Monster: Moral Ambiguity
“I’m a nonexistent
human.” (Chapter
65/Page 19, Johan Liebert)
There has always been a nuanced difference between what is
good and evil; a stark difference that tends to be constantly blurred once it
arrives at the morally grey area. Monster conveys that sense of ambiguity in a
psychological/thriller/crime manga created by Naoki Urasawa in 1994. The story
follows Doctor Kenzo Tenma in his journey to right his false wrongs as he was
falsely accused of murdering his fellow colleagues. The culprit? He knew who it
was, for he saved his life once before and now he regrets even doing it in the
first place. Johan, although going by many names, is the target of Tenma; the only man he is willing to kill; the only person he regrets saving as a
Doctor. It is a back and forth of wills and morals in a way to understand and
convey what is good, evil, or an in-between.
This is not a review on the manga series Monster, nor do
I intend on analyzing the story as a whole, but to make a comparison between
two of the prominent character Kenzo Tenma, our protagonist, and Johan Leibert,
our antagonist. There are a variety of topics to handle and that can come out
of this story, like Neo-Nazism, religious iconographies and symbolisms to the devil,
moral dilemmas, classicism, economic inequality, unfairness in the hospital
area, and various others. However, only a few can be related to both of our
characters in question and contrasted as such in order to dissect their role as the primary elements in this thrilling masterpiece often overlooked due to how
“boring” or “monotone” it may seem. So, strap on, grab a drink, and be ready to
follow a benevolent doctor and a young, engineered sociopath.
The dragon stood
on the shore of the sea. And I saw a beast coming out of the sea. It had ten
horns and seven heads, with ten crowns on its horns, and on each head, a
blasphemous name. 2 The beast I saw resembled a leopard but had feet like those
of a bear and a mouth like that of a lion. The dragon gave the beast his power
and his throne and great authority. 3 One of the heads of the beast seemed to
have had a fatal wound, but the fatal wound had been healed. The whole world
was filled with wonder and followed the beast. 4 People worshiped the dragon
because he had given authority to the beast, and they also worshiped the beast
and asked, “Who is like the beast? Who can wage war against it?” (Revelations 13: 1-4, Holy Bible)
Let us commence with our antagonist for a change, Johan
Liebert. Although he does not have much physical presence in the story itself,
his essence is felt throughout the whole journey. Johan is a young adult on his
way to becoming a law major with his thesis on “Child Protection Laws”. However,
we come to know him at a younger age as well, as a boy who was experimented on
by the Czechoslovakian secret service, stating that “Humans can be anything”.
He was considered a boy genius with perfect memory, outstanding charisma, and
great looks on top of it; so much so that at the age of fifteen he toyed with
economics and banking, successfully. He has a twin sister, who wants to kill
him as well (or at least find him before Tenma). His ultimate goal, however, is
to build up the same experiment he was in, in order to create another monster
to become a dictator. When he was young, Johan was shot in the head; luckily,
he was saved by a Japanese Neurosurgeon.
Our protagonist, on the other hand, is Kenzo Tenma, a
gifted Japanese Doctor who moved to the Eisler Memorial Hospital in Düsseldorf,
Germany. His greatness as a neurosurgeon comes to an end when he has to decide
whether to help a wounded child or save a prominent opera singer. His higher-ups scrutinize him for not choosing a more political approach to his selections
and later demote him. Not long after his higher-ups are all found dead and
Tenma is the prime suspect. His belief is that all lives are equal and no one
is above others; therefore, he saves any person he encounters in need, even a mob
boss, a terrorist, and a repeated prison escapee.
The relationship these two have is that of cat and mouse
(Johan being the mouse wreaking chaos and Tenma being the cat chasing). Johan
is so cunning that even we, as spectators, have to follow along to his tracks
in order to catch up to him, while Tenma does his best to amend his unconscious
error of saving a sociopath and clear his record of the person that killed and
framed him. Johan has a goal far greater than anyone, and Tenma wishes to stop
that plan, even if taking a life is the outcome of it all.
“He who fights
with monsters might take care lest he thereby becomes a monster. And when you
gaze long into an abyss the abyss also gazes into you.” (Aphorism 146, Friederich Nietzsche)
We have always assumed that evil is to be feared and
hated, and a physical representation we have of it tends to be a monster. But
what are monsters, truly? In the context of society, monsters are those that
revel in evil deeds without remorse for their actions; someone that does
heinous to cause chaos alone. In the context of the story, Johan is only
considered a monster to those that have interacted with him and know of his
intent, yet no one else seems to agree that someone so gentle and charismatic
could be a monster or a devil incarnate. As I quoted from Nietzsche, I pass on
to Tenma, who gazed into the monster that is Johan and will eventually become
one in order to fulfill and rid one evil from this planet.
Johan is often coupled with the Judeo-Christian evil that
is the Devil. Not so much as in physical appearance, but one can wager that his
beautiful looks are those of the fallen angel Lucifer, who is as well-referred
to as Satan. His similarities are more akin to actions, due to Johan’s
murderous intent, lack of benevolent morals, an insidious plan to create a
corrupt political faction, and no remorse for his actions. Monsters and Devils
usually go hand in hand, and Johan fits perfectly in that mold of sharp teeth,
beady eyes, and a menacing grin in the metaphorical sense.
