Monster ep.17

August 11, 2004 | 0 Comments

There aren't many revelations shown in this episode. But the series makes up for it by providing some interesting action scenes. There is also a minor hint given at the end of the episode as the series finally shed some light on Johan's behaviour. In general, however, the episode focuses on the sub-story of the main characters' attempt to prevent the right-wingers from executing their plan to burn down the city district. The animation in this episode seems to be more fluid in comparison to the other episodes. There are definitely more movement than still shots, which is good because with the amount of action that happens inside the episode, the episode won't look as interesting without several multi-angle shots and tracking movement.

The story begins with Tenma ordering General Wolf's chauffeur to drive him back to the city because he wants to warn the people in the Turkish district. The driver tells him that General Wolf will be disappointed to know that Tenma cancels his plan to terminate Johan. Tenma, however, tells him that he doesn't care what General Wolf thinks. He will kill Johan when he sees fit. Cut to an abandoned warehouse, Dieter and Heckel are gagged and tied up by a bunch of skinheads. The right-wingers tell the two that they'll get burn alive for trying to warn the people in the city. Meanwhile, in an expensive restaurant, 'Baby' is seen dining together with a woman and a little girl, who I assume to be his wife and daughter. He tells the two, as he looks at the city from the glassy window, that soon the 'main course' will arrive. 'Baby', however, is surprised when he looks back to the woman and finds Nina sitting in her place instead.

Nina immediately forces 'Baby' to reveal to her where the right-wingers are planning to execute the plan if he doesn't want her to pump his head with bullets. Meanwhile, Tenma with the help of the Turkish woman tries to woman the community leaders about the upcoming dangers. At first they suspect Tenma's intention but thankfully, one of them decides to be sensible and trust Tenma's words. Soon, Tenma's words are proved to be correct as the right-wingers set several areas in the neighbourhood on fire. Meanwhile, Nina is seen running around in the city trying to locate the area that 'Baby' had told her. Unknown to her, however, 'Baby' had lied to her about the location and instead gave her the place where Dieter and Heckel are captured. Never the less, Nina breaks into the place and manages to save the two from being burned alive.

Upon being set free, Heckel then tells Nina that if he were the right-winger, he wouldn't set his 'grand plan' in a small area like this. He thinks that the right-wingers will use the explosive-filled factory near the river so that the wind will send the fire to the city. Nina and Dieter immediately run to the factory and manage to find a skinhead about to light the factory ablaze. Nina tells the skinhead that Johan has no desire for any of this. Plus, she'll shoot him on sight if he drops the lighter to the oil-soaked ground. Before Nina can shoot him, however, Tenma appears and incapacitates the guy from behind. Unfortunately, the skinhead manages to throw the lighter into the oil-soaked ground, setting the factory ablaze. The fire then quickly crawls through the oil-soaked path towards the explosives surrounding the factory. Seeing the situation, Tenma orders Heckel to extinguish the fire using the rag that he's stolen from a shop.

Heckel, however, doesn't want his expensive stolen good to get burned and as a result, look like a deer caught in a headlight. Because of this, Dieter decides to grab the rag from Heckel, runs towards the fire, and drops rag on top of the fire before it manages to reach the explosives. Back in the expensive restaurant, 'Baby' sits around looking disappointed and complains how his 'main course' has gone cold. Back to the factory, Tenma and the others hear the Police' siren approaching. Nina quickly asks Tenma to run using the boat on the dock. She also manages to tell Tenma that back then, Johan wanted her to kill him because there are two Johan. Tenma doesn't understand what Nina meant but when he reads Johan's message at the place he specified back in the right-wingers' mansion, Tenma understands that Johan has two personalities. In the message, Johan writes "Help, the Monster inside of me is about to explode".

Impression:

There are some interesting actions going on throughout this episode. I especially didn't expect to see Dieter leaping into the fire with the rug to extinguish it. A bit dangerous and unrealistic for a kid of his age but in the context of the story, I supposed it works. The series clearly want to show how Tenma's influence has turned Dieter into someone who is not only brave but also has a good moral principle. It's a nice contrast to the Dieter that first appeared in this series. Another interesting point in this episode is the part where the Turkish community leader pondering whether or not they should act on an information given by a Japanese guy. The fact that they didn't trust him right away and even suspected his motivation gives the series a realistic touch. It emphasises the reality that there are tensions even between separate minority groups. Unfortunately, what is often forgotten is the fact that while every nationality, race, and countries have their own share of jerks, there are also good people in all of these 'pigeonholes'.

© memento 2003