The protagonist of the series, he is a Japanese neurosurgeon working in Düsseldorf, Germany. In spite of his Director's explicit orders, he decides to operate on a critically wounded boy instead of the city's mayor, which results in his demotion and the break-up of his engagement. He is, however, shortly promoted after the mysterious murders of three of his superiors, and continues working at the hospital until it is revealed to him that the boy he risked his career to save is, in fact, a mass murderer.
Actual Pacifist: Although he has no problem pushing, kicking, shoving, and threatening with violence, he has a hard time causing harm to others even if it is to defend his own life.
Adaptational Attractiveness: In the manga, he starts off plain and downright funny-looking. The anime takes its cue from the later chapters' Hot!Tenma◊.
Big Good: This is particularly evident in arcs where he is offstage or not the main character. In keeping with his nearly messianic role, by the end, nearly all the characters would do anything to protect him.
Celibate Hero: Post-Eva, although there is some subtext involving Nina that may avert this. In Another Monster, it is explained that he was still quite the celibate during his high school years and even purposely didn't get together with a girl who liked him (and the feeling was somewhat mutual) merely because he was friends with her (cheating) boyfriend.
Good Is Not Nice: As his journey progresses, he lapses from a polite doormat to someone completely uninterested in following the basic precepts of civility. Evident even in the beginning in his self-righteous fits of rage, this escalates as the series goes along into outright violence, casual aggression, and much-too-frequent death threats.
Arguably more Good Is Not Soft rather than Good Is Not Nice. He really is a nice guy, but he's been placed in trying circumstances.
I'm Not Hungry: When he was captured by the police, he refused to eat for so long they had to put him on an IV. Which doubles as Fridge Brilliance, as he was trying to end up in the infirmary in order to get in touch with Gunther Milch.
Inconvenient Hippocratic Oath. All the more so (or not) for being an integral part of what he comes to be about after the first episode.
Japanese Pronouns: Starts out using the somewhat immature boku and progresses on to the more mature and formal watashi after the first Time Skip.
The Last DJ: Both played straight and averted, in short succession.
Last Name Basis: People tend to call him by his last name rather than his first name, even when they've got to know him well—including Nina and Eva (though the latter is the one that does it least).
Mr. Fanservice: Probably unintentional on the creator's part. But as an older colleague enviously puts it, "Who would have thought you were talented in that department, too?"
Parental Favoritism: It's mentioned in Another Monster that his father favored him, his youngest son, over his other brothers. However, his mother favored his two older half-brothers (who are unrelated to her) more than him.
Skilled, but Naive: Tenma's a surgical prodigy, but it's not his relative inexperience with a scalpel that gets him into trouble in the beginning. It's his inexperience with another aspect of being a doctor: hospital politics.
"Tenma the Weenie! Tenma the Weenie! He peed his pants, too!"
Even more so considering the full story given in Another Monster. After the first time the other boys scared him during hide-and-seek, Tenma decided to go through it again in order to conquer his fear. What ended up happening was that they couldn't find him and thought that he just went home, so when one of the mothers told them it was time to go home, they left Tenma by himself. When they found him still hiding in the abandoned yard at night, they probably stopped picking on him simply because he had the guts to do all that.
Think Nothing of it: Does not like to take credit for his achievements, e.g. denying that he'd saved the Turkish district.
The antagonist of the story, he is introduced (outside Tenma's TV, that is) as a ten-year-old with a bullet in his brain. Shortly after being saved by Tenma, he escapes from the hospital with his twin sister Anna. He resurfaces nine years later as a killer, admits to having poisoned Tenma's superiors, and proceeds to wreak havoc across Germany. His identity is unknown to the general public, and his murders are subsequently blamed on Tenma.He is alternately perceived *
albeit mainly by delusional killers and neo-Nazis
as a vampire, an alien, the Devil, and the next Hitler. Both the manga and the anime open with a passage from Revelation that refers to the Antichrist and mirrors several events from Johan's life.
Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: He's a great guy to hang out with, and a good listener, too! But not for long. He'll even shed Tender Tears when you tell your troubles. He'll also cheer up your ailing elderly parents better than you ever could, and get along better with your kids, too.
Blond Guys are Evil: Interestingly enough, his hair is conspicuously lighter than Nina's.
Cast as a Mask: The anime does this. To make the reveal that the pretty new girl in town is actually Johan more shocking, the studio used Nina's voice actress to play Johan whenever he dons this look. This is done both in the Japanese version and in the English dub.
Commie Nazis: Having grown up in an East German orphanage, he'd have been raised communist. This doesn't stop Neo-Nazis exalting him as the next Hitler. Bonus points for the Anti Christ motifs.
Complete Monster: An in-universe deconstruction of the trope itself (namely, what could create an utterly unsympathetic and evil human being), and probably considered it by most people in the show as well.
Corruption by a Minor: Quite a few times, and we're not talking getting other kids to scrump apples here. Or just kids, for that matter. Inspires a taxi driver to emulate, uh, Taxi Driver without (thankfully) even going Lolicon about it, at the age of ten.
Cut Lex Luthor a Check: Notably averted. He does use his borderline super-human skills and abilities to make a living, but it's never more than a means.
Dissonant Serenity: His default facial expression changes about twice in the series' entire run. Both times it makes him even more creepy.
The Dreaded: Every character who has knowledge of Johan is deathly afraid of him. One commits suicide when he's brought up too much in conversation and others start shaking uncontrollably just thinking about him.
Driven to Villainy: Horrifyingly. Sure, he was already an Enfant Terrible by as a child, but he was severely warped by the empathic bond that formed between his sister and him when they were still very young. While she repressed the psychological torture she'd gone through, he began to think it had happened to him instead... and thus from that seed a monster grew.
Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Though it is debatable on whether he's even capable of love, his obsession with Anna/Nina doesn't make it any less disturbing. However, it is notable that his greatest fear is forgetting about "Anna."
Even the Guys Want Him: Though, to be fair, he was cross-dressing at the time. On the other hand, Roberto worships him.
I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: He does this for Anna/Nina twice. He willingly allows Anna to shoot him after finding out that he killed the Lieberts, and the reason behind his "perfect suicide" plan of a massacre in Ruhenheim along with eradicating his existence (mirroring Franz Bonaparta's Red Rose Mansion massacre, which is in itself an "expression of love" to the twins' mother) was partly due to how irredeemable he has become and to make Nina happy.
I Will Find You: One of Johan's goals is to reunite with Nina. He tries to make contact with her a few times, but either Tenma or Neo-Nazis who want Johan for their own benefit have a tendency to get in the way.
Karma Houdini: The ending does not make his fate clear, but he might have escaped the hospital. In Another Monster, it is revealed that he is in fact alive three years after the events of Monster.
Klingon Promotion: Last-minute aversion when in his own words, "Something else came to mind." And by "something else," he does not mean resigning unobtrusively.
Light is Not Good: He's a beautiful, almost angelic-looking man who gives off an aura of trust and kindness to all who meet him. Needless to say, he's almost unspeakably, irrevocably evil.
Madness Mantra: "But that's not my real name." Reinforced by his supremely creepy fairy tale.
Meaningful Name: Apart from the context the name Johan has within the series, it is noteworthy that this is a version of John, whose Revelations provide the source for the series' epigraph. Although the St. John of Revelations is usually referred to as Johannes, a different (and more formal) German version of John. John is also one of the most stereotypically generic names, which may be a reference to his own lack of identity.
Mommy Issues: Check out his little chat with her portrait, for starters.
Non-Action Big Bad: One of the things that makes him so scary is the fact that he barely needs to lift a finger to commit evil depraved deeds. He can just talk, point, pull a trigger...
He gave the prostitute money and told her she can use it to buy herself some more drugs. A good look at that lady and you can probably assume that more drugs would be a very bad thing for her. So when you think about it, was it really kindness?
