Ken Ichijouji is a member of the DigiDestined, partnered with Wormmon, and holder of the Crest of Kindness. Formerly the devious Digimon Emperor, Ken is the only DigiDestined to hold a crest for a virtue he does not possess, knowing only maliciousness, violence, and brutality. It’s been evident from the start that Yolei has a crush on him. As a young child, Ken always felt that he was passed over by his parents, in favour of his older brother Sam. Sam was a child prodigy, with genius-level intellect, who could, in his parents’ eyes, “do no wrong.” Ken bore a grudge toward Sam, sometimes wishing that he “would just disappear.” At some point, likely when Myotismon was invading Tokyo, Ken encountered a Digimon. It’s not known when, under what circumstances, or what Digimon it was – all that is know is that it must have happened, because, in August of 2000, while the two brothers were both in Sam’s room, a Digivice appeared from Sam’s computer. It had been meant for Ken, but neither of them knew this – Sam picked it up, and put it in his drawer, vowing to find out what it was, but Ken, in childish curiosity, touched the Digivice, and was pulled through Sam’s computer, into the DigiWorld. In the DigiWorld, Ken met his partner, Wormmon, and also met Ryo. During that time, he and Ryo fought Millenniummon – they defeated him, but it is not known how. These events were adapted from the Japanese video game, “Tag Tamers,” which is not strictly in continuity, but had aspects of it used to create a back-story for Ken in the anime. With Millenniummon’s defeat, the Dark Sporesappeared, heading for Ryo. Ken pushed Ryo out of the way, and one of the Spores struck him, sinking inside his neck. Ken became violently ill, and Wormmon cared for him for three weeks, until he was well enough to return to Earth, where he found that it was the same day as he had left (this is either a Japanese writing error, as Earth time and DigiWorld time should be synchronised at this point, or it can be passed off on Millenniummon’s ability to warp space and time). Sam scolded Ken for breaking his trust and touching the Digivice, and Ken, angry, again found himself wishing that Sam would disappear. But this time, Ken got his wish. At an undisclosed point in time after this, Sam was hit by a car, and died. Ken and his parents were consumed with grief, but Ken always felt guilty, blaming himself. At Sam’s funeral, Ken was spotted by Yukio Oikawa, a workmate of his father’s, who was at the time possessed by Myotismon’s digital “ghost.” Oikawa knew he was DigiDestined, and then sent him an anonymous e-mail, telling him of the DigiWorld, which Ken had forgotten about. At the e-mail’s urging, Ken used the Digivice again, but the Dark Spore within him used it to open a gate to the World of Darkness. There, Ken dipped his Digivice in the Dark Ocean, converting it into the Dark D-3, and activating the Dark Spore within him, allowing it’s power to fulfil Ken’s desire of being more like Sam, to fill the void in his parents’ lives. As time went on, the Spore endowed Ken with genius-level intelligence, and enhanced his physical capabilities, making him a soccer and judo champion. He buried himself in his studies, and soon became a media darling, like his brother before him, and won the attention of his fawning parents. However, as the Spore continued its work, Ken became apathetic towards society, viewing mankind as insects, beneath his notice. Ken returned to the DigiWorld, and, through the subtle, unseen manipulations of Arukenimon and Mummymon, Oikawa’s creations, assumed the guise of the Digimon Emperor. As the Emperor, Ken had many conflicts with the new DigiDestined (see the Digimon Emperor entry for full details). When his hatred of those beneath him grew too much, he abandoned Earth to live in the DigiWorld, assuming the Emperor identity permanently. His parents, with no knowledge of where he had gone, were panicked, and made various televised pleas to try and find Ken, but they were in vain. When his genetically engineered creation, Kimeramon, turned on him, and was subsequently defeated by Magnamon, Ken couldn’t believe that he had lost. He proclaimed he would reset the DigiWorld, thinking it was just a computer program. When the DigiDestined explained to him that it was a real place, and that Digimon were living creatures, Ken snapped, realising the cruelty he had inflicted. His Emperor costume deleted around him, and the Spore deactivated, restoring him to normal. The Digi-Egg of Miracles reverted into his Crest of Kindness, and then Wormmon, who