[SephirothClone]

Ok, I saw it last night when I was bored so its still fresh in my memory. Major SPOILERS below, so be warned.

Ichi the Killer to me is just an absolute perfect comic film. I read some of the manga a few years back before I saw the film and I was sort of impressed by it. But Miike's visual style is something that I have always adored. As a director I feel that he is up there with visually pleasing directors like The Wachowski Bros., The Huges Bros., Tarantino, and Tim Burton. All of them have this very comic booky look to their films and they pace them like its a total graphic treat. Then when you take this talent and add lots of violence, gore, and twisted shit, you have a perfect Miike film.

While my only issue with the film is what happened to Boss Anjo and if the room was so bloody and obviously the place of a murder, then why the Hell did Kakihara waste his time asking where Anjo is? Did he ever realize that he was on the walls... or parts of him?

I really have no issues with the violence factor because I personally believe that art imitates life and if Miike's opinion's of gang related life is that twisted, then let it be.

On the topic of it being a super hero movie. I stated that the film does have its comic traits and carries it very well through the film. Knowing this, I suppose we can look at Ichi as ther dark and tormented hero in black. Then we can look at Kakihara as the twisted clownish character dressed in purple. Hey! That reminds me of BATMAN and JOKER! To be quite honest, that is truly the best example of the relationship between the two characters. If you need evidence, take a look at the way both characters move during the slow-mo shots during the final fight. Kakihara moves very creepy and clownish, while Ichi makes his move slower and wiser like he has a fighting style. I suppose Ichi's true fighting style would be his turbo kick action with super sharp blades at the tips! Cut slash attack! Then lets not forget that both Kakihara and Joker fell off the top of a building only to die with a smile on their face! Coincidence?

So did Miike take traits from Batman and Joker and work off of their motivations and characters? I truly don’t know. As J posted earlier, both characters can be taken as hero's and villains. Ichi is criminally insane, and Kakihara just wants love. I suppose the ending leaves us with whatever interpetation we want.

Also, what does Koroshiya 1 mean?