Monster (manga)

Monster (モンスター, Monsutā ^?) is a manga series written and illustrated by Naoki Urasawa. It began serialization in 1994 in the Shōgakukan publishing house's Big Comic Spirits magazine and ended in 2001 after 162 chapters compiled into eighteen tankōbon volumes. Three years later, Madhouse took over the anime adaptation of the play into a 74-episode television series. The series tells the story of a Japanese neurosurgeon named Kenzo Tenma, who, believing he is doing the right thing, saves the life of an apparently normal child; but far from reality, this infant is actually a sociopathic murderer who will change and destroy the lives of all those he crosses his path, including Tenma himself, whom he blames for a series of murders committed by him. Tenma will travel throughout Germany to find this individual, stop him and be able to prove his innocence.

Plot

The series follows in the footsteps of neurosurgeon Kenzo Tenma (天馬 賢三, Tenma Kenzō^?) who disobeyed the orders of the hospital director, who had ordered him to operate on an influential politician, operating instead on a boy named Johan with a gunshot wound to the head, who had arrived before the politician. The story progresses rapidly showing that boy, as an adult, as a dangerous psychopath and the search for Dr. Tenma through different locations (starting in Düsseldorf, going through other German cities such as Berlin, Frankfurt am Main, Munich, Wiesbaden, and even Czech cities like Prague) to find Johan and stop him.

Both the manga and anime begin with a passage from the biblical book of Revelation according to Saint John, specifically verses 1-4 of Chapter 13:

And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rising from the sea, which had seven heads and ten horns; and upon his horns ten crowns; and upon the heads of it a name of blasphemy. (...) And they worshiped the dragon who had given power to the beast, and worshiped the beast, saying, "Who is like the beast, and who can deal with it?"

The text on the back cover of the first volume of the manga states:

"Düsseldorf, West Germany in 1986. One day, Dr. Kenzo Tenma ignores the orders of his bosses and decides to operate on a boy badly injured in a shooting. This is how this horrible story begins!"

Dr. Kenzo Tenma is a young Japanese doctor who works at the Eisler Memorial Hospital in Düsseldorf during the 80s, being an expert neurosurgeon recognized by all who has a promising future ahead of him: a promotion on the horizon; the favor of the hospital director, Dr. Heinemann; and the director's daughter, Eva Heinemann, is his fiancee. However, Tenma is dissatisfied with the hospital's policy regarding the treatment of patients, since he is ordered to attend to those patients with a greater public relevance to publicize the hospital and the director, who is fighting for a high position in the health administration.. For this reason, when he is urgently called by the hospital after the arrival of the twins Johan and Anna Liebert, the only survivors of the massacre where their adoptive parents, refugees from East Germany, were murdered, he decides to operate on Johan, seriously injured by a bullet. in the head, ignoring the orders of his superiors to operate on the mayor of the city, who had suffered a thrombosis and was admitted after the Liebert twins. Thus, Tenma managed to save Johan, but the mayor dies after being operated on by other doctors who are not as experienced as Tenma. As a result, Tenma loses his promising job future and Eva decides to leave him. However, the doctors who benefited from Tenma's downfall (among them Dr. Heinemann) mysteriously die soon after, and the twins disappear from the hospital. The police begin to suspect Dr. Tenma, since he is the one who benefits the most from the deaths of the doctors, but unable to find any more evidence against him, they cannot do anything else and the case is shelved.

At this point, the story moves forward nine years. Now, Dr. Tenma is the Chief of Surgery at Memorial Eisler Hospital and his life is going great, although he lives for and for work. However, everything will change when he comes face to face with a sociopath whose life he saved years ago.

A notorious underworld thief, linked to a series of serial murders, is accidentally hit by a car, and to save his life, Dr. Tenma is called in to operate on him immediately. After the operation, he is under the medical care of Tenma, who watches him mutters about a "Monster". Tenma, who manages to befriend this criminal, manages to get the thief to confess his participation in this series of murders. Then, one afternoon, when Tenma decides to give the patient a gift, he finds the guard who was watching the thief on the floor, dead, and he had fled from the hospital.

