Monster is one of those shows that rightfully deserves to be considered a classic and for good reason. It's arguably one of the best long-running mystery stories that has a stronger main cast of characters and a great villain. However, one of the main criticism that tends to be mentioned is usually how the ending feels disappointing and I don't think it's a valid criticism because it seems that people don't understand Johan as a character or how he's an important part of the mystery and themes of the show. With seventy four episodes worth of information, it's hard to keep track of all the clues, so it's understandable that most people think that the ending is rushed or comes out of nowhere. One of my favorite detectives from another mystery (Umineko) would say to rewatch it again so that you can pick up on all the clues you've missed, but... I doubt that most people have the time for that considering that into long show. So what I'm going to do is to give a cohesive analysis of Johan before explaining the ending, because simply giving a straightforward explanation of the ending of monster is arguably impossible without first understanding Johan. The feeling that the ending is weak comes from Johan's motives never being properly explained at any point, even with a final twist. From the very beginning until the very last moment of the show, the audience is given hints of shocking events in Johan's childhood that might have made him into a Monster. There are three such point of origin. At first we find out that he was brought up in an orphanage that has a reputation of mistreating children. 511 Kinderhelm is told in passing to be a place of cruelty they used children for experiments. But... then it's revealed that Johan was the cause of the revolt that ended with 50 people dead, with the institution having nothing to do with creating him. Then at the midpoint, it's hinted that some massacre (pause) happened at the red rose mansion and that Johan one was there to see it all... But then it's revealed that it was Nina that saw the horrifying scene, not Johan. She only told Johan what she saw after the fact. Those two points of origin, being red herrings, is why, at the end, when Johan tells Tenma about his mother having to make an impossible decision, it feels as though it's his only motivation for all his actions. However, it can't be taken at face value because it doesn't explain why such a decision would make him commit murder, especially at such a young age. The real answer is found throughout the story, not simply at the end. After Tenma stops a the neo-nazi terrorist act, he goes to the rooftop of a building and finds writing by Johan that says: Help me! Help me! (lol) The 'Monster' inside of me is growing! As the psychologist later explains psychopaths and serial killers love to play mind games with people. Although... simple enjoyment and messing around with Tenma doesn't give us a clearer picture of Johan. There's a deeper nihilistic philosophy hidden within the Monster. In one scene there's a boy in the hospital named Martin, who's being treated for a broken leg. Dieter has a talk with him as they walk outside the building. Martin talks about 'it' being right. Martin then proceeds to do nihilistic actions without any regards to his life for others; such as crossing the road and hurting a homeless man. His reasoning for his actions are simple: life is boring. EVERYTHING is boring. life is only fun when there's nothing holding you back, not even the fear of death. The only way you can make life more interesting is if you play a game... the rooftop game And it doesn't even matter if you fall. All that matters is that you survive and live... that proves that your chosen by fate; surviving and living-- that's all that matters. Many would just dismiss the rooftop game as a cruel game that Johan convinces the children to play, but this is actually what Johan does on a MUCH larger scale. When Johan talk to the son of the billionaire, you can see them slowly walk on the edge of the roof top, but unlike the children who are unsure of their next step Johan is calm, collected, sure of himself every step seems to be purposeful. This is likely how he plans his big games with Tenma and Nina. For example Johan knows that Tenma is coming to kill him. what if Tenma tries to shoot him when he takes the billionaire after his daily walks? Just have the strolls in the forest where there's a war veteran that is feeling guilty about having committed murder... Well, what if Tenma decides to shoot him OUTSIDE the forest...? well then you just surround yourself with children because there's no way Tenma would shoot you in front of children... That leaves the only option of shooting him inside the library during the ceremony. This is how Johan plans... with *perfect* precision. So it's not really surprising that the final confrontation Johan has with a detective that came close to figuring out everything takes place on a rooftop. Johan's rooftop game is built a nihilism, destructive impulses, and the feeling that you have no place in the world. In one part while dressed as Nina Johan asks a boy why he's still alive and what's the point of even living Johan is actually talking about himself to himself in that scene. The question of why one should live in a world without meaning, full of death and suffering, is well known problem in philosophy from Hamlet to the offten paraphrased Albert Camus when he says that the only real question left in philosophy is why one should not commit suicide with universe is so absurd and without meaning: To be or not to be. The question is surprisingly simple, because life is enjoyable so long as you find something to enjoy about it. You can enjoy the most out of life by indulging in hedonistic pleasure, like enjoying a cup of coffee, or finding and sharing love. Communicating and forming social bonds with others... But the opposite brings a more drastic implication. What if you lose every single connection to everything, and you can even feel love or have empathy. No memories. No name. No recognition. No intimate