Inspector Lunge -- I Couldn't Believe It (Analysis)

Known mogger, Heinrich Lunge, breaking the world record for grip strength (1995)

As someone who watched and really enjoyed Pluto, I expected this manga to be pretty good. Monster delivered; I thought Tenma was a great protagonist, Johan was an entertaining foil, and the side characters really stuck with me (with Reporter Maurer & Detective Braun being personal standouts).

But what I never expected was the level of writing on display with the tritagonist, Inspector Heinrich Lunge. If Johan is the mouse escaping Tenma the cat, then Lunge is the dog chasing them both. But Tenma is a brilliant surgeon, and Johan is a brilliant evildoer. Who could possibly pose a threat?

Enter the brilliant detective. Due to his eidetic memory and mnemonic tapping, Lunge possesses the talent required to piece together the details of this Monster of a case (haha). He also possesses the passion. The photo above demonstrates his obsession with catching Tenma. In fact, this obsessions leads Lunge into mistake after mistake, ignoring the signs that Johan was real until after he had turned Tenma into a fugitive on the run from the law.

We also see that passion exercised as a flaw pretty overtly. He prioritizes the Tenma case to such a degree that he loses both his family and his career. Throughout the first half of this manga, he's an entertaining obstacle for Tenma to overcome.

I expected him to grow even more unhinged as the anime continued due to losing all outside restraints. This would culminate in his downfall, I thought. The reason I titled this analysis "I couldn't believe it" is because I couldn't believe how masterfully Urasawa pulls off Lunge's conclusion.

At one point, Lunge is investigating a murder in which the dead couple's nephew, Giebel, is pretty clearly the killer. Yet he does not care at all, and uses Giebel for his own advantage. This is a pretty clear perversion of justice, and Lunge has been fully consumed by his passion.

Yet, throughout his investigations, subsequent vacation, and arrival in Ruhenheim, Lunge realizes that Johan is real. For a character as passionate as Lunge was at his worst, one might expect Lunge to ignore the truth and double down on his pursuit. Yet Lunge meets Grimmer -- seeing in him a bit of Tenma in the sense that they've both dealt with a lot but are trying to be good -- and realizes the error of his ways.

And then comes the apology.

Masterfully, Urasawa doesn't even show us Lunge's facial features. We see his backside, with his head hanging in shame. The look on Lunge's face is up to the reader's imagination.

After being confronted with Johan's existence, and restores his moral compass. He testifies to Tenma's innocence, he works on rehabilitating his relationship with his family, and quits the job that led him to develop unhealthy habits. Yet he still lends his unbelievable talents to fighting crime by teaching. All in all, he's working on the path towards redemption. It subverted the conventions of the genre, and was a fantastic end to his character. Wow!

In the end, Inspector Lunge absolutely became my favorite character from this manga (and that's saying a lot). What are your thoughts on his journey and conclusion? I would be happy to hear!