His relationship with Tenma has a number of possibilities. Was he serious about seeing Tenma as a Father figure and genuinely want to make his life better? Or was he just screwing with him? Or was he screwing with him because he thought it would make his life better? Another Monster has Dr. Reichwein suggest that Johan appreciated that Tenma was one person who would never forget he existed, saying that to Johan whether Tenma loved or hated him didn't matter as long as he remembered him.
In-universe, Dr. Becker interprets Eva's breakdown at her father's funeral as shock at losing her privileged lifestyle as the director's daughter.
Broken Base: The ending is considered to be divisive - or, at least, the final shot of the ending. Is Johan escaping a chance for him to atone or just the author not letting Johan suffer proper punishment for his long, long list of crimes?
Catharsis Factor: Dr. Heinemann and his associates are utterly corrupt, cause a patient's death out of greed, and try to ruin Tenma's life out of spite, so it's absolutely cathartic to see Johan kill them off.
Complete Monster: Professor Günther Goedelitz is an admirer of Adolf Hitler and radical Nazi adherent. Goedelitz forms an alliance with 3 other men and orchestrates the scheme to burn the Turkish district out of cruel racism, murdering the terrified prostitute Ayse when she overhears the plan. Kidnapping Nina Fortner, Goedelitz reveals he plans to use her as a captive to forcibly transform her brother Johan Liebert into a new dictator to restart the Nazi movement and finish the xenophobic war against all who aren't of the Reich. Monster is dedicated to exploring whether there is such a thing as pure evil, and concludes that while anybody, no matter now heinous, can be redeemed, it is Goedelitz's choice to refuse redemption that makes him a monster.
Cry for the Devil: Johan's reveal in the final episode about the Sadistic Choice Bonaparta forced on his mother, and how it affected him, is played for sympathy, with even Tenma feeling pity for him when he hears it, despite everything Johan put him through.
Diagnosed by the Audience: Many fans consider Johan to be a realistic depiction of a sociopath, but he's never officially diagnosed with ASPD. In fact, his patience, emotional regulation, and advanced planning skills make it impossible for him to meet the real life criteria for an ASPD diagnosis. But make no mistake, there is clearly something off with him. Alternatively, some theorize that he might be suffering from some schizoid disorder, which would explain his blank and almost robotic behavior. Given the fact that his ability to empathize with Nina and Karl is genuine in a way that could be described as disconcertingly bizarre, this is likely true.
Draco in Leather Pants: Johan Liebert. Given that he is a fairly attractive young man, this treatment was practically unavoidable. If anything, some fans have a habit of always excusing Johan's actions in a sympathetic light, no matter how flawed the argument is.
Genius Bonus: The crazy and drunk people who see Johan as a monstrous dragon with several heads, along with the fact that Johan suffers near-fatal head injuries but recovers from them, are both references to the Great Dragon from the Book of Revelation, meant to imply that Johan might be The Antichrist not just metaphorically but literally.
Aside from the extra understanding gleaned by those with medical degrees, there's a bonus for film or animation students. Lipsky could be a puppeteer just because it's a part of his character, or because it's both creepy and sad...or it could double as a Shout-Out to the Prague school of animation, which, based on when Monster is set, would have still been going strong during Lipsky's childhood. This particular localized trend produced a lot of work based on puppetry and dark fairy tales, both elements which compliment Monster nicely. And of course, Lipsky's first met in Prague.
Ho Yay: Roberto describes Johan to Dr. Reichwein as if he were having an affair with the man. Also doubles as No Yay for a lot of people.
Iron Woobie: Tenma oh so very, very much! A lesser character might’ve long given up on doing the right thing when everyone else around either dies horribly, tries to manipulate them for personal gain or both. Not Tenma!
Jerkass Woobie: Eva. She just wants to fill the hole of having lost Tenma, but does so wrongly by becoming an alcoholic. None of her relationships post-Tenma were successful, maybe except the one with Martin, and then he dies saving her.
Martin definitely qualifies. He has no qualms about killing for a guy who’s name he doesn’t even know and as he himself points out he does not have a very favourable view of women, but his background of having accidentally killed his drunk mother when he was a child after tiring of having to drag her home and and leaving her in the cold and then losing his girlfriend to suicide, just when it seemed like she had finally kicked her drug addiction has left him feeling like the Failure Knight. He finally finds some much needed happiness we he falls for Eva only for it to end with his being gunned down for refusing to kill her! Poor guy can’t catch a break.
