Monster Chapter 162 Discussion

dahoho said:
4 things i couldn't quite figure out

1. After Nina ran back home from the red rose mansion she found johan

I figured from the reenactment that the mother abandoned them?

what for? so they would not be traced again, to avoid the profiling?



2.why nina had to shoot johan at the beginning? and why did johan kill their new

foster parents that night?

and why did he go on a killing rampage? just because he went crazy when he inherited nina's memories?



3. what was ranz bonapaparta trying to experiment by taking nina to red mansion that night?

     Did he try to free them from the captivity by killing everyone who knows of the 511 project?



4. in chapter 143,  or 40 pages into volume 17

that man johan killed, who is he?  is he even significant?



I just finished reading the entire series yesterday so if you haven't found your answers, here they are (or what I suppose what the answers are):

1. I guessed that the mother abandoned her children most likely out of guilt. The fact that she chose to abandon one of her own children when she panicked made her feel absolutely horrible. She wanted to protect both of her children but she wasn't able to do that, and out of despair, she ran away and abandoned her children. I guessed that she thought that she was the real monster for abandoning her children and deemed herself unworthy as a mother which was why she simply just left. It was probably also another measure to distract their pursuers since she believed that eventually they would be after her other child and she might once again give that child up in order to protect herself and she didn't want that to happen so she left.

2. Nina shot her brother out of confusion and despair. She was upset that her brother killed every foster parent they ever had so she picked up the gun just to scare him (she is just a child, she wasn't planning to seriously shoot him), but then when her brother told her to shoot, she obeyed because she was influenced by him (Johan is a sociopath. It is easy for him to manipulate others). Johan started killing because he was influenced by Franz's books and thought that everyone in the world besides his sister and himself were scum.

3. Franz took Nina to the mansion that night as a form of bait. He wanted to bring all those who knew about the 511 project and bringing Nina could be used as an excuse for a celebration. Then he poisoned everyone so that the existence of the project and the twins would be virtually unknown. It was his way of freeing the twins from all the things they suffered from since Franz fell in love with the mother.

4. I'm guessing you're talking about the man who asked Johan who they were going to kill next? I assume that he is another criminal who was influenced by Johan and outlasted his purpose. Johan had no more use for him so he was killed.



The ending: Many people wondered what happened to Johan after he was brought back to life for the third time. I like to think that he changed his ways since Nina forgave and being brought back to life a second time gave him a chance to make amends. He probably still is a sociopath but I don't think he would go killing others anymore (unless they somehow threatened him or his sister's life).

For those wondering about the ending, I'm almost entirely sure that the part where Johan sits up was just a figment of Tenma's imagination. I'm not so sure about the empty bed, however...

the ending is kinda, ambigous for me

Somehow the scene where the mother was forced to choose between Nina and Johann reminded me of the movie I watched a long time ago,

Sophie's Choice.










In the same way Sophie had to give up one of her children.







I thought perhaps Urasawa Sensei was inspired by that movie.

This was one of the best things I have read in quite some time. I love how the ending was left open to interpretation. My guess is Johan will start murdering again.



The characters were all great there were some horrible people in this manga that I really hated this just goes to show how well written it is since I don't normally feel so strongly about manga characters. Also I liked Tenma a lot. Every decision he made seemed morally correct to me regardless of the consequences. Grimmer was another awesome character and the way they portrayed his power (The Magnificent Steiner) was very well done and Johan is easily the best villain in any anime/manga I have seen so far (I have seen very little but I doubt any villain in anime/manga could surpass him).



Overall this is a 9.5+ for me. Since the website does not allow decimal places I gave this a 10.

JerickBakara said:
A brilliant end to a brilliant series. Johan sitting up was a heart-stopper, and his disappearing from his hospital bed (again) was a good end. What will he do now? He might have been the "unwanted" twin. Will he go after his mother? Does he have a new purpose to be a psycho killer? Will he go after Nina/Anna?



Definitely a manga I'd recommend. I realized that it was a 10/10 by the end of the first volume, but, after reading the last chapter, I'm wishing that I'd saved it till now.

I always thought the ended implied he committed his existence erasing suicide("the perfect suicide"), but I should re-read it again sometime..

It's been a while since I read Monster, but I'm pretty sure I said "oh shit!" out loud when Johan sat up at the end. Such a great manga.

Pretty disappointing ending in my opinion. Overall though it is a very good manga, shame it wavered somewhat at the end.