Monster (manga)

Doctor Kenzo Tenma is a Japanese neurosurgeon working in Düsseldorf. At the beginning of Monster he is favored by the director of the hospital for his prodigal skill in surgery. After a crisis of conscience, he chooses to save the life of a young boy instead of the city's mayor, and is unjustly demoted as a result; he then becomes suspect for murder when the hospital director and several prominent doctors are killed weeks later. It is only after nine years that Dr. Tenma learns the perpetrator of the hospital murders is none other than the boy he saved years before, Johan Liebert. Plagued by guilt, he resolves to find Johan and end the life of this "monster" he feels responsible for creating. Despite his mission, Dr. Tenma is a humanitarian who genuinely cares about the lives of others.

Johan Liebert is the namesake "monster" of the story and the mystery of his past is the focus of the plot. He has been called a monster, the next Adolf Hitler and even the devil himself. Johan Liebert was shot in the head at a young age but saved from death by Dr. Tenma. Because of this, he regards Dr. Tenma almost as though he were a father. He has spent portions of his life in different places under different aliases and possesses an extraordinary level of charisma and intelligence. He uses his gifts to cruelly manipulate and corrupt others, often with no apparent end other than to cause suffering and destruction. His goal, as he stated when he was young, is to be the last one standing at the end of the world. One of the themes of Monster is how individuals are capable of transforming into monsters; Johan often acts as both a direct and indirect catalyst for this transformation.

Johan's twin sister and the only unharmed survivor of the night when both her parents and her brother were shot in what appeared to be a botched burglary. At first she showed signs of amnesia due to the psychological trauma of the incident. After she and her brother disappeared, she was adopted by the Fortner family, unaware of her previous identity as Anna Liebert; as Nina Fortner, she was a hardworking law student at University of Munich, as well as an adept practitioner of Aikido. She lived her life in peace until Johan made contact with her on her twentieth birthday.

Inspector Lunge is a BKA detective assigned to the murder case of the hospital, and holds Doctor Kenzo Tenma as a main suspect. He first believes that Doctor Tenma invented Johan; later, he becomes convinced that Johan is, in fact, an alternate personality of Tenma. Inspector Lunge is utterly devoted to his work, at the expense of neglecting his personal life. He also possesses an excellent memory and has a habit of "entering data" into his memory by making typing gestures with his hands.

An orphan that Tenma encountered during his search for Johan. Hartmann was trying to make Dieter into another Johan, a kind of leader that had not been produced from 511 Kinderheim before. Dieter later becomes more optimistic after being saved by Doctor Tenma from Hartmann's physical and mental abuse. He follows Doctor Tenma in his search for Johan, partially to prevent Tenma from becoming a murderer, but also because he is fond of Tenma. He later teams up with Nina, to give her moral support whenever her traumatic memories resurface as he was also subjected to similar abuse.

Eva Heinemann is Doctor Tenma's fiancée and the daughter of Director Heinemann. She leaves Doctor Tenma after he is demoted by the Director for disobeying his orders. After Director Heinemann is murdered by Johan, she tries to return to Doctor Tenma, then recently promoted Chief of Surgery due to holes created in the staff by the murder. After being rejected by Doctor Tenma, she later becomes an extremely embittered alcoholic, who only married to get money from divorce settlements. She blames Doctor Tenma for murdering her father after Inspector Lunge reveals that Doctor Tenma is a murder suspect.

A criminologist, and one of Tenma's former classmates; he helped Tenma by acquiring information from Johan about all the criminals that Johan had met. He also helped Nina to recall her past, to the point of endangering his life.

A freelance journalist who is researching Kinderheim 511, he is also soon drawn into the search for Johan, as he decides to help Tenma. As a former subject in 511 Kinderheim, he had developed another personality: an aggressive fighter that comes out and protects him whenever he is under dire stress, inspired by his childhood adoration for an Incredible Hulk-type character. He also received training as a spy after his time in 511 Kinderheim.

Real name: Klaus Poppe. He is the one responsible for the eugenics experiment that led to the birth of the Liebert twins and is also attributed as the author of the storybooks used to indoctrinate the children of Rose Mansion. His storybooks deal very heavily in metaphor and symbolism, often with monsters as important characters in them.

Dr Tenma's boss. He was the director of the hospital which Doctor Tenma was working at. He was murdered shortly after Johan recovered from brain surgery. Johan probably killed the Director as "favor" to Doctor Tenma, who would have otherwise suffered a stagnant career.

A big, burly man and one of the many people from the orphanage 511 Kinderheim that Johan can control. He admired Johan very much, and often acts as Johan's bodyguard. He was also a professional hitman who specialized in killing people. His true name, which already forgotten by himself is Adolf Reinhart. Wolfgang Grimmer is the only person who remembered him and also considered him as a friend in the their childhood at the orphanage.

The "Baby" is a short, elderly man, and an infamous Neo-nazi leader. He worships Johan as an ideal Aryan leader who would be able to become the next Hitler to lead Germany into prominence. He also works for the four individuals who would gladly welcome Johan as a political leader. To this end, he hoped to use Nina as bait to coerce Johan, but also as a precautionary measure to protect him (and the other group members) from Johan. In the end, however, he is isolated and killed by Johan - a common modus operandi for the blond man. The characteristics of the "Baby" is heavily influenced by another character from Twin Peaks, named "Man from another place." His first appearance is also nearly identical, appearing to Nina Fortner from behind a red curtain (akin to Black Lodge's waiting room) while dancing to the tune "Be My Baby".

Not much is known about this person, except that he is one of the four individuals who would make Johan a political leader.

A very old soldier who was the first one to find the twins, he is another one of the four individuals behind the organization. He gave Johan his name, the name from the boy in the picture book called "The Monster without a Name". General Wolf is actually the only one of four individuals that did not want to make Johan a new Fuhrer. Wolf's family and acquaintances have all been killed by Johan, thus teaching him true loneliness as seen through Johan's eyes.

Johan's disciple and another survivor of 511 Kinderheim. He and Johan decided to meet each other again in 10 years after they escaped the orphanage, and in the end they did, at a party that Eva Heinemann was attending as well. His deceased stepfather was one of the four individuals of Neo-Nazi, and he was likely to succeed the post. He also intimidated Martin by reminding him of what happened to his mother and wife. Nothing else is known about Christoph, other than that either Johan or the organization of the four individuals tried to change him into the second monster.

The last individual of the organization is the mysterious man with glasses who is responsible for a large amount of incidents during Monster. He is the highest in the organization, and tried to control the devil by letting him meet with Christoph Sievernich. In his youth Peter was actually Franz Bonaparte 's apperentice who took part in doing an experimental again the Liebert twins. Peter thinks that everything is going the right way according to his plan, but Johan tells him clearly later that everything is going the right way according to his own plan.

An alcoholic from Ruhenheim, he stops the massacre at the climax of Monster from growing larger in Ruhenheim, by saving his son from a terrifying monster.

Other important characters will be added soon.

There are many more other characters found in the story, but most of them are only important in 1 or 2 chapters/episodes, or not important enough for the whole story happening in Monster.