had given up his energy to empower Magnamon, deleted in his arms. Numbly, Ken staggered off, to return home. Ken slept for days, in a pseudo-coma, where memories of his brother, the Digivice, and his first trip to the DigiWorld returned in his mind. When he awoke, he had amnesia, and could not remember his parents. He travelled to the DigiWorld, where, at Primary Village, he found Leafmon, the reborn Baby form of Wormmon. A little later, Ken and Minomon (Leafmon’s Digivolved form) awoke one night, to see a mysterious woman in Ken’s room – it was, in fact, Arukenimon, investigating Ken after his reversion to normal, but they did not know this at the time. Ken and Wormmon tracked her into the DigiWorld, and Wormmon Digivolved to Stingmon to defeat a Thundermon she created from a Control Spire. The DigiDestined were all shocked to see this, as they had thought Thundermon was a real, living Digimon. Davis still wanted to ask Ken to join the team, but none of the other DigiDestined liked the idea, particularly not Yolei and Cody. Ken and Stingmon continued to knock down Control Spires, so Arukenimon could not transform them, and then came to help the other kids battle a Golemon created by her. Yolei admitted her feelings about Ken to herself. After that, the DigiDestined continued to rebuild the damaged areas of the DigiWorld, but then received a messaged from Izzy about a warp emanating from the area in which Ken’s old base crashed. Izzy called the Ichijouji home, and Wormmon answered, managing to drag Ken away from a confrontation with Arukenimon to go and help. While battle an Okuwamon created by Arukenimon, Davis slapped some sense into Ken, and Ken realised that Davis wanted to be his friend. At that moment, with their hearts and minds united, Davis’s ExVeemon and Ken’s Stingmon DNA Digivolved into Paildramon. When the Crest of Kindness failed to stabilise the warp, Paildramon destroyed the reactor’s power source, shutting it down. after, Arukenimon lured the DigiDestined, along with Ken, to the Giga House, where she attacked them with an army of mind-controlled insect Digimon. Ken and Stingmon wound up trapped in a giant washing machine, only to be saved by Cody and Submarimon. Ken thanked him, but Cody just said he was paying him back for saving him from Thundermon. When the DigiDestined were able to free the insect Digimon, Arukenimon, in a fit of rage, revealed her true Digimon form. Davis and Ken had ExVeemon and Stingmon DNA Digivolve again, and Paildramon defeated Arukenimon in battle, though she was then saved by Mummymon. Ken was still uncomfortable around the other kids, particularly Cody, who still strongly disliked him. Davis and Yolei attempted to force them to work together to destroy a Control Spire, but they knew they were being tricked. Ken left, and the group was at a disadvantage then, when Arukenimon arrived with her newest creation, BlackWarGreymon. Yolei raced off to kind Ken, delivering a painful-looking slap to knock some sense into him. He submitted, and returned with her. Paildramon then battled, but was defeated by BlackWarGreymon. While the kids were looking for Gatomon’s lost tail ring, Ken, Yolei and Kari accidentally stumbled through a phase warp into the World of Darkness. Kari and Ken were each both shocked to discover that the other had seen the Dark Ocean before. This appeared to mark Ken’s unofficial joining of the team. While he did not hang around with them outside of the DigiWorld, when they went in, they would always meet up with Ken. He had become their friend, but he himself still had trouble accepting their friendship, still feeling guilty for his deeds as the Emperor. When Yolei went to Kyoto on a class trip, she left Poromon with Izzy. Izzy and Ken engaged in a discussion about the nature of the DigiWorld, and how people’s subconscious minds affect and shape it. The two were not-so-subtly arguing over which of the two of them was smarter, when they were alerted to a situation developing in Kyoto – Digimon had begun to appear, after BlackWarGreymon had destroyed another Destiny Stone. Ken used the DigiWorld to hop to Kyoto and give Yolei Poromon, before joining Davis and the others in the fight against Arukenimon and Mummymon (even though, according to Kari in episode 38, he shouldn’t have been able to do this). Ken then helped out in all the battles against BlackWarGreymon, trying to prevent him from destroying the Destiny Stones. Ken was late in arriving when the final Destiny Stone was located, but after a quick meal, the Digmon were fighting fit, and able to