Following him to a building under construction near the hospital, he finds him together with his boss, who was the one who commissioned him, along with his cronies, the serial murders. Then, this individual confesses to Tenma that he is that boy that nine years ago he saved instead of the mayor of the city (Johan Liebert), and who helped him progress professionally by killing the doctors who had led to his professional fall.. Tenma, who had tried to reason with Johan to save his current patient, is shocked by such revelations, which Johan takes advantage of to kill his subordinate in cold blood. However, Johan confesses to Tenma that he will let him live, because in his day Tenma saved his life when he didn't have to, and that he would never kill the man who saved his life, and then runs away.. After this incident, without material evidence to certify the existence of 'Johan', the police again suspect Tenma, especially Inspector Heinrich Lunge, who suspects that Tenma suffers from multiple personality disorder, and that he 'Johan' is a criminal personality possessed by Tenma himself.

Meanwhile, Tenma soon discovers the whereabouts of Anna, Johan's twin sister, now Nina Fortner, happily living her life in a new adoptive family, with only a few dark dreams from her experiences. During his childhood. Tenma also discovers that on her 20th anniversary Johan will go to meet her, and he will try to avoid the reunion to save Nina from her brother, and although he succeeds, he could not save Nina's adoptive parents (Anna).. After this, the story develops in which they both begin a parallel search, although on different paths, whose ultimate goal will be to end Johan once and for all. During this search, Tenma will begin to discover the origins of this "Monster", in an orphanage in the former GDR, Kinderheim 511, where children were taught to become perfect soldiers through a continuous washing of brain, following the guidelines of a sinister author of short stories based in the Czech Republic, without forgetting the trail of atrocities that this "Monster" has made, reflecting on what a terrible mistake he made in saving Johan's life.

While Dr. Tenma is the main protagonist of Monster, the story also focuses on other characters surrounding his career in search of Johan, such as Inspector Lunge (who investigates the crimes of Johan under the premise that the author is Tenma) and Anna Liebert, Johan's twin sister, renamed Nina Fortner, not forgetting a multitude of other characters, whose lives intertwine with the monster called 'Johan';.

Characters

• Kenzô Tenma: He is the main character of Monster, a young doctor of a prestigious hospital in Germany, originally from Japan. It could be said that his main quality is to be a good man and to ensure the well-being of all his patients. He saved the life of Johan Liebheart, which cost him, at first, his career in the hospital, although thanks to mysterious unresolved murders, not only manages to return to his previous professional status, but overcomes it. However, when years later he discovers that he became the child who saved from the clutches of death, he will have an ethical crisis that will lead him to seek Johan to definitively end him, for he feels responsible for his actions after having saved him in that surgical operation of life or death.

• Johan Liebheart: It is the character considered the "Monster" of the series and its main antagonist. He is an intelligent and highly charismatic young man whose life Dr. It has to be when he was only a 10-year-old, considering for all this Tenma as a father for having saved his life after the shot he was shot in his head and even confesses that he would never harm him for that action. Johan is responsible for numerous unresolved murders, they were personally committed by him or induced using third parties for their realization, and his dark past will be revealed gradually throughout history.

• Anna Liebheart: She is a brilliant law student, besides being Johan Liebheart's twin sister. After the terrible trance of seeing his parents die, he was adopted by the Fortner family, who gave him the name of Nina. When she remembers her brother after the death of her adoptive parents and her first encounter with Tenma, she thinks the only way to stop Johan is by killing him, preventing Dr. It has to do so, because it considers that the work of this one should only be to save lives.

• Eva Heinemann: She is the daughter of the director of the Eisler Memorial Hospital, who at the beginning of the series has engaged with Kenzô Tenma. She leaves it when this disobeys the director's orders to operate the mayor in exchange for Johan, but after the murder of her father and the sudden rise of Tenma, she decides to return to him, which does not happen because Tenma rejects her, hurt by the previous rupture. After this rejection, a life begins based on her continued failures in her marital experiences, refusing alcohol, so she decides to get revenge on Tenma for having left her putting all the possible evidence that her former fiancé was responsible for her father's death, to see him suffer in prison. However, little by little it starts to get involved in the "Monster" issue.

