History Manga / Monster

* IntergenerationalFriendship: Dieter (a kid) and Tenma (an adult).

* TitleDrop

The manga also has a 74-episode anime adaptation, which aired from 2004 to 2005. The anime was a fan-favorite on [[Creator/{{Syfy}} Sci Fi Channel]]'s Ani-Mondays block. Unfortunately, it is no longer available on {{Creator/Hulu}} or the Manga Entertainment app for UsefulNotes/Xbox360 (dubbed) as Viz Media dropped the license. Fortunately the Australian company Siren Visual [[https://www.animenewsnetwork.com.au/news/2013-05-17/siren-visual-acquires-monster has licensed the anime]] for full release, dubbed and all in its respective country. In early 2022, the series was released on Netflix in the US, subbed.

* HateSink: The series has a lot of villains who are more mundane and self-serving than Johan, but far easier to hate on a personal level. Standouts include [[MorallyAmbiguousDoctorate Director Heinemann, Dr. Oppenheim, Dr. Boyer,]] [[AbusiveParents Mr. Hartmann]], [[SmugSnake Blue Sophie,]] [[DirtyCop Inspector Zemen]], and [[KidsAreCruel Wim's bullies]].

* CoolGuns: The art makes sure you know Nina's four-barreled COP derringer is one badass piece.

* ArtShift: Bonaparta's story books.

* TheAtoner: [[spoiler:Franz Bonaparta]] as the most obvious example, but also Wolf, Schubert, Rosso, Bernhardt, and many others. Also given inversions and subversions, temporary and otherwise. Atonement and redemption are arguably two of the series' key themes.

* BastardUnderstudy: Christof to Johan.
** At the very least, [[spoiler: Peter Čapek]] and the organization he represents may have aspirations to mold Christof into this as a substitute for Johan [[spoiler: if the latter proves too unwieldy for them]], but according to Christof, the joke is on them, [[spoiler: since Christof was merely using the organization to arrange a reintroduction with Johan for himself]].
* BeautyEqualsGoodness: Averted. People of all appearances occupy all positions on the morality spectrum.

* BilingualBonus: The German and Czech on signs, in documents, and everywhere else is pretty fun for students of the language.

* BodyguardCrush: Martin develops one for Eva.
* {{Bookends}}: [[spoiler:Johan gets shot in the head and Tenma saves him.]]

* BreakTheCutie: Poor Nina, and poor, poor Tenma.
* BrokenAce: Our resident twins. Johan is psycho and Nina is damaged and repressed.
* BringMyBrownPants: The Baby, as Nina points a gun at him. The Baby is terrified and notes that she is most ''definitely'' Johan's sister.
* BrokenPedestal: At the start, Tenma greatly looks up to his boss and seems to view him as a father figure. Said boss exploits his surgical skills for media publicity, plays political games that get one of Tenma's patients killed, and screws his career over for daring to defy him.

** Another example happens with Jan Suk, who admired [[spoiler:a police who actually was corrupt]].

* ButtMonkey: Tenma at the beginning, detective Jan Suk, Otto Heckel, Eva and ALL of the children that show up in the story.
* CareBearStare: Tenma. Also done by Grimmer, including on [[spoiler:[[TheSpock Lunge]]]], of all people. Nina, when not in a bad mood. Dieter's is a major one, and undoes Johan-induced damage.

* ChekhovsArmoury

* ChekhovsGun: [[spoiler:Lunge packs a rifle and a pistol before his fight with Roberto. During the fight, he loses the first, but reveals the tiny gun.]]
** [[spoiler:Dr. Reichwein complains to his secretary about leaving the door unlocked to the fire escape. When Roberto meets with him after hours, the thing that saves Reichwein's life is the door being unlocked, allowing him to barrel quickly through the doorway and onto the fire escape]].
* ChekhovsGunman: [[spoiler:Wim's father, who is introduced as nothing more than Ruhenheim's town drunk, is the one who ends up shooting Johan, thereby saving Tenma from the SadisticChoice of either abandoning his ideals or watching Wim die.]]

