Did Johan have empathy? (SPOILER!)

Aug 22, 1:07 PM

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Jan 2017

4247

I think Johan is a very complex character. He is evil, yes but he takes no pleasure in killing people, has no lust for blood, etc. However, if he must kill people to advance his goals, he does not care like how he killed the Lieberts (because he thought Bonaparte came to take away his sister), the middle-aged couples (to erase his past), etc

Furthermore, there are some moments in the anime when Johan does something good. Here is the list:-

1.He tutors Karl to impress his father, and motivates him to reveal his identity to Schuwald but when nothing works, manipulates Karl to give him the keepsake so he can reunite the father and son himself.

2. He spent all day with Suks mother even though he already got the tape from her. He offered her clarity for the day to remember her son and function normally.

3. He destroyed the whole Neo-Nazi organization

4. He saved Christof Sievernich in Kinderheim 511. While it is true he made sure everyone kills each other, but I do believe he only did so to escape Kinderheim. Once the massacre was over, he didn't kill Christof who was the last surviving member.

5. Made sure Anna gets adopted into a good family after he took her away from the hospital

6. He saved Grimmer from the Czech secret police

7. He saved Anna from the Neo-Nazis

Now some of you might say "but he manipulated children". I believe Johan hated his life and genuinely believed he was never wanted by his mother. So he was sharing his worldview to the orphans. He genuinely believed that just like him, those orphans were never wanted.

What do you guys think? Did Johan have empathy?

swirlydragonAug 31, 2:11 PM

Aug 22, 8:54 PM

Basir89

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Mar 2025

I think johan is probably the most complex and hard to understand characters in anime. you could try your whole life but find nothing.

Aug 22, 9:04 PM

thischeetobussin

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Nov 2019

384

Hard to say but one thing is certain and that is that he definitely cares and loves Nina. Probably the only person he truly cares about.

Aug 22, 9:31 PM

EmiPyon

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Jan 2020

I think in Monster, it's
depends on individual perspective, for me everything he does has a motives, including appear in front of the doctor and tell him to shoot him (sorry I forgot his name I watched this many years ago)

but it's a masterpiece from Urasawa sensei, to be honest after I watch monster I feel it's such a brilliant masterpiece and I read all this manga I realized all sensei manga makes the reader things and we will see each character differently.

Aug 24, 2:22 AM

Vonue

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Jul 2024

If we consider empathy as understanding people's feelings and thoughts, he certainly has this and his emotional intelligence is at its peak, but he uses it for destruction rather than for the good of people

Aug 27, 4:40 PM

GallowglassVT

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Apr 2023

He certainly understood the emotions of people, but I don't think he himself felt empathy. Certainly lines up with what we know about real world psychopaths.

Aug 27, 5:32 PM

Hormoz

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Sep 2016

106

Well, Johan lovse Anna, that much can be said, and wants to be forgiven and accepted by her, and Anna is arguably deeply tied to why he does most of the stuff he does.

Other than that, yeah, he does have some empathy for people as you mention it. And there's good reason to think he was kinda truthful to that kid, he genuinely shared his worldview and what he thought is true.

You could also argue him killing Richard was some form of revenge, as he shot a kid like Johan himself fully aware of it and was convincing himself otherwise.

One of the messages of Monster is that there are no monsters, only people.

Aug 31, 9:11 AM

3minutesbefore

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Mar 2024

Yes, and it's often the biggest misunderstood part of this character. In fact, Johan is a hyper empath, since early childhood he empathised with Anna experiences from Red Rose mansion and the boy from the "Nameless Monster" book to the point that he lost his own self. That's why he's also able to manipulate most people and easily find their vulnerabilities, he just usually uses his empathy as a weapon.

Aug 31, 9:14 AM

deg

lagom

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Jan 2009

106943

did not watch but empathy is 2 kinds either cognitive empathy and emotional empathy and psychopaths have cognitive empathy rather than emotional empathy

plus the dark triad test measures evil more than just empathy

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Did Johan have empathy? (SPOILER!)

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