Anime Pilgrimage RTT

Monster – episode 67

December 5, 2005 on 3:41 pm | In Monster | 2 Comments

“I’m home”

This show is becoming seriously messed up. No, seriously. This episode was chock full of revelations, so abandon hope all ye who enter not wanting to know what happened.

Nina says that she will tell Johan the horrifying thing that she saw … only to have him tell her the horrifying thing that he saw. Nina shakes with fear as she lets Johan know that it was, in fact, her who had suffered most terribly at the hands of Franz Bonaparta: all this time, Johan has been acting on a transferred memory!

The animation of Monster is delightfully subtle, and some of its greatest rewards come from watching the characters’ faces as they suffer. Nina has had the chance to do that the most over the course of these 67 episodes, and she does it admirably in “I’m home”. The tension of this episode was off the charts, despite the fact that there was so little variety in its presentation. Unlike most Monster episodes, one situation remained the focus of the entire episode.

There were no other major surprises, and I wouldn’t count the revelation of transference as a major surprise as both twins have had identity issues spanning three decades now, but the best aspect was seeing the motivation that Tenma has given himself. I used to think that he was after Johan for the sake of humanity, but now it seems that he’s doing it all for Anna.
What a strange turn of events; if you don’t repress a memory, you can gain someone else’s and act upon it. All of it is all too possible.

Monster is over in Japan now; I want it to be over for the English speaking people of the inter nets. I must know what becomes of these characters! What horrors will they face before the final curtain? With every episode, my intense desire to learn about the mysteries of Monster grows exponentially. The artificial wait is far too cruel.

… Two shots of Lunge! Score! Grimmer’s going to be in the next episode, too!