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This page is dedicated to the compilation of references to real-life individuals, places, organizations, and concepts mentioned in the Monster series.
Locations[]
The majority of the story takes place in Germany and the Czech Republic.
Germany[]
The first half of the series took place in Germany until Johan, Tenma, and the others went to the Czech Republic. The backstory of Monster includes the distinction between East and West Germany during the mid-1900s, with East Germany portrayed in a very negative light due to its association with inhumane human experiments and involvement with the communist bloc.
The series started in Germany with Dr. Tenma being a successful brain surgeon in Eisler Memorial Hospital in Düsseldorf.
Düsseldorf[]
The Lieberts of East Germany escaped to Düsseldorf, and their later murder paved the way for the meeting of Dr. Tenma and Johan.
Heidelberg[]
Nina and the Fortners lived here until Nina's 20th birthday.
Heidelberg Castle[]
This is where Nina would have had to meet Johan had Tenma not stopped their encounter under the impression that Johan would kidnap her.
Heidelberg University[]
At the start of the series, Nina attended this university and took up law while delivering pizza to help her with her expenses, even though she was well provided for by her adopted parents. By the end, she finished her law degree here and had been awarded for having an excellent thesis.
Bruntál[]
This is where the the Lieberts lived with Johan, with the latter having committed arson at the town hall to eliminate any record of the prior Johan Liebert's existence. They were eventually murdered after they had outlived their use for Johan.
Munich[]
Johan lived here when he finally decided to haunt Hans Georg Schuwald. Here is where the latter also lived, having obtained the nickname "Vampire of Bayern" because of his evening strolls during the witching hours in Munich's red light district.
Johan and several characters stayed here until Schuwald's book donation ceremony in the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich came to nothing due to Johan's minions' arsoning of the library.
Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich[]
Johan, Karl Neuman, and Lotte Frank attended college here, with Johan taking law, Karl taking business management, and Lotte cultural anthropology. Johan Liebert orchestrated an arson at the library there, where he had initially planned to have Hans Georg Schuwald assassinated and inherit his vast business empire, but changed his plans.
Frankfurt[]
Frankfurt is where Eva was commissioned to look out for Johan and point him to Christof Sievernich.
University of Frankfurt[]
Christof Sievernich attended college at this university, and lived a spoiled life while getting his education there.
Czech Republic[]
After the failed book donation ceremony, the series then moved to the Czech Republic, following Schuwald's instructions to Tenma to visit the Three Frogs in Prague.
Much of Johan and Nina's backstory originated in former Czechoslovakia, which was dissolved and had become the Czech Republic and Slovakia by the time the series took place. Věra Černá, the twins' father, Franz Bonaparta and Petr Čapek were all Czech citizens and lived there prior to the start of the series, just like Johan and Nina.
Prague[]
Two of the most prominent locations in the series -- the Three Frogs and the Red Rose Mansion -- are located in Prague. Frequently described as 'a town straight out of a fairy tale', it served as a bridge to Johan and Nina's grim past.
Charles Bridge[]
The Charles Bridge is where puppeteers like Jaromír Lipský perform their shows. In Monster, it was given the fictitious title of "Čedok Bridge", and was Nina's landmark for finding the location of the Three Frogs. The real-life counterpart of the inn -- the Three Ostriches -- is also right next to Charles Bridge, serving as a parallel to their locations in the series.
Brno[]
Brno is the hometown of Johan and Nina's mother, Vĕra. In the series, many women from this region had been drafted to participate in a secret government project.
Japan[]
Japan is where Dr. Kenzo Tenma came from. Weber himself visited this country to learn more about Dr. Tenma.
Yokohama[]
Yokohama is the hometown of Dr. Tenma. Here he attended school from kindergarten until college before he was able to get a scholarship in Düsseldorf.
France[]
The story moves to southern France briefly in two places only. Michael Müller moves to Nice, and at the end of the series, Tenma pays a visit to the twins' mother who lives in a monastery in an unknown town.
Nice[]
Detective Müller moves with his family to Nice after receiving a huge sum of money for murdering the Fortners. There, he build a large villa. Supposedly, he lives a carefree life there when in fact, his life is being controlled by Johan (whom he refers to as an uknown person) who gave him money for completing the mission. Müller realizes that too and said at one point that his life is like a pawn in chess. Nina comes to Nice to avenge her dead parents. Roberto also makes his first appearance in Nice.