Johan pushes the "Jerkass" part of the equation past the point of no return, constantly murdering innocents in the most horrifying ways humanly imaginable and refusing any chances at redemption, but as time goes on, it becomes clear that any sense of identity or worth he had has been completely annihilated by his life experiences to the point that he views himself as completely worthless and without meaning and that he decided he must completely isolate himself from humanity because of this. Even then, his genuine emotional connection with Karl shows that there is some degree of humanity still dwelling in him that he's buried. By the time Nina states she could forgive him, his only response is to bow his head in pain and state that he can never amend for his actions.
Jerks Are Worse Than Villains: Johan is widely respected by audiences for being a very creepy and complex villain despite being irredeemable, how effective he is at pulling his schemes off, and having a legitimately tragic past and a few genuine redeeming qualities. It's a lot easier to hate Director Heinemann, Dr. Oppenheim, and Dr. Boyer from the first two episodes, for being corrupt doctors who endanger the lives of their patients, only care about money, and try to sabotage Tenma's career purely out of spite. Their overly smug attitude and more mundane level of evil also makes them easier to hate, and that's what makes their deaths at the hands of Johan so satisfying.
Misaimed Fandom: Most people appreciate Johan for being The Chessmaster. Others seem to ignore all that, and move on to a Roberto-like level of worship.
Moral Event Horizon: A key theme of the series is whether or not the horizon truly exists. People are redeemed (sometimes at a large cost) for crimes so heinous even death wouldn't be enough in most series. There are, however, deeds which prove such horizon may exist.
Johan skips right past it in the first volume by killing his foster parents without any remorse when he was still a child. In addition to performing numerous other malicious misdeeds, he refuses to seek redemption in large part because he considers himself to have crossed the horizon long ago ("Some things can never be amended.") At the end, however, even he is forgiven by his sister, who says "Even if we were the only two people left in the whole world, I would forgive you." Whether or not he's forgiven by anyone else remains ambiguous.
Dr. Heinemann crosses it with his total lack of remorse that his political games caused a patient's death, then screwing Tenma's career over and driving him close to the Despair Event Horizon as punishment for saving Johan.
The Neo-Nazis cross it with their plot to burn the Turkish district. For Dr. Geidlitz, it's his murder of the Turkish prostitute, while the Baby crosses it when he orders Dieter killed for being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
The characters' frequent Oh, Crap! reactions whenever something bad happens can get pretty funny after a while, especially in the anime where it's often shown in slow-motion with dramatic close-ups of their shocked expressions.
The English dub has several moments where it seems the original translated dialogue didn't line up with the characters' mouth movements and the writers had to change the dialogue to make it match, which results in some awkward or redundant lines:
Dr. Reichwein: He claimed he committed his crimes on his friend's orders. In here he wrote that friend's name. And the name that's in this letter... is Johan.
When Lunge is being strangled he's sticking his swollen tongue out. It's a realistic depiction of strangulation (a combination of the tongue losing circulation and swelling and a last ditch attempt by the body to open the mouth and get more air) and it's also really silly looking.
Nightmare Retardant: Franz Bonaparta's books are supposed to be ominous, but honestly, they try way too hard. And the silly artwork doesn't help.
No Yay: Jan Suk is shown to have romantic feelings for "Anna Liebert", which becomes disturbing in the light of reveal that "Anna" was Johan in disguise.
One-Scene Wonder: Martin is only in three episodes, but gets enough attention that you'd think he was one of the main characters.
Padding: Episode 8 contains many flashbacks to earlier events, which were notably not present in the manga.
The Scrappy: You'd be hard-pressed to find anyone who likes Otto Heckel, who mostly serves to break up the tension with comic relief. The fact that he survives the whole series while many better-liked characters do not doesn't improve matters much in most fan's eyes.
Superlative Dubbing: The VIZ Media English dub is lauded for its exceptional casting and ADR direction (courtesy of Patrick Seitz, who also voices Grimmer). When Netflix’s 2023 release of Monster didn’t include this dub, many were disappointed.
