Hey, but if the RCMT is accurate somehow, because real!Ciel didn’t want to be separated from his brother and Vincent’s enemies manipulated him using that, then it really reminds me of Urasawa Naoki’s Monster and the Liebert twins:

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Johan Liebert, who is an actual psychopath (when we’re still wondering if real!Ciel had sociopathic tendencies of his own, was manipulated or if he was just a normal kid) was a little obsessed with Anna (Nina), his twin sister, whom he literally saw as his double. 

After everything they went through, she always was the most important person in his life and his behavior towards her as a result was… peculiar. From TV tropes:

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and

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The difference between real!Ciel and Johan is that the Liebert twins didn’t have such a fancy childhood, whereas Vincent and Rachel managed to create a loving environment for their sons.
 Also, Johan doesn’t get manipulated, ever, rather he is the one who manipulates everyone whereas real!Ciel, in the case of the RCMT or even in the current arc, probably was manipulated.

However, what’s interesting is that, in both cases, the twin who turned out “okay” is the one who wasn’t obsessing over their sibling (our!Ciel and Anna), so I might be far off my mark, but I really enjoy this possible parallel between real!Ciel and Johan when, no matter if the RCMT is accurate, we can see that real!Ciel is currently not in his right mind (Agni ;_;) but still quite serious about staying with his brother.

I love Monster too and now I wanna read other works from the same author! The only thing I would have enjoyed to know more about is the twins’ mother and what exactly made her leave her children behind (I may have missed that since I read the story pretty fast). I mean, Tenma is told the mother was taken away with her child, so what happens to her after Nina goes back home? However, I love we practically don’t meet Johan until volume 8 even if his presence is constantly felt throughout the cont.

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Hey Anon! Oh Gosh, I haven’t read Monster in a while but I rewatched a big part of the anime a few months ago so I hope I’ll be able to answer you xD

About the twins’ mother: it’s not exactly certain what happened after Nina/Anna was taken to go the Red Rose mansion (the story never really emphasized on this part) but, if I remember correctly, there might have been a hint or two that she quickly came back and told the twins that they had to “survive by themselves”, which is when they left the Three Frogs for the border.

About Nina/Anna and Johan: I remember how disturbed I was about the “two little girls” back when Nina was trying to recall what had happened, until we learnt that Johan was disguising as a girl to protect them both from Bonaparta… Poor kids, seriously.

Honestly though,

while Nina definitely maintained a true identity outside of her brother’s shadow, the fact Johan kept on using her identity at some point + how he constantly referred to Nina/Anna as his “other self” (without mentioning some moments of his…ahem, uncanny behavior towards his sister) makes me think that she was a genuine part of Johan’s own identity (which is why he really wanted to go get her back for her 20th birthday + why he didn’t want to/couldn’t forget about her at Kinderheim 511).

Johan’s possible identity issue towards his sister might come from their mother’s decision on “that day” anyway, since we know that it unsettled Johan greatly not to know whether his mom saved him on purpose, or if she only confused him with his sister. :/ 

Anyway, their relationship is incredibly interesting (especially Johan’s point of view, but Nina’s final decision about her brother really moved me as well) and it’s definitely a part of why Monster is so good 😀

Thanks for passing by Anon, have a nice day! ^_^