Tunisia[]
While he was sealed in a safety deposit box by his neglectful parents, the petty thief and notorious escape artist Gunther Milch often fantasized about visiting Tunisia due to his parent's frequent discussions about what a wonderful place it was, and still has fantasies about vacationing or even moving there, which he would later relate to Dr. Tenma when they met in prison.
Turkey[]
Several Turkish immigrants are depicted throughout the series.
Vietnam[]
Several Vietnamese immigrants are depicted throughout the series.
Myanmar (Burma)[]
Hugo Bernhardt stated that he killed the mother of the little girl that he adopted while serving as a mercenary in Myanmar.
Individuals[]
German[]
Adolf Hitler[]
Adolf Hitler is referenced on several occasions, and Johan in particular is often
Czech[]
Gregor Mendel[]
Viera Černá mentioned Mendel when saying that he attended the same college she did in Brno. Tenma said that he has heard of him, because he is famous for discovering the Law of Inheritance.
Mendel demonstrated that the inheritance of certain traits in pea plants follows particular patterns, now referred to as the laws of Mendelian inheritance. The profound significance of Mendel's work was not recognized until the turn of the 20th century, when the independent rediscovery of these laws initiated the modern science of genetics.
Japanese[]
General Nogi Maresuke[]
In Monster, General Nogi is mentioned by the Turkish elder and community leader, Mr. Deniz, convincing the others to trust Dr. Kenzo Tenma and a local prostitute when they attempt to convince the leaders of Frankfurt's Turkish quarter to be wary of an imminent arson attack by neo-Nazis, led by The Baby. When Tenma inquires as to who Nogi is, Deniz makes reference to an incident wherein he saved an Ottoman fleet of the Turkish Navy that had run aground in the Pacific, and he considers him to be an example of a trustworthy Japanese man.
In an interesting parallel to the themes and storyline of Monster, Nogi went by the name Mujin ("no one") in his boyhood, signifying his namelessness to protect him from evil spirits.
Organizations[]
Bundeskriminalamt (BKA)[]
The Federal Criminal Police Office of Germany (in German: Bundeskriminalamt, abbreviated BKA) is the federal investigative police agency of Germany, directly subordinated to the Federal Ministry of the Interior. It is headquartered in Wiesbaden, Hesse, and maintains major branch offices in Berlin and Meckenheim near Bonn.
BKA Hamburg in anime
Primary jurisdiction of the agency includes coordinating cooperation between the federation and state police forces; investigating cases of international organized crime, terrorism and other cases related to national security; counterterrorism; the protection of members of the constitutional institutions, and of federal witnesses. When requested by the respective federal state authorities or the federal minister of the interior, it also assumes responsibility for investigations in certain large-scale cases. Furthermore, the Attorney General of Germany can direct it to investigate cases of special public interest.
One of the main characters, Inspector Lunge is a police inspector in BKA.
Czech Secret Police (StB)[]
The Czech Secret Police (Státní bezpečnost in Czech, Štátna bezpečnost in Slovak), was a plainclothes secret (i.e. political or internal) police force from 1945 to its dissolution in 1990. Serving as an intelligence and counter-intelligence agency, it dealt with any activity that could possibly be considered anti-communist and/or counterproductive to the purposes of the state.
In the series, certain elements of the StB are shown to have reorganized themselves as organized crime syndicates following the dissolution of the communist bloc. These elements appear to be led by Karel Ranke, a former high-ranking captain in the StB, and composed a variety of members, including prominent figures like Inspector Zeman and Commissioner Hamrlik, both of the Prague police department. Around 1997, they collectively sought to obtain the key to a safety deposit box (the location of which was known to Mikhail Petrov [Reinhart Biermann], the former administrator of Kinderheim 511), to sell its contents to unidentified prospective client(s). However, they fell into conflict with both the interests of Wolfgang Grimmer and Detective Jan Suk, respectively a freelance journalist trying to secure the tape for his own investigations relevant to his troubled past and a framed police detective who had formerly been Zeman's protégé, and "Anna Liebert", a mysterious blonde "woman" who sought the tape for "her" own destructive ends.