Uncanny Valley Girl: A male version, lampshaded in the Munich arc. He's actually at least initially less overtly uncanny when cross-dressing... but then again he is (mostly) impersonating his sister.
Villainous Breakdown/Villainous BSOD: After re-reading "The Monster With No Name" and again (offscreen) after Nina points out that some of "his" memories are actually hers. And once more when Nina forgives him in Ruhenheim and it becomes apparent that Tenma won't shoot him unless he actually threatens an innocent.
Wicked Cultured: This is part of what makes him so terrifying and effective. He is practically a genius knowing many languages with a keen understanding of law which he uses to Mind Rape a certain character and was even able to run a massive money laundering scheme at fifteen-years-old.
Johan's twin sister. After the incident in 1986, she is adopted by a couple from Heidelberg where she leads a normal life. When Johan decides to contact her again, Tenma foils his plan by helping Nina escape. Her foster parents are, however, killed by Johan's henchmen, and their murder sends her on a quest for vengeance, across Germany and the Czech Republic where she picks up the forgotten pieces of her past.
Action Girl: Played straight and later deconstructed. Being an Action Girl does not equal having the mental fortitude to match.
Bad Dreams: Before she recovers her memories of Johan, she has recurring dreams of a monster attacking her.
Celibate Heroine: There are a few guys in the series who seem to like her, but she either rejects them (Peter) or is outright oblivious (Lipsky). However, she does have some subtext with Tenma that may avert this.
Distressed Damsel: Subverted early in the series. Played straight several times later on in the series including one case where she is saved from certain death by the same man who murdered her step-parents., as a part of the deconstruction theme that is a huge part of Monster. Though double subverted as people constantly try to capture her as a hostage and bait for Johan, but she willingly allows it if it means reuniting with Johan and killing him.
Forgiveness: "I... I forgive you. Even if we were the last two people in the world, I would still forgive you."
Good Is Not Dumb: She's a sweet girl and one of the best students in her class. However, she won't hesitate to use her Aikido or scare a Neo-Nazi shitless.
Morality Pet: Subverted. She may be the one person in the whole world who Johan appears to care a great deal about and his greatest fear is forgetting about her, but he's not above mindraping her and nearly indirectly causing her to commit suicide. And her forgiving Johan doesn't stop the latter in wanting to get himself killed.
Mutual Kill: Once she regains her memories, her plan is to kill herself after killing Johan.
An agent of BKA (the German federal police), he is assigned to the case of the murders of the three Eisler Memorial officials. Believing Tenma to be the only logical suspect, but deterred by the lack of evidence, he resumes the investigation ten years later after an officer guarding one of Tenma's patients is killed using the same M.O. used on the three doctors. Personal pride, rather than an interest in justice, prompts him to chase Tenma across Germany and Czechoslovakia, concluding that 'Johan' is Tenma's alter-ego.
Agent Scully: So, Dr. Tenma, you're saying a ten-year-old fresh out of major brain surgery killed these people?
Ambiguous Disorder: He has a ridiculously impressive memory, but very strange mannerisms and is implied to obsess over closing his cases.
Busman's Holiday: Subverted in that when he finally takes a vacation, he turns down a request for assistance from the local authorities. Otherwise, not so much played straight as sneakily turned Up to Eleven.
Character Tics: His most distinguishing feature is his habit of moving his fingers as though he were typing, which helps him memorize information verbatim.
Defective Detective: Very defective. It's only towards the end that he starts to become less dysfunctional.
Determinator: He obsessively tracks Tenma across Germany, not caring how it affects his personal life. Not even risking death from blood loss prevents him from trying to prove Tenma guilty.
The daughter of the Eisler Memorial Hospital director, she is engaged to Tenma at the beginning of the series. When he falls out of favor with her father, she breaks off the engagement, but has a change of heart soon after Heinemann's death. Tenma's subsequent rejection leaves her embittered and with an advanced alcohol problem, and she spends the remainder of the story vacillating between love and hate for him.