Unintentionally Unsympathetic: Franz Poppe in the series finale is depicted as being The Atoner by being kind to Wim. The thing is that doesn’t quite undo all the horrific things he did including but not limited to making a woman give up one of her children to be experimented on and tortured and creating not one, but two facilities to shape children into mindless killing machines which in turn leads to the creation of others. We also find out later that he had a son who he neglected and ultimately abandoned. Most if not all the deaths we see in the series could be traced back to him. Even his attempt at a Heroic Sacrifice just paints him as a Dirty Coward trying to avoid the punishment that Grimmer quite rightly wants him to face up to!
The Woobie: Tenma, Grimmer, Nina, Dieter, and Wim are all excellent examples.
Heartwarming Moments: For all the trouble in their relationship, Aileen and Selby do have some pretty cute moments together.
Hollywood Homely : Zig-Zagged. While the makeup, prosthetic teeth, weight gain, and dumpy wardrobe make Charlize Theron look much more "average" than she usually does, it's still hard to disguise the fact that it's Charlize Theron. In an interview on the DVD extras, Theron herself even points out that the real life Aileen wasn't even really ugly, but definitely lived a really rough and harsh life that wouldn't have allowed her to keep a polished appearance and probably even prematurely aged her a bit (the fact that she started smoking cigarettes when she was just 11 years old certainly didn't help).
Hollywood Pudgy: While Theron gained 35 pounds to play the role, she's not that much bigger than average. Wuornos herself wasn't that big◊ either, just out of shape (and her impoverished circumstances definitely couldn't have given her access to things like good nutrition or a personal trainer).
Jerkass Woobie: Aileen. She's an unrepentant criminal and Serial Killer, sure, but growing up in horrible poverty, being abused (physically, verbally and sexually) by several members of her family, being forced to turn to prostitution to survive, getting repeatedly raped and assaulted, and having an undiagnosed/untreated mental illness... is it any wonder that she turned out the way she did?
The easiest way to distinguish Yetis and Wendigos is their preferred flavour of ice-cream: Yetis like Rocky Road, Wendigos go for strawberry.
The ongoing prank war between Monster and Hardy, in which Monster plants one of Liz's dolls under Hardy's car, prompting all four tires to explode and the engine to spontaneously break down... and this in response to another prank in which Hardy sprayed Monster's underwear with Chupacabra pheromones!
The long list of pros and cons of having a succubus for a girlfriend, both of which conclude with "all the sex."
Liz and Monster reflecting on the good times they've had together, including a moment in which she slipped addictive drugs into a batch of cookies at a bake sale - resulting in a feeding frenzy of kids, one of whom actually broke another child's arm with a scream of "that's mine, fatass!"
Judy's growing hatred of Chipper, the impossibly-exuberant waitress at the diner.
When an Inuit walrus dog attacks the diner, Monster is enjoying his meal too much to save the day, and spends the next few seconds loudly talking about how good the sausages and eggs are until Judy shames him into investigating... and then it turns out that the beastie is about to kill Chipper, whereupon Judy assures Monster that he can take his time.
After Greta has her house burned down by an exploding hydra, she needs to call her family to let them know, only to realize she doesn't have her cell phone with her. Monster reluctantly hands over one of Liz's dolls as a replacement, and Greta actually thanks him before realizing what she's just been handed.
Ensemble Dark Horse: The most popular character by a huge margin — and consequently the only character to really escape the obscurity this game is buried under — is Delga. This is largely because of his prominent representation in a lot of... questionable content posted online.
Iconic Character, Forgotten Title: Comparatively at least. If anyone knows anything about this game at all it's likely to be because of Delga, who continues to have a modest (and often NSFW) fanbase despite the game itself languishing in obscurity and Development Hell for over a decade. It's not uncommon for people who know Delga to be completely unaware that he's even from a game.
Popular with Furries: With a majority of the cast being anthropomorphic animals, this is a given. It doesn't hurt that the lead game designer is heavily implied to have been a furry himself.
, which would explain his blank and almost robotic behavior. Given the fact that his ability to empathize with Nina and Karl is genuine in a way that could be described as disconcertingly bizarre, this is likely true.
