MONSTER | Full Story, Analysis, and Review

i am so happy that this video exist because I watched Monster like 3 years ago and then continue to the other Urasawa's stories and now I am going to make presentation at con about urasawa work and this video save time with recapitulation! Thank you!

So, here’s an interesting thought my siblings and I had about the empty bed at the end.
My brother, who introduced the series to us, suggested that he had gone to kill himself. That, in the end, after everything he tried to do fell apart, after Nina’s forgiveness, after being saved by the man who he wanted to kill him, he decided to rid the world of what he thinks to be the monster himself. That in the end, he came to the conclusion that he was unwanted by his mother, and in the end it wasn’t fate who chose him, but Dr Tenma. The man who he tourchered and haunted for years.
I also feel like this is supported throughout the whole show, as Johan shows symptoms of suicidal ideation.
Maybe this is me reading into johan a bit more than what’s shown to us, but I also believe he’s much more empathetic than we truly know him to be, which is how he’s able to manipulate people so well. And which would make him want to destroy himself further. In fact you could read a lot of johans acts as self destruction as a reaction to rejection. I dunno, I could write a whole lot more on this idea, but this is the gist of it

A connection you didn't explicitly draw but are likely aware of: the "second class of man" that Raskolnikov talks about is, in these schools of thought, often exemplified (including by Dostoevsky) by Napoleon Bonaparte. Urasawa was very blatantly referencing Crime and Punishment.

It ought to be noted that Dostoevky writes Raskolnikov as an indictment of the type of secular, nihilistic man who espouses this "great man theory" and Dostoevsky's brand of Christianity puts Love as the human force which overcomes this kind of philosophy. I think the strongest reading of Monster is with Urasawa echoing Dostoevsky's philosophy (maybe drained of the Christian perspective), positioning Tenma as the embodiment of the force overcoming the nihilistic Great Man. Much of Monster is an echo of C&P. This strongly supports your view of "Bonaparte" being the Monster, if there must be an embodied one - certainly the seeds of C&P justify considering the monster to be more abstract notions of nihilism, secularism, disconnection, etc.

And if anyone is interested in this concept, both Crime and Punishment and The Brothers Karamazov (more focused on the human Love and less on The Great Man) are worth a read. And if you're interested in Russian Realism, let me just say that Nikolai Gogol and his novel Dead Souls are somewhat overlooked and incredible forerunners to Dostoevsky!

I want to push back a little bit on your distaste for the biblical quote and other metaphorical conventions - while I understand the idea that this type of imagery is not borne out in the content of the work, it is almost impossible to tackle these concepts of evil and the heart of man without incorporating such imagery in some capacity. It is interesting that Monster is a relatively grounded piece of work addressing these topics, but I think it's totally fair to clearly reference an external writing that is more metaphorically covering the same topic. If you are a reader/viewer and expect the work to in content fully match the style of a referenced work, that's unfair and needlessly restrictive on your part. The biblical quote does a good job of setting up the thematic question: "Who can stand against this horrible devourer of humanity?" Love. Tenma. Humanity.

There is one thing i never hear but thought about in the last controverse scenes:
What if Johan died in the operation and he in the bed is just the imagination of Tenma?

“Beware that, when fighting monsters, you yourself do not become a monster... for when you gaze long into the abyss, the abyss gazes also into you”. - Friedrich Nietzsche

I thought for certain this quote would have been presented or referenced within this anime, but 70+ episodes later, no. Maybe it was too obvious?

Wow! This was in-depth. Very much appreciated

thats one of the my favorite anime so thank you for making the video.

this is the second (and a half?) time i’ve gone through the id analysis, and i think i finally have to say i slightly disagree with the the first criticism about the opening passage.

it feels to me like Urasawa is trying to convey our false conception of religious symbolism. our ideas of what makes a beast are often wrong and i think he tries to represent this throughout the series. mentioning this passage from the Bible to begin with sets the stage up for the images of misconception and projection.

i 100% agree that criticism of this bit is justified, as we all interpret differently. the fact that supernatural imagery is never again used in the series is a valid critique. but i do feel like this can be seen as a representation of religion coinciding with logical society, whether it was intentional on Urasawa’s part or not

this is it. this is what i watched monster in a span of a couple of months for.