Omnipol[]
Omnipol is a trade company based in Prague that specializes in international defense and aerospace trading, generally acting as an intermediary in transnational sales of arms. It was formerly government-subsidized by the state in communist-era Czechoslovakia, and engaged in controversial arms trade deals.
Werner Weber mentions Omnipol on several occasions in "Another Monster". According to Weber, Jaroslav Carek, a former StB captain, acts as a prominent trade advisor in Omnipol (during this time, he establishes several terrorist training camps) and later assumes a normal life following plastic surgery under the identity of "Eugen Molke"; he is murdered under his "Molke" identity by Herman Führ in the midst of Gustav Kottmann's axe-murder spree. It is speculated by Karel Ranke that Omnipol helped to facilitate and fund the eugenics experiment that yielded, among others, Johan Liebert and Anna Liebert, possibly implicating Carek's involvement.
Charter 77[]
Charter 77 was an opposition group that had its inception in a document of the same name, active from 1976-1992. The initial declaration was largely prompted by the Czechoslovakian government's failure to abide by human rights provisions it had consented to in a variety of official documents and treatises, especially the 1960 Constitution of Czechoslovakia and the 1975 Helsinki Accords, and was specifically impacted by the arrest of members of a psychedelic band, Plastic People of the Universe. Among its most prominent signatories were Václav Havel, Dr. Jiří Hájek and Dr. Jan Patočka. The activities of Charter 77, including the publication of their eponymous manifesto, inspired resistance against the state, and its proponents and signatories met with state harassment, particularly by the government press and the StB. The fates of many of those associated with the movement and/or document was released by the support group Committee for the Defense of the Unjustly Persecuted domestically and their partners Helsinki Watch and Amnesty International transnationally in 1978. The following year, Havel and five others associated with the support group were charged with acts of subversion and sentenced with five years in prison. In spite of this, Charter 77 and its support group continued to highlight state repression and human rights violations throughout the 1980's and membership expanded to 1,900 signatories, ultimately precipitating the Velvet Revolution of 1989, which democratized the nation and eventually led to the peaceful separation of the Czech Republic and Slovakia in 1992. Many members of Charter 77 would seek office in the emergent government, including Havel, who became the last president of Czechoslovakia from 1989-1992, and of the Czech Republic from 1993-2003.
In Another Monster, Werner Weber makes reference to Charter 77 and Václav Havel in the context of opposition to the Czechoslovakian government, such as that which Viera Černá participated in.
Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors without Borders)[]
Tenma joins this organization at the end of the series.
Events[]
German[]
Fall of Berlin Wall[]
Fall of Berlin Wall marked a start of liberalization of communist ideology and structure in East Germany and majority of socialistic countries in Europe.
Unification of East and West Germany[]
Deutsche Wiedervereinigung (eng. German reunification) marks the movement of reuniting East Germany and West Germany in October 3rd, 1990.
From then, 3 October celebrates in Germany as a German Unity Day. Division of Germany was a consequence caused by World War 2 during the period of Cold War that lasted four decades.
Czech[]
Dissolution of the Czechoslovakian State[]
The Dissolution of Czechoslovakia was an event that saw the self-determined separation of the federal state of Czechoslovakia on January 1, 1993. The Czech Republic and Slovakia, entities which had arisen respectively as the Czech Socialist Republic and the Slovak Socialist Republic in 1969 within the framework of Czechoslovak federalisation, became immediate subjects of international law in 1993. It is sometimes known as the Velvet Divorce, a reference to the bloodless Velvet Revolution of 1989 that led to the end of the rule of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia and the formation of a democratic government.
Prague Spring/Velvet Revolution[]
Prague Spring (Czech: Pražské jaro, Slovak: Pražská jar) was a period of political liberalization in Czechoslovakia between 5 January 1968 and 21 August the same year when the Soviet Union with the allies from Warsaw Pact (except Romania) invaded the country to halt the reforms.
