Masao Kakihara, a twisted Combat Sadomasochist whose boss is murdered by the titular Ichi, begins a hunt for the mysterious assassin in his obsession to discover the ultimate pain. Kakihara participates in a number of murders of Yakuza and civilians alike and has no compunction allowing rape or torture to occur under his watch. Cold-Blooded Torture is his specialty, in fact, and he tortures one man by hanging him from multiple needles and hurling hot tempura oil over his bleeding back. Obsessed with the point where pain and pleasure meet, Kakihara terrifies all who meet him.
Kakihara's Co-Dragons, Jirō and Saburō, brag that they've raped hundreds of women. Driven to outdo one another, they introduce themselves by asking a pair of lovers who the women preferred in bed. When the women give an answer, the offended twin viciously tortures and kills them. The two later abduct a prostitute after brutalizing her and rape her to get her pimp to talk. Despite Kakihara's orders not to kill them until he verifies their information, the two play a game to see who can hurt the two worse solely to prove who's better at causing pain. When one accidentally kills the pimp, the other kills the girl just to prove he can kill someone as well. After Ichi kills Jirō, Saburō is only angry because he wanted to kill his brother himself one day. He then proceeds to kill a man Kakihara tortured earlier and rapes and murders the girl with him, before killing her with a knife through her genitals.
Crosses the Line Twice: For the most part the manga series just stay past the line, dark, gritty and brutal, but then you get to the point where a crying Ichi chases after a nude, bleeding and split-dicked masochistic mafioso and the scene gets described as "romantic", framed in a bubble shot and all at that point it just swings around to twistedly funny.
I Am Not Shazam: 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.
Narm: The faces of many of the characters are drawn in a somewhat comical and exaggerated way, diminishing the terrifying effect.
Ichi's memories of horrendous abuse in his high school, which the cunning Jijii uses to drive Ichi into a teary-eyed Roaring Rampage of Revenge against bullies.
Ichi's relationship with the poor abused prostitute in the manga. It's painfully clear that he really sympathizes with her, but can't control his own violent insanity.
Film
Awesome Music: Seiichi Yamamoto and Boredoms knocked it out of the park with the soundtrack, a Noise Rock odyssey of tunes that go from relaxed to high-octane abrasive that greatly complement the feverish and trippy mood of the film.
Complete Monster: The manga's chief villains remain utterly vile in this 2001 adaptation:
Masao Kakihara is the insane, sadomasochistic right hand of the deceased Boss Anjō. Manipulated by the guilish Old Man into blaming a rival Yakuza, Kakihara violently tortures him before doing the same to one of the men responsible for covering up Anjō's death. After being kicked out of the syndicate out of fear for his insanity, Kakihara recruits Jirō and Saburō, brothers and equally sadistic corrupt police detectives who help him cut apart two more of the Old Man's associates for information. When finally facing down Ichi, Kakihara elates at the prospect of a bloody final battle challenging the one who could kill Anjō.
Jirō and Saburō are a pair of torture-happy corrupt police detectives. Working with Kakihara, the brothers gleefully help him in torture and murder, slaughtering a huge group of people before catching those who might be able to tell where Ichi is hiding and violently mutilating them. Upon one poor soul being wounded by Kakihara, Jirō even tries to wrench his arm off with his bare hands, eventually succeeding after enormous amounts of pain.
Magnificent Bastard: The mysterious "Old Man" is a vigilante ex-cop set on destroying the vile Yakuza. Using the inhumanly strong yet psychotic Ichi, the Old Man sets about using him and a crew of criminals to eliminate and dispose of the body of Boss Anjō. Manipulating the monstrous Masao Kakihara into isolating himself from the Yakuza syndicate, the Old Man systematically eliminates both the Anjō gangsters and his own criminal subordinates, with fate taking years to finally catch up to him.
Kakihara subjecting Suzuki to a Cold-Blooded Torture through hanging his body up with hooks all over his back, it's such a memorable Body Horror visual that seems something straight out of Hellraiser.
Kakihara subsequent slicing of his own tongue as self-punishment for erroneously torturing Suzuki.
The rather dodgy CGI used for the Diagonal Cut kill and the cartoonish trajectory of the blood flying out of a room filled with people Ichi is butchering offscreen.
Any time Kakihara drops his jaw. Really unfortunate, as it's otherwise effectively REALLY disturbing.
Kakihara falling to his death has some unconvincing bluescreen, but it can be Narm Charm considering he's tripping balls and we're seeing things from his perspective as he's in this state mind.
, a Noise Rock odyssey of tunes that go from relaxed to high-octane abrasive that greatly complement the feverish and trippy mood of the film.