#maybe i just like straightforward terrible johan bc i like nina and tenma more and their characters benefit more the worse johan is LOL

[violentlydefending]

i understand the impulse to want to humanize or sympathize with johan (in naoki urasawa's monster) and i do think there are some story beats and elements that promote such thoughtfulness towards the character but i feel like doing that too much to johan is a complete detriment towards the main themes of the story and a disservice to the arcs of like. every other major character. "johan was right," "johan did nothing wrong..." but like. he wasn't right. he did do things that were wrong.

like the worse of a person he is (worse spoken in relative terms, but you know what i mean) the more significance is given to the other characters in the story, ESPECIALLY nina and tenma. like nina being the one who went through the trauma of the red rose mansion and johan being only a reflection of it, and then nina also being the one to forgive him… if johan was "in the right" then what nina goes through and what she ultimately ends up doing loses all of its weight!!

and the same goes for tenma!! through the entire story he tries to steel himself and "take responsibility" for bringing this "monster" back into the world, surrounded by people who care about him and who don't want him to take that step from being a doctor that saves to someone who kills. and then tenma comes to the conclusion that, yeah, he IS a doctor, and what he does IS save people, regardless of who they are. again, if johan is "right," that loses so much of its meaning!!

even like. with dieter and wolfgang who explicitly go through experiences that directly parallel what johan has experienced wrt kinderheim 511 and then like. choosing to be good anyway. basically if johan "right" then why dieter and wolfgang and nina.

and going further w that it's like. the lack of real "reason" behind johan's actions work as an exploration of the senselessness of "evil" and the importance of thoughtfulness towards oneself and others in the choice to be kind!! he can still be a good and compelling antagonist without being somehow "correct"

i just. idk johan isn't like. a "good person" or someone who has done "right" things or suffered the correct amount to "justify" being forgiven and saved. bc it's about nina and tenma making those choices for themselves bc of who THEY are, not who johan is.