Inevitable Confrontations

The World is Mine Vol. 5 (Hideki Arai, Young Sunday)

While evading the police in the mountains, Mon and a decapitated Toshi are confronted by the Higumadon. The confrontation ends with Mon being slashed to death. It turns out that what we witnessed was something Mon envisioned, though his battered teddy bear suggests it really happened. It’s as if speculative fiction had suddenly overtaken the narrative for a couple of chapters. There are two stances that I’d say can be made towards this episode. The first is that despite that the confrontation never happened it still made an impact in reality. Mon begins to understand both how limited and precious his life with Toshi been. Mon’s unexpected revelation is accompanied, or rather confronted, by a supernatural occurrence: a tower of light emerges from the ground to the sky. Both events are unexpected and wonderful but their proximity undermines one another. Still, this episode comes across a lot differently from say, the cliché back story from the previous volume that police officials coerced from a woman who was intimate with Mon some years back. And yet, there’s something cheap about the way Mon and Toshi were seemingly killed only to be brought back to life. It’s like their view that life is worthless implies that death is also worthless and hence even their own deaths are made temporary.

Later Toshi and Mon reach a town where they invade a home, taking its inhabitants as captives. Here Toshi discovers that Mon has lost the “ability” to kill. He subconsciously sees value in life and as a result, his body reacts to violence with feelings of regret. Another unpleasant confrontation rears its head when Toshi admits he gets sexual aroused by his own violence but he still finds killing to be difficult. A third perspective is introduced after Toshi hears the news of his mother’s suicide. He kills their captives in the heat of the moment, using raw emotion as his only guidance. The concept of a cold blooded killer is left shattered in pieces.

At this point the story backtracks to the time of the police station attack, right around when Toshi’s picture is broadcasted on the news. The events leading to Toshi’s mother’s suicide are shown, mostly consisting of scenes where she’s trying to comprehend what her son has done and experiencing life as a social pariah amongst a lot of enraged people. A similar subplot begins later where investigators attempt to break into Toshi’s apartment which results in a bomb exploding. The view proposed by the media is that these additional deaths should also be considered part of Toshi and Mon’s killing spree but that seems questionable at best.

Ichi the Killer Vol. 9 (Hideo Yamamoto, Young Sunday)

There’s nothing fancy about the premise of this volume. Kakihara has been informed that Ichi is residing in his housing complex and is searching him out. Meanwhile Ichi receives another call from the masochist and she continues telling him how she became the way she is. She’s telling this story in reverse so now the focus is on the days leading up to her rape, where her and Ichi were bullied together and at one point even forced to kiss. This was a horribly awkward moment for Ichi but she admits that the sexual tension energized her in a way that gave her hope and a renewed desire to be saved. This moment was actually shown for the first time in the previous volume and the way their kiss was drawn encompasses both perspectives well. It’s shown from Ichi’s point of view but the lines are scratchy and almost intensified. There are other scenes where the two are forced into moments of intimacy but they come across as just awful so it isn’t as if the reader has to accept the positive aspect completely.

Up until now I’ve ignored the growing friendship between Ichi and Kaneko, the stiff faced body guard who was lifted right out of a normal yakuza manga, because it seemed like a straightforward moral conflict for Ichi but the subplot reaches its climax in this volume and I see now that is served a more significant purpose. To summarize, Ichi and Kaneko had become casual friends through their daytime interactions in the neighborhood. These interactions began because Ichi was teaching Kaneko’s son Takeshi how to fight against the bullies at school. Now Kaneko has discovered that his friend is Ichi, an enemy to his clan that he must kill.

Kaneko has remained fearless throughout the series because of his boundless loyalty but this loyalty also comes at a price. After being labeled as a loser for associating with someone like Ichi, Kaneko simply snaps and ignoring any moral conflict on his side, opens fire on Ichi. Ichi instinctively starts projecting a backstabbing friend from his high school years onto Kaneko and you can guess what happens next. These events tie into the shounen manga subversion aspect of the series I mentioned before. Sure a lot of the shounen manga ideals are dubious but at least the friendship bonds they portray are generally a lot stronger than Ichi and Kaneko’s.

Rewind

The World is Mine Vol. 4 (Hideki Arai, Young Sunday)

The bulk of this volume focuses on a reporter named Hoshino who is covering the Higumadon’s path of destruction. Most recently, the Higumadon has demolished three houses and killed a group of 12 bear hunters. Hoshino is best characterized by his lack the restraint when it comes to expressing his real thoughts and feelings through his notebook while maintaining a timid outward appearance. These feelings generally reflect his frustrations with the ignorance, weakness, and/or sarcasm of those he interviews, though his most compelling thoughts are those which criticize the cliché meaning behind the Higumadon from a literary perspective. Namely, the beast is exacting divine punishment on mankind for nature’s sake. Also, for some reason he also can’t help filling the notebook margins with doodles of penises.

What I enjoyed most about this volume was the way that Hoshino’s moral conflict is used to re-introduce themes from earlier volumes and explore them more deeply. Hoshino seems to be fascinated with his assignment. I mean he’s pretty much researching a mythological creature come to life. But he’s bothered that the rest of Japan has chosen to focus on Toshi and Mon’s killing spree instead. While investigating the crime scene where the 12 bear hunters were killed, Hoshino finds a camera that presumably belonged to one of the deceased. He pockets the camera and later decides to keep its contents from police and the media. We know Toshi and Mon are starved for media attention and is one of their motivators but Hoshino’s decision to withhold information comes across as self serving.

