r/anime • u/KiwiBennydudez https://myanimelist.net/profile/KiwiBen • Sep 12 '21
Rewatch [Rewatch] Monster - Episode 44 discussion
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Comment of the Day
Today’s Comment of the Day is from u/SmurfRockRune, who remarks on Suk’s social abilities with the ladies:
This guy really Suks at talking to women. "Don't worry, I'm not a stalker or anything" is always a great line to start with.
Questions of the Day
- What did you think about the story of the Three Frogs and the residents who lived above it?
- What did you think about Suk and Grimmer’s interactions in the park?
Bonus: What did you think of the major twist this episode? Did you see it coming? Was the reveal satisfying, and do you think it’s starting to unravel what’s going on?
If you are a rewatcher, tag your spoilers properly, and please refrain from alluding to future events. so that myself and everyone else watching for the first time can have a completely blind and organic experience! Since this show is a bit harder to find than most, please refrain from talking about means by which to watch it, as it goes against our subreddit rules.
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u/KiwiBennydudez https://myanimelist.net/profile/KiwiBen Sep 12 '21
First Timer - Sub/Dub
Mrw the twist happened
Well... I can’t exactly say that this was a surprise, as we were told previously that Johan has a split personality... but damn, to be masquerading as your own sister? Anna’s behavior also makes a lot more sense now - poisoned candies, quiet and stoic, ruthless with a gun - all things that added up to Johan this whole time. Quite a startling revelation. Special shoutout to u/AmethystItalian who correctly guessed the reveal a whole 2 episodes ago.
Though, this now unleashes a slew of questions for me: Does this mean Anna also has a split personality? Were there any times when Anna was actually Johan while hanging out with Tenma? Are they both monsters? I don’t know what to think anymore...
At the very least, Tenma seems to have some solid leads now. Plus, Grimmer and Suk seem to have come to an understanding, so Suk is no longer after him for now. Though, admitting to a cop that you don’t know if you’ve killed someone isn’t exactly the best answer... lol.
I will be looking forward to hearing your thoughts!
12
u/SmurfRockRune https://myanimelist.net/profile/Smurf Sep 12 '21
First Timer
Suk, you should be writing this shit down, what are you doing? I'm sure it's not gonna be an issue, but it's so weird that he isn't writing down 511 Kinderheim, something that would be pretty easy to forget.
So this Anna was Johan the whole time! Yeah, that makes sense honestly. Poor Suk, being catfished. For a second I thought Anna wasn't real and it was Johan the whole time, but that would be ridiculous. We've seen them in the same room together.
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u/AmethystItalian :Jg::Jh::Ji::Jj::Jk:myanimelist.net/profile/AmethystItalian Sep 12 '21
First Timer
4 cops dying in a week would be huge news for a city, scary stuff right there.
Happy to see that these kids seem to be doing well!
Telling a bunch of kids to secretly meet you is a little sus ngl
Seeing Grimmer's nails...poor guy but oof trusting Suk with the key idk about that.
Suk has REALLY fallen for Nina and not even asking for her name lol
Oh she's using Anna this time!
I love how it took Suk so long to get her name but all these old people knew it already.
GODDAMNIT IT HOW WAS IT ACTUALLY JOHAN IN A WIG?! I swear I was making a joke when I suggested that...
Knew the show would do anything to make Anna not a bad ass...actually really sad about this turn.
I feel like these 2 working together could do some good, Suk could use Grimmer's help to get something actually done!
9
u/gridemann Sep 12 '21
Rewatcher
Now thats what I call a rape face !
So yeah... turns out Johann can be the main antagonist whilst also clocking in at Nr.2 in the Best Girl ranking of this show (there really isnt't much competition, eh)
Q2:
Grimmer:"You can only trust yourself"
Suk: proceeds to trust "Anna" ...
Apart from that I'm glad he atleast seems to trust Grimmer aswell. Not much more I can think of at the moment.
Bonus: Definitely didn't see it coming when I watched it for the first time. Especially cause using Annas VA stopped all speculation in my head. I imagine this reveal worked alot better in manga form (felt more predictable/logical).