• Heinrich Lunge: The BKA inspector (the German Criminal Office, similar to the American FBI), Heinrich Lunge (Runge in the Japanese version) is a cold and calculating man. In his case he must recognize that he has solved all the cases in which he has participated in his professional career except one, becoming the only motivation of his life: the unresolved case involving Dr. Here. At first he believes that Johan is an invention of Dr. Tenma, but gradually develops a theory in which Tenma has multiple personality disorder and Johan is the personality who commits his murders, while the doctor's personality tries to stop his other personality. However, the more it gets involved in that case, the less and less it can ignore the relationship between the case and the dark tales of Franz Bonaparta, so little by little it begins to believe in the existence of the "Monster".

• Wolfgang Grimmer: He is a freelance journalist who was ex-Spy of the RDA and who resided as a child in the special orphanage Kinderheim 511, where Johan was also, and whose stay marked him with a deep aftermath of depersonalization. Seek evidence of child abuse to report atrocities committed in the GDR. As a child he saw a series called "Steiner the Magnificent", which has significantly affected his personality.

• Julius Reichwein: He is a psychiatrist specializing in the treatment of alcoholism and in treating police officers (formerly he was a border police officer). He will be involved in the search for Johan when a patient and friend of his, Richard Braun, an ex-cop and private detective, comes to investigate Johan, so he will end up being killed by him. He's wrapped up in history so he gets to help Tenma and meet Nina and Dieter, and he's made responsible saying he'll pay the culprit who killed his friend Richard.

• Dieter: A child under the care of a man named Hartmann (who had worked at the special Kinderheim 511) orphanage who knows Tenma when he begins to investigate about Johan to prove his own innocence. When Tenma knows him, he realizes that his whole body was full of bruises because of the physical and psychological abuses that Hartmann did to him because he wanted to turn him into a second Johan for the admiration he has, but Tenma finally manages to save him. Since then, Dieter will begin to be more optimistic and accompanies him to look for Johan, although he does so to prevent Tenma from killing Johan, because he does not consider Tenma as a murderer.

• Roberto: He is a professional, robust and intelligent killer, who has a great fascination for Johan since he met him, when he reminded him of the only memory he has about his childhood, which happened in the horrible Kinderheim Orphanage 511. For this reason, it becomes the main subordinate that has the "Monster", being the main obstacle of anyone trying to hinder the plans of young Johan.

• Rudi Gillen: He is a prestigious psychiatrist specializing in criminal criminology and psychology in charge of studying the minds of the most abject criminals imprisoned, who at his university time coincided with Dr. Here. For this reason, Tenma asks for help on the possibility of Johan suffering multiple personality disorder, but Gillen does not believe and warn the police to ambush him. However, shortly before this, he finds by chance that Tenma tells the truth, helping him escape from the police. Since then he will be involved in the "Monster" case, also helping Dr. Reichwein and Nina Fortner (Anna Liebert).

• Franz Bonaparta: He is the psychiatrist author of the sinister tales that are the basis of the brainwashing process that is launched in different educational centers of the communist bloc, being the main of these centers education the Special Orphanage Kinderheim 511, East Berlin. For his works he uses several pseudonyms, in order to hide his true identity, being Klaus Poppe his true name.

Accommodations

Manga

In 1994, the MONSTER story was a success, especially among the adult public, in such a way that it was the manga of the year because the story is very intelligent and knows how to mix mystery with reality, because of In fact, it is common to find really existing landscapes within its pages and its drawing style is very realistic. The MONSTER series ended in volume 18 published on February 28, 2002. This story was published in the "Big Comic Original" (1994-2002).

The manga has been published in Spain by the Planeta-DeAgostini Comics publishing house, in the United States and Canada by the VIZ publishing house, in France by the Big Kana publishing house, in Mexico by the VID publishing house in the regular series of 18 volumes and later PANINI manga with the Kanzenban edition, and the LARP publishing house (Argentina) began its publication in 2010. In the year 2022, the Ivrea publishing house (Argentina) published the series in the Kanzenban edition.

