are very important parts of the plot. I confess that the first time I watched it, I didn't understand it, but I believe that this second time I'm satisfied with how much I was able to absorb from the anime. Johan Liebert is definitely the best antagonist of all time, and also my favorite, although I think many people don't understand the point of his character, or rather, everything he brings. Monster is not a work that deals with Monsters in human skin, but rather about how the suffering inflicted on someone can break them and transform them into someone bad or good, and how childhood behaves in the middle of all this. Redemption is still possible even for "Monsters", Anna and Tenma forgave Johan in the end, he seems remorseful but doesn't feel he deserves forgiveness. Contrary to what many claim, I imagine that all of Johan's main actions (taking Richard and the children away) were because of Anna, and the feeling of wanting to protect her. During many scenes Anna says that Johan cried for her, he loved her, and this love and all the sacrifices made for her that kept her away from the darkness that consumed them, in the end they were both Monsters and Anna was even initially chosen to be the Monster in the Red Rose Mansion, you notice this behavior at times. In relation to this, Johan blames himself for not having been taken and cries because of it, he regrets his sister's suffering and comforts her. Anna was "abandoned" by their mother and Johan sympathizes with this, so he wanted to compensate her for all this trauma, from then on everything would belong to his sister. This brings a protective feeling and from now on Johan demonstrates a certain selfishness in wanting to keep Anna away from adults, considering that all the adults who had entered their lives until then had hurt them, this is reflected in the murders of several couples (including the Liberts and the Fortners). He wanted to give her everything, he wanted her to have everything and he was willing to erase everything and everyone who could potentially threaten her, including himself, when he realized that she was afraid of him on the rainy day (Although he was forgiven in the final stretch, something he really wanted, Johan seems desperate, sad and kind of regretful when this happens). I feel sad when I think about how well they got along and what would have happened if it weren't for all this plot that occurred, very tragic. Johan wasn't simply evil, no, he wanted to create a world without bad people who could hurt Anna, and in the process he became the Monster that Bonaparta wanted to create, instead of his sister. Anna forgave Johan when she realized that he wasn't the face of pure evil as he thought until then, but rather a brother who blamed himself for his sister's trauma and cried for it, a human who tried to protect her in the only way he knew until that moment, destroying those who threatened her from the inside out, when he thought this he also thought he should die. “You are me and I am you” Both Anna and Johan are nameless Monsters, but one of these monsters knew love, while the other loved too much, reflecting what they became. Johan always thought that Tenma, the only person besides Anna who showed them kindness, would kill him in Runhenheim, so when Tenma didn't shoot, Johan's ideal that all people were based on evil and darkness (because that was what he knew) was broken when he tried to break Tenma's morals. Monster is a beautiful and complex work that works on many themes such as love, forgiveness and nihilism (resulting from how invalid the twins' lives were in relation to the adult world and the experiments). “The only thing all humans are equal in is death” I am very grateful to finish this work once again having understood everything I wanted to understand, I don't think I am even close to being an expert on Monster or a good analyzer of the characters, I even believe that much of my analysis may be wrong considering that I forgot many points, but I am still satisfied with the result. Thinking better, the name isn't something that really matters.

My top 5 favorite episodes:
1-Scenery for a Doomsday
2-The Real Monster
3-The Wrath of the Magnificent Steiner
4-The cruelest thing
5-A Nameless Monster
HM: I'm back, Execution and The Demon in My Eyes

My top 5 favorite characters:
1-Johan Liebert
2-Anna Liebert
3-Wolfgang Grimmer
4-Kenzo Tenma
5-Inspector Lunge

#1 Antagonist of all time
#2-3 anime I have ever seen
Peak show.

Comments