hold off BlackWarGreymon long enough for the kids to freeAzulongmon. On Christmas Eve, Ken hesitantly invited the other DigiDestined to his Christmas party – even Cody was happy to accept, having realised by now that Ken was sorry for what he had done, and having gained a better understanding of the powers of darkness after learning about their effect on T.K. The party was cut short by the appearance of a Control Spire at Matt’s concert, but the Armour Digimon took it down, and then De-Digivolved and DNA Digivolved to work with the older kids’ Digimon to send the wild Digimon who had appeared back to the DigiWorld. Wild Digimon then began to appear all over Earth, and Ken was caught up in a battle with a Triceramon. Davis rushed to his aid, but Mummymon also joined the battle. In Izzy’s apartment, where all the other DigiDestined had congregated, Gennai appeared, and released the power of one of Azulongmon’s Digi-Cores, giving Paildramon the power to become Imperialdramon and defeat Triceramon. Davis and Ken then quickly flew around Japan on Imperialdramon, rounding up all the other Digimon that had appeared. Ken and Wormmon then went with Matt and Gabumon to Mexico City to search for wild Digimon. They had some difficulty getting inside the Mayan Ruins, but were able to gain access thanks to Gennai’s Mexican clone, José. Inside, they met Rosa, a young Mexican DigiDestined, who dubbed Ken “cute” and quickly developed a crush on him. Wormmon vied with her for Ken’s attention, but when Wormmon became Stingmon in battle with a Minotarumon and Dokugumon, she thought that he was “the greatest.” Ken and Wormmon left Rosa home, and then they, Matt and Gabumon met back up with Davis and Veemon, to have them form Imperialdramon again, to go around gathering up everyone. Back in Tokyo, Ken’s mother was relieved to see him home safe. During the night, Ken had a dream of his time in the DigiWorld with Ryo, and remembered the Dark Spore entering him. Unaware of it’s significance, Ken asked Wormmon if he remembered anything about that time, and Wormmon told him about how he had “hurt his neck.” The next day, evil Digimon known as the Daemon Corps began to appear in Tokyo, wreaking havoc. Ken, Davis, Tai, Izzy and their Digimon faced off withSkullSatamon, who defeated MegaKabuterimon and MetalGreymon, and paralysed Imperialdramon. Everyone else showed up, but the villain easily defeated them. The original eight Digimon gave their energy to Imperialdramon, giving him enough energy to Mode Change to his Fighter Mode and destroy SkullSatamon. At that point, the Daemon Corps’ leader, Daemon himself, appeared, and, seeking to use the Dark Spore for his own purposes, demanded that Ken come with him. Arukenimon appeared with a truck full of kidnapped children, and said she would free them if Ken came with her. Ken reluctantly agreed.
Once inside the truck, Ken met Oikawa, who explained about the Dark Spore, and how he planned to copy it into the other children, who had all been taken willingly. Oikawa had successfully replicated the Spore when Daemon attacked at Highton View Terrace. Oikawa was all to happy to surrender Ken this time, but Davis arrived and stopped the exchange. Paildramon went up against Daemon, but the demon Digimon grew to an immense height. The other kids and their Digimon arrived, and Imperialdramon, Silphymon and Shakkoumon held Daemon off long enough, so that Ken could draw of the power of the Spore within him, to open a gateway into the World of Darkness, as he had done years before. The other kids supported him, giving their strength and energy to him, allowing him to open the gateway, through which Daemon was sent. That evening, Ken introduced his stunned parents to Wormmon, and the following day, now aware of what was going on, Ken’s father was happy to help the children look for Oikawa. Arukenimon, Mummymon and Oikawa hid out on Mount Fuji, but BlackWarGreymon arrived on Earth, intent on destroying them all. Tai and Kari arrived to try and stop the battle – without Oikawa, they would be unable to remove the Dark Spores from the children. Agumon Warp-Digivolved toWarGreymon, and engaged BlackWarGreymon in battle, while Ken and Davis directed traffic away from the battleground. When the fight spread into a nearby town, Ken and Davis had Imperialdramon join the conflict. The combined power of WarGreymon and Imperialdramon was enough to defeated BlackWarGreymon. Two days later, Ken was trailing Noriko, one of the girls infected with a Dark Spore, when she turned on him, and told him to leave her alone. Davis