** [[spoiler:He is also seen nagging his secretary to remember to lock the office door on her way out. When an unknown man enters later, a quick glance at the lock confirms that he is an intruder, buying him a few precious minutes to plan his escape.]]
* ClosedCircle: Johan turns [[spoiler:the mountainous townlet of Ruhenheim]] into one by timing [[spoiler:his massacre]] with a severe rainstorm flooding the streets to the outside world, then having the phone lines cut and the local police force slaughtered.
* CoDragons: Dr. Oppenheim and Dr. Boyer are this to Director Heinemann at the start, with Boyer also being TheStarscream to Tenma.
* ColdBloodedTorture: Inspector Zemen subjects Grimmer to this... with nail clippers. It's way worse than it sounds.
* CommieLand: Much of the story can be traced to communist East Germany and Czechoslovakia.

** Used earlier as an incredibly black [[BrickJoke brick joke]] after Tenma complains of the politics of his hospital to a supposedly unconscious ten-year-old Johan.
** Before [[spoiler:Johan suddenly wakes up and just stares at Tenma.]]
* CoolGuns: Nina's use of the four-barreled COP derringer.
* CorruptCorporateExecutive: Director Heinemann is the hospital equivalent, caring only about money and media attention.
* CryLaughing: Tenma [[spoiler: after Dr. Heinemann, Dr. Boyer, and Dr. Oppenheim are murdered and he gets promoted to an even higher position than he had lost]]. Later on, [[spoiler: ''Johan'']] is implied to have done this after [[spoiler: finding out that he wasn't the one who was really sent to the Red Rose Mansion]].

* DepravedDwarf: The Baby, a dwarf and the leader of a criminal group.
* DiesWideOpen: The security guard in Episode 4.
* DespairEventHorizon: Tenma comes close to hitting this by the end of the ''second episode.'' It doesn't get much better from there.
** [[spoiler: Nina comes perilously close near the end, to the point that Tenma has to talk her out of suicide.]]
* DirtyCommunists: [[PlayedStraight Played straight]]. The crimes of neither the East German nor Czechoslovak communist regimes are ever justified and the flashbacks depict them as dark and unfriendly, which pretty much corresponds with the common view of the communist period in Eastern Europe. In a way may have even been taken up a notch as the East German regime as portrayed in the story bears a hell lot of similarities to the Nazi one.
** Although may be considered [[TruthInTelevision Truth In Television]], at least to some degree. The East German communist regime was notorious for its ideological devotion to the socialist cause (for instance most of the communist terrorist organizations in the world during the Cold War were funded by East Germany) and it did engage in various experiments tampering with human mind and body. In fact, evidence indicate that right before the fall of communism in Eastern Europe Premier Erich Honecker considered [[MoralEventHorizon slaughtering the East German protesters]], following the example set by the Chinese in Tiananmen Square.
*** Fan analysis of the real-life analogues for the experiments/abuses depicted in the series, including some actually perpetrated under the Communist bloc, can be found [[http://obluda.wikia.com/wiki/Kinderheim_511#Trivia here]] and [[http://erichspringer.tumblr.com/post/88792509303/i-was-watching-the-german-doctor-wakolda-and-i here]].
* DirtyCop: The two detectives hired by Johan to kill Nina's adopted parents, Inspector Zemen, Commissioner Hamrlik, Chief Detective Batella, and Detective Janacek.

* DoggedNiceGuy: Lotte is a gender-flipped example. Unfortunately for her, Karl is pretty damn [[ObliviousToLove oblivious]] and she suffers quite a bit over her relationship woes (or the lack of). Jan Suk plays the trope straight, though it's brutually subverted in the fact that the sweet girl that he's been crushing on [[spoiler:turns out to be Johan in disguise.]] There's also Lipsky, who seems to have a thing for Nina, [[spoiler:but he ends up in a happy relationship with someone else in ''Another Monster''.]]
* DramaticWind: Happens very often, especially in the anime. [[EmpathicEnvironment Empathetic environment]] generally tends to apply.
* TheDragon: [[spoiler: Roberto]] on behalf of Johann.

