They say, “No good deed goes unpunished”. And though while it is true that karma may say otherwise, in a way, both are accurate. Kenzou Tenma takes that gamble every day as one of the best doctors at the hospital he works out in Berlin, Germany. So much so that he’s even engaged to the daughter of the director - and his whole life is set for him. But having a good image isn’t always “good”. When heprioritizes operating on a politician before the first patient that came in, Tenma comes under fire from the patient’s wife for letting him die.
After being called in to operate on a child with a bullet wound to his head one night, he is told to prioritize a popular comedian instead, despite the child being brought in first. Deciding to stick to his morals, he saves the child. Unfortunately, this costs him his promotion and social status, and out of anger, hewishes for their deaths in front of the comatose boy. But little does he know that child was very well awake, andveryloyal to Tenma. And years later, he would come to realize that the boy he saved would have been better off dead.
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Characters
Monstertakes a deep dive into developing its characters - and does an excellent job in terms of story building. Not only does it accurately portray the time period it’s in, but actually uses historical events to its advantage. Tenma leaves his old life behind in search of the boy whose life he saved, Johan to “fix” his mistake - in other words, take his life. Though throughout his journey, and piecing together what made Johan the way he is, Tenma’s eyes open up to the world around him. He seeks out an ex-militia to teach him how to use a gun, but learns he had adopted a little girl from Vietnam after killing her mother in the crossfire during the war. Johan must be stopped, yes, but is killing the right way to do it?
Tenma has avery black-and-white view of the world. There is only good and bad, and he wants to be the hero. And to an extent he is, he means well and is good at heart, his intentions are pure. But in a purely black and white world, there exists the hero, and there exists the monster.
Who Is The Monster?
What’s interesting about Johan’s character, is his influence on those around him. The perfect model child for one person, but also the instigator for another’s murder. As we are shown from Tenma’s perspective, he is the villain. But he doesn’t always directly get his hands dirty, and so you could argue that he isn’t always the one causing trouble. But if that is the case,for what purpose does Johan do what he does? There is no set pattern, but at the same time, there is. It’s entirely up to interpretation, but there may be hints scattered around the series' lore. At the beginning of the first episode, there’s a quote from The Book of Revelation:
“AND I SAW A BEAST RISING OUT OF THE SEA HAVING TEN HORNS AND SEVEN HEADS. AND ON ITS HORNS WERE TEN DIADEMS. AND ON ITS HEADS WERE BLASPHEMOUS NAMES. AND THE DRAGON GAVE IT HIS POWER AND HIS THRONE AND GREAT AUTHORITY. THEY WORSHIPPED THE DRAGON FOR HE HAD GIVEN AUTHORITY TO THE BEAST. AND THEY WORSHIPPED THE BEAST SAYING: WHO IS LIKE THE BEAST AND WHO CAN FIGHT AGAINST IT? – REVELATIONS 13 1-4 NRSV”.
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Many characters refer to Johan as charming, but others refer to him as abeast or having “seven heads”. We know he is the villain of the story, but from what little we see of him, we only have so much to go off of. As an individual character, many can argue that he manipulates people for the sake of it, and there’s no particular end goal. But other characters sympathize with his predicament growing up, and with his sister who wants to stop him just as much as Tenma does, we’re left wondering. Is Johan just simply mentally unstable or is he truly meant to embody the Antichrist? Does he truly love his sister? Are his victims deserving of his actions? We don’t know who or what he is. And neither does Tenma.
What Makes A Monster?
As previously discussed, the characters Tenma become acquainted with are from all kinds of backgrounds. Some are evil for the sake of it, some want to redeem themselves, a few are on the run, and most are bystanders. But what they all have in common is an inner monster that they’re each battling.
Those who have them could befighting a losing battle, or the monster is small enough to tame. But Tenma’s inner monster is just as large as his hero is. Choosing to take lives and take the bad karma, or continuing to save them and let his kindness backfire, those are what make up the foundation ofMonster’s narrative.