showed up, just as Noriko’s Spore began to bloom – which heralded the arrival of Oikawa, who absorbed the energy from the flowered Spore, and then fatally injured BlackWarGreymon. The next day, Ken and the other DigiDestined (sans Tai and Sora) were standing watch at Highton View Terrace, waiting for the Spore kids to arrive. When they were all congregated there, Oikawa arrived, and began the process that would have the Spores convert the children’s energies into an energy he could use to enter the DigiWorld. Ken demanded to know why he had been chosen, and what the Control Spires were for. Oikawa happily explained, and then opened the portal. The newer DigiDestined followed him, only to discover that they weren’t in the DigiWorld at all, but some bizarre other dimension, where Myotismon’s “ghost” vacated Oikawa’s body, and used the power of the Spores to transform himself into MaloMyotismon. MaloMyotismon subjected the kids to illusions of their greatest desires. For Ken, on some subconscious level, his desire was to see himself punished for what he did as the Digimon Emperor, and to have his brother back. So, his illusion consisted of an image of the Digimon Emperor, bound to a rock pillar, being bludgeoned by all the Digimon he had abused, until his body deleted. Ken broke down, until an image of Sam appeared, making Ken an offer – if he stayed with him, he would make everything all right. Ken was ready to accept, until Wormmon broke the illusion. Angry at having been manipulated yet again, Ken released his guilt, crying out that he wasn’t the Emperor any more, and that he had been punished enough. He and the other kids then went on to battle MaloMyotismon, using the power of the dimension to their own ends, by allowing their Digimon to Digivolve to ALL their separate forms at once.
MaloMyotismon fled into the DigiWorld, where he absorbed the darkness that had been growing there since the disruption of the boundaries, becoming more powerful. Then, he began to spread his darkness all over Earth, even as all the Digimon of the world’s DigiDestined arrived. Acting as beacons, the Digimon pulled the other DigiDestined from Earth into the DigiWorld, their bond opening the gate. Davis, Ken and the others managed to get the Spore kids to talk about their dreams, the energy of which was able to suppress MaloMyotismon’s darkness, causing his body to delete. Then, the DigiDestined powered up Imperialdramon with their Digivices, and he used his Giga Crusher attack to destroy Myotismon’s spirit once and for all. Three months later, it was discovered that Diaboromon had survived his battle with Omnimon four years beforehand, and has used the time in between to reproduce as millions of Kuramon. While Tai, Matt and Omnimon battled Diaboromon online, the other kids were sent to track down the Kuramon who were appearing in the real world. Ken and Davis were able to persuade a little girl who had found one to give it to them, and then, when they were on a train, a swarm of Kuramon emerged from some passengers' cell phones, and they were able to gather them up. In the city centre, when they learned that Kari and T.K. had gone to help Omnimon, Davis demanded that the gate be opened for him to go to Kari, but wound up playing into Diaboromon's hands - the gate was opened so wide that even though Omnimon had destroyed Diaboromon, all the remaining Kuramon escaped through the gate into the real world, where they merged intoArmageddemon in Tokyo Harbour. Ken and Davis raced to get there, where they then struggled to get to their partners through a crowd, until Davis screamed in anger, and the crowd parted for them. Veemon and Wormmon became Imperialdramon, who was then given Omnimon's power, and transformed into his Paladin Mode. His Omega Sword caused Armageddemon to discorporate, and everyone channelled their Digivices and cell phones through the sword to absorb the Kuramon. Twenty-five years into the future, the portal to the DigiWorld remains open, and Wormmon is still at Ken’s side. Ken and Yolei have married, and had three children – a boy, who looks like Ken, with Yolei’s hair colour, a girl who looks like Yolei with Ken’s hair colour, and a baby of unidentified gender. Ken has become a police detective, aided in his operations by Stingmon. Ken first appears, as the Digimon Emperor, in “Enter Flamedramon.” He first appears as himself in “A New Digitude.” He is changed back from being the Emperor in “The Crest of Kindness,” and his origins are revealed in “Genesis of Evil.” His voice is supplied by Derek Stephen Prince.