Nina Fortner

"Right now the world is full of pain, but everything will be alright...I know it. The bad things can keep happening forever; we have to do our part to stop them."

- Nina Fortner

Nina Fortner (ニナ・フォルトナー, Nina Forutonā), originally known as Anna Liebert (アンナ・リーベルト, Anna Rīberuto), is one of the main protagonists in the series following Doctor Tenma. She is the younger twin sister of Johan Liebert and the only physically unharmed survivor of the night her parents were killed and her brother was shot in what appeared to be a botched burglary.

Appearance
Although Nina is the identical twin sister of Johan Liebert, they have different skin color, hair lengths and hair colors:


 * Johan appears to have very pale skin and short light blond hair while Nina has fair skin and slightly darker (possibly a strawberry-blonde color) upper-back length hair.

However, despite having different character traits, they both have bangs hanging on either side and blue eyes. She, like Johan, is also considered very beautiful.

Personality
Nina Fortner was formerly a happy and cheerful person when she was attending the University of Heildeberg. However, after the combination of the Fortner's murder and with some of her memories shared with Johan returned, she grows more jaded and bitter, although her conversation with Lotte after a prom implies she has an anti-nihlistic worldview, dedicated to the principle that we each can choose our fate and that people can rise above their circumstances to achieve an ideal world.

Nina is a kind, sweet, loving, hardworking, intelligent, cheerful and athletic young woman who is committed to upholding justice and making the world a more peaceful, brighter place. Nina also possesses an inner "dark side," or a monster in other words. This part of her is rarely seen, showing up only a couple times when she is in hypnotic states or in tense scenes, such as when she's in the Vampire's House during the Ruhenheim Massacre. In this condition, she remembers fully who she is and all the details of her life (but refuses to tell anyone). She is a multifaceted character, demonstrating the value of forgiveness, virtuous sacrifice, and redemption, yet displays the human tendency towards violence.

Biography
Nina and Johan Liebert were born as a result of the Eugenics Experiment organized by Franz Bonaparta in the early 1970s. After their birth, she and Johan lived with their mother, Anna, whose real name is Viera Cerna, in the Three Frogs Building during their early childhood years. Due to complex, situational pressure (revealed later in the series), Viera wanted to make it look as though she only had one child. As this was the case, she dressed both Nina and Johan in girls clothing. To make them indistinguishable, she made Johan wear hair extensions and a pink dress identical to hers, making it impossible to tell the two apart. The individuals behind the experiment were far from done with Nina and Johan, since the twins were perfect "results" that the project was trying to produce. In the early 1980s, when Nina was six or seven, Franz Bonaparta, along with Peter Čapek, paid a little visit to the seemingly happy family's home and informed Viera that one of her children was to be sent away to be experimented on (while the other would remain at the Three Frogs away from harm's grasp). Her mother tightly held both of her children's hands, unsure of which one to choose to protect and keep with her. It's notable that, at this time, Nina and Johan were still both dressed as little girls, so it's never revealed to the audience whether or not Viera knew who was who. First, she decided to send Johan, yet she changed her mind in an instant, leaving the screaming Nina to be dragged down the inn's stairwell.

Nina was put into a car and taken away, where Čapek warned her not to keep secrets from Bonaparta. The next thing she knew, she found herself locked in a room that was dark and devoid of life.

There was no sense of space in the area, and the only noises she heard were the occasional screams from somewhere in the Red Rose Mansion, the building she was being kept in. Not knowing the purpose for her captivity, Nina remained in solitude. Meals would appear out of nowhere, being one of the few signs that she was being cared for and only of the only ways in which she could calculate the passing of time. At first she tried to keep track, yet she eventually lost count. When she was beginning to think she could no longer go on, a door opened and light filled the room. Standing before her was Franz Bonaparta. He extended his hand to her, declaring that people can become whatever they wish to be. Frightened, Nina got away and wandered through the mansion's halls, constantly running into adults who admired her beauty and perfection, overjoyed at the successful results of their experiment. Later, she entered Maria Theresa's Hall where all the adults had gathered for a toast. She stood around, half listening to their words, before Bonaparta entered with the wine. As they drank it, one by one, the forty two people in that room began to collapse to the ground; poisoned.

