Haunted by his previous choice, Tenma defies orders and stays to operate on Johan.
Kenzo Tenma is a brilliant Japanese neurosurgeon working in Düsseldorf, Germany, during the late 1980s. He is the hospital’s rising star, engaged to the Director’s daughter, Eva Heinemann, and seemingly destined for the role of Chief of Surgery. However, his success is built on a hospital hierarchy that prioritizes politics and prestige over human life.
: A grieving woman confronts Tenma, blaming him for her husband’s death. He had been ordered by the Hospital Director to operate on a famous opera singer instead of her husband, who arrived first. Monster Episode 1
The episode introduces Tenma's internal struggle through two pivotal moments:
While Tenma is at his lowest, the hospital leadership—including the Director and the doctors who replaced Tenma—are suddenly and mysteriously murdered. With his rivals gone, Tenma is ironically promoted to Chief of Surgery, but the boy he saved, Johan, has vanished from the hospital along with his sister. Haunted by his previous choice, Tenma defies orders
The episode ends by setting a 9-year time jump, where Tenma will eventually realize that the life he sacrificed everything to save was that of a sociopathic killer.
: When twin children, Johan and Anna Liebert, are brought in after a brutal massacre of their foster parents, Tenma prepares to operate on the boy, Johan, who has a critical head wound. Moments before the surgery, the Mayor of Düsseldorf is admitted with a stroke. The Director orders Tenma to abandon the boy to save the high-profile politician. The Climax: Saving a "Monster" However, his success is built on a hospital
: The surgery is a success, but the Mayor dies under the care of other surgeons.