There is one more plot hole johan and nina are identical twins (monozygotic) but they are of different sex which is not possible

why does bro draw most of his characters to be just straight up ugly lmao

Loved the video. I understand the story and Johan better because of this video. Thank you.

Xd

My hyper fixation for this show isn't going anytime soon lol

5 HOURS?

Thanks for making this video bro. Ill watch it full

Aside from upending the plan to have the good doctor kill him, it really is so fitting that Johan gets shot by a parent trying to protect their child, isn't it? He simply could not anticipate that.

Three things I want to talk about, after watching this video.

1) Explaining the "Johan poisoned the sweets plot hole":
When Johan killed the doctors and Eva's father, I didn't think that Johan had poisoned the sweets himself. Precisely because there were many spies in Germany at that time and there was a divided society between West and East Germany, I can well imagine that not everyone wanted to give the children (Johan and Anna) presents. I think it's quite realistic to assume that someone wanted to kill the children with the presents. I assume that Johan suspected this and used the sweets to kill the doctors. It's still unlikely that Johan killed the doctors in this way, because of course Johan can't know which sweets are poisoned and whether any sweets are poisoned at all. But I think it's at least more likely than that he poisoned the sweets in the hospital himself without anyone noticing.

2) Character isolation:
I think a special thing in this series is the fact that (almost) every important character is isolated or becomes isolated. When I think of important or main characters in the show, the first ones that come to mind are Johan, Tenma, Anna, Eva, Dieter, Lunge, Bonaparta, Grimmer and a few others. But it also involves many side characters such as Rosso, Jacob Maurer and the list goes on. I'm mainly talking about characters who are isolated in general, rather than those who are isolated because of Johan's actions (e.g. Schuwald or Wolf). There are too many characters affected by this isolation for it to be a coincidence. The main character Tenma alone is quite isolated from the beginning, his family is in Japan and he is mostly on his own. I have the feeling that this is a not-so-small issue that should be given some attention. And I think it's a bit sad that many people don't address it. I also suspect that Urasawa wanted to tell us something with that or add something to the story, but I don't know what. Unfortunately, I don't have an answer here either.

3) One last question:
I forgot about what I wanted to say here, I will edit in case I remember. I just know that it was a question to which I found no answer yet, one big thing that I cannot explain myself or I don't understand about the series.

Also, I want to use this to thank you for your work. This video is a masterpiece of its kind and it helped me to understand the series and especially Johan a lot better. My favourite section was "A Cohesive Johan" and you absolutely nailed it, I don't think I will find a better explanation of Johan anywhere else.

Love from a AstralKnot and Vaush fan!

I think the most plausable explanation is that johan had help from the outside to arrange the candies

Monster reminds me to 2001 space oddisey.

A great work but boring as fook.

5+ that's crazy man ! Crazy ! Wow

I just wish the intro of the anime had a change from time to time

The point of Monster is that anyone can turn out to do horrible things when pushed too far. Monsters are from fairystale books as said in the anime. They are just sad people like Baby. Johan was unfortunately trying to save Nina the whole anime. He only killed the foster parents after they met with Frans Bonaparte (aka Klaus Poppe). For Johan, everyone who was not his sister was a Monster (except for Dr. Tenma).

One detail that I noticed that i never understood is that every time Johan puts his finger on his forehead he does it with his left hand but the last time he does it in Ruhenheim he does it with his right hand

In my look at Johan's character I've come to the conclusion he is meant to be a show of the Ubermensch. His unconditional love for Anna, His almost rebellious nihilism. His contradictions are mainly present upon his motivations. Johan believes he has to protect Anna (usually via killing) but he also acknowledges the fact every time he does this he becomes more of a 'Monster' which then means he can never be with her. Every time he acts to protect her he becomes more and more distant eternally. Yet his love never wavers, showing his unconditional love for her.