Terrified, Nina started shaking, especially when Bonaparta, the only one left alive and the obvious executioner, walked over to her. He gently touched her face, told her to forget everything she saw, then added that neither her nor her brother should ever become monsters. Still quivering, Nina ran away from the mansion as fast as she could, not even noticing when her right arm was scratched by the rose bushes she passed by on the way out.

By the time she arrived at the Three Frogs, her arm was covered in blood. Rejoining Johan, Nina revealed to him all the details of her journey, accidentally leaving out Bonaparta's comment on how the two of them must never become monsters. Through these traumatic childhood episodes, Nina's memory became jumbled. By the age of ten, she became confused of her identity and in her foggy recollection, she no longer remembered if she was the one taken to the mansion or, like Johan himself thought, that it was her brother who was taken to the mansion in her place.

Start of the Journey
The two stayed at the Three Frogs until their mother came back. Upon her arrival, she informed the twins that they would have to live on their own from that point on, which caused Johan to start crying. Nina persistently comforted him, "Don't cry, don't cry!" Then, no longer content on waiting alone, the two left the Three Frogs, unsure of where their path would take them. Weak from hunger, they met a couple in the middle of the countryside. The pair fed Nina and Johan, then watched them play in the grass as they contemplated adopting the twins. When Nina wasn't watching, Johan, fearing to be controlled or manipulated by another pair of adults claiming to love and care for them, mercilessly slit the couple's throats. Returning to Nina, preoccupied with admiring flowers, Johan told her simply that they returned home and that he'd continue to be with her. Then the two of them continued on their way.

Traveling quite a far distance, they approached the verge of death near the Czech-German border. Exhausted, Nina fell to the ground, begging Johan to say her name just one last time before she died. Before falling besides her as well, Johan told her they didn't have any names and belonged to no one. Together they lay, unconscious and destined to die in their barren wasteland, prompting "The Scenery for a Doomsday." Luck was on their side. The two were rescued by General Helmut Wolf, an officer passing by who saw them collapsed in the field. Upon saving their lives, he then named them "Johan" and "Anna." The two stayed with Wolf yet Johan did not trust him, acting out enough for Johan to give him a scare, frightening the man enough to send the twins to separate orphanages -- Johan to the infamous Kinderheim 511 and Anna to a home run by Erna Tietze.

In Another Monster, Tietze described Anna as a sweet, kind girl who she hoped would have a bright future. She said that even though Johan was a "monster," it's because of him that Anna would be able to be adopted. In the orphanage, Anna acted appropriately, being considered an ideal inmate; the only oddity about her being that she periodically expressed a strange, psychological connection with her distant brother Johan, somehow able to accurately describe his gloomy circumstances, and even predicting the fall of Kinderheim.

A "Happy Home" with the Lieberts
After Kinderheim burned to the ground, the former adviser of commerce, Michael Liebert, and his wife, adopted the twins. The couple originally wanted only to adopt Johan, but after he refused to go anywhere without his sister, Anna was granted a place in the family too. One day, Franz Bonaparta saw them featured in the news on the television, since Mr. Liebert's appearance was sensational, being that he had just fled to the West side of Germany right after picking up the twins. This occurrence inspired Bonaparta to decide to pay them a visit. Intending to silently assess the progress of the Communist's experiment, he broke into the house and went into their room merely to observe them in their sleep, but little did he know, Johan was awake. Thinking that the "monster" had returned to come and take them away, Johan murdered the Lieberts, presumably out of self defense in the midst of confusion. The gunshots woke Anna up, who found her brother standing with a gun in his hand. He told her to shoot him so the monster couldn't get her too, and she followed his order obediently. Some of their neighbors heard the ruckus and called the police. Upon their arrival at the scene, the two children were rushed to the hospital.

Johan received treatment from Doctor Tenma while Anna was left in a state of shock, unable to remember anything except that the sight of her brother covered in blood and shot through the head was horrifying. Within the following days of their separated recovery, Johan, inspired from hearing the frustrated wish of the man who saved his life, murders three of Tenma's superiors, causing the two children to flee from the hospital. Shortly thereafter, they find refuge with cab driver Reinhard Dinger for a few days before continuing on their journey.

