Okay, I was really getting into the crime thriller anime, Monster. However after 30 episodes, I've noticed some really glaring plot holes that are bugging me and I would like input from others who have watched the series. Now, before you accuse me of being overly analytical of the plot, please keep in mind that Monster is a plot driven anime, and thus the plot deserves critical analysis. I would not nearly be as so analytical if it is say, an action based anime or a comedy based anime. That said, here are my problems with the plot so far:

1) How does Johan poison the hospital staff in the beginning? At first it is not clear how this is done, and you keep expecting them to reveal the answer but they never do. The poison is from a muscle relaxant, which is clever because you can find this in a hospital. But then... how does he get it into the candy and how does he re-seal the candy? How was he so sure they would eat the poisoned candy and that they would choose the poisoned bag? What, did he sneak out of his bed, poison every single candy with muscle relaxant found at the hospital and then he got his hands on an industrial packaging machine to re-seal them all? This baffles me to no end.

2) Detective Runge, the guy that is supposed to be a "super-detective" who types into an imaginary typewriter. He manages to pin the murder of the gardener on Tenma based upon his tie left at the scene. Very clever plot device. However... he totally does not investigate the murder of Nina Fortner's parents and instead just pins it on Tenma again. Three people died in that incident related to Tenma and Nina and he just ignores it? In addition, Runge also pins the murder of the thief (guy who Tenma buys a clock for at the beginning) on Tenma without any evidence. Runge then completely disregards Tenma's story about Johan, and obviously doesn't bother to do any ballistics tests, which would easily link the murder of the gardener and the thief. Furthermore, when Runge interrogates the firearms trainer, the trainer clearly says that Tenma had never fired a gun before, so obviously Runge decides to ignore this as well. Is detective Runge just grossly incompetend or what? That was the feeling I got: that he was some stupid, incompetent nin-com-poop and not the badass detective he was supposed to be.

3) Now the thing that makes me want to give up on the series: When the recovering alchoholic detective Richard Braun commits suicide after a confrontation with Johan. This is stupid for several reasons. Firstly, Johan supposedly unhinges him and messes with Braun's mind to the point where Braun kills himself. Why didn't Braun just tell Johan to fu-k off and walk away? That's what I would have done, especially if I was so close to seing my estranged daughter and if I had finally kicked my alcoholism.

But okay, assuming that Braun is weak enough to let some 20 year old kid whom he suspects of being a serial killer manipulate him. It is STILL a stupid situation because Braun has an epiphany earlier on when he realized that the 17 year old he shot was "pure evil" and his psychologist even congratulates him for making this breakthrough! In addition, the 17 year old killer was pointing a gun at him at the time, as evidenced by all the flashbacks. Why would Braun feel bad about shooting him, even if Braun really was sober at the time?

Okay, maybe Braun didn't kill himself, and Johan just made it look that way. Braun was still an idiot to follow him up to an abandoned rooftop, after suspecting him of orchestrating multiple homocides. I would have been like "Wait, this guy is dangerously manipulative, and he just purchased a bottle of whisky in front of me knowing that I'm a recovering alcoholic. How does he know so much about me? fu-k this, I'm outta here!"

That ends my rant. Sorry for the length, but I just hate it when a promising series reveals its flaws. Your feedback would be much appreciated!

This reply will be interesting, seeing that this is my first post and that it's 4 in the morning here, but I am looking for additional information that explains Monster...maybe replying will help. Or maybe, if you reply, that will help. I hope you finished the series before reading this...

1. Your first question is the same question I was trying to answer after the candy was proven to be laced with muscle relaxant. The only justification for this strange tactic is that he was a boy that had resources. Everyone he met seemed to care for him in some psychotic way, enough so that they would do whatever he wanted.

2. Detective Runge...I hated him until the middle of the series. It was the final episodes that brought up his reassignment. At one point in the beginning of the series, he was working on several cases, which dwendled down to one case: Dr. Tenma. From the beginning of the series he wanted to pin all of the murders on Tenma, but he then dedicated his career on it. Either this is because of his demotion or another idea I have which is that he could not believe a "Devil" could exist, something he said himself. That computer chip in his brain would store the information he'd gain and Runge couldn't believe something so ridiculously insane.

