Ichi the Killer

Categorizing Ichi the Killer can be hard. It might not be a horror manga, but it’s definitely horrible.

Full disclosure here, Ichi the Killer is one of the most graphical and most disturbing pieces of manga out there. It’s also one of the best manga I’ve read in my entire life. Which might say a thing or two about me.

The manga was created by Yamamoto Hide. He’s outdone himself by creating a manga in which almost every character is batshit insane.

I first got to know Ichi the Killer by watching Takashi Miike’s movie of the same name. It’s a damn fantastic movie and as insane as the manga.

There’s a key difference, though. The movie’s overdrawn and almost comical in its depiction of violence and depravity. The manga is not.

Ichi the Killer is the story of the titular killer, but more so of the Yakuza Kakihara. After Kakihara’s boss vanishes, he first searches for him and later for Ichi. This eventually leads to a confrontation between the two. The main story may lack some depth but it tries to add some by revealing the past bullying experiences of Ichi, which led to his current state of mind. Although it doesn’t seem to do a good job at relating it to the present, it manages to tie it in with Ichi’s current target. In the end the story does have a repetitive cycle but there are plenty of exciting twists to spice things up.

Ichi the Killer is less a horror manga, but predominately a mature and psychological tale about two characters who are downright insane. The artwork is unusually great because there’s lot of detail put every panel and character designs, however most of the character designs are quite unsettling. Also this manga is pretty creative in its depiction of extreme gore and horrific violence, so expect to see the most nauseating thing you can imagine.

It heavily explores themes such as sadism, masochism, identity disorder, manipulation and mixes them into one of the most depraved manga of all time. Overall Ichi the Killer proved to be one of the most disturbing and gruesome manga ever created, with a twisted story that didn’t make much sense until you get deep into the story. Some trigger warnings: necrophilia, body mutilation, assault and abuse, sexual contact, blood and gore, murder

It's an amazing piece that features on a lot of the many tropes of cult horror - see the trigger warnings listed above. Nothing in this manga series is light-hearted if the first issue is absolutely anything to go by. It's dark, it's twisted, and you're either going to enjoy it or be utterly disgusted. This isn't for the faint-hearted, although the manga seems somewhat milder compared to the film in terms of its content so far.

This is a dark story that is set up beautifully and is only going to get darker and wilder.I like to warn you again. Ichi is fucked up, at times disgusting, and features graphical content. If one’s up for that though one’s treated with an amazing manga.