In a later scene Hoshino is confronted by his superior. The superior criticizes Hoshino because of the penis doodles in his notebook if for no other reason it seems strange to him. I don’t need to overemphasize how troubling to see that his private escapism mechanism has been invaded. From that scene onward, the doodles of penises have been replaced by doodles of vaginas. The superior’s orders could be viewed as a pointless restriction and while he’s in the wrong, the outcome still comes across as a well handled compromise.

Ichi the Killer Vol. 8 (Hideo Yamamoto, Young Sunday)

This volume begins with a fight between Ichi and one of the twins. Ichi easily wins after overcoming some initial mishaps. Afterwards he kills off his last living comrade, who had been tortured and disfigured to the point where he was abnormal. It’s shocking how suddenly and conveniently he’s disposed of. He simply becomes a non-issue to the author and reader. My discussion of the previous volume focused on another character that had also been put through drastic life-changing levels of cruelty. The inclusion of such a character in the story is certainly going to be troubling for some readers but I’m relieved to see the alternative that is implied by conveniently ignoring/removing victimized and mentally disturbed characters presented in such a repulsive way.

Most of the other aspects that I liked about this volume are smaller points, like the way Karen cuts through the general perception that Ichi is some kind of unstoppable monster by declaring him a weirdo who kills within his own imaginary world all while Kakihara prefers to revel in anticipation for the former. I also liked the subtle clues that distinguish Ichi’s past from the present world. They aren’t really needed but I still appreciate that the author doesn’t want the reader to see any truth in Ichi’s projections onto the present. Lastly, I liked the use of visuals to contrast Ichi and Kaneko’s psychological states in the scenes following the opening fight.

The final battle is shaping up to be Kakihara, Kaneko, and the twin against Ichi. Until now I’ve only hinted at how this series ties into traditional shounen manga tropes. The principle signifier that there is a connection is the frequent use of children that come to admire Ichi. This convention is normally used to assure the readers (and their parents) that the hero is indeed a fine role model. The elephant in the room with this series is the small fact that Ichi is the aggressor. Jiji is using him to destroy Kakihara and his clan for money. Kakihara and his men better fit the mold of shounen manga heroes trying to defend their home from villains (of course, the shounen heroes defend peaceful small towns instead of underground porn rackets). Kakihara has become the villain almost entirely through the methods he and his followers have chosen to use since Ichi began his attack.

Weight of Life

The World is Mine Vol. 3 (Hideki Arai, Young Sunday)

Toshi and Mon are trapped inside the police station alone. The building is surrounded by officers. The one bargaining chip is a dead interrogator that the police have been tricked into thinking is still alive. Toshi uses his opportunity to make their demands as a springboard into openly discussing some philosophical issues that have already been hinted at throughout the story, such as the weight and price of life, why we consider murder wrong without reference to laws or religion, and human utopias.

Toshi admits that these strange demands are just a way to buy himself time but it’s still oddly satisfying watching these questions come back to haunt him as he struggles to come up with an escape plan. He considers religion and law non-entities, and they’re not without their flaws, but it’s hard not to feel for how misguided and disconnected he’s become when he begins wondering whether or not he’s the good guy in this situation. He soon begins to panic when he realizes he’ll be caught and sentenced to death. He wants murder legalized but can’t accept it happening to him. As it is now, only the state can legally kill as punishment for the same. Both Toshi and the state are made to look hypocritical in one short throwaway scene.

A part of me thinks that the strange demands were included to highlight how improper the concept of listening to criminal demands really is. As I stated, Toshi is only using them to buy time and Mon continues firing on officers regardless. Even more difficult is that the Japanese prime minister believes the hostage should be scarified for the sake of maintaining peace. The fact that the hostage is already dead confirms that he’s correct but it also demonstrates his philosophy taken to its logical conclusion. The prime minister’s harsh, realistic beliefs don’t end there. When publicly responding to the demands he essentially declares all life (equally) worthless, there is no reasoning behind murder laws and that such laws can be freely removed in the case of war, and that a human utopia will never exist. Course, he still believes Mon and Toshi are evil and need to be wiped out.

After Toshi and Mon escape the station they take a young couple hostage and escape out into the country side with their assistance. Once clearing city limits, the hostages are killed. I just want to briefly discuss my favorite panel thus far. It represents the exact moment Mon ultimately decides to kill the female hostage. It’s a low shot containing both the snow covered ground and falling snow flakes against the night sky. It gives off a sense of closeness and duality that Mon violently reacts against. Essentially, it’s another failure to compromise.

Ichi the Killer Vol. 7 (Hideo Yamamoto, Young Sunday)

While holding up in his apartment waiting for his erection to calm, Ichi receives another call from the masochist he spoke with earlier in the series. She’s a pretty fascinating character because she seems like an off-screen surrogate for certain guro fans. She longs to be beaten, humiliated, and dragged down to deepest levels of despair imaginable. Unfortunately those she meets in real life are too soft and considerate for her. What she wants can’t be prearranged but rather must occur spontaneously when someone desires to have their way with her and possesses the courage to act on those desires.

This unnamed woman returns to Ichi’s company because he reminds her of the person who caused her to become the way she is. Unsurprisingly, the person she’s referring to turns out to be Ichi himself but it remains unclear if she’s aware of that. After being raped in front of Ichi by a group of bullies, she wanted Ichi to rape her as well and completely cleanse her of hope. His failure to do so and his fake sympathy revolted her to such an extent that she became obsessed with reaching a state of total despair.

All of this confirms Ichi’s previously thought to be immature take on what she really wanted. Of course this is all extremely disturbing and it’s especially hard to appreciate the just-do-it attitude she’s promoting while watching Kakihara and Jiji going around torturing one another’s henchmen to death. So while Ichi does regress maturity-wise, the masochist’s teachings have helped him ejaculate with peace of mind. Now he is ready to return to the task at hand.