Like any normal English class, we have to analyze the
title and its relation to the series, or the characters. It is not a difficult
task, for the antagonist, Johan, is constantly referred to as a monster, often
only naming him a monster. A total contrast between his prominence and lack thereof
physically. The title alludes mostly to several “children stories” that are
mentioned throughout, where most of them are about either monsters or devils. It
is as if the series is centered around the antagonist and the protagonist has
to unravel it with us, the readers.
“Did I bring
Faust to Mephisto…?” (Chapter 124/Page 9, Eva Heinemann)
Now, a general topic that the series hovers over and
relates to malice is Neo-Nazism. A right-wing, outdated political
concept that the Germans, with the help of Adolf Hitler, partook in the early
1930s and the late 1940s, claiming superiority as a race due to the color of
their skins (majority white with blue eyes and blonde hair). Johan uses this as
an advantage to demolish a Turkish ghetto where immigrants resided, calling for
neo-Nazis to burn buildings at the behest of their fascist beliefs. To be clear,
however, Johan in no way was a Nazi; in his chaotic way, he chose to use the
most chaotic group; a means to an end if you will.
If we were to categorize our characters, Johan, he would be morally malevolent and Tenma morally benevolent. The implications
are not needed since we know what each character has done throughout the story:
Tenma comes across some morally corrupt individuals in need of medical help and he
aids them, no matter the circumstance; while Johan has his own way of
vindicating his experimenters by murdering them, justifying his ultimate end
with dubious means.
To further solidify our protagonist’s good intentions, we
must see examples. After being accused of murder, Tenma flees the country
trying to find Johan, and in the way, he encounters a terrorist that was injured
in his attack. Tenma does his best to stabilize him and then leaves him, going
above and beyond for someone that committed an atrocious act and not letting
him die. One could argue he wanted the offender to receive retribution in life
than to let him die knowing he committed such an act. It expounds on the doctor’s
belief that he does not discriminate and shows that he works twenty-four hours a
day, seven days a week.
On the other hand, Johan can be further solidified by
many actions. For example, killing every foster parent he had up until the age
of eighteen, searching for the perfect family. Another one would be meeting
with serial killers and inciting them, with his questionable charisma, to
murder outside of their modus operandi, in order to cleanse the record of a
colleague. Of course, his most notable is his desire to create a monster and
turn it into a dictator.
“As long as your
patient breaths, you never give up hope!” (Chapter 66/Page 15, Kenzo Tenma)
There are some quotes where both characters converge in
the middle grey area, speaking eye to eye as equals. “Murder is not a sign
of evil”, meaning to state that there is no inherent evil in ridding
someone of their life if there are specific instances where it can be
justified; one begins to question if there are cases in which murder can be
good. “Should an alleged murderer be taken in after saving a life?”,
referring to the countless acts of service Tenma did while in pursuit of the
law; is saving a life just enough to set free someone that may have
committed a horrible act prior? There is a constant rebuttal to each side on
what is the right choice, eternally debating who should be at the top of moral
high ground.
I would like to take this moment to relate Hitler to
Johan for a moment. In chapter twenty-seven, a character casually states how
Hitler rose to power: by “seizing the banks, bringing in the defense industry,
and commanding the military”. As said before, Johan had previously toyed with
economics and banking at the age of fifteen, giving him an astounding advantage
at such a young age. However, he did not engage in the last two. If he so
desired, this young man could have become the next ruling dictator.
And now, the dreaded moment: the ending. Warning: there
will be spoilers.
The overarching plan Johan had concocted was to create
the perfect suicide, by erasing anyone that connected to him in a meaningful
way and make those that think they knew him appear delusional; a fictional
person with a perfect way to go out. Everything converged in a small town where
his number one experimenter resided, remorseful of his actions, hiding from his
mistake. By the simple trigger of a gunshot he made the town go into mass
hysteria, having them kill themselves, and hopefully, Klaus Poppe, the prime
lead experimenter, into being killed. Then Tenma showed up.
After one hundred and fifty-eight chapters, several close
calls, and an uncountable number of deaths, Tenma and Johan finally meet face
to face for the first time in ten years. The face-off Johan had foreseen and
planned from the beginning as he wanted the perfect suicide. However, to the
dismay of everyone, it was not Tenma who shot but a drunken man trying to amend
his errors and protect his son from being shot by Johan. And due to poetic
justice, Tenma successfully saves Johan once again from a bullet to the head,
rendering him in a coma…or so we are led to believe.
The vicious cycle of revenge never ends with anyone
happy. Once that cycle is broken, can happiness thrive. It is not easy to
conclude a story that does not give a clear conclusion or leaves behind
important answers. The teasing of Johan's real name, where did he run away to
after the surgery, did the mother confuse Johan for his sister when she had to
choose who to send for the experiment?
The easiest concluding statement would be to say that to
forgive those who wronged you can save the lives of others and break that cycle
of hatred. And yet, it gives a sad after-taste to the pallet knowing that there
are unanswered questions even when the cycle had been broken. My takeaway would
be that Tenma, with the help of Nina, came to the realization that killing
Johan would not make anything better in the long run, and would satisfy his
desire to die in a meaningful manner. He had accepted his remorse.
This also begs the question: were Johan’s actions
justifiable? I leave that one to you.
“In a world of
darkness, you’ll only sink further in; aim for the light.” (Chapter
66/Page 20, Kenzo Tenma)