* TheDreaded: Everyone who knows and works with Johan , with the possible exception of Roberto, fears him to an extreme degree.
** There are even occasions where people figure out that Johan is nearby because of the overwhelming fear that suddenly overtakes them.
* DrivenToSuicide: Roughly half of Johan's victims end up killing themselves thanks to his MindRape abilities. He's even driven ''little kids'' (or at least tempted them) to kill themselves.

* DrowningMySorrows: Tenma's alibi against charges of KlingonPromotion, complete with public staggering and ranting. Generally a source of trouble elsewhere ([[spoiler:Eva, Richard, Martin, and Wim]]), though not anviliciously so - [[BestBeerEver best beer ever]] is all part of Grimmer's and Reichwein's positive outlooks. Just be careful with who you drink with.
* DyingMomentOfAwesome: [[spoiler: Muller, who has a pretty epic gunfight to save Nina's life. Considering he killed her foster parents, that was quite the redemption.]]
* DysfunctionJunction: The entire plot is driven by this trope.

* EvasiveFightThreadEpisode: [[spoiler:Lunge]] vs. [[spoiler:Roberto.]]
* EvenEvilCanBeLoved: [[spoiler: Nina is able to forgive Johan at the end and says that no matter what he does, [[ThickerThanWater he's still her brother]] and she could never hate him]].

* FairyTaleMotifs: See list on the [[{{Trivia/Monster}} trivia]] page.

* FictionalDocument: The various nihilistic children's books.
* FilmNoir: It borrows a few elements every once in a while.
* {{Fingore}}: Grimmer is tortured by [[CorruptCop Corrupt Cops]] in this manner.

* FourIsDeath: The Nameless Monster goes through four hosts.
* FreudianExcuse: [[spoiler:Both twins [[DeusAngstMachina suffered through many traumatic experiences]], though in [[SubvertedTrope Johan's case]] it's [[MindScrew somewhat convoluted]].]] Played straight with many of the other Kinderheim 511 alumni - and in a frighteningly effective way, to boot.

* GoodIsNotDumb: Dr. Tenma, Nina, and Dr. Reichwein. They have principles and are a bit naive about the nature of evil but they are quick to learn. Tenma and Nina diligently trained into using a firearm in case they need to hold someone at gunpoint and will shoot if needed be.
* GoodTimesMontage: Nina, Dieter, and Lipsky "making happy memories" in Prague.

* HalfIdenticalTwins : Johan and Nina. [[spoiler:Their mother even used to dress Johan up to resemble Anna while the children and she were in Prague. As young adults, Johan masquerades as Nina while he's in Prague, and when Nina gets there, she's confused by his female identity and how everyone seems to know "her."]]

* TheHeart: ''Monster'' arguably has [[{{Metaphorgotten}} several]], even if Tenma is the obvious one.
** It's almost impossible not to love Nina, even when she's frightening enough to make [[spoiler: a Neo-Nazi piss himself]].

* ObsessiveCompulsiveBarkeeping: A bartender Tenma talks to does this.
* OffTheWagon: Subverted with Richard Braun. Averted with Eva.
* OhCrap: Everyone ''every time something happens''.

* OminousLatinChanting: The series' opening theme, "Grain."

* OneWordTitle
* OnlyAFleshWound: Mostly averted. A few people escape shots to the shoulder, but gut and thigh wounds kill several people. Averted when a character's shoulder's shot which cripples his arm for the rest of the series.
** Johan gets [[spoiler: shot in the head TWICE and gets away with little neurological damage the first time; not known the second time, though]].
* OnlyKnownByTheirNickname: Mafia boss "The Baby."

