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Dec. 27th, 2009 04:29 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
skygiants. . . so I just finished Monster.
Man.
Johan: I like the ending, I think. I am still processing. But for the record, I do not believe in the slightest that Johan was Healed By the Power of Love. I think the best we maybe won is that he got enough closure that he'll leave AnnaNina and Tenma alone . . . but I doubt it. I really like that we don't get any easy or uncomplicated justification for why Johan became the ultimate monster. (And we still don't know where their mother went, before AnnaNina came back, do we? Or did I miss something important while zooming frantically to the end?)
Tenma: I think the idea is that at the end, he made an informed choice, and still chose the same principles he believed in initially - not in innocence/ignorance, but in full awareness of what the cost might be. Which is not to say that it wasn't quite likely a disastrous choice - see above - but we already know that kind of choice can be disastrous, and the story has to end there regardless because Tenma's character journey is done. Tenma has become basically a Galahad figure. His choices are the ones that get him the Holy Grail Prize for Super-Goodness, even if they're probably not best for the world, or himself.
AnnaNina: I feel like the last five volumes alternated pretty much evenly between AnnaNina being a COMPLETE BADASS, and AnnaNina being completely comatose. (Also, I knew that the "Welcome home" little girl had to be Johan and not AnnaNina, way before it was actually revealed. It was the evil eyes!) Every time she went comatose she picked herself up again and went back to being awesome, though, so I really can't at all complain. And she's going to be a lawyer at the end! <333 I hope she teams up with Vardeman and they become the most amazing lawyer-team in the history of existence.
(ACTUALLY. Speaking of Vardeman - yes, I totally loved Vardeman and Jan Suk teaming up and the whole hilarious "YOU'RE NOT MY DAD" bit. And Jan never got to meet AnnaNina and get all his ~feelings~ about Johan!Anna (Johanna?) cleared up. So clearly what needs to happen is AnnaNina and Vardeman become partners, and then end up working with Jan Suk on a case due to Jan and Vardeman's past connection, and hilarious awkward ensues! SOMEONE WRITE ME THIS FIC.)
Dieter: Dieter running after Tenma in AnnaNina's hospital room - my heart BROKE. I still feel kind of cheated that we didn't get to see their reunion. Also . . . hey, happy surprise adopted fatherhood, Dr. Reichwein! I loved (and cracked up at) the Happy Memories LolMontage in Prague of AnnaNina and Dieter and the puppeteer running around and Making Happy Memories by laughing at everything they saw, though. Crowning Moment of Adorable?
Eva: I laughed so hard when she got a bodyguard romance plotline! . . . then I cried when Martin died, okay, shut up. (Well, not literally. But I did feel really bad!) Anyway, everyone who said that Eva's plotline would turn out awesome was right; I loved totally hardcore Eva, partying knowing she might be killed any day, and shooting off Random Junior Bad Guy's ear, and finally going back out and making a life for herself. (And bonding with Dieter! ADORABLE.)
Grimmer and Lunge: I think all I have to say is BEST. BADASS. BUDDY COPS. EVER. Also: GRIMMER. D: D: D: D: I accidentally spoiled myself, but still! (Although - Grimmer's death was incredibly, incredibly sad, but I have to say, that Tragic Deathbed Monologue was almost Shakespearian. Five pages long!)
Roberto: I should have called him being Adolf Reinhart. Which didn't make the fact any less heartbreaking.
Reichwein: Okay, dude, how big is Reichwein's house? I mean, it is very nice of him to be totally cool with Tenma sending everyone in the series off to rest and recuperate and get psychologically healthy there, but how do they all fit?
Karl and Lotte: Exist! Are hanging out together! This is all I need to know. :D
As for the rest, as I said, I am still processing; I am also processing the fact that now there is no more. D: (Except - what is it called, Another Monster? Has anyone read it? What is the deal with that?)
Unrelated and unspoilery: you know what I keep thinking, randomly? What would a genderswapped Monster look like? Brilliant lady doctor, remorseless lady cop, angelic charismatic killer little girl and her innocent brother, the totally hardcore little girl that the doctor rescues from abuse and the naive lady Czech detective and the genial former police officer lady psychiatrist . . . I don't know. I'm not saying that I am dissatisfied with Monster as is; Eva and Anna are awesome characters. But it would be really interesting.
Man.
Johan: I like the ending, I think. I am still processing. But for the record, I do not believe in the slightest that Johan was Healed By the Power of Love. I think the best we maybe won is that he got enough closure that he'll leave AnnaNina and Tenma alone . . . but I doubt it. I really like that we don't get any easy or uncomplicated justification for why Johan became the ultimate monster. (And we still don't know where their mother went, before AnnaNina came back, do we? Or did I miss something important while zooming frantically to the end?)
