Monster ep.26

October 27, 2004 | 5 Comments

This turns out to be quite interesting mainly because this is the first time the series allows the viewers to see Johan for more than five seconds glimpse here and there. It's good to be able to see his mannerism, his speech pattern, as well as his way of thinking, regardless whether it is real or fake. I also like the fact that the series manages to get its focus away from both Tenma or Nina and yet still ensure that the story is still quite interesting. Having said that, I do often wonder if animation is actually the best medium to tell this story. I like what I've seen so far but most of the time, the animation doesn't seem to add or enhance the series. The only thing about the animation which looks consistently impressive is the finer details which are used to ensure that every character looks different from each other.

Continuing from episode 25, this episode begins with a private investigator called Richard explaining to his doctor that he's been hired by the millionaire Schuwald to investigate Edmun Farren's suicide. The investigation eventually lead Richard to a book which contains similar words, albeit in Old Latin, to the one that appeared in Farren's suicide note. Meanwhile, Karl gets to meet with Johan again and the two ends up bonding with each other. Johan seems to be sympathetic to Karl's plight of being deserted by his father when he was a kid, to the point that he was crying. Meanwhile, Lotte tries to convince Karl to help her cheering up Schuwald, who seems to be depressed lately. So the two, along with Johan, 'kidnap' Schuwald and take him to his old favourite hideout. The episode ends with Richard finding out that Farren once came to that scary brothel madame with a blonde-haired young man.

Impression:

I like that the series decide to shift the focus on Johan for a while because it's interesting to see him interacting with other people. At the end of the episode, however, he's still a mysterious character which I can't quite understand. On a glance, Johan seems like normal teenager to me. A little bit quiet and mysterious, but there is nothing out of the ordinary about him that screams "Serial Killer!". Another interesting point which I didn't expect is his touchy-feely attitude towards Karl. Is he attracted to Karl or is there something more to it? While his crocodile tears performance seems to give him a pass to become Karl's new best friend, I don't think the hand-touching was a part of his performance. So I'm tempted to think that his emotion in that scene to be genuine, assuming he is capable of such feeling. Anyway, it'll be interesting to see if Karl is simply another victim on Johan's list or if he serves an entirely different purpose in the series.

© memento 2003