Heinrich Lunge

"You have to calmly dissect and scrutinize everything. Dig up the truth as rationally as you can, even if you have to sacrifice your own happiness in the process."

- Lunge explaining what it takes to be a detective

Heinrich Lunge (ハインリッヒ・ルンゲ,  Hainrihhi Runge) is the main deuteragonist of the series, He is an officer employed in the BKA, who obsessively believes that Dr. Kenzo Tenma is responsible for a series of murders and criminal events taking place in Germany, and doggedly pursues him to that end. He lives for his work, and pridefully states that no case he ever has taken on has ended without a resolution. He possesses extremely high analytical abilities, and has an excellent memory. However, he is ultimately forced to confront and contend with the "fairy-tale" reality that surrounds him when he comes to realize that Tenma is not in fact responsible, but no less than the mysterious Johan Liebert, the "monster" Tenma had referred to in his testimonies, is in fact the guilty party.

Biography
Lunge first appears after the funeral of Udo Heinemann, since he has been assigned to investigate the murders of the director, Dr. Eisen, and Doctor Boyer. He meets with Dr. Kenzo Tenma and interrogates him, after which he hypothesizes that Tenma must be responsible for their deaths since he is the only person who has something to gain and also has a reasonable motive (having been demoted after performing surgery on Johan Liebert). Due to a lack of evidence, the case makes little progression for about ten years, but Lunge remains certain that Tenma is a murderer.

Middle-aged couple murders
Ten years later, he is investigating the serial killings of middle-aged couples, and concludes that a man by the name of Adolf Junkers is involved. Junkers is, however, hit by a car after barely escaping death by the hand of Johan. He receives treatment from Doctor Tenma, and Lunge impatiently waits to interrogate him. Still sure Tenma killed the three doctors ten years ago, he assigns a guard to watch over Junkers until he's ready to confess in order to make sure some 'unfortunate' accident doesn't occur. Around this time, Johan has caught up with him, and after finding his guard poisoned, Junkers runs out of the hospital. Tenma chases after him and they arrive at an abandoned building. There, Junkers is executed and Tenma reunites with his former patient Johan, who provides him an explanation for the many deaths surrounding him.

The following day, Tenma gives his testimony to Lunge, but his story is highly unbelievable and only supports the theory that he is insane. Lunge theorizes that Johan Liebert is a fabrication of Tenma's mind, suggesting he has dissociative identity disorder (multiple personality disorder); the kind, loving doctor and the vicious killer must be one and the same. Around this time, he is also working on another case, but pushes too far and an important witness commits suicide. As a result, his superiors tell him he needs to take some time off and clear his head; he is then removed from all cases but one- that of Doctor Tenma. Later, he goes home to find that his wife and daughter are leaving him. Their claim is that he is so fixated on his work that he didn't even notice his wife was having an affair, or that his daughter had become pregnant. At this point, Lunge is now alone and has nothing to work on, but decides to take this opportunity to start pursuing Tenma full time.

Chasing Tenma
Lunge was a great detective, but after the doctors in Eisler memorial hospital died he became biased and obsessed with trying to find evidence that Tenma was guilty of the murders. He did not want to believe that he was wrong. This kept him from solving the case sooner, as he only realizes that he is wrong at the end of the series. Tenma now has left to go hunting for the "monster" Johan Liebert and has found himself on the wanted list as a suspect for murder. Tenma and Lunge enter a game of cat-and-mouse and come into contact a few times, but Tenma always escapes. At one point, he even saves Lunge's life, who was going to die of blood loss due to a stab wound he received from a paranoid murderer whose actions implied that he was just begging to be caught. On several occasions, Tenma's former university peer and renowned criminal psychologist, Dr. Rudy Gillen, approached Lunge and tried to convince him of Tenma's innocence, presenting him with a compelling case for Johan's involvement, which Lunge readily dismissed. However, after arriving in Munich and investigating the young man attending university known as Johan Liebert, he begins to suspect that perhaps his calculations were wrong and that Johan really does exist. After going through Moravia Publishing Company's archives where he finds sketches of the twins drawn by Franz Bonaparta, he becomes certain of his error. After Tenma is captured with the help of Tomas Zobak, he whispers to him in the police station that the hardest people to interrogate are the ones who say nothing at all, cryptically signifying the fact that he now believes in Tenma's claim.