Media[]
Music[]
In both the manga and anime[]
- Einstürzende Neubauten
- "Let's Stay Together" - Al Green
- "Be My Baby" - The Ronettes
- "Kita Sakaba" - Takashi Hosokawa
- "Over the Rainbow" - Judy Garland
In the manga[]
- "Comme D'Habitude / My Way" Japanese version - Lyrics by Jun Nakajima
Verdemann's records[]
- The Wizard of Oz soundtrack
- The Impressions - Keep on Pushing
- The Exotic Sounds: The Very Best of Martin Denny
- John Coltrane - A Love Supreme
In the anime[]
- "Subaru" - Shinji Tanimura
- "Canada Kara no Tegami" - Masaaki Hirao and Yoko Hatanaka
Verdemann's records[]
- Joe Pass - Simplicity
- Yvonne de Carlo Sings
- Band of Angels soundtrack
- Amazing Rhythm Aces - Toucan Do It Too
- Franz Schubert
- The Beatles - Yesterday and Today
- Bing Crosby - White Christmas
Films[]
- Summertime
Publications[]
Hospodářské Noviny[]
Hospodářské noviny (English: "Economic Newspaper") is one of the top newspaper publications in the Czech Republic, and is not to be confused with a similar Slovakian publication of the same name.
In Episode 40, when Wolfgang Grimmer attempts to question Mikhail Petrov about his role in the Kinderheim 511 experiments, the latter can be observed reading a copy of this paper. However, while most of the series takes place during the mid-to-late 1990s, the edition of the paper is apparently erroneously dated from August 11, 2004, as can be discerned from the appearance of an actual front-page cover story published at that time; this discrepancy is likely accounted for by the production of the series during that year.
The anticipated HBO Live Adaptation of Monster has reciprocally gotten coverage in Hospodářské noviny, partly on account of its Czech setting and characters: http://art.ihned.cz/c1-59820350-del-toro-adaptuje-pro-hbo-japonsky-komiks-ve-kterem-vystupuji-capek-a-zeman.
Concepts[]
Philosophical[]
Identity[]
Among the various themes that pervade Monster, perhaps the most central one concerns identity and its significance. This finds its most obvious expression in the importance of a name. Johan and Anna Liebert, the twins, don't officially have birth names conferred upon them, due to Franz Bonaparta's insistence that the "perfect children" that their mother had birthed didn't need names, reflecting the themes of many of his nihilistic works, including children books like The Nameless Monster; hence, they're both lacking in opportunities to cultivate their own sense of identity. This effect is furthered by the fact that their mother later dresses them alike, further blurring their conception of a self; Johan and Nina state as much later in their lives, viewing each other at various points as being parts of a whole that complement each other and confusing and/or conflating experiences that one or the other actually had (eg. the massacre at the Red Rose Mansion).
The desire to eradicate certain individuals' sense of identity, such as General Wolf, Dr. Kenzo Tenma and Nina Fortner, his sister, is one of Johan's apparent motivations, if not his primary one; in a way, it may represent an attempt at allowing them to empathize with his own solitude and lack of identity, or a gift of insight that he imparts upon them. He succeeds at seeing this through in the case of General Wolf, murdering and eliminating everyone that Wolf loved and thereby making him gradually lose touch with his own sense of identity (i.e. name), as there is no one left to call him by it (as in The Nameless Monster). Roberto states that this is what Johan ultimately plans for Tenma, but this desire may be tempered by Johan's own apparent death-wish, as he seeks to permanently render his sense of identity void, not just nominally, psychologically or philosophically, but physically as well; this is reflected in the repeated instances where he willingly or even eagerly acquiesces to the prospect of Tenma shooting him, climaxing during the massacre in Ruhenheim.
Though Johan (and, by extension, Nina) are the main individuals to which this concern can be applied, it prevails among other characters and in other instances as well, reflective of the aims of those like Bonaparta and his associates. Roberto, for instance, seems to revel in the fact that he doesn't have a name (according to himself), apparent in his testimonies to Heinrich Lunge. Conversely, his childhood friend, Wolfgang Grimmer, seeks to restore the sense of identity that he has lost, in particular his personal feelings and emotions. Though both are rendered sociopathic by their experiences, they both take different trajectories in trying to, respectively, either distort or establish their sense of identity.
The conditioning (or deconditioning) procedures implemented at locations like Kinderheim 511 and the book readings at the Red Rose Mansion de-emphasized the personality in an attempt to create "perfect soldiers" or socially engineer the next generation to suit the psychological agendas of Bonaparta and others, causing many people to undergo a process of dissociation and lose their sense of identity, literally forgetting their own names in most cases; this could alternatively manifest in multiple personalities, as in the case of "The Magnificent Steiner" aspect of Wolfgang Grimmer. In short, numerous examples of identity and its relevance appear throughout Monster, and may indeed reflect the central concern of the series.
