Awesome / Monster

See the Crowners page

---

• The ending of Episode 1. Even knowing what it will lead to, after seeing Tenma's crisis of conscience and how he gets told all through the episode that lives aren't equal, it's very satisfying when he grows a spine and decides to save Johan. The music that plays as he makes his decision really sells it.

  Tenma: I have a surgery to perform in the other room.

• Roberto mocks Tenma, saying he would never shoot him as doctor's job is to give life, not to take it. He is then proven VERY wrong by the good doctor.
  • As for Roberto? His crowning moment comes when he comes back from that. Think for a second: he took two bullets, fell off a balcony, and was left to die in a fire in a show where Anyone Can Die and survived. What's more is that he then signs up to be Tenma's defense attorney just to rub it in his face while he sits behind bars. That's why he's the Implacable Man, folks
    • Well, the fact that Roberto can't use his right hand anymore is a crowning moment all by itself.
• The Inspector gets one when he tries to capture Tenma, is stabbed in the side by a murderer, heads after Tenma anyway, as Tenma locks the doors to his car. The Inspector smashes into the window, and looks about to break in until he slides down. When Tenma lets him in? He handcuffs Tenma. (And refuses to unlock them, even though Tenma can save his life.)
  • Also, his reaction to the copycat stabbing him: With an epically pissed-off look on his face, he pistol-whips the guy to the floor, then casually kneecaps him twice, while telling him he's not even worth his time.
  • Inspector Lunge gets an even more awesome moment near the end of the series: After a close range gunfight between the two, Roberto throws Lunge in a corner and begins strangling him. Just when it looks like Lunge is down for the count, the Inspector grabs Roberto and forces his thumb into his bullet wound, letting him gain the upper hand and giving him the opportunity to make the bastard eat his pistol. Best. Fight. Ever. It's like two Falcon Punches colliding.
    Calculations?!... Those calculations don't add up in my head.
  • Lunge is consistently awesome, even when his behaviour is downright despicable. Crowning moments of funny/awesomeness/cruelty incurred when Lunge drives a suspect to suicide, when he doesn't even bat an eyelid when his wife and daughter leave him or even more so when he later casually turns down the one opportunity to meet his daughter and new grandchild, just because he thought it might help him get into Dr. Tenma's mind set. He rubs salt in the wound by actually smiling to himself afterwards for making such a decision.
• Nina gets one too when she literally scares the piss out of a Neo Nazi crime lord. "I'm going to need some new briefs."
  • This is quickly followed by some awesome Big Damn Heroism when she single handedly rescues Deiter and Otto from a burning building.
    • Said Nazi crime lord also gets one for keeping his cool throughout the whole scene with Nina, going so far as to completely deadpan his request for fresh underwear.
  • Let's not forget her Aikido submission of the gardener at the Heidelberg Castle.
• Dr. Reichwein demonstrating to two much bigger and younger thugs (who have been hired by Roberto and, possibly Johan) to never disrespect your elders-after said thugs have already beaten the crap out of him. Especially when said elder can break your nose with their skull. This also qualifies the good doctor as a Cool Old Guy.
  Dr. Reichwein: I trained in the Swiss Guard, you idiots!
  • This particular crowning moment gets bonus points because a very sympathetic character (Richard Brown) had just been killed by Johan. Reichwein's fight arguably gives the audience a brief outlet for any anger they might have over Richard's death.
• And let us not forget his brilliantly executed escape from everyone's favorite Psycho for Hire Roberto. Best. Tea Making. Ever.
  • Followed by Tenma making his triumphant return after disappearing for four episodes in a row, shooting at Roberto just as he gets a bead on Reichweinn and allowing the doctor to escape.
• Grimmer—when he isn't making us sob like small children, that is.
• The people whom Tenma has helped, doing their damnedest to somehow return the favor. It's heartening to know that despite all the people who make Monster's world a crapsack, there are still good people like Dr. Tenma around. Hell, the fact that the manga even shows us the continuing lives of the people he's helped—as opposed to just helping them and moving on—is distinctly satisfying.
• Even Dieter has his CMoA, when he walks into a bar full of guys. They mock him for being a kid and one orders an alcoholic drink for him (possibly a martini, given the fruit in it). Dieter takes it, drinks it in one shot, puts the olive in his mouth, raises his hand in a cool fashion and silently walks out. Unbeknownst to the speechless men in the bar, he vomits outside and is disgusted by the drink.
  • I'd actually say that Dieter's CMoA is when he saves the Turkish district from burning down using Heckel's carpet.
  • Not to mention that basically every scene that focuses on Dieter is a Heartwarming Moment, especially the scene where he decides to stay with Tenma.
  • And then there's his breaking through the conditioning Johan has put one of the orphans he's watching through, then saving him from falling off a roof.
• Johan has a bunch, though they could probably be better described as crowning moments of terror.
  • Killing Tenma's corrupt superiors with poisoned candy, while recovering from a gunshot wound to the head. It's also pretty cool Flaw Exploitation, since he predicted that they would steal the candy for themselves.
  • His Establishing Character Moment in Episode 4 is Creepy Awesome to the max, capped off by following up his execution of Junkers by calmly approaching Tenma with a grateful smile.
    Johan: I was supposed to die that night. You're the one who resurrected me, Doctor.
  • It's also satisfying when he wipes out Dr. Geidlitz and his men, right after their brutal murder of the Turkish prostitute.
  • But the most impressive is likely when, after orchestrating a huge fire in a public library during a ceremony that many of the areas most important businessmen (that he had a hand in organizing, of course) attended, killing a good few, Tenma corners him. At which point, Johan simply raises a finger and points to his own forehead, and smiles to him as he leaves through the smoke and flames, confident that he won't take a life. Even his.
  • Another moment is when he kills Smug Snake Blue Sophie/fake "Margot Langer." Okay, so technically the one who kills her was Roberto, but still it qualifies.
    • "It's no use. How can you shoot a person who doesn't even exist?"
  • Taking out Jan Suk's bosses in Episode 43, again with poisoned candy.
• Eva gets one when she truly joins the hunt for Johan after Martin's death. And another when she shoots the ear off of Johan's acolyte, Christof.
• Tenma goes to a neo-Nazi bar. Four guys attack him. He grabs a ball point pen. He gets all the information he asks for.
• Don't forget Martin. His gunning down The Baby's men so that Eva can escape definitely qualifies for this trope. When he finally gets that fatal shot in the stomach, his reaction is to call his assailant an idiot for not aiming for the head. Not just awesome, but badass as well.
• The Baby: Threatened by Christoph, who has already killed at least four people and is roughly twice his size. His reaction: keeps his cool and threatens him right back; doesn't even change his stern facial expression while doing so.
• Grimmer's little speech to Bonaparta about how Kinderheim screwed up his life along with his insistence that Bonaparta should live just so he can reveal the truth about the horrible, horrible things he did was pure awesomeness.
• Tenma succeeded in particularly difficult brain surgery and safely removes bullets out of the victim's head twice. Even after he has witnessed all the atrocities Johan inflicted, he still doesn't kill Johan.

---