Ichi the Killer (Omnibus) Vol. 2

by Hideo Yamamoto

HIT LISTKakihara has tracked down Inoue! With a little...encouragement from Kakihara, Inoue gives up the name of Anjo's killer, Ichi--and tells Kakihara he's next on the list. Meanwhile, three mysterious visitors drop by Suzuki's hospital room. All of Shinjuku is about to hear the wheels of Pops' plot grind into motion!

From the legendary creator of Homunculus and HIKARI-MAN comes the groundbreaking manga that inspired Takashi Miike's cult classic film--a shocking exploration of wrath, vengeance, and the dark corners of the human psyche.

Genres: Manga, Horror, Graphic Novels

456 pages, Paperback

Published October 28, 2025

About the author

山本英夫 Yamamoto Hideo , is a Japanese manga artist best known for the manga series "Ichi the Killer" (which was adapted into a live-action film in 2001) and the series, Homunculus (manga).
Recurring themes in his manga are crime, sexual deviations, and psychology.

Reviews

[Benjamin Bauer · Rating 5 out of 5]

All the erections, yakuza trash talk, jizz, and geysering blood you could ever want in a manga (you sick fuck!).

[Oliver Bateman · Rating 5 out of 5]

if you read my review of volume 1 (covering collections 1-10, approximately), you'll see I liked but didn't love this series, at least relative to the interesting Takeshi Miike film. this review covers 11-71, the remainder of Koroshiya Ichi, and man, I'm in awe. Sure, it's gross - if you're offended by such things, as I, owing to my weird homeschool education with my father, simply cannot be - but it ultimately proves to be the finest postmodern love story ever written (admittedly, women are on the sidelines in this story of men, but there's something to be said there that women cannot ever access this world of homosexual/homosocial desire): you've got a pathetic beta wimp who loves dishing out pain and a sicko yakuza alpha who wants to receive it until he's finally broken in twain, mutilated and stripped naked and running for his life...all to the amusement of a tiny, steroid-injecting little mastermind who "likes to watch" (it's never clear why, nor is it clear why he's had plastic surgery to look like an "old geezer," aside from the fact that it makes these manipulations a bit easier). various other nasty, perverted archetypes pass through (along with three women who are destroyed because they don't know what they want!)...all of whom are destroyed (the twins who killed their triplet and are undone because of their own idiotic sibling rivalry are quite well done), but not for any reason beyond the fact that, for the "old geezer," control is the point. no one succeeds, nothing of value happens except that a high-rise building in Shinjuku is rid of its yakuza occupants (but still full of "pigs," as the "old geezer" notes at the end), and everyone is wiped out except for Ichi, the "old geezer," and the Ichi-like son of a loser yakuza dad presumably being trained by the "old geezer" to kill Ichi to complete the cycle. Manga is full of great body horror scenes, exploding heads and the like, but this is some of the best sexual horror (pretty much directed at men, Kakihara in particular) anyone has ever done, in the service of a poor man's 120 Days of Sodom (perhaps better...certainly the last 30 issues of an extremely tight plot are as compact and stylish as any movie, and it's the rare manga where the art improves as the series progresses). Highly recommended!

[LudvigBorgå · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's amazing that we finally got Ichi as an official English translation. I had read it over twenty years ago as a fan translation from some website. It's very long, hundreds of pages as a whole. The pacing is meticulous and scenes take their time. It makes all the depravity feel more hard-hitting. If my memory servers me right, the plot gets more and more twisted toward the end. The bizarre, epic story and the disturbed characters make this a page-turner.

The artwork is otherwise great, but Yamamoto is not really capable of drawing facial expressions. The motionless eyes, constant grinning of Pops and the bland look of nightclub-owner Karen are good examples of his limits. All the background images of Tokyo look great, I'm not sure if they are just photographs turned to black and white, or drawn over from photos, but they work.

Happy to say that Seven Seas edition is a good quality. All the Japanese sound effects are left intact, with smaller translations next to them. Street signs etc. are translated in smaller print below the frames.

Looks like I cannot give 4,5 stars in Goodreads, so I'll just rate this full 5/5.

[Kelly I · Rating 3 out of 5]

A similar review to Vol. 1. I did not expect to like this book. And maybe even 'like' is the wrong word. It definitely held my interest though and had me thinking about Ichi for a few days after I read the 2 volumes. Very, very dark depictions....a friend of mine said she would never read it. That of course, piqued my interest.

I was hooked within the first few pages. I expected to see more of Ichi in Vol. 1, glad he featured more in Vol. 2. But once I had read it I could really feel the theme of bullying in all its extremes coming through. Especially interesting was to see Ichi's reactions to the abuse and bullying.....tears, killing, arousal. I'm still trying to wrap my head around it and the reasons behind it.

Definitely a book to read if you can go past the graphicness and look at it for its themes and characters. Although after reading the 2 volumes in one sitting I needed to then watch cartoons.

[Aaron Meyer · Rating 5 out of 5]

We continue down the rabbit hole that is this story and Ichi's backstory. This is one seriously screwed up dude. And the Yakuza of course are just as bad but Ichi is like the ultimate anti-hero. He is so twisted in his own head thinking he is doing good but he wants to do the evil he sees as well. I have often wondered if Hideo was influenced by Crying Freeman as I have read this series. It would make sense for sure. If you haven't watched that anime I would suggest it for sure. To continue on though, the story is progressing nicely and is very well put together. That is a good thing because if you are going to have such gratuitous amounts of pure violence and evil you would I hope give it a real story to back it up.

[Tannerbulley · Rating 3 out of 5]

While it still has some really good moments I definitely liked this a lot less than the first volume. So far I think that the characters are quite interesting especially Ichi. I think Kakihara is the far more entertaining character while Ichi is the more psychological interesting character. He’s a disgusting, vile and perverse character. The manga is obviously known for being extremely violent and disturbing and this volume cranks the violence up to 100. Sometimes the violence is quite comical and over the top but that doesn’t mean it’s any less gross. 3.5/5 or 7/10.

[Samuel · Rating 4 out of 5]

84%

Ichi has ISSUES. Bro needs a goddamn therapist, asap. I kinda feel a bit bad, cuz bro clearly needs a lotta help and is just being manipulated into killing for money. But on the other hand, he’s done some pretty bad stuff himself. Literally ‘hurt people, hurt people’.

Kakihara is also on demon time now. I’m interested to see how his second meet with Ichi plays out.

[Tim · Rating 4 out of 5]

😬

[Shep · Rating 4 out of 5]

this shit is fucked but im definitely interested in the story

[kelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Even more depraved than the last volume.

God, I love this series.

[Mee Too · Rating 3 out of 5]

These are so F**k’d ☝🏽… so if thats your thing, this is definitely up your alley. Im not sure ill read more of this anytime soon. Cant pack to much of this kinda Ish in your head.

3.2✨

[MissHalo227 · Rating 4 out of 5]

This series is so good in a dark and completely messed up kind of way I don't know why I enjoy it so much.

[Joe Young · Rating 3 out of 5]

Definitely one of the books of all time. Another reviewer put it best - I didn't like this, but it held my interest the whole way through.