The Fortners
Johan and Anna travel to the city of Heidelberg, where they stay momentarily with Christianne and Erich Fortner. After a few months, Johan left the memory-less Anna with her new parents, telling them that he would come back to get his sister in May 1995 for their 20th birthday. At her new home and plagued by amnesia due to the unsettling circumstances, it is at this point when Anna adopts the new name of "Nina Fortner," believing herself to be the only child of her new parents.

Nina starts fresh with a new life. The Fortners treat her as though she is their very own daughter, never revealing the fact that she was actually adopted. The couple even go so far as to come up with fake pictures of Nina as a child so she wouldn't think something was wrong when she realized she couldn't remember anything before the age of ten. Nina continues to lead a happy and peaceful life, graduating at the top of her high school class, prior to enrolling in the local Heidelberg University. During her studies, she serves in a part time pizza delivery job on the side, which more often than not resulted in her untimely attendance to class. Carefree and happy, her idyllic days became clouded when she began receiving anonymous emails from a man telling her that he was "born to smother her with roses." Initially flattered and believing she had a secret admirer, Nina quickly began to be plagued by a strange premonition, feeling like there was a dark past haunting her. Shaking off the alarms of her intuition, she agrees to meet the mysterious admirer at Heidelberg Castle, under the illusion that her prince charming on a white horse had finally arrived.

Murder at 16 Necker St.
Meanwhile, Doctor Tenma, whose career had been dismantled, recently encountered Johan as an adult and discovered his treacherous acts as a cold-blooded murderer. He's led to Heidelberg after getting a lead from a blind old man. With the help of Jacob Mauler, he discovers Nina connection to Johan and tracks down her whereabouts. The two visit the Fortners' residence, who tell them that Nina is out meeting a friend and that she would be home soon. Completely aware of who her "friend" is, Tenma sprints off in a hurry, hastily requesting for Mr. Mauler to call the police as soon as possible.

Reaching the castle, Tenma encounters Nina and attempts to explain that she's in danger. Not initially convinced by the raving lunacy of a stranger, Nina however manages to save his life, preventing a nearby gardener (on watch under Johan's orders) from attempting to kill him. The two tie the man up and return to Nina's house. On the way, Tenma reveals to her who he is and addresses her as Anna. This sends Nina into confusion but she slowly begins to remember fragments of her past. They reach the Fortner residence a little too late, finding the bodies of the Fortner couple and Mr. Mauler lifeless on the floor.

Minutes later, two police officers show up at the door, saying that they're apprehending Tenma and Nina for questioning at the station, as they are the first witnesses at the scene of the crime. In the car, Tenma realizes through multiple hints that these men are in fact the actual killers of Nina's parents.Remaining calm, he asks them if he and Nina can step out of the car to get some air when they reach a security checkpoint. They relent and upon reaching the spot, instead of standing still, Tenma grabs Nina tightly and jumps off of a bridge with her to escape. Fleeing for their lives, the two manage to elude their pursuers, staying in a little shack not far from town for several days. Here, they connect and learn more about one another, but when Tenma ventures into town to make a stop at the police station to gather further information, Nina disappears, leaving behind a regretful letter and some sandwiches.

Mission for Revenge
Nina's motivation at this point in her life becomes consumed by revenge; refusing to allow for her parents' killers to go unpunished. On her own, she happens to recall that one of her law professors had been investigating a suspicious man known as Rosso and that all of the cases he had been involved in. Despite being called in to court to testify on three different accounts, each time all charges against Rosso were dropped due to a lack of evidence. Her professor theorized that the killings were carried out by a world class hit man, and suspected that Rosso was that man. Hoping he would teach her how to kill without being caught, Nina decides to track him down. Through her investigation, she discovers that he is living in a small German town and is running an Italian restaurant.

Taking on a disguise as a visiting college student, she applies for a job there using the name "Anna Liebert," and he employed her without hesitation. Nina's kind smile and gentle presence is instantly a huge hit with the customers and Rosso's small business suddenly becomes much more popular. However, she soon realizes that he has become a changed man. Seeing him happy and content, she decides that she doesn't want to get him involved with her desire to use a gun, knowing that this part of his life was over. Instead, every day took a couple hours off from work to practice at a nearby shooting range. In time, she becomes quite skilled with firearms, determining her abilities are sufficient enough for her to leave. Now equipped to defend herself and pursue her parent's murderers, Nina also aims to learn more about her past and Johan's current whereabouts.