List of volumes

N.o	Title	Release date	Original ISBN
1	«Doctor Tenma»	30 June 1995	ISBN 4-09-183651-8
2	«Feast surprise»	30 September 1995	ISBN 4-09-183652-6
3	«Kinderheim 511»	27 April 1996	ISBN 4-09-183653-4
4	«The friend of Ayse»	30 August 1996	ISBN 4-0918-3654-2
5	«After the carnival»	2 April 1997	ISBN 4-0918-3655-0
6	«The Secret Forest»	30 May 1997	ISBN 4-0918-3656-9
7	"Richard"	30 October 1997	ISBN 4-0918-3657-7
8	«My nameless hero»	26 February 1998	ISBN 4-0918-3658-5
9	"A monster without a name"	30 May 1998	ISBN 4-0918-3659-3
10	«Picnic»	30 October 1998	ISBN 4-0918-3660-7
11	«The Dead Angle»	30 March 1999	ISBN 4-0918-5271-8
12	«The Rose Mansion»	30 June 1999	ISBN 4-0918-5272-6
13	«Escape»	29 February 2000	ISBN 4-0918-5273-4
14	«Night time»	30 June 2000	ISBN 4-0918-5274-2
15	«The Gate of Memories»	30 October 2000	ISBN 4-0918-5275-0
16	«Welcome home»	28 February 2001	ISBN 4-0918-5276-9
17	«I am home»	30 August 2001	ISBN 4-0918-5277-7
18	«Scenario del día final»	28 February 2002	ISBN 4-0918-5278-5

Anime

The series was adapted by Madhouse and began airing on June 6, 2004, concluding with chapter 74 on September 27, 2005. The design of the anime's characters and environments is very similar to the manga, with its animation of excellent quality and faithfully following the original story. It was directed by Masayuki Kojima, written by Tatsuhiko Urahata, and scored by Kuniaki Haishima. In Latin America, the series was licensed by Viz Media and premiered on September 6, 2008 in the original language with Spanish subtitles by Cityvibe.

Soundtrack

The original soundtrack for the Monster anime was performed by Kuniaki Haishima and was released in two parts when the anime was airing in Japan (June 2004-September 2005).

Song List

• Opening theme (Episodes 1-74): "Grain" by Kuniaki Haishima
• Closing theme (Episodes 1-32): "For the Love of Life" by David Sylvian.
• Closure topic (Episodes 33-74): "Make it Home" by Fujiko Hemming.

Another Monster

The author, Naoki Urasawa, published in 2002 Another Monster: Investigation Report, a novel that follows the plot of the manga where the point of view of the entire case is exposed through from an Austrian investigative freelance journalist studying the parallels between the crimes in the Johan case and recent crimes in Austria, shortly after the end of the Johan case. From this perspective, Urasawa summarizes the Johan case, putting new details of it, and relating it to these new crimes, inquiring if these crimes are others committed by Johan's evil, or if there is the possibility that there is another Monster similar in central Europe.

Real image adaptations

Movie studio New Line Cinema has acquired the copyright to Monster for a live-action, English-language film adaptation. The Oscar-nominated screenwriter in 2005 for the film A History of Violence, Josh Olson, would be in charge of adapting the manga to a film script. However, despite the news that the film would be released in 2009, years later there is no news about how and when this film adaptation will be released.

There has also been talk of resuming the original project of turning the manga into a live-action television series, which was the original project of turning the manga into a television adaptation as a drama (Japanese soap opera), but when the The study in charge of said adaptation far exceeded the maximum production costs when they were halfway through the recording of a series that would have had about 40 episodes, they finally canceled it. Later an agreement was reached with the Madhouse studio to adapt the manga to an anime series using most of the actors who were going to represent the characters in that drama as the anime voice actors. Ultimately, the anime series was a success, saving the costs generated by the canceled drama, and is still considered one of the best manga-to-anime adaptations ever made.

Reception

The Monster manga was well received by critics, winning the 1997 Japan Media Arts Festival Excellence in the Manga category award; i>Grand Prize for the Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize. Viz Media and its English edition of the manga competed in the Eisner Awards during the 2008 and 2009. In 2009, the site Oricon ranked fifth in the series that could be adapted to live-action; In addition, the manga won the award for best dramatic work in the Anime Expo 2009.

Author Urasawa was dubbed a "master of suspense, effortlessly maintaining a delicate balance between deliberate misinformation and dangers to which the protagonists expose themselves" in the Anime News Network review. They comment that "in addition to invisible perfection, the characters show terror, psychology and internal emotions on their faces, however their physical design is not attractive". Another review from the same medium indicates that Monster is "one of the suspense manga with the best moments of horror, hope and love"; one of the complaints was "the time it takes in the story to develop secondary characters who several pages later are forgotten or end up dead".

THEM Anime in its review noted that "the anime adaptation is complex and beautiful, with an excellent developed story and memorable characters".