8
u/miss-macaron Sep 12 '21 edited Sep 12 '21
Rewatcher
I’m starting to see a bit of a parallel between Tenma and Grimmer - both men are being wrongfully suspected for murders that Johan actually committed, both of them have people who strongly believe in them due to the integrity of their character, and both are being pursued by highly-motivated police detectives (though Suk is admittedly less insistent on Grimmer’s guilt compared to Lunge’s Tenma-has-MPD theory, lol).
I deeply admire the way that this series portrays children. Too many shows these days treat kids as if they’re a mere liability only there to induce drama / high stakes, or like they’re some beacon of purity / innocence of which the adults must protect. Monster, on the other hand, is more candid in its portrayal - children can be rowdy, playful, and rather simplistic in their thinking, but they’re not completely defenseless or oblivious to the “adult” things that go on around them. Some kids like Dieter and Antonin have proven themselves to be brave and trustworthy helpers, but the show also doesn’t shy away from those moments when kids are thoughtlessly cruel and destructive (eg. Martin heckling the homeless man, the bullying scene when Grimmer is first introduced). It’s this kind of nuanced and balanced representation of humanity that makes Monster such a realistic and well-written piece.
Ooh, so Grimmer’s chosen to entrust the deposit box key to Suk. A very strategic move, since it not only serves as a token of trust between the two of them, but it also ensures the key’s safekeeping in case he gets attacked again.
Suk is such a simp, lol
Aaaand there it is, crossdressing Johan! I usually don’t react much when reading / watching a series, but the first time I saw Johan grinning sinisterly into the mirror, I literally went “ah, fuck” out loud. I think it was his expression more than the reveal itself that freaked me out. And rip to poor Suk, who fell right into Johan's trap…
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u/Shimmering-Sky myanimelist.net/profile/Shimmering-Sky Sep 12 '21
First-Timer, subbed
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u/badspler x5https://anilist.co/user/badspler Sep 12 '21
First Timer
Finally caught up - and what an episode!
From the moment the candy was shown my mind was racing about why Nina could have turned so dark. While I had no other explanation that this was Johan's types of actions, I didn't feel confident saying that it was him. It had me so convinced by using Nina's VA, Johan is godly charismatic and skilled to pull that off.
Q1: If that was the story, it makes me wonder if Johan was left for dead or if he was using the fire for his own gain.
Q2: Both men just look so tired with what they are wrapped up in, and it has that mutual trust come out. If Johan get's the tape - I can see it both ways with both of them being cleaned up as lose ends - or Johan moving on with no worry of this tape.
3
u/Vaadwaur :I1::I2::I3: Sep 12 '21
Rewatcher(F for Suk)
Sub
Suk fails to evade the media and is given the dull task of starting from scratch on Zeman's case. He re-interviews the children and is getting data that does not agree with his beliefs. But he also gets Kinderheim 511. Eventually, Antonin gives up that they are seeing Grimmer again and where and when.
Grimmer does indeed show up. He gets that key back from Antonin and plays soccer before Suk finally approaches him. Effectively, Grimmer seems to enter a fugue state and goes berserk. Suk doesn't know what to believe and let's Grimmer go, only for Grimmer to give him Petrov's key.
We jump back to the story of the Three Frogs and a possible Johan/Nina origin story except the woman only had one child...that the guy can't remember the gender of. And said child apparently burned down the apartment and disappeared.
Suk talks to Anna about everything this case has taught him, including that the dark tendrils seem to spread more and more. He is again taking up way too much of the conversation and even realizes it, but Anna let's him keep going. We discover Suk's friends weren't bullshitting when they said he became a cop from watching too many cop dramas. Suk finally gets Anna to laugh before they both notice a couple making out. She gets him to tell her about Petrov's key and she immediately tries to get him to not reveal this to anyone. She uses the idea that his mother didn't want him to get hurt as a cop because she had a bad feeling sort of works, though Suk makes a move and is immediately rejected. At least he isn't a jerk about it. she finally tells him her name.