If I Can\'t Have You: Though she is kind enough to not actually try to kill him, she does attempt to put him in prison for life.
It Got Worse: When waking up in a police cell with personal belongings missing, smoking someone else's cigarette butts off the ground outside the station just for the hit, and stealing booze from a panhandler is not the low point of her day, you know it's a steep downhill slope.
I Will Wait For You: Waits for Martin at the Frankfurt Central Station to run away with him. He doesn't make it.
Lady Drunk: Through most of the series. She eventually stops drinking as a token to Martin, who didn't like alcohol, and continues to order coffee instead of alcohol three years later in Another Monster.
A young boy whom Tenma saves from physical and mental abuse at the hands of a former official of Kinderheim 511, he stubbornly tags along with the doctor (and, later, Nina), providing a foil to Johan.
Also known as Klaus Poppe, Emil Sebe, and by many other pseudonyms, Bonaparta is responsible for the eugenics program that resulted in the twins' birth. When he wasn't busy kidnapping his test subjects' mothers and killing their fathers, he engaged in educating the superior children with the aid of morally questionable fairy tales he had penned himself.
For Science!: Played partly straight, partly as a twisted excuse ("This is an experiment").
Heel Face Turn: Rather a slow, maddening process in which he gives up his experiments and becomes a dull, old man, living incognito in a small town where he unsuccessfully tries to continue his creative pursuits.
By killing over forty people in front of your love interest's already traumatized child to give her a chance at a better tomorrow. But don't worry about how your Sadistic Choice affected her, or her other child; your books and the pedagogy you developed will help fix all that. Just leave your evil conspiracy in place, it'll be all right.
However, in Another Monster, it is implied that he had a hand in erasing the twins' mother's past, and Lipsky hints that perhaps his reasons behind it was to isolate the twins' mother so only he would know of her existence.
A perpetually smiling man searching for Franz Bonaparta, the man whose pedagogic theories formed the basis of the brainwashing program Grimmer had been subjected to as a child. Unable to feel emotion in his regular state (according to himself, although that doesn't stop him from trying to "fake it"), he transforms into a brutal and unstoppable alter-ego when under extreme duress.
A Day in the Limelight: He, not Tenma, is the main character for the vast majority of Volumes 10 and 11.
Unstoppable Rage: His Magnificent Steiner persona, which he named from a children's show.
Roberto/Adolf Reinhardt
Voiced by: Nobuyuki Katsube (JP), J.B. Blanc (EN)
A survivor of Kinderheim 511, he takes on different identities during the series in order to eliminate witnesses and obtain information as one of Johan's most devoted henchmen.
Forgotten Childhood Friend: Used to be Wolfgang's friend at 511. Both men remember each other fondly, but neither have any idea who the other is as adults.
An elderly psychiatrist who becomes involved with Johan after the latter murders one of his patients. After being saved by Tenma from getting killed by Roberto, he becomes one of his main allies.
Badass Mustache: A double subversion. He seems like a simple crumudgeon at first. Then he beats up two men younger than him after taking several kicks.
Bald of Awesome: Also doubles as a Cool Old Guy. Not to mention that his bald cap plays a role in breaking a guy's nose.
Good Is Not Dumb: Beats up two guys and brilliantly outsmarts Roberto when he tries to kill him.
Retired Badass: Used to work with the border police. This, being the West German border police during the Cold War, which was basically a paramilitary organization as they were expected to hold back a possible Communist invasion from the east, makes it even more Badass.
A former classmate of Tenma's, he is a leading criminal psychologist who attributes his proficiency to possessing the brain of a serial killer. After initially planning to turn Tenma over to the police, he realizes the latter's innocence and becomes, along his former professor Reichwein, an active helper in Johan's case.