Ruhenheim
After Tenma escapes from prison, he begins investigating the mysterious Franz Bonaparta. He receives a painting of the place he lives in from Bonaparta's son, Jaromír Lipsky, and tours southern Germany until coming across the town of Ruhenheim, which matches the artwork. There, he works with Wolfgang Grimmer to help stop the upcoming massacre, but is unable to in time, and the town plunges into paranoia and violence as a result of Johan's orchestrations. He and Grimmer part ways, and promise that after the incident is over they'll go out for beer. Lunge finally confronts Tenma face to face, and admits his error, because he now knows that the fairy tale "monster" Tenma described really does exist. Following that, he confronts Roberto in the Hotel Bergbach, and receives some near fatal injuries, but gives out just as many in return. Roberto tries to provoke him by saying how low he's fallen, that chasing Tenma is his reason for living, then goes even further and taunts Lunge about his shambles of a personal life. Lunge's calm finally shatters for the first time in recent memory, and he engages Roberto in a vicious shootout which devolves into close quarters combat. Lunge threatens Roberto by jamming a gun in his mouth, angrily demanding to know who Roberto is and just where Johan is located. He slips into unconsciousness and Roberto escapes, only to succumb to his injuries after his request to see the "Scenery for a Doomsday" is declined. When police and medics arrive, Lunge's wounds are treated. He tells the doctors that there is a man in town, Kenzo Tenma, who can save Johan's life, which leads to our horribly ironic ending. Later, he testifies concerning Tenma's innocence.

The End
Several months after the incident, Lunge retires as an officer of the BKA and becomes a professor at a police academy, which he says gives him a lot more free time to spend with his daughter and grandson (though most contact is via email). In his final scene, Lunge is seen with Fritz Verdemann and Jan Suk standing around Grimmer's grave, where he places a beer and comments on his curiosity about how much people really communicate throughout the duration of their lives, then adds he believes there is probably a lot Grimmer would have wanted to talk about over a nice, cold beer.

Personality
Lunge is cold, ruthless, efficient, and eminently calculating, so much so that it occasionally gets him into trouble, even driving some of his suspects to suicide. His job is his life, and making a mistake in his eyes is a fate worse than death. Lunge's sole mission in life is to catch criminals, and he considers everything else, such as interpersonal relationships, games such as chess, and even sleep to be uninteresting wastes of time better spent in pursuit of investigation.

Lunge's ruthless tenacity and cold, calculating demeanor are shown in his encounter with the copycat killer in episode 22, in which he knowingly releases false information into the local newspaper to entice Tenma to the scene. In his interview with the actual murderer, Lunge toys with him, sarcastically telling him that he will certainly get away with his crime because the local police are incompetent. Lunge tells the culprit he has no interest in any other criminal but Tenma, and this is put to the test when the copycat murderer later attacks Lunge. After being stabbed from behind, Lunge shoots out both the suspect's kneecaps and doggedly pursues Tenma to his car, only to lose consciousness from blood loss. Upon regaining consciousness, Lunge promptly handcuffs and incapacitates Tenma despite needing his medical expertise to survive. This clearly indicates Lunge's resolve and ruthless dedication to the pursuit of criminals even at the cost of his own life.

Although his family life hasn't been shown in the series for the most part, one can deduce just by his confession that he's not on good terms with his family that he's not keen on making good relationships with others, nor is he enthusiastic about keeping in touch with them. By the end of the series though, it is seen that he has changed this attitude and started making contact with his daughter.