Her investigations lead her to Frankfurt, where she learns of "The Baby," a midget whose a part of a Neo-Nazi group attempting to recruit Johan as their leader. Acting as a prostitute, she manages to catch the organization's attention. However, before she's able to enact her plan, she's captured by this group at the mansion of Professor Goedelitz. In the estate, Nina learns of the group's plans to burn down the Turkish district, then, while trying to break out, discovers that an unknown assailant murdered Goedelitz and his accompanying subordinates. After giving The Baby quite a scare and obtaining misinformation regarding where the next fires would be, she meets Dieter, Otto Heckel, and later, Tenma. Working together, they foil the organization's plans and save the Turkish district. Tenma and the others flee right after, but Nina stays and acts as a witness.

After her interrogation, she meets Rosso, who tells her that he is her guardian as of then. The two visit a restaurant where they confront each other about their pasts. Rosso tells her that he knew she came to him because she wants to either use his skills or have him teach her them. Directly, he then asks her why she never said anything to him about the matter. He adds that he knew that the name she gave him, Anna Liebert, was an alias and that her real name is Nina Fortner. She tells him that she thought it better to not involve him in her plot for revenge. Understanding and appreciating this, Rosso then sees her off at Frankfurt Central Station.

Laving Frankfurt, Nina tracks down Michael Muller, one of the men involved in murdering her parents, whom had moved to Nice, France. After watching and studying his habits and routine for weeks, she learns that she is not the only one after his life. Roberto, one of Johan's henchmen, is also targeting him, or rather, Roberto considers Michael someone with too much information regarding Johan. Despite attempting to change the course of his life and become a better father and husband, one unsuspecting day, Muller finds a detective that he hired dead in his house. He sees Nina and believes she is the murderer until she reveals that Roberto (acting as his bodyguard) is actually the one responsible. Unsure of what to believe at first, he eventually flees to his car to get away. However, Nina is waiting there with a gun. They drive down the road until Nina forces him to get out of the car. With a gun pointed at Muller, she gives him two options: either be shot or fall off a cliff. At this, he begins crying, begging her not to take away the life he made with his wife and stepson. Miraculously, Nina manages to forgive him, yet is captured by Roberto soon after; acting on his own and deciding it would be best to kill Nina (assumed to be a choice against Johan's desires). Muller wants to return the favor of her allowing him to survive and comes to Nina's rescue in the knick of time. He kills several men, but is shot in the stomach himself. The two are last seen driving back to his home, with Muller weak and bleeding from his injury. In Another Monster, it is revealed she failed to save Muller.

In Munich
The men who almost ended Nina's life inform her that Johan is living in Munich. She goes to the city and looks for leads by using the computer resources in the University of Munich library. One day, she is approached by Lotte Frank, a student who also spends a lot of time researching in the library and who grew curious about Nina. Upon discovering that they were researching the same topic (Margot Langer), the two decide to compare notes, which later leads to a mutual friendship. During this blooming friendship and periods of study, Lotte confides in her regarding her boy troubles and they even attend a dance together (despite this making Nina very uncomfortable). Lotte observes that Nina bears an uncanny resemblance to her friend, Johan, and confronts her about this, asking if they are twins, then showing Nina a copy of The Nameless Monster; the book Johan was reading prior to his fainting spell that removed him from the university.

Nina reads the book, then demands to know where Johan's location. After learning he is at Schuwald's book donation ceremony, she rushes to the library, only to find it engulfed in flames. Nina breaks in, then sees Tenma. The two refuse to let each other shoot Johan, and he slips away after a burning curtain falls on Nina. Tenma saves her and she is admitted to a hospital. Not long after, Nina leaves the hospital and undergoes psychological therapy with Dr. Julius Reichwein and Dr. Rudy Gillen. Although not entirely recovered, she leaves for Prague, with Dieter accompanying her, to see what other memories she can recollect.

