History Manga / IchiTheKiller

* DarknessInducedAudienceApathy: Ichi treads perilously close to this trope. Everyone of plot significance is a depraved pervert, murderer, psychopath or manipulative bastard (and that's an INCLUSIVE "or," people!). There's really no character you can root for. Even Jiji, the puppet master whose scheme to destroy Kakihara's Yakuza clan could be seen as dolling out justice in a around about way [[spoiler:is, by the end, unmasked as a nihilistic maniac whose only real motivation for taking on the Yakuza was the pure amusement of the challenge.]] Arguably averted (YMMV considerably here) by the extremely tense, coiled plot, and Ichi's surprisingly incisive philosophical musings.

* DarknessInducedAudienceApathy: Everyone of plot significance is a depraved pervert, murderer, psychopath or manipulative bastard (and that's an INCLUSIVE "or," people!). There's really no character you can root for. Even Jiji, the puppet master whose scheme to destroy Kakihara's Yakuza clan could be seen as dolling out justice in a around about way [[spoiler:is, by the end, unmasked as a nihilistic maniac whose only motivation for taking on the Yakuza was the pure amusement of the challenge.]]

* [[BannedInChina Banned In Japan]]: The manga was so graphic that it was banned in parts of Japan.

* TooKinkyToTorture: Kakihara.

* TooKinkyToTorture: Kakihara's reaction to [[spoiler:falling to his death]] amounts to "Woo, this is amazing!"

* ExoticEquipment: Kakihara is shown to have body modifications in...''interesting'' places.

[[quoteright:345:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/stopbuggingme.jpg]]

[[caption-width-right:345:This man will haunt your nightmares. And just for the record, [[IAmNotShazam he's not Ichi]].]]

The story unfolds with Kakihara ruthlessly tracking down Anjou's killers (which ends up hospitalizing a member of a fellow Yakuza gang, getting Kakihara ejected from the group) and later on, focusing mainly on Ichi himself. After encountering the hitman's handiwork time and time again, Kakihara comes to realize that Ichi might be possible of giving him the ultimate pain that he has so desired to find.

* IAmNotShazam: Kakihara is usually the one shown in advertising of the comic and movie - sometimes they even put a "1" on his face. The titular Ichi, on the other hand, is a sobbing weakling wearing a stuntman suit.

* DownerEnding: On several fronts.

* TooKinkyToTorture: '''Kakihara'''. His reaction to [[spoiler:falling to his death]] amounts to "Woo, this is amazing!"

* XanatosRoulette: Jijii's ability to manipulate people borders on omniscience.

* CareerKillers: Kaneko, a low-level hitman.

* RapeAsDrama: Happens with just about any woman Jiro and Saburo encounter.
* RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil: One of the reasons why the above-mentioned brothers skyrocket into CompleteMonster territory. They even boast about having raped hundreds.

* ThereCanBeOnlyOne: Being CreepyTwins and {{Complete Monster}}s aren't enough for Jiro and Saburo. Their manga background shows that there was originally triplets, all of them monsters who wondered who was the one their father's sperm (no, really, THE SPERM) has blessed the most, so they have been trying to top each other in the "most heinous actions" scale, where the winner apparently kills the others. The third brother never made it to the main storyline...because his younger brothers murdered him. And Ichi didn't give the remaining two siblings the time to finish their competition.

->''Just a little torture.''

A notably gory manga that was later adapted into a film by TakashiMiike (that spawned a sequel in the form of another movie and a prequel in the form of an anime). ''Ichi the Killer'' is set in the city of Shinjuku, specifically the red-light district Kabuki-cho, where {{Yakuza}} rule the streets. A band of hoodlums lead by an enigmatic old man referred to only as Jijii ("Old guy") hopes to change that.

* AnimeAnatomy: Almost completely averted; genitals are frequently depicted but never in full detail.

* ImagineSpot: The scene of [[spoiler:Kakihara]]'s death is revealed to be wishful thinking on the part of [[spoiler:Kakihara as he throws himself off the roof when Ichi is unable to fight him]].

* GlasgowGrin: Kakihara has one, held together by piercings. He's also fond of giving the Glasgow Grin to other people. He takes them out to [[spoiler:swallow people's hands when they try to punch him in the face]], and at one point has them torn out, which doesn't faze him at all (see the page pic).

[[quoteright:340:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/kakihara2_5165.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:340:This man will haunt your nightmares. And just for the record, [[IAmNotShazam he's not Ichi]].]]

* BreastAttack: Nipples getting sliced off, and a prostitute getting punched in the boob. Played for {{squick}}.

** [[spoiler: Subverted at the end. Kakihara gets ''really'' messed up during his fight with Ichi, to the point where he can no longer ignore his body's danger signals and begins experiencing pain like a normal person does.]]

* GlasgowGrin: Kakihara has one, held together by piercings. He's also fond of giving the Glasgow Grin to other people. He takes them out to [[spoiler:swallow people's hands when they try to punch him in the face]].

** Ichi has many of these moments, such as giving his money to an abused prostitute so she can have her nose fixed, and teaching a bullied kid how to fight back against his bullies.

[[quoteright:345:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/stopbuggingme.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:345:This man will haunt your nightmares. And just for the record, [[IAmNotShazam he's not Ichi]].]]

** [[spoiler: Subverted at the end. Kakihara gets ''really'' messed up during his fight with Ichi, to the point where he can no longer ignore his body's danger signels and begins experiencing pain like a normal person does.]]