* OrphanageOfFear: Kinderheim 511.
* OrphanageOfLove: Anna/Nina's orphanage.

* ParentalAbandonment: There is a mystery behind what happened to the Liebert twins' biological parents. [[spoiler:It's implied that their father was killed, but it's later revealed that the mother turns out to still be alive.]]

* PetTheDog: Eva has a straight moment, while Johan loves to [[SubvertedTrope subvert]] this for all it's worth. Roberto has a retroactive one.
* PhotoOpWithTheDog: Played straight as far as Heinemann's motivations are concerned. Otherwise, not so much.
* PleaseKillMeIfItSatisfiesYou: [[spoiler: Johan]]: his every action is an incitement for the right man to end his life.
* PointThatSomewhereElse
* PolarOppositeTwins: Johan and Nina.

* ThePowerOfFriendship: Both played straight ''and'' mind-bendingly subverted, depending on who's in the scene.
* TheProfessor: All the psychologists we find.
* TheProfiler: Dr. Rudy and Lunge. Several other characters show elements of this as well.
* PublicSecretMessage: A former college classmate needs to get in touch with Tenma, so he puts an ad in the paper that simply says "Let's discuss our memories of cheating" (on tests).
** [[spoiler: Lunge figures it out pretty easily]].
* RedHerring: The elderly couple that [[spoiler:win the lottery and subsequently arm themselves to protect their new-found wealth]] are largely ''un''involved [[spoiler:in Johann's plot to destabilise Ruhenheim. Rather, they buy their own guns and behave peacefully - albeit somewhat irrationally - until they're rescued by Grimmer and Lunge]]. Similarly, [[spoiler:Wim's father]] doesn't actually get the chance to participate in [[spoiler:the Ruhenheim massacre as Johann intended - that is ''until'' he runs into Johann threatening his son with a gun]].
* RescueRomance: This trope gets a pretty rough time of it, subversion-wise.
** Not counting that [[spoiler: Tenma rescues a mountain of people, who end up loving Tenma in one way or the other and their main drive is to prevent him from killing Johan or anyone for that matter]].
* RedemptionEqualsDeath: Muller, [[spoiler: one of the cops who killed Nina's foster parents]].
* RedemptionInTheRain: Deconstructed into tiny little pieces [[spoiler:and scattered all over Ruhenheim.]]
** A tamer subversion is when Eva begins crumbling apart at the moment she gazes at Tenma's apartment while standing in the rain.

* TheReveal: A ''lot''. One has trouble just counting how many people died.

* RousseauWasRight: Tenma's conclusion, and ultimately that of the series itself.

* ScullySyndrome: Virtually epidemic, if understandable. Lunge is the most standout case, but nearly everyone tends to come down with a dose of this when they first hear the main story. [[spoiler:Check out the late-arriving cops in Ruhenheim's reaction to Gillen's explanations.]]

* SerialEscalation: Just how bad does a person have to be before you, the viewer, stop sympathizing with them?
* SerialKiller: You have three seconds to make a guess who. Though he's far from the only one.

* ShipTease: The subtext between Tenma and Nina.

** Johan's character also had similarity with [[ComicBook/RedSkull another Johann who was involved with Nazi.]]

* SlasherSmile: While he rarely ever shows emotion, right before he [[spoiler:asks Richard if he would like a drink]], Johan makes one of the most sadistic slasher smiles imaginable once he realizes that he's broken [[spoiler:Richard.]]
** Heinemann smiles in that way many times.
** Roberto, in turn, rarely stops smiling.

* TastesLikeFriendship: Repeatedly, almost to the point of FoodPorn, fortunately at a reasonable distance from the horror, and with an eclectic range of cuisines. Also used as a connection with others, rejection of nihilism, or undergoing a HeelFaceTurn. Bad guys are rarely shown enjoying food, and if they do, they tend to be [[EvilTastesGood weird]] about it.