To me at then end when Johann leaves the bed he probably won't be "evil" as this time around Tenma is talking to him about his mother's love and his real name whereas the first time around he was full of hatred for the Eva's father etc.

The term "monster" has been mentioned quite many times in the series even being it's name, though i donot think that monster here mentions to johan. Monster refers to rhe ideology of "valueing one life over another" either on the basis of his past or his present actions. If a person kills someone , another person who is a good guy is preffered more over than the murderer. The ideology of believing "that no life is equal"

The series is all about johan the person who has sank down into the ideology of monster , making tenma to also believe the monster ideology and kill him thus preferring other people's life over his. Proving no life is equal. Johan even held the boy on gunpoint forcing him to prefer the kid's life over his.

The reason johan specifically chose tenma for this cat and mouse chase was because tenma was unlike anyone he'd ever met in his life. Tenma genuinely believed that all lives are equal , and johan genuinely believed that everyone has a monster inside them and wanted to bring him out of tenma as well

U are talking sooo fast

Hey listen… im in a really bad spot in my life, I’m isolated & I have no friends. These videos are life-saving because I don’t have the emotional bandwidth to experience this story without someone. You’re allowing me access to media I would otherwise have to avoid. Basically God’s work. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for producing these videos, even though you say to experience the story BEFORE you watch the video. I just can’t. I have too much trauma and not a big enough support system to pull me out of a depression stupor if I fall in too hard with the story. Seriously, thank you.

I think webnar or whatever hus name is from another monster is someone from grimmer times. 😅 i just suddenly remember this while watching your videos. Some of the question i had was answered by u. Some i was still find shocking that i didn't noticed it. Anyway thank you. I will rewatch if i ever feel like going back to undergrad monster.

GET TO THE FUCKING POINT! Stop repeating what you’ve already said

I like the Hollow Knight music in the beginning

As a Peri Operative nurse I agree with Tenma with his duty lying with his first case. It is ridiculous that he’d be pulled from that case for another case. If it’s such a prestigious hospital they would have more then one neuro interventionalist able to do the surgery for the mayor and an aneurism. Typically when a surgeon is assigned to a case they stick with it. He’s not “ditching” the other doctors, he was assigned to Johan. And switching him to a more prestigious person is very unethical.

The way that I understood the Landscape of the End was as a representation of Johan's loneliness. The reason Wolf and Tenma are allowed to see it is because they are some of the few people that showed Johan true kindness, so he believes that they are able to understand him. Because of this he sets both of them in some sort of "journey" I guess you could say, Wolf by getting rid of everyone who knew him, and Tenma by setting him up to shoot him, making him constantly go on his journey alone and feeling desperate by the inevitable choice he has to make when he finally finds Johan. This makes it so that they both are pretty "removed" from the normal world and in a state where they can understand how Johan feels.

A 5+ hour long video 💀🤯

I'm probably watching this video a bit later than it was intended xD

Loved the video, don't agree with everything said but it is really nice to see someone else's perspective on the series.

Tenma not pulling the trigger made sense to me, I did not expect him to do it, even tho he experienced many things he did not change as much as a character, so it made sense to me that he was still hesitant until the end.

Don't know anyone else around me that read or watched Monster, so it was nice to hear someone talk so passionately about the series, thanks for the video.

Very Much Appreciated for this Great Video

👏👏👏

Bro, the monster is literally the best/easiest manga/anime to adapt to live action. I think the problem is finding actors good enough for the roles.

Alright finally finished the story, I've been waiting to see this video for months >:)

Finished the series this morning- what an incredible ride! I nearly dropped it after the first episode, and I've never been happier I gave a series a second spin.