Tří Žába, or the Three Frogs (later changed in the Perfect Edition manga to U Tří Žab or At the Three Frogs), is an inn located in Praha, the Czech Republic. It was where Viera Černá, the mother of the twins Johan Liebert and Nina Fortner, lived with her children after giving birth.
The building is known for having a signboard with three frogs on it.
History[]
Before Monster[]
The inn was thought to have been erected around the year 1800. At that time, it was used as a local tavern. Even after the pub closed, it still remained standing through many wars and other bouts of chaos.
1975-1981[]
Shortly after giving birth to her twins, Černá moved into the inn, presumably with full knowledge of Franz Bonaparta and Peter Čapek. According to neighbors, she did not leave the house very often and was thought to be involved in some form of political activism. While living there, she met with Hans Georg Schuwald, who was looking for his former lover, Helenka Novakova, a good friend of hers. As the two conversed, Schuwald noticed that the twins were listening in on their conversation.
During her time there, Černá dressed up her twins in a similar way to trick people into thinking she only had one female child.
When Nina was taken away to the Red Rose Mansion, Černá was also removed from the premises, leaving Johan behind, still dressed as his sister. During this period, Johan spent a lot of time reading The Nameless , a picture book written by Franz Bonaparta under the pen name Emil Sebe. According to a neighbor, he also started a fire in one of the rooms and had to be rescued.
When Nina came home after escaping from the massacre at the Red Rose Mansion, Johan welcomed her back, and from there she told him for several days about everything she witnessed, which Johan mistook for his own memories. An unknown individual, likely Bonaparta, stopped by shortly after and told the twins they would have to live on their own. Johan cried, and then he and Anna burned down the Three Frogs, beginning their journey with no destination.
There is a logical inconsistency in how many fires struck the building
between 1975 and '81. According to the neighbor Tenma met in episode forty-four, there was one fire which occurred shortly after Nina and Černá were abducted; a child was found inside, who, having attempted to cook on his or her own, accidentally set fire to the building. The said child disappeared shortly after. However, episode sixty-six reveals that the twins set the inn ablaze after Nina came home from the Red Rose Mansion. The most probable explanation for this is that the neighbor mixed up a few details in his story.
Monster[]
The building still remained standing in 1997, though seemed abandoned. Schuwald, through his son, Karl Neuman, directed Kenzo Tenma to the inn. He later came upon it and asked a few people around the neighborhood about Černá and if she had twins. The man whom Tenma asked answered there was only one child, and that he was not sure whether it was a boy or a girl. He then told Tenma about the arson incident that happened. Tenma also crossed paths with Jan Suk, who found the building while trying to search for a blonde "girl" he met at a bar.
Nina Fortner frequently visited the inn with Dieter after leaving Munich in order to regain the memories she had lost. She reenacted the scene where Johan was taken away, thinking it would help her remember, but all it posed was another question: "What was the name her mother called her back then?"
Nina entered one of the rooms, holding The Nameless Monster and utterly convinced that she had been the one reading the picture book while waiting for her brother to come home. However, she also had visions of "her" greeting "herself", which prompted a myriad of confusion. When Nina was about to be hit with a revelation explaining the aforesaid experience, she had a panic attack and Dieter interrupted her memory recovery, telling her she did not have to remember everything, that sometimes painful memories are better left unveiled. Convinced by his speech, Nina agreed to return to Munich.
Despite being associated with Johan's past, the inn survives the series, unlike the Red Rose Mansion, which Johan burned down.
Three Ostriches Hotel[]
A Monster fan who was pinpointing real-life locations from the series discovered that the Tři žába is based off of a real hotel in Praha nicknamed Tři pštrosi. The following year, another fan who was traveling in Praha paid a visit to the hotel, which is located right next to Charles Bridge.
In addition to the pictures below, more can be found at the following links: Part I, Part II.
Trivia[]
Chapter 94
- Tři Žába is gramatically incorrect, as it literally translates to "Three Frog", since "Žába" is singular. The correct form would be "Tři Žáby".
- In the Perfect Edition of the Monster manga, the Tří Žába panels where redrawn and changed to U Tří Žab. However, not all instances of the original Tří Žába panels were redrawn.
- The choice of frogs as the theme may correspond to a Bible verse, Revelation 16:13 - "And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet." (KJV) Since Urasawa used a piece from Revelation referencing "the beast" to open the series, it's not farfetched he used this as inspiration, too.