3. In Richard Braun's eyes, suicide was probably the only solution. As a recovering alcoholic, traumatized by the fact he could kill out of fear, he had a hard time living. His wife was a b***h too...Anyway, despite being able to finally see his daughter, he decided to forfeit his life as to not return to what he worked so hard to leave behind. I believe Johan knew this. I believe he knew Braun would rather die than to face his demons again and that was Johan's psychological tactic. This may explain why after Braun was doing so well with his psychiatrist, he would still become nervous when remembering the murderer he killed. (Didn't he try to kill himself? The facts are kind of melting away or becoming anew, because I would watch this series off and on when I had time...which sometimes was in the early morning...) This is definately one of those times where you say, "I don't understand why he did this," because he isn't you. If you were in the same situation, then the outcome would be different...

This series is not a disaster. It's...suspensful. Every piece of information is not all relenquished at once. The rest of the episodes give more information so that most questions could be answered. I don't think the point of this anime is to answer all questions. You have to figure some things out for yourself, I guess. People are very complex and I think this anime does a good job at portraying this. Ihe major questions I would like answered are..what is the actual timeline of the film? The twins are in the 20s...but other characters who are from Kinderheim, are older...Also, what is Johan's real name and in the ending to the last episode...was he satisfied...or is he truly a monster?

Hi there. This forum appear to be very interesting, and I just join only to reply this thread because I really enjoy some smart discussion specially from this anime I really love.

The most important thing about this series I think is that Johan is an absolut genius, some sort of Yagami light and L of Death note or Doctor House. This kind of people indeed exist and they are way ahead of the rest of us, and is not just that they have a higher IQ than the rest of people, they have just a really great observation capability that makes them instantly realize things that would take hours or days (or lifetimes) to an average person to learn.

So...
1. About the candies... I dont really think it takes that much to do that. If you noticed the candies were those kind of twist-wraped candies, all you have to do is untwist them and twist them back. Otherwise would be even easer to inject the liquid through the wrapper with a syringe (also available in hospitals) so you dont have to unwrap them. The whole candy bag could probably been glued or sealed with a lighter or match, I used to do that in junior high to popcorn bags. The most difficult thing to explain would be how did he know the would eat the candies and the only explanation I can give is: Johan is a genius. I dont think he targeted scpecificly the the persons that died but he was definetly targeting the person who was powerful and self-centered enough to steal candies from an uncounscious and injured boy.

2. About the detective... Answer: He is not stupid at all. The problem is Tenma is a suspect and from the beginning he declares him guilty. He is not trying to find the truth he is trying to put Tenma in jail. Tenma is almost a saint, he has a secret going on and blames everything to a Johan person who nobody has seen, nobody knows who he is or where he came from and is just a teenager. That has to be suspicious even to you.

3. About Richard Braun... The most important thing about the series is the psychological load and developement of characters. I'm sure you find stupid that he got manipulated by a 20 year old. The question is "Are you a detective who lost her daughter because your drinking problem caused by guilt and got manipulated by a 20 year old genius evil kid?????"
The answer is: I hope not. I bet that a man who has been separated from her daugther because of his drinking is very depressed, susceptible to drink again, hopeless and has no self-esteem or desire to live. That makes him easy to be manipulated and even suicidal.

This are my thougths on Monster. I know your post is from some time ago but I really hope yu didnt give up on Monster, and if you did you must finish it. Is such a great thriller you cannot miss.

you'll be disappointed.

he, he, he. Well, just discussion should make it, as long as it keeps interesting.

i started watching it, got really tired cuz of the below average anime quality and long number of episodes

mas natawa pa ako dito kesa yun wall e na napanuod ko sa cine mismo! haha

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HmjnKCm3SFc...re=channel_page

monstreous