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

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!).

[Manhog84 · 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.

[Tim · Rating 4 out of 5]

😬