Not so Different: He explicitly invokes this towards the incarcerated serial killers that he interviews, though one may feel that he exaggerates. Also backfires, possibly due to his tendency to get "research subject" mixed up with "research assistant," leaving him repeatedly wide open to Hannibal Lectures from the "subjects."
Death by Irony: He manages to take out a group of The Baby's men. The one that finally manages to fatally shoot him appears to be a scared, way-out-of-his-league newbie who simply got lucky.
Failure Knight: His reason for being insistent on the above, as the last two women closest to him have died with himself feeling guilty as the indirect cause.
Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Though given he's up against Eva, his initial jerkiness doesn't register that easily.
Love Martyr: He was this to the three women in his life: his alcoholic mother who died freezing in the cold because he left her there when he was a child, his drug-addict late girlfriend who committed suicide after he caught her cheating on him and refused to kill her, and Eva who he died protecting.
Hidden Depths: Gets quite serious about his gourmet cooking. Not to mention touchy about Tenma's apparently inevitable suggestion that whatever the dish, it could be improved by the addition of soy sauce. Seriously, this includes Chicken Marengo.
Voiced by: Yasuyoshi Hara (JP), Christopher Smith (EN)
A colleague of Tenma's at Eisler Memorial Hospital, he is notable for being one of the few non-villains to hold hard onto his Jade-Colored Glasses even after long-term exposure to Tenma.
Dr. Jerk: While not incapable of empathy (see his scene with Eva), he generally displays a burned-out lack of human response, including endangering patients by turning up late for surgery, possibly due to dalliances with nursing staff.
The Matchmaker: To Tenma, repeatedly and unsuccessfully after his break-up with Eva.
Only Sane Man: How he sees himself within the hospital, in relation to Tenma's idealism and more overtly amoral careerism of some other colleagues.
Sliding Scale of Cynicism Versus Idealism: Tends to stubbornly stick to the cynical side, even when a Crowning Moment of Heartwarming is going on all around him, such as the way he tries to pour cold water on Tenma's former patients when they band together to bankroll a defense lawyer for Tenma.
Ensign Newbie: Very much so, constantly inspiring others to attempt mentoring him, generally to his annoyance. By the time Verdemann tries it, pointing out his professional and personal greenness verges on a Berserk Button.
Decoy Protagonist: Volumes 6-7 is one long day-in-the-limelight arc where the action shifts from Tenma to some new characters, which happens fairly often throughout the series. Initially, he seems to be the main character of this arc (Volume 7 is even named after him), but a tragic run-in with Johan causes the focus to shift to his therapist, Reichwein for the rest of the arc until Tenma returns.
Gory Discretion Shot: The fact that it's not revealed just how he dies makes the whole thing all the more maddening.
Spell My Name with an S: Braun would be the German version, but the Viz translation gives his name as Brown throughout.
Yank The Dog's Chain: If you didn't already hate Johan by this point, you REALLY will now.
Hans Georg Schubert
Voiced by: Michio Hazama (JP), Dan Woren (EN)
A mysterious business juggernaut with a sentimental past, he is the center of one of Johan's extremely elaborate plots to wreak large-scale havoc across Germany.
Spell My Name with an S: The American broadcast went so far as to edit a poster in order to corroborate their mis-dubbing of his name as Schuwald. Schuwald is also the spelling used in the German edition of the manga.
An extremely talented lawyer known for always getting innocent verdicts. In fact, he only takes on clients if he believes they are innocent. Naturally, he ends up being Tenma's lawyer after he's arrested in Prague. His desire to free innocent people is rooted in his childhood, when his father was accused of being a spy.
, he escapes from the hospital with his twin sister Anna. He resurfaces nine years later as a killer, admits to having poisoned Tenma's superiors, and proceeds to wreak havoc across Germany. His identity is unknown to the general public, and his murders are subsequently blamed on Tenma.He is alternately perceived * as a vampire, an alien, the Devil, and the next Hitler. Both the manga and the anime open with a passage from Revelation that refers to the Antichrist and mirrors several events from Johan's life.