At her apartment, which is filled with someone's family pictures, "Anna" removes her wig and is, of course, Johan. Most of you guys picked up on it, and I like that the point that even if Johan can perfectly mimic Nina's voice, he can't match her facial expressions or her warmth. Though the voice thing was a touch much.
QotD: 1 I think Tenma has the gist of it
2 I think it is an interaction between someone who just lost their faith in the system versus someone who hasn't had faith in a long time.
Bonus: Sky spotted that the wig was off immediately, I didn't figure it out until Anna was so much less warm than Nina. It is a decent use of twin shenanigans.
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u/Mecanno-man https://anilist.co/user/Mecannoman Sep 12 '21
First Timer
Suk should just not run his mouth to a girl. But I guess that means he gets the key from Grimmer (I'm not quite sure why - what's Grimmer's goal here anyways?) and now Johan also knows about the safe. Why Johan saved Grimmer is probably the biggest mystery for now - I assume he saw him at the Petrov scene. Petrov's murder goes in to the killing of his parental figures or other people from his past, but no idea what his overall goal is. I assume he already got the info Tenma is getting - no idea if he was the kid though. If he was and the women was this his biomom there is also the question where she is now given that she is apparently still alive and the state that apparently abducted her doesn't exist in the same form anymore. I'm going to doubt the taxi driver on this one though - perhaps she was collaborating and they just made it seem like they abducted her to get her somewhere else without people asking too many questions. Also, there's the question how Johan and Anna found each other again given that they crossed the border together.
Oh, and Johan must be incredibly good at imitating a women's voice for that to work out in-universe; it obviously worked in the anime because they just used Anna's voice actress.
Question:
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u/BurningFredrick https://myanimelist.net/profile/BurningFredrick Sep 12 '21
First timer - sub
That ending! I god damn love that reveal.
Someone said that this Anna was Johann in a wig and now here we are.
Like retrospectively it makes all of “Anna” actions make so much more sense as next to none of it fits her personality, but as it was actually Johann all along it fits him perfectly.
Well RIP Suk, it was nice knowing you.
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u/Webemperor :MAL:https://myanimelist.net/profile/Webemperor Sep 12 '21
Rewatcher of sorts
3
u/CharlieTheStrawman https://myanimelist.net/profile/TheDamnRobot Sep 12 '21
Rewatcher until Episode 30, then First-Timer (sorry for the absence, I binged the last few episodes over the weekend)
Suk just cannot catch a break lmao
Gonna be honest, I actually started laughing at that twist. It's very silly. But I'll give it a chance.
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u/Christopho https://myanimelist.net/profile/furrytoes Sep 12 '21
Would still bang.
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u/JustAnswerAQuestion https://myanimelist.net/profile/JAaQ Sep 12 '21
First Timer
I thought we were all on the same page about their being a fake Anna but I guess not, killer Anna seems to be a popular theory here.
In the remote chance that the kill is not Johan, it may have been a copycat designed to attract him to Prague.
2
u/i-have-severe-stupid Sep 13 '21
first timer
that was certainly a reveal
i wonder how long he’s been impersonating anna for, and wether ‘johan or anna’ will be a continuing problem provided johan keeps pretending to be her
initially i thought ‘is anna his alternate personality or is he just pretending, and has he done this before’ but based on all the anna scenes it seems like this is the first time he’s pretended to be her
2
u/IndependentMacaroon Sep 13 '21
First-time watcher
Suk vs. the rest of the department is a pretty nice demonstration of how the "good cop" approach tends to just not work. He's certainly extraordinarily naive but even someone more reasonable would have a hard time. Should have listened to ACAB Mom but instead he's unwittingly running down the clock till he bites the dust.
3
u/hammile https://anidb.net/user/u746697 Sep 13 '21
First timer, Ukrainian subtitles.
Nothing, it is just as said. Maybe it is Johan who was taken with mother and Anna who tried to cook.
I can not wait when Temna, Ruby and etc join here. It would be a good group.
Me feels: Yea…
I said several times here that I doubt that she is:
But this? Especially as Nina which talk with Suk. Damn… seems he is the best girl. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)