connection to your own gender. No love from your parents. No joy in general with anything or anyone. Just... Nothing... All these missing connections are the embodiment of Johan and what defines him. And just like Grimmer, Johan had no reason to exist. When Nina finds that Johan has killed their new foster parents, he points to his forehead where he wants his sister to shoot; asking her to kill him. At such a close-range, it's certain death. When Johan wakes up in the hospital, he starts to cry and people assume that he's happy because the operation was a success. However, this isn't the case... Johan survived. That's why he's crying. Up until that point, it's very likely that Johan never saw the world to be beautiful. This near-death experience and revival is the birth of Johan's complete philosophy. Just like Martin, Johan survived the fall in consider himself chosen by fate. This is why Johan points his finger at his forehead at certain points: it's when he feels the closest to death. He's telling the person walking on the rooftop with him where to shoot to stop him. It's the ultimate dare. And Johan only points his finger when he's absolutely sure that he's going to die and has no way of escaping. When the library was burning and Tenma was pointing a gun at him Johan calmly walks and points to his forehead. However, once Nina comes and screams not to shoot him, Johan stops pointing at his forehead. He already knows that Tenma was not going to shoot him. There are two main players in this rooftop game of searching for Johan: Tenma and Nina. Tenma's game starts when Johan shoot a man in front of him and reminds Tenma that he was the one who brought him back to life, which resulted in the death of many people. Nina's game is a bit more complex though. Her game started when she found the Liebert foster parents murdered by Johan and then shot him. Just like Martin even if you fall, so long as you don't die, you can try again. And this is exactly what Johan did. He was shot, survived, and then had a rematch of his sister. Other than his rooftop games with Tenma and Nina, Johan had insane plans for the rest of humanity. The new Nazi group wanted Johan to become their next Hitler, so that he might establish a New World Order. But Johan simply didn't care to become their puppet. So the neo-nazi group had to replace them with Christof; he's considered to be the devil's apprentice and is very similar to Johan. They were both at 511 Kinderhelm they find human suffering to be funny and enjoy uncovering people secrets to exploit them. When Eva shoots Christof, he screams that the face is the most important part of a politician. It's very likely he would have become the Chancellor of Germany over time considering how much interest the neo-nazi group had with him becoming their next Johan that they could control. So... with the billionaire's fortune and the devil's apprentice rising to become a high office politician in Germany to follow all his plans, Johan had the means to complete his masterpiece. At the end of the show, Johan shows Tenma what he wanted to create. According to Nietzsche, the greatest accomplishment would be for the Ubermensch to stand alone at the end of the world. To either rise proudly on your own feet or to be consumed by Nihilism. This is the ultimate end of Johan's Nihilism. The death of everything as he stands alone at the top of the world. With everyone now seeing and feeling as he does. But then, something happened that changed everything... Unlocking his past memories made Johan change change his mind and philosophy. This realization gave him a newfound purpose in life: finding Bonaparta and getting revenge for his mother. The burning of the library is symbolic as well rather than continue his cat and mouse game Johan decides to burn down everything he worked for. With the knowledge of Johan's philosophy and change of heart, the ending makes much more sense. The entire build up to Johan's dead is just so good. A dead body is found outside the village. The phone lines are cut. The local police are murdered. Guns are distributed. Everyone becomes paranoid. Tension keeps building up and a flame begins that is impossible to stop. Johan essentially replicated the conditions of the massacre at 511 Kinderhelm. Everything is planned so that everyone in the village will be dead when Bonaparta is killed. And then, Johan will certainly die by Tenma's hands. I call this the 'reverse rooftop'. It's a plan Johan created to see if he's truly chosen by fate. Can he planned everything to perfection like he always does and hope for a miracle to stop him from walking off the rooftop to his death. The execution of his perfect suicide is just... Beautiful. And everything was within Johan's calculations. By the end, nearly everyone in the village is dead. Grimmer is dead. Inspector Lunge is taking care of by Roberto. And Bonaparta is killed without Johan having to do a single thing. EVERYTHING went according to Johan's plan. And just like the detective that fell off the rooftop, Johan says just the right thing to make Tenma shoot him. ''There's no such thing as a equality, only death.'' Johan points to his forehead knowing that, at that point, he will absolutely die. But then Nina comes out of nowhere and urges Tenma not to shoot. The window of opportunity for his perfect suicide just closed. This is why Johan stops pointing to his forehead and has to threaten to kill a child to get Tenma to shoot him. There's no alternative or way out. Someone must die for life to be saved. But then, something funny happens... Fate decides to intervene. Something outside of Johan's calculations, ironically, saves his life. The miscalculation comes from something absolutely random that could not have been predicted. The father of the boy was threatening just happened to come across the final showdown and saw what's happening. In his madness, he saw Johan for the Monster he truly was, and shot to protect his son out of love and fear And so, everything becomes full circle with Tenma saving Johan's life and sticking to his morals, showing that everyone