Tenma: I think the idea is that at the end, he made an informed choice, and still chose the same principles he believed in initially - not in innocence/ignorance, but in full awareness of what the cost might be. Which is not to say that it wasn't quite likely a disastrous choice - see above - but we already know that kind of choice can be disastrous, and the story has to end there regardless because Tenma's character journey is done. Tenma has become basically a Galahad figure. His choices are the ones that get him the Holy Grail Prize for Super-Goodness, even if they're probably not best for the world, or himself.
AnnaNina: I feel like the last five volumes alternated pretty much evenly between AnnaNina being a COMPLETE BADASS, and AnnaNina being completely comatose. (Also, I knew that the "Welcome home" little girl had to be Johan and not AnnaNina, way before it was actually revealed. It was the evil eyes!) Every time she went comatose she picked herself up again and went back to being awesome, though, so I really can't at all complain. And she's going to be a lawyer at the end! <333 I hope she teams up with Vardeman and they become the most amazing lawyer-team in the history of existence.
(ACTUALLY. Speaking of Vardeman - yes, I totally loved Vardeman and Jan Suk teaming up and the whole hilarious "YOU'RE NOT MY DAD" bit. And Jan never got to meet AnnaNina and get all his ~feelings~ about Johan!Anna (Johanna?) cleared up. So clearly what needs to happen is AnnaNina and Vardeman become partners, and then end up working with Jan Suk on a case due to Jan and Vardeman's past connection, and hilarious awkward ensues! SOMEONE WRITE ME THIS FIC.)
Dieter: Dieter running after Tenma in AnnaNina's hospital room - my heart BROKE. I still feel kind of cheated that we didn't get to see their reunion. Also . . . hey, happy surprise adopted fatherhood, Dr. Reichwein! I loved (and cracked up at) the Happy Memories LolMontage in Prague of AnnaNina and Dieter and the puppeteer running around and Making Happy Memories by laughing at everything they saw, though. Crowning Moment of Adorable?
Eva: I laughed so hard when she got a bodyguard romance plotline! . . . then I cried when Martin died, okay, shut up. (Well, not literally. But I did feel really bad!) Anyway, everyone who said that Eva's plotline would turn out awesome was right; I loved totally hardcore Eva, partying knowing she might be killed any day, and shooting off Random Junior Bad Guy's ear, and finally going back out and making a life for herself. (And bonding with Dieter! ADORABLE.)
Grimmer and Lunge: I think all I have to say is BEST. BADASS. BUDDY COPS. EVER. Also: GRIMMER. D: D: D: D: I accidentally spoiled myself, but still! (Although - Grimmer's death was incredibly, incredibly sad, but I have to say, that Tragic Deathbed Monologue was almost Shakespearian. Five pages long!)
Roberto: I should have called him being Adolf Reinhart. Which didn't make the fact any less heartbreaking.
Reichwein: Okay, dude, how big is Reichwein's house? I mean, it is very nice of him to be totally cool with Tenma sending everyone in the series off to rest and recuperate and get psychologically healthy there, but how do they all fit?
Karl and Lotte: Exist! Are hanging out together! This is all I need to know. :D
As for the rest, as I said, I am still processing; I am also processing the fact that now there is no more. D: (Except - what is it called, Another Monster? Has anyone read it? What is the deal with that?)
Unrelated and unspoilery: you know what I keep thinking, randomly? What would a genderswapped Monster look like? Brilliant lady doctor, remorseless lady cop, angelic charismatic killer little girl and her innocent brother, the totally hardcore little girl that the doctor rescues from abuse and the naive lady Czech detective and the genial former police officer lady psychiatrist . . . I don't know. I'm not saying that I am dissatisfied with Monster as is; Eva and Anna are awesome characters. But it would be really interesting.
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Date: 2009-12-29 06:17 am (UTC):D :D :D :D
*cracks up* That is TOTALLY Dude!Eva (Evan?)'s favorite color. (
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Date: 2009-12-29 06:23 am (UTC)I, er, rather desperately want a place to play him, actually.
<3<3<3<3
(I cannot wait!)
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Date: 2009-12-29 06:35 am (UTC)<333!
(Me neither! I think Lady Lunge is my favorite to imagine actually. SO HARDCORE.)
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Date: 2009-12-29 06:42 am (UTC)♥!
(I think Lady Lunge is my favorite as well! Though Lady Reichwein is very amusing to me.)
no subject
Date: 2009-12-29 10:11 am (UTC). . . I am running out of ways to convey <3 :O
(Haha, I was just thinking that! Man, that scene of Reichwein taking down those thugs is awesome now, but in my biased opinion it would be TWICE as awesome with Lady Reichwein.)