In Prague
At the same time Nina goes to Prague, a mysterious woman by the name of Anna Liebert is seen murdering members of the Czech Secret Police and individuals involved with Kinderheim 511. The same woman also spends time in a bar, making the acquaintance of Jan Suk. The audience is led to believe that this woman is Nina, until episode 44, when its revealed that the one causing trouble is actually Johan cross-dressing as his sister.

The real Nina arrives in Prague several days after the previous events take place. She finds herself extremely confused when people she didn't even know address her as Anna, wish her a good evening, or ask her how she's doing. She and Dieter locate the Three Frogs and pay frequent visits to the abandoned building, recalling all sorts of different memories regarding her past. Later, the pair come across the Red Rose Mansion. After entering Maria Theresa's Hall, the painful memory of seeing the poisoned corpses cause Nina to faint.

Jaromir Lipsky
Dieter panics and starts screaming her name when approached by Jaromír Lipsky -- a puppeteer who coincidentally was paying a visit to the mansion simultaneously with their nighttime excursion. They take Nina to the hospital, then, after she's well enough to leave, Lipsky invites the two into his apartment, telling them that they are welcome to stay as long as they want. Nina learns that Lipsky is in possession of a large collection of children's picture books by Jakub Farobek, Emil Scherbe, and Klaus Poppe, and that he was even a pupil in early reading seminars held at the mansion (yet she learns that he was kicked out because he was deemed "non-superior"). The three spend months together, laughing and having fun as much as recalling painful memories. Then one day, Nina reports that it is time for her and Dieter to leave. Lipsky gives his goodbyes through a puppet show based on Nina's memories. His story is about a young girl who had lost her memory and was chasing a demon, and being chased by a demon. The girl, despite her hardships, was funny and beautiful. She also loved to sing and dance. The girl was on a search...a search for a happy ending. Lipsky concludes the play, not sure what kind of ending she would receive, but sharing that he knew it would be a good one.

On Recovering Her Memories
Nina returns to the apartment that she lived in with her mother and Johan when they were children. Here, she recalls another memory. She then returns to Munich where Dr. Reichwein, Dr. Gillen, Karl, and Lotte are waiting for her. Once here, she requests to be hypnotized to piece together all her collected memories. After she attacks Dr. Gillen in a hypnotic rage, she leaves Dr. Reichwein's house two days later to try to stop Tenma from killing her brother.

She visits Frankfurt again and learns of Peter Čapek, the man present when her mother was forced to make a "Sophie's Choice"-like decision, and investigates his movements. However, Čapek's organization is a step ahead of her, approaching her first and holding her captive, using Nina's life as insurance in case any conflicts arise between them and Johan. After a direct confrontation with Čapek, she almost takes his life, but decides not to become a murderer. Čapek reveals to her that she and Johan are the products of a eugenics experiment designed to create a "perfect" race, to support the Soviet bloc's Communist efforts during the Cold War. He then takes her to an abandoned building where she can find her brother.

"Welcome Home"
Nina finally confronts Johan directly for the first time since their days as children. While discussing their past, Johan shares his memory of when he went to the Red Rose Mansion, describing how he was held captive in a room before witnessing a crowd of people massacred by poisoned wine. Nina exclaims how he is wrong and how this memory belongs to her. Trembling and confused, she takes aim at Johan standing above her. Yet, she fails to shoot Johan, not able to kill her own brother she still treasures and values. After his disappearance, in a frenzied state of mind, she instead almost takes her own life, but is stopped by Tenma who had been following her trail. She confides in Tenma, sharing a prediction that she and Johan will both destroy themselves one day. In response, the kind doctor promises that he will never allow something like that to happen. The two walk out of the building, crestfallen by their recent experiences and new found revelations. They briefly encounter Peter Čapek, who gives Tenma a lead they've discovered regarding Johan's next move: the execution of Franz Bonaparta.

Nina is taken to a hospital to recover from her psychological trauma. Here, she enjoys several visits from Tenma. During these periods, Tenma reveals to her that he met with a man named Jaromir Lipsky (the puppeteer Nina stayed with), who they discovered to be Franz Bonaparta's son. Through Jaromir, they learned of Johan's whereabouts. In return, Nina warns the doctor, telling him that the event Johan is orchestrating will surely lead to his suicide.

