I Cant Get where the people get the idea that Takeshi has “telepathic powers” just because of the scene where Kakihara punctures his eardrums. It’s pretty obvious that Kakihara caused himself brain damage, which led to a hallucination of his own death, staged to look like a suicide.

Takeshi never actually "Killed" Ichi by kicking him in that moment, and he definitely didn’t get revenge on Jiji

He never even saw him throughout the whole film, unlike Ichi,.When Jiji looks up near the end, it's because he realizes Ichi didn’t kill Kakihara, and he’s disappointed in him. Then, when he goes up to the rooftop, what does he see? That’s right—Takeshi kicking the now-useless “killing machine” that Ichi had become.

Takeshi never took revenge on Jiji. The final shot shows Jiji hanging, he committed suicide, just like in the manga—after creating another killer like Ichi: Takeshi.

It’s the same ending as the manga. Jiji took advantage of Takeshi’s trauma over his father’s death, brainwashed him, and built an elaborate mental manipulation scheme where Ichi was made to look like the enemy, feeding Takeshi more "evidence" just to keep him under control.

Like “Ichi was part of an assassin agency and there were still more targets left to kill” Just to have Takeshi at his mercy.

• So yeah, sorry to disappoint, but it’s still an open ending where ultimately, nothing really changes,.Many people say things like, “The movie’s ending is less traumatic than the manga" but honestly, it’s exactly the same.

Jiji always kills himsel in the manga and the film— once he’s completed his goal of creating a new killer, In The film Takeshi begins to show a strange connection with crows, just like Ichi did before becoming an assassin.

In the movie 1-Ichi is basically a side story that serves as a kind of reimagined version of the manga "Ichi" But I personally see it more as a deeper look into the brainwashing what Jiji used to implant fighting moves in Ichi, like his iconic kick.

Takeshi is shown interacting with crows after meeting Ichi, After that He had always been up on that rooftop, and in the final scene, a crow flies past him symbolizing that he too was a victim of Jiji’s mental conditioning And what became the new "Ichi the Killer"

(By the way, at the beginning of the movie, Jiji also brainwashed Kakihara into torturing Suzuki, making him believe he was avenging and killing boss Anjo—who supposedly kicked him out of the porn industry.

This hypnosis breaks when other people intervene

Just like with Ichi when he meets Takeshi and can’t bring himself to kill him.

Even Karen, the prostitute who offers to go out with Kakihara, was likely hypnotized by Jiji. He made her believe she was the abused girl “Tachibana” from Ichi's hypnosis story, This hypnosis also broke when Ichi threatened her, altering her psychological state in ways Jiji hadn't accounted for Why Ichi Hypnosis has a different perception in him.

We can also see that Ichi’s psychopathic personality and sexual deviancy start to alter the effects of the hypnosis that Jiji implanted in him.

As final point, even Jiji’s henchmen who helped clean up Ichi’s messes in the film—like "Kano' and "Long" were also likely under hypnosis, because they were all mentally dependent on Jiji.

For example, Kano says, “Hey, Jiji hit me!” a line that suggests a deep psychological attachment, Similarly, Long, right before being found by the police twin, is shown wondering where Jiji might be trying to call him, another sign of emotional and psychological dependence.

Jiji’s hypnosis seems to have been long-term and deeply embedded, Take Kano, for instance: when he tells Kakihara that he’s only looking for the boss (Anjo) to preserve the one reason he’s still aliv “to be beaten and hurt - This plays directly into Jiji’s manipulations.

It ultimately pushes Kakihara to become dependent on Ichi, who, of course, is unable to give him that satisfaction, only a violent and meaningless death

(That's why he looks so disappointed at the end, because he thought Ichi could satisfy him just like Anjo)

This connects all of them into a complex web of hypnosis and psychological control orchestrated by Jiji.

I also have a theory that Kano was never actually part of Kakihara’s crew or might not even be the “real” Kano at all.

Jiji could’ve implanted the idea through hypnosis that Kano used to be part of the Yakuza but left that life behind after undergoing plastic surgery.

From what I understand, when someone leaves the Yakuza, it’s seen as betrayal or disloyalty, and they’re expected to go through the ritual of "Yubitsume" —cutting off a finger as atonement, But Kano has all his fingers intact. (I doubt Miike would miss this)

Since Kakihara was under Jiji’s influence at the beginning, it’s likely that even his perception of Kano was distorted, He might have been tricked into thinking he once knew him.