Anime Review: Monster

**spoilers ahead!!!!** (spoiler free recommendation post here!)

I’m a huge nut for mystery novels, Agatha Christie specifically. If you’re familiar with Christie’s work, you’ll know that you basically can’t trust anyone, ever, no matter how much of an alibi they have. Everyone, even the narrator, has the potential to be the killer.

This paranoia definitely carried over in my brain when I was watching Monster; despite how much I loved his character, I really genuinely did not trust Kenzo Tenma. I was very suspicious of the fact that he didn’t have an alibi for the murders of the hospital director and others, and inspector Lunge’s hypothesis that Johan didn’t even exist made me very concerned that Tenma was behind it all.

This didn’t check out, of course; Johan made many connections with individuals that Tenma hadn’t met, and Nina’s existence and memories made it clear that Johan was a real person. Still, I couldn’t shake that idea, and while I was ultimately relieved that Tenma was really just a good person who got caught up in a huge mess, I do think it would’ve been an interesting plot twist.

Something I think Monster does incredibly well is weave in minor characters. While watching, I would joke about how every time a new character was introduced they were likely to die within the next three episodes. That happened quite often, however every single character, even the ones who died within the same episode they were introduced, were just as relevant to the plot.

Overall, Dieter was probably my favorite character; besides Nina, I think he was the best representation of how love and support are capable of saving even the most traumatized individual. His relationships with Tenma and Nina were adorable and I was relieved that he got a happy ending playing soccer and living with Dr. Reichwein (another great character).  I also really loved Mr. Grimmer, despite his tragic end.

Tying into the situation with Grimmer, something else about Monster that I really loved was the overall theme of names, and how they connect to identity. Nina felt fully comfortable being named Nina Fortner because of how much she loved the Fortners. She felt no real need to find her real name, nor did she feel a sense of emptiness or loss. Meanwhile, Johan wasn’t named by anyone who loved him, and he spent formative years being essentially tortured in an orphanage where no one had a true name, which solidified the ‘monster’ within him.

Johan was a very compelling villain; he was unpredictable, and had interesting motives that were difficult to comprehend until the very end. Not gonna lie, I did have to watch some youtube video essays to fully understand that ending; but what I’ve concluded is that it’s up to interpretation.

Please let me know your thoughts on Monster, and who your favorite character was!

Thanks for reading,

-threecheersforinking

**in case you were scrolling from the bottom, this post contains spoilers!!!**