{"id":360,"date":"2006-02-09T13:15:27","date_gmt":"2006-02-09T21:15:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/batrock.net\/anime\/?p=360"},"modified":"2006-02-09T13:15:27","modified_gmt":"2006-02-09T21:15:27","slug":"monster-episode-74","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/batrock.net\/anime\/?p=360","title":{"rendered":"Monster – episode 74"},"content":{"rendered":"

“The Real Monster”<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Last week I wrote something very brief for the conclusion of Monster<\/I>. I quickly scrapped it because I think the series deserves something more. When I reach the end of certain anime, I feel as if the series in question was more of a waking dream. Monster<\/I> was just that nebulous, with an epilogue episode that very deliberately leaves some questions not so much unanswered as it leaves their answers unrevealed to the audience.<\/p>\n

Ultimately, Monster<\/I> is one of my favourite anime ever. If something can stir as much emotion as this, it’s definitely worthwhile. I laughed (very briefly), I cried (explosively), I convulsed in horror (on several occasions). Monster<\/I> comes with my highest recommendation.<\/p>\n

Epic spoilers – but not every spoiler possible!<\/b>
\n
\nThere’s no story to “The Real Monster”, as it simply acts as a way of showing where all of the characters are, an indeterminate amount of time after the events of “The Landscape of the End”. Tenma, for example, has been exhonerated and cut his hair; Nina graduates from university with her sights set on becoming a lawyer, and Eva looks like she’s come to terms with many of the issues that she has faced.<\/p>\n

There’s little to say about an episode like this except give opinions on the fates of all of the characters. It was nice to see characters that hadn’t been around for upwards of twenty episodes; they had almost been forgotten, but a simple sighting of their face was enough to bring the memories flooding back. I had just about forgotten Detective Suk and Verdemann, but as they stood at Grimmer’s grave I could recall the intricacies of Prague. That Lunge came to meet them was an apt choice: Suk and Verdemann took Grimmer’s clearance as their own, and Grimmer was the only person Lunge ever came close to being a “friend” of.
\nThrough Grimmer, Suk and Verdemann were able to become more honest people, and Lunge managed to break through to his sister. The change of career that Lunge has sought will clearly be much better for his psychological welfare. One can’t suggest that he could “rebuild” his life, as there was very little there to rebuild in the first place: when you’re an emotionless husk, there’s very little point in trying to return to that husk once it’s gone.<\/p>\n

It was only mildly surprising to find that the twins’ mother was still alive, blessed with a bad memory. Anyone who had committed what she had most likely would have found their mind failing them as well. Tenma still had a desire to find answers in his quest, and so he tried to unlock the final memory. He could not, but what he got was an incomplete story: one of a mother’s “unconditional” love. Tenma’s lesson was that of the names, which I feel became the final note for the character of Nina.<\/p>\n

The audience never learns the “true” names of Nina and Johan, but this is because the characters do not need to know them. A name is what someone calls you, but it does not matter if that is not how you consider yourself. Very briefly, in the early episodes of the series, Tenma considered Nina to be “Anna”, but came to understand that she identified herself as Nina. Therefore she was Nina thereafter. When Johan was masquerading as the killer version of his sister, he called himself Anna; that is what he considers her.
\nNina returns to her old life upon the conclusion of the ultimate suicide d\u00c3\u00a9bacle; this goes only to show that Nina thought of herself as Nina Fortner, and the Fortners had been her parents for all of these years. To tell Nina her “true” name would be a disservice to the character, as at her age identity is something you forge yourself. Nina does not want to forget the horrible times, but she must advance as the Fortner’s daughter.<\/p>\n

It’s strange, but despite all of the deaths and loss most of the characters came out of this story as better people: even Grimmer discovered his humanity at his end. To list everything would be pointless, as most of it is self evident in “The Real Monster”: however, I am satisfied with the outcomes of just about every character. I was even tickled to briefly see the reunion of the old team of Dieter and Heckel and was most pleased with Eva.<\/p>\n

So what do I think of the very end? The ending in which Johan gets away<\/b>? I really am not sure. Does it mean that Johan will go on another rampage, or does it mean that he will live a quiet Johan life of his own? Regardless, anyone who learns of his escape will most likely be filled with some sort of dread. I would like to read it that Johan has finally made Tenma understand him, and he knows that Nina understands him, so he can continue to exist.
\nIt is strange to think that Johan was only on a quest to make others know his pain, but somehow one can grow a bizarre sympathy and forget that he has committed the most sins of all of the characters in retaliation for all of the sins that had been commited against him.
\nWild Johans can not be caged, but still one would expect his hospital window to have had, say, iron bars on it. Presenting such a happy ending is somewhat soured by this escape attempt for the reason of comfort levels for other characters. Still, some people still found Johan quite charismatic and sympathetic, so they were probably pleased.
\nPersonally I found the appeal of Monster<\/I> was in contemplating how much of a bastard Johan was; I was horrified by so many of his actions and, while I never expected rough justice, I expected … slightly more competent justice.<\/p>\n

I placed the conclusion to this article in the introduction, so that those who didn’t want Monster<\/I> spoiled for them could receive my final say. Thanks for reading!<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“The Real Monster” Last week I wrote something very brief for the conclusion of Monster. I quickly scrapped it because I think the series deserves something more. When I reach the end of certain anime, I feel as if the series in question was more of a waking dream. Monster was just that nebulous, with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[97],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-360","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-monster"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/batrock.net\/anime\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/360","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/batrock.net\/anime\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/batrock.net\/anime\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/batrock.net\/anime\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/batrock.net\/anime\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=360"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/batrock.net\/anime\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/360\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/batrock.net\/anime\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=360"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/batrock.net\/anime\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=360"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/batrock.net\/anime\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=360"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}