Identity is an important concern in the philosophy of metaphysics, and also finds substantial and yet more notable relevancy in the realm of psychology and sociology. It is also encapsulated by other branches of philosophy, such as the philosophy of language (eg. Derrida's "It's all in the text...") and the philosophy of mind (eg. solipsism). Specifically, Monster seems most primarily informed by the development of individuation, or the lack thereof, as the case may be.
Nihilism[]
The theme of nihilism, the belief that life is meaningless and that everything and everyone deserves to perish, is prevalent throughout Monster, particularly in the form of Johan. Frederich Nietzsche, one of the first philsophers to take nihilism seriously, wrote in his book Will to Power, "Nihilism is...not only the belief that everything deserves to perish; but one actually puts one shoulder to the plough; one destroys." This is certainly true of Johan, a figure of pure, unrelenting nihilism. Hartmann describes Johan as saying that mankind would hate and kill each other into oblivion, and that his goal was to be the last one standing at the end of the world. Also, Johan destroys indiscriminately throughout the series, causing the deaths of many men, women and children with apparently no remorse whatsoever.
Political[]
Nazism[]
Nazism is a common theme in the series. Certain characters are heavily influenced by Hitler's actions and his way of thinking, such as Petr Čapek, Helmut Wolf, Ernest Sievernich, Gunther Gödelitz, and most prominently The Baby, who openly declared it and seemed to enjoy participating in the massacre of foreigners moreso than any of the other members
Communism[]
Communism is defined as a form of government with purpose to create a perfect, classless society. It is a political, social and economic ideology based on subtracting a private property and establishment on property of community for social means of production.
Socialism[]
Socialism is a social-economic formation that performs after revolutional overthrowing capitalism (expropriation) and makes the transitional period from class society to classless society. In socialism, doesn't exist a certain class of people who monopolizes resources for the means of production. Also, there doesn't exist a class that, with the help of monopoly, could non-stop assumes a part of production that makes another class. Total means of production of resources are in social ownership.
Totalitarianism[]
Totalitarianism is a political system in which a certain political organization or party holds total authority over society and seeks to control all aspects of public and private life whenever necessary. Totalitarianism is in general, a dictatorial regime. Totalitarianism spread through revolutions, coup d'état, after military interventions and multiparty democratic elections.
Psychological[]
Many of the characters from the series has in one way or another a background in psychology. The foremost was Franz Bonaparta, a psychiatrist, psychologist and brain surgeon as well as picture book writer and illustrator. Also, the series has Dr. Rudy Gillen, a criminal psychologist, and Dr. Julius Reichwein, a counseling psychologist. Additionally, investigators like Inspector Heinrich Lunge utilize techniques drawn from criminal psychology; Lunge does this to delve into the minds of those relevant to his investigations and, by "becoming them", gain insight into their motives or actions.
Since the series is rooted on the philosophy that personality is a product of past experiences, psychology is a repeated theme in the series.
Dissociative fugue[]
Analyzing the circumstance Nina had gone through: her adoptive parents killed in front of her and all the horrible experiences she has accumulated, her moving in with the Fortners is a welcome change. Slowly, she began to lose memory of those events until she can no longer remember anything that happened before her tenth birthday. This case can be very well associated with dissociative fugue.
Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID)[]
Following Johan's cryptic messages to Tenma, Tenma pursued the angle of Johan having Dissociative Identity Disorder. Tenma visited his former college batchmate Dr. Rudy Gillen to confirm his hunch about the matter. Gillen was at first on the same page as Lunge that Johan is a figment of Johan's imagination or that Tenma himself has the disorder, though he is eventually forced to realize that Johan is a real individual.
Selective mutism[]
The Burmese girl living with Hugo Bernhardt could be considered to be suffering from selective mutism, which was most probably caused by the shock of witnessing her mother be shot to death in front of her by Bernhardt.
Religious[]
Religion and theology fills a distinctive role in Monster, primarily by way of allusions and analogies. This is mostly informed by an Abrahamic (and specifically Christian) context, but other religious references (e.g. Buddhism) are also utilized on occasion.