Typing as a mnemonic device:
Lunge has a constant habit of tapping his fingers as though he's typing. He says that doing so is a way of inputting data into the hard drive that is his brain, much like one can type and then save a document onto a computer. This method helps him to remember details of his cases and people he meets, even after many years have passed.

His procedure is questioned by forensic psychologist Rudy Gillen, who suggests that in doing so, the information he enters into his brain becomes tainted with his own personal beliefs and opinions, unlike his own habit of bringing a cassette recorder in every time he needs to talk with certain people whose words are vital in an investigation or diagnosis.

"I am the killer"
In order to predict a killer's motives, method of execution, and even next move, Lunge enters a psychological state where he "becomes" the killer. He repeats to himself that he is x person and this is what he is doing. After getting into their mindset, he is able to reenact the killer's behavior and fully understand why they carried out such actions and what they will do next.

When he tries to do this with Johan Liebert, he comes to the conclusion that "I do not exist," because Johan's motives are completely impalpable to him, giving him, in Lunge's eyes, a fictitious or maybe even demonic air.

Another Monster

 * Main article: Another Monster
 * Werner Weber met Lunge in Brussels, Belgium as of early summer of 2001. According to Weber, Lunge was difficult to interview due to the fact that he refused to talk about Johan's case with most of the people. Weber managed to have a talk with Lunge. The deal was: Weber would first tell everything about the involvement of Gustav Kottman in Austrian murder case to Lunge, in return Lunge would share information regarding Johan's case with Weber.
 * Weber also learned through his research that Lunge went on to pursue Johan's case because of his dismissal from the Boltzmann investigation. It was after he solved Johan's case 3 years later that his honor was returned.  He then left the BKA to teach in the State Police academy, with many journalists constantly asking for interviews, especially on the Johan case. Lunge now holds the titles of Nordrhein-Westfalen State Police Academy Professor, and European Police Office (Europol) Behavioral Science Special Adviser — the supervisor of a department that has not been established yet.

Lunge, during the time of this interview, was currently on his mission to create a criminal profiling procedure fit for Europeans.

Runge/Lunge
For questions regarding the inspector's name, please refer to the Wikipedia talk pages located here: Part I, Part II. The proper translation is "Runge," but since the Viz translation changed it to Lunge, leave his name as is. (Name shown in episode 31 at 12:28)

Quotes
"Someone was here, and nobody can do anything without leaving some sort of trace of themselves. If there were such a person, he could hardly be considered human."

"You're a detective, aren't you? Act like it. You have to calmly dissect and scrutinize everything. Dig up the truth as rationally as you can, even if you have to sacrifice your own happiness in the process"

"I despise the wet weather; all it does is wash away the crime scene evidence when you need it the most."

"The devil. There is no such thing in this world. That is why there are no criminals we cannot catch."

"My trip into imagination, has finally become reality. With your sudden emergence, Doctor Tenma, my journey comes to an end, as the realities of the situation demand my attention."

"Doctor Tenma... I'm sorry."

"Only one thing matters to people; it's all about how much we can communicate during our lives. Grimmer probably had lots of things he wanted to talk about, over a good beer."

"If you don't want to be betrayed anymore, then start by doubting the person you want to doubt the least."

"Even a child that receives one bit of praise has the ability to excel in a single talent, and those who receive regular encouragement can feel confidence, achieve success, and become leading members of society. Because they don’t believe they are worthless, they don’t need to raise a fist and have vengeance against fate or the world at large…"

"Personally, I hate rain, it washes away all the evidence of a crime"

"His master plan! According to the hard drive inside my head, his master plan didn't add up!"

Trivia

 * He can be compared to Inspector Javert from Victor Hugo's Les Miserables, whose obsession with Jean Valjean equals Lunge's conviction on the first half of the series that Dr. Tenma really is responsible for the murder of the high ranking doctors at Eisler Memorial and the murder of Adolf Junkers
 * Casa Brutus magazine had an issue featuring Naoki Urasawa's work. He ranked 4 in unsentimentalism and 4 in maturity.