Ruhenheim
After Tenma departs, Nina receives another email from her brother saying, "I'll be waiting for you in Ruhenheim." Arising from her sick bed, she persistently requests Dr. Gillen and Dr. Reichwein to let her go. They finally agree, under the condition that Gillen accompany her and that she cannot bring a gun.They arrive in Ruhenheim during the Ruhenheim massacre initiated by Johan. In the midst of the chaos, Wim Knaup mentions to Nina that she looks like the girl in the sketches stored in "The Vampire's House" on the outskirts of town. Curious, she and Gillen ventured there, believing that they might find Johan. Upon discovering the sketches, this triggers a flood of memories, connecting her past experiences and helping Nina piece together the missing fragments of her mind - memories that had been mentally shielded due to her tragic separation with her brother, both by the choice of their mother and once again after their stay in the hospital following the death of the Lieberts. One of the most important reminiscences she forgot was that Franz Bonaparta told her all those years ago that she and Johan must not become monsters. Nina forgot to pass that detail (and the intended implication that Bonaparta meant through this phrase) on to her twin at the Three Frogs that day, now blaming herself for all that had happened. At the last moment, she rushes into town and prevents Tenma from shooting Johan, compelled to end the life of the monster he feels responsible for bringing back to life, reminiscent of the dilemma within the complex between a creator and flawed creation. Had she come a second later, it might have been too late. Nina boldly confronts her brother, telling Johan that she forgives him for everything that he's done and who he's become, expressing how she accepts and loves him no matter what happened. Johan refuses her rational and emotional outpouring of compassion though, abjectly stating that there are things that cannot be undone no matter what. Shortly after, in the middle of a conversion between Nina and Tenma, Johan tempts Tenma to shoot him by threatening the life of a young boy when he is abruptly shot in the head by the boy's drunken father, Herbert Knaup. When detective Heinrich Lunge proposes that Tenma operate on Johan's head injury, Nina joins him in encouraging him to do so, emphasizing that the kind-hearted doctor was not wrong for saving Johan a decade ago and that he is not wrong for choosing to save him again.

The End
At the end of the series, Nina is seen preparing to graduate from university and attend law school to become a lawyer. Despite her brother now being in a coma, she appears to have overcome her childhood trauma and the recent horrific events, focusing on cultivating a life alongside those she loves. In her last scene, she receives a call from Dieter, informing her that Tenma will be paying them a visit. Hearing the news, she runs home with an excited smile on her face, brimming with hope for the future.

Another Monster

 * Main article: Another Monster

Chapter 26 of Another Monster has been dedicated to Nina's history. Weber's request for an interview has been constantly rejected by Nina through her letters, so he tries to recreate Nina's side of the story through his interviews with other people who knew her and with the clues provided by Dr. Gillen. This chapter basically summarizes Nina's role in the series, and does not supply any new information.

Before and After Suffering from a Fugue
Nina was seen to have lost her memory after the murder of the Liebert couple. Before her memory was repressed, she was known to be close to Johan. Though estranged from one another, she still cares deeply for her brother.

Abilities

 * She is skilled in academics and extremely book-smart, but a little naive when it comes to social contacts.
 * She has training in Aikido.
 * She attended the University of Heidelberg and studies law.
 * One of Nina's best traits is her immeasurable ability to forgive, as seen when she decided not to shoot Muller, her parents' killer; Peter Čapek, one of the men who ruined her family's life; and even Johan, whom she managed to forgive for everything horrible he'd ever done.

Relationships
Nina formed many relationships as a result of her kindness.

Johan Liebert
Johan is Nina's twin brother who is terrified of him for various reasons. After they were separated from their mother, Nina was the only person to be a witness to Johan's murders who lived to tell the tale (However, often times, especially in her childhood, she was purposefully made unaware of the death surrounding her as Johan killed several victims without her knowledge). At one point in their youth, she had shot him at his insistence, but he was saved by the Doctor Kenzo Tenma that the twins would later associated with, both perceiving him as a sort of "father" figure.

Since they were all that they had, Johan expresses great attachment to his sister and often describes her as his other self, tending to refer to the fact that they are the same person - an increasingly disturbing case of their conflicting identities. As a child, she was the only person other than his mother Johan has expressed empathy for, crying after she told him about her traumatic experiences in the Red Rose Mansion even pleading aloud, "Please, don't make me forget Anna. It's only Anna and me in this world."