The Anti-Christ[]
Throughout the series, Johan Liebert is often compared to the antichrist through various allusions to scriptural and cultural references (eg. surviving head trauma) and is hence possibly implied to represent an antichrist-like figure or even the antichrist himself. In Christian eschatology, the Antichrist (or anti-Christ) is a figure who is stated to represent the inverse of Jesus Christ, insofar as Christ is viewed as a figure of pure good while the anti-Christ is viewed as a figure of pure evil, who will be present to bring about the End of Days.
"The Beast" from the Book of Revelation[]
The series opens with a passage from Revelation 13:1-4 describing a "beast with seven heads and ten horns, with ten crowns upon each horn", alluding to the broader premise of the series. Frequent references to "the beast" are made throughout the series, such as descriptions of a similar beast that purportedly lived in the basement of the Red Rose Mansion. In the penultimate episode of the series, Herbert Knaup believes that Johan Liebert, who threatens to murder his child while attempting to corrupt Dr. Tenma, visualizes him as a "terrifying beast" fitting the aforementioned description and shoots him in the head, drawing further analogies to the previous entry of the antichrist.
In this context, "the beast" specifically refers to "the beast from the sea" as juxtaposed to the similar "beast from the earth" (or "false prophet") depicted in several passages of the biblical Book of Revelation, which is often believed to represent metaphor and whose meaning has many different interpretations. The narrative states that "the beast from the sea", alongside the "beast from the earth" ("false prophet") and in alignment with "the dragon", will gather kings and persecute Christians to do battle with Jesus Christ at Armageddon, but the two "beasts" will ultimately be defeated and thrown into "the lake of fire" by Christ.
The Buddha[]
In an interview with Werner Weber, Inspector Heinrich Lunge contended that Johan was a rare criminal, able to cast aside his desires one after the other, "like a Buddha drawn to destruction". In this sense, Johan Liebert might have represented an almost nihilistic inversion of a Buddha.
Doomsday[]
Themes of eschatology pervade Monster. In one instance, students, including an acquaintance of Karl Neuman, who are members of a club that researches campus lore and prophecy at the University of Munich engage in the translation of a poem by one of the university's founders, which reads as follows:
- "In the penultimate intercalary year... the Thursday boy will visit the land. All the books will be engulfed in flames, and the entire world will be engulfed in sadness."
It soon becomes apparent that this verse is more than likely a reference to none other than Johan Liebert, who reads Latin to the business tycoon and investor Hans Georg Schuwald on Thursday evenings, and later orchestrates a devastating inferno at the university library during a book donation ceremony taking place there on Schuwald's behalf. Indeed, veiled references to religion and prophecy become increasingly apparent during the inferno scene itself, notably the hand signal that Johan Liebert uses, which some fans speculate mirrors the "Remember John" gesture purportedly incorporated into Leonardo da Vinci's notable portrait, "St. John the Baptist", among other works of his, and purportedly utilized by other artists thereafter in their own works.
It should be noted that some art analysts speculate that the "Remember John" gesture implies an encoded message about the divinity of John the Baptist as a "messiah" rather than Jesus of Nazareth, given that John the Baptist is pointing toward heaven; if this connotation is true, then da Vinci's interpretation is likely to be rejected by most mainstream Christians given their central tenet that Jesus of Nazareth was the messiah foretold in earlier scripture, while John the Baptist was a holy figure and/or a saint as the forerunner of Jesus, but not the messiah himself (though some related faiths, including Mandaeanism, invert this distinction).
In this sense, Johan Liebert may be reflective of mainline Christian perceptions of da Vinci's hypothetical symbolism, representing a faux-messiah or false prophet, which may dovetail with his possible status as an antichrist figure. Nevertheless, he may also ironically represent an inversion of his typical portrayal as representing pure evil, since he uses his right hand, rather than his left hand, to make the gesture, connotating purity with a "sea of fire" and hence possibly depicting his actions as being almost sacrificial (eg. Christ-like) in nature, taking on Schuwald's sins much as he absorbed the traumatic experiences of others and made them his own, notably his twin sister Nina Fortner. Whatever the case may be, Johan's act of destruction at the library appears as an analogue for the End of Days (or "Doomsday") that is prophesied in the Bible, specifically the Book of Revelation.