{"id":7455,"date":"2019-12-11T13:00:46","date_gmt":"2019-12-11T21:00:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/?p=7455"},"modified":"2019-12-08T21:52:42","modified_gmt":"2019-12-09T05:52:42","slug":"mark-watches-monster-chapter-37-a-nameless-monster","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/2019\/12\/mark-watches-monster-chapter-37-a-nameless-monster\/","title":{"rendered":"Mark Watches ‘Monster’: Chapter 37 – A Nameless Monster"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the thirty-seventh episode of Monster<\/i>, help. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to watch Monster<\/i>.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Trigger Warning: For manipulation, terrorism, PTSD\/trauma<\/b><\/p>\n

One of the recent episodes was called \u00e2\u20ac\u0153In Broad Daylight.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s what I feel towards the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153answer\u00e2\u20ac\u009d to a major mystery in this show: it was right there the entire fucking time.<\/p>\n

A Nameless Monster<\/b><\/p>\n

I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know if that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the translation for the Czech picture book, but it works, doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t it? The picture book that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s linked to the trauma of the twins is a story that feels eerily relevant: a nameless monster splits in two, one heading east while the other heads west. (A possible reference to Germany being split in two?) Both monsters encounter humans, promise them increased powers, inhabit them, and then consume them from the inside. (Never gonna forget that<\/i> imagery, y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all.) The process continues over and over again; the monster assumes a name for a temporary period of time, but they never gain a permanent name.<\/p>\n

Until one monster is invited into the body of a young boy named Johan. This begs the question, doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t it? Is this picture book about<\/i> Johan? Or was it used to condition him? Where\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the origin of all of this? It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s clear that Nina is deeply, deeply triggered by the story, and she knows more about it than she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s letting on. My take is that this was used in part of some sort of brainwashing at Kinderheim 511? But was Nina there, too? Is that what that flashback is, the one where she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s wandering the halls and saying, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Kill him\u00e2\u20ac\u009d?<\/p>\n

I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have all the pieces, but this reveal is huge<\/i>. And what a brilliant decision to have this episode open with this! The previous episode ended with a cliffhanger, so I expected this to open immediately with Tenma\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s decision, but NOPE. Instead, I got hit with the freight train that is this book.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Ceremony<\/b><\/p>\n

I am still trying to wrap my mind around the utter chaos and destruction that I witnessed here. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s clear now that so much of this was an attempt by Johan to cause as much mayhem, terror, and pain as possible. Taking his words at face value means that he sought out Schuwald to specifically craft a narrative, one that Farren was a part of until Johan didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t need him. Once that happened, he discarded of Farren and manipulated Karl so that Schuwald would do what he did here: become a better businessman and a philanthropist. At some point, as Schuwald\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s life turned around, he would be honored for his accomplishments, and the best of the best would clamor to be in the same room as him.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

And what would happen if the beloved Schuwald was assassinated in front of them all?<\/p>\n

It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not lost on me that Dr. Tenma was unknowingly on a parallel path with Johan, since that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s largely what the show is trying to do. How similar are the two? At what point is it possible to claim that Dr. Tenma is the same<\/i> as Johan? Well, I think this episode answers that for the most part: at the end of the day, Dr. Tenma couldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t kill Johan. As Roberto says near the end of the episode, Dr. Tenma\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s hands are for saving<\/i> lives, not ending them.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Of course, there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the more obvious contrast here: Dr. Tenma didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t arrange for an entire ceremony to exist so that he could TORCH THE LIBRARY DOWN WITH HUNDREDS OF PEOPLE INSIDE OF IT. The show invokes the whole \u00e2\u20ac\u0153ant\u00e2\u20ac\u009d metaphor again because Johan just wanted to watch these people scurry in terror. He wanted to observe human suffering en masse, and he only changed his mind because he knew it was much more horrible to watch Schuwald as he witnessed the carnage.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s truly one of the most horrible things I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve ever seen, and IT\u00e2\u20ac\u2122S NOT EVEN OVER. Does anyone escape? Who was that woman who set fire to the library? I feel like we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve seen her briefly before, and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s true that Johan has (for lack of a better term) \u00e2\u20ac\u0153minions\u00e2\u20ac\u009d all over. And what of the fate of Roberto? Who fired their gun? I can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t believe that Dr. Tenma is dead at the halfway point, but now I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m thinking about another anime I watched where I was certain the main character wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t gonna die AND HERE I SIT, STILL COMPLETELY WRONG.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Nina is on her way; Lotte is on her way; so is Dieter and Dr. Reichwein and Lunge and WHAT THE FUCK IS ABOUT TO HAPPEN.<\/p>\n

The video for \u00e2\u20ac\u0153A Nameless Monster\u00e2\u20ac\u009d can be downloaded here for $0.99<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Mark Links Stuff<\/b><\/p>\n

– The paperback edition of my debut, ANGER IS A GIFT, is now OUT!<\/a>\u00c2\u00a0<\/strong>If you’d like to stay up-to-date on all announcements regarding my books, sign up for my newsletter<\/a>! DO IT.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"