It's almost ridiculous how many characters turn up for the final showdown with Johan. So much happens in this volume, and I'm not sure what to think. I'm a little mad about

I'm glad I made it all the way to the end, but it's a little unsatisfying. It's not terribly important, but I'd have liked to learn what Johan and Nina's mom named them. Will Johan ever heal? And who are we supposed to see as the “monster” in this series? For Tenma, for most of the series, it was Johan. Now, though, it seems like Johan's mother is being named as the root of all of it, for naming her children as executors of her vengeance and for choosing between her children when it came time to send one to the recital at the mansion. Johan spent his whole life wondering if Anna/Nina was sent because his mother preferred him, or if she had simply mixed up which child was which (since Johan dressed like his sister) and had intended to send him, the less favored child, instead.

I'm still not sure what to think about this ending, although it's one that will probably stick with me.

(Original review posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.)

Neat, I actually managed to correctly guess this volume's twist in advance. I still have no idea why Johan dressed as Nina. Maybe because he thought she was more important than himself? Anyway, even if Nina was the one at the mansion, it was still Johan at 511 Kinderheim, right? So they both had horrific childhoods, but Johan was the only one who took all that and turned it into years of murders. I still feel kind of sorry for him, though. Had their circumstances been different, would he have turned out differently?

I'm happy to see more of Lunge and Grimmer. The massacre at Ruhenheim happens fast – this town must have been a powder keg from the start, for Johan's people to stir them up so quickly.

A warning (although, if you made it this far, you're probably going to be reading this volume anyway): this volume contains the killing of a dog, a cat, and several kids. I don't recall any of it being on-page, although several of the bodies are shown.

(Original review posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.)

Now we have another person who accidentally helped a monster and feels guilty about the results. Milan

This, all of this, is so complex, widespread, and deeply embedded that I don't know if even killing Johan could stop any of it. It's not that the whole world is evil – Tenma keeps coming across good people, too – it's just that this isn't something killing one person could solve. Tenma's efforts seem futile.

So, now we know that Johan and Nina

(Original review posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.)

I still enjoyed this, although it had some “OMG really?” moments: 

(Original review posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.)

I'm really confused about Johan and Anna/Nina's timeline. When did the Red Rose Mansion stuff happen, 511 Kinderheim, Nina and Johan's mother, etc.? There are a lot of parts here, and while the connections are still interesting, it can be a bit much.

I've started to question whether Johan's death would really be the end of this series. I spent so much of the series thinking that Johan was the series' titular monster, but he didn't just spring into the universe fully formed. He was molded, and we're seeing more of that now.

(Original review posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.)