is worth saving, no matter what. Even a Monster like Johan. And now we come to the final moments of the story. This is where most people feel that the ending is disappointing . Tenma finds Johan's Mother and now has a complete understanding of all the circumstances in which you want was born. He goes to see Johan and tells him that his mother loved him and that he has a name. He has an identity... a connection! That's when Johan reveals his final secret. Bonaparta demanded that his mother had to choose which one of her children should be given away. The Mother was at first willing to throw Johan but then changed her mind and threw Nina. Did his mother mistakenly picked the wrong person? Was his love betrayed and broken by his Mother? The key point is that it's not the uncertainty that broke Johan, its the decision itself. That experiment was done to destroy Johan's innate sense of love. Had the mother truly loved her children, she would have never accepted. She would have never given any of her children to be sacrificed. She should have refused to give any of her children and stood her ground! But she didn't... and that's why this moment had such an impact on Johan's life. And it's not simply the Mother's decision that made Johan become the Monster. It's the accumulation of her decision, the events at the Red Rose Mansion, The brainwashing 511 Kinderhelm, and then the revival by Tenma. Without all of those events, Johan would not have become the Monster. When people think of Nihilism or in embodying it, they think it means not caring for others yourself or ideas but it goes deeper than that. True Nihilism is what Christof Johan Grimmer and Roberto represent: the inability to connect absolutely anything, anyone, have any memories or form any connection with others. This is the result of all those who survived 511 Kinderhelm. After the twins ran away Johan still had a connection with his sister, but when Johan was brought to 511 Kinderhelm, he brainwashed and the only memories he had left were the deaths at the red rose mansion. The brainwashing distorted his memory and made Johan believe that the story Nina told him of when she went to the Red Rose Mansion were his actual memories In the tape recording, he says that what he fears the most is losing his memories of nina. By losing all his memories, Johan fears becoming the Monster. The 'Monster' Johan refers to in the tape recording is Nihilism that eats all his values and connection. Just like in the picture book, by the end, Johan would even end up eating the monster by becoming the only person left in the world. 511 kinder hein was founded on the concepts and experiments done by Bonaparta. By going through the process twice, removing all of Johan's memories, except for the deaths of the Red Rose Mansion, it created the Monster. Ths is the inherent difference between Johan Christof Roberto Grimmer Grimmer emember the TV program and Roberto was reminded of his love for hot cocoa by Johan. Those are all hedonistic pleasures, even if they're small memories. This is also why bro parent was unable to see the landscape of the end, because unlike Roberto, Johan doesn't even enjoy anything hedonistic pleasures. This can be seen when he drinks a renowned cup of tea without any reaction. The brainwashing done at 511 Kinderhelm removes all their memories and connections, except for a few small memories. When Johan was introduced to the 511 Kinderhelm orphanage, the institution became corrupted and then began researching how to create perfect soldiers based on Bonaparta's concepts with Johan. The irony is that while it might seem that anyone who survived 511 Kinderhelm I was destined to become broken and nihilistic the true experiment was to understand how to defeat Nihilism. The entire show's main theme and conflict is the dichotomy between Love and Nihilism. With Tenma and Johan representing opposite sides of the spectrum. Tenma argues, at the beginning, that all lives are equal, while Johan argues, at the end, that the only equality in life is in death. While Johan corrects Tenma on his terminology and philosophy, he is not arguing that all lives do not matter. Just that inequalities and hierarchies will always exist, even if Tenma is altruistic and helps everyone. However, because of the point on all lives are equal in death, it proves Tenma's empathy is correct. Everyone fears death because the brain cannot conceptualize non-existence and nothing comes after death. You die and that's that. Evil is only permitted when we choose to ignore that other people also feel the dread of death. This is why children are often shown in the story; they represent both the best and worst traits of humanity. Children do not have an innate concept of death at a young age. They have to experience loss before they can understand the value of life. Children are born heartless and selfish, unable to express self-sacrifice in love until they can relate that feeling of love with the fear of loss. When they learned that association, that's when they begin adulthood. This is why you want can express his true feelings to children in the story. They're the ones he connects the most and understands; they're the closest to Nihilism. The final shot is of Johan's empty bed. We're left to wonder if he was ever there or ran away. Was saving Johan a good idea rather than let him die, if he's going to go back to kill more people? There's an extended story called Another monster written by Urasawa. That reveals what Johan does at the end of the story. Basically... Johan decides to not go to not go on a murder spree and lives his life comfortably. The reason should be obvious: his 'reverse rooftop' plan was to see if he was truly chosen by fate and it turns out he was. The only reason Johan went around murdering people was to prove that he was worthy of living and by surviving his perfect suicide, he has to find a purpose in life, just like everyone else. Not many people ever heard the final part of the Ending song. I hope my explanation of Monster's ending was satisfactory to anyone with doubts about the ending.