After their separation, he repeatedly stalks her. His quote declaring that "I was born to smother you with flowers" is evocative of possessive, deranged obsession to the point of murderous intent. However, while he would repeatedly murder her foster famalies and torment her from a distance, Nina is the only person other than Tenma that Johan does not try to kill. After Nina becomes determined to kill him after she regains her memories of her childhood and finding out that he killed the Lieberts, he once again tries to goad her into killing him, but she spares him and forgives him because she still cannot kill her brother after everything they went through.

It is later revealed that the twins' mother used to dress up Johan in the same girl's clothing as Nina to create the illusion of only having one child. The children were dressed in the same clothing when Bonaparta came to take one of the twins and their mother decided to send Nina in the end, but her hesitation led Johan to believe that she intended to send Johan and simply mistook Nina for Johan, perhaps suggesting some resentment of his sister on his part.

The Fortners
The Fortners were Nina’s foster parents who raised her as if she was their biological child. Even after finding out that she was not their real daughter, Nina continued to love them greatly. Their death was the event that led her in the quest to seek revenge against her biological brother Johan. Their death also affected Nina to the point that she psychologically distorted her views of justice, growing cold and ruthless at the prospect of seeking revenge against their murderers...

Kenzo Tenma
Nina met Dr. Tenma on her twentieth birthday, the day that her parents were killed and the day Johan arranged to reunite with her. At first, in her grief and sorrow, she blames Tenma for saving her brother, as this causes the death of so many others, but after coming to know Tenma's perspective, she comes to forgive him, understanding his duty as a doctor. Later, when she finds out that Tenma took it upon himself to kill Johan, she tries to prevent this by being the one to kill Johan instead. Nina sees Tenma as a good, principled man and thus, she successfully manages to stop him from killing Johan, preserving his morality, and latter urges him to save his life, refusing to let him compromise his principles. Throughout the series, she grew very fond of Tenma, as he was the one who assisted her on their journey and saved her from killing herself after she remembered her experiences at the Red Rose Mansion. At the season finale, it appears as though she, along with Dieter, intend to grow alongside one another and maintain close ties with their "adopted" father figure.

Quotes

 * "Right now the world is full of pain, but everything will be alright...I know it. The bad things can't keep happening forever. We have to do our part to stop them."
 * "You should never kill anyone either, no matter what!"
 * "I'm sure of one thing. I know that one day Johan will destroy himself, just like me."
 * "Johan, I-I forgive you for what you did. Even if we were the only two people left in the whole world, I'd forgive you. This is what I can do, from me to you."
 * "The perfect suicide. True solitude. His only expression of love. If we don't hurry, many innocent people will die."

Birthday
There is some question as to when the birthday of the twins is. Near the beginning of episode twenty one in the anime, there is a brief moment showing a file for Nina Fortner, which states her birthday as April 7th. However, the manga does not provide the same information (though instead of giving a different date, the birthday is just excluded entirely).

In the first chapter of Another Monster, one of the paragraphs reads as following: "In May of 1995, a shocking incident occurred in Heidelberg. Christianne and Erich Fortner, along with a visiting newswriter from the Heidelberg Post, Jacob Mauler, were shot to death in their home."

Since Johan killed her parents and Mr. Mauler on their twentieth birthday, this implies the two were born in May. Furthermore, if they were born after the twenty first, their astrological symbol would be Gemini, or the sign of the twins.

( Because Another Monster was written by Urasawa himself and the artistic details added in the anime have no affiliation to the original manga, please leave their birthday as May 1975 .)

Trivia

 * Like Johan Liebert, Nina goes by another name.
 * Nina's age in the first appearance is around 10, then later 19 or 20, and 23 at the series end. She is presumably in her 30s in Another Monster.
 * Nina has been adopted roughly 3 times:
 * The farming couple
 * The Lieberts
 * The Fortners
 * Nina is skilled with firearms and practices Aikido.
 * Nina briefly worked as a:
 * Pizza delivery girl
 * A waitress/hostess
 * A "prostitute"
 * A law student
 * Nina is presumably multi-lingual (studying in Germany and crossing numerous geographies with ease).
 * Nina is pursuing a law degree.