Monster Anime is one continuous story, but we can break it down into roughly arcs to help organize the 70+ episodes.
1. Birth of the Monster Arc
Episodes: 1-8
Dr. Kenzo Tenma, a neurosurgeon at Eisler Memorial Hospital, operates but later discovers that a Turkish constriction worker died at the same time due to lack of care and Tenma is blamed for the decision. Later, he is asked to operate on Johan, the adopted son of a wealthy couple who was shot in his house, or on Mayor Roedecker, a wealthy man who had donated funds to the hospital.
Going against the hospital director’s orders, Tenma chooses to operate on Johan, leading to his own demotion and ostracism from his colleagues. A series of murders take place at the hospital and Tenma becomes a suspect, but eventually discovers a sinister plot involving Johan and his sister Anna, who are revealed to be the serial killers responsible for the murders.
2. Monster Arch Footprints
Episodes: 9-24
This arc is more episodic where Tenma tries to find clues to Johan’s origin. Many characters from the main cast had their own episode, such as Nina, Eva, Lunge and Dieter.
Tenma connects all the clues he can find and gets closer to Johan and his origin.
3. Monster in the Munich arch
Episodes: 25-39
This arc takes place in Munich, where Tenma travels on his quest to kill Johan. In Munich, Karl Neumann and Lotte Frank investigate the mystery surrounding Hans Georg Schuwald, an elderly and wealthy man who has several people claiming to be his illegitimate child.
They run into Johan Liebert, who has enrolled at their university and becomes a Schuwald reader on Fridays. Schuwald hires a private investigator to investigate the apparent suicide of one of the other people he claims to be his son, Edmund Farren. Johan offers to help Karl reconcile with his father, who he believes to be Schuwald. When Karl and Lotte take Schuwald to visit a lake, Johan arrives and convinces Schuwald that he is standing on the edge of a beautiful lake.
4. Monster in the Prague Arch
Episodes: 40-50
This arc takes place in Prague, where Johan’s mother currently lives and Tenma decides to go there.
Wolfgang Grimmer, a journalist, helps Dr. Tenma escape arrest and then helps him cross the border into Prague. Grimmer confronts Petrov, the former director of 511 Kinderheim, about his involvement in allegations of child abuse and psychological reprogramming at the orphanage.
Petrov gives Grimmer the key to a safe containing evidence about Johan’s early years before he died. Grimmer is later kidnapped and tortured by former members of the Czechoslovak StB and Zeman to get the key to the safe, but passes out. The woman who looks like Anna interrupts the interrogation by shooting dead one of the StB members. Grimmer wakes up to find all three men dead, concluding that his alter ego, “The Magnificent Steiner”, is responsible.
5. Roots of the Monsters Arc
Episodes: 51-67
Now that Tenma is arrested at this point and the news of Dr. Tenma’s arrest spreads among his former friends and patients. This arc explores Johan and Anna’s past and provides us with much-needed answers. Nina and her twin brother Johan are the products of an extensive eugenics experiment that she designed to raise “the perfect children” without her mother’s knowledge.
6. True monsters in the Ruhenheim arc
Episodes: 68-74
While in the small town of Ruhenheim, Wolfgang Grimmer and Inspector Lunge investigate the possibility of a forthcoming massacre. Lunge meets a boy named Wim Knaup, who is being bullied and abused by his father and other children in town. Grimmer disguises himself as Neumayer and offers to help find a missing dog as a way to gather information. Lunge also investigates the town and discovers a house full of sketches of the Liebert twins. Meanwhile, a local couple, Henning and Franka Henich, win the lottery and Henning buys guns fearing someone will try to steal his winnings. While Conrad, the owner of a local cafe, is working, a stranger approaches him with a gun.
