Monster ep.32

December 11, 2004 | 2 Comments

Once again the anime tries to combine two different stories into one episode. Unlike the previous attempt, however, the combination doesn't work that well this time around. The story feels fragmented here and if it wasn't for the fact that Monster always has an ensemble casts instead of focusing on one character, this wouldn't have worked at all for me. I'm also quite disappointed with the first half of the episode. It seems the writers have missed the opportunity to use Nina and Lotte's interaction properly, especially in regards to Johan's whereabouts. The second half of the episode is actually much better than the first one, especially in its emphasis on the fact that Tenma is first and foremost, a doctor. He is in the business of saving lives and not taking them. Therefore, one has to wonder if he'll ever be able to do his 'mission'.

Anyway, in the first half of the episode, Lotte tries her best to be closer to Karl but unfortunately, Karl is a bit dense. He keeps telling her that he's too busy with his father to be able to go out to a party with her, for example. Feeling depressed due to the rejection, Lotte decides to spend her time at the library and inadvertently gets to meet Nina Fortner. The two ends up talking when Lotte finds out that just like her, Nina is also doing an investigation on Margot Langer. Later on, Lotte decides to invite Nina to the party since she already got 2 tickets to begin with. However, in the party, a guy tries to hit on her and then tells her that he got paid by Karl to accompany Lotte. Lotte is hurt about this so Nina tries her best to comfort her. When Nina left the next day, however, Lotte finally realises that Nina reminds her of Johan.

In the second half of the episode, Tenma tries his best to practice killing Johan. But he always get cold feet when he tries to press the non-existent trigger. One day after another practice inside a forest, Tenma encounters an old man who's injured his leg. Tenma decides to help the guy and in the process gets to hear the man's story about his past life as Nazi's Kriminalpolizei. The old man tells Tenma how one day he's ordered to chase and kill a criminal who has escaped into the forest. However, when he finally caught the 'criminal', it turns out he's not criminal but rather a foreigner. Never the less, the old man ended up shooting the foreigner because of the pressure of his position. Ever since then, he believes that the forest never forgives him for the cold-blooded action. Birds used to flock to him but nowadays, they stay away from him. The episode then ends with a bird flocking into Tenma's arm, suggesting that it's not too late for Tenma to change his mind.

Impression:

Poor Lotte. After all of the things she's done for Karl, this is what she gets in return? Having said that, I don't believe that Karl was the one who sent that loser to accompany Lotte at the party. That kind of cruel-hearted action seems to be more of Johan's specialty. Anyway, as I said before, I'm actually more interested in the second half of the story, especially the part where the ex-Kriminalpolizei retells his story. I like how the story tries to show how easy it is for people to take one wrong turn in a minute's decision due to the pressure of one's job/profession. Sometimes when faced with the pressure of their work, humans tend to put work first above any human feeling and emotion and as a result, sometimes hurt others intentionally or unintentionally. What's sad, however, is the fact that some people often think that it is okay to hurt others as long as it means they can get ahead in their career.

© memento 2003