I do love me some sci-fi with some time-loop action. You add anime into that equation? SOLID! With that we have, ALL YOU NEED IS KILL, an anime movie from the mavens at Studio °4C, adapted from the Japanese book of the same name. And I have to say, this was a solid outing for some anime goodness.
Now, I have to say, if you’ve seen EDGE OF TOMORROW, also based on the book, then you’ve basically seen ALL YOU NEED IS KILL. Which honestly, I didn’t even think about when I bought my ticket for the anime. But once I was in it, I was all, “AH! That makes sense…”. But not having read the book, definitely was curious how the anime would be different from the movie.
With that in mind, as I write this review, thought I’d look up a synopsis for the book on Amazon, and they summarized it as…
When the alien Mimics invade, Keiji Kiriya is just one of many recruits shoved into a suit of battle armor called a Jacket and sent out to kill. Keiji dies on the battlefield, only to be reborn each morning to fight and die again and again. On his 158th iteration, he gets a message from a mysterious ally–the female soldier known as the Full Metal Bitch. Is she the key to Keiji’s escape or his final death?
I have to say, I laughed a little when I read that summary. Because, taking that, it sounds like EDGE OF TOMORROW was more faithful to the book than the anime. Which is just a little ironic to me.
But that’s neither here nor there.
Where the differences lie? While there is a Keiji in the anime, he’s not the main character. The focus is on a young girl, Rita. Sort of an outcast/shy character keeping to herself. The people are more of a workforce mining the plant, no war happening. But when the aliens do attack, Rita fights to survive, killing an alien and starting her time loop.
At one point Rita comes across Keiji, in the anime an engineering geek, who is also experiencing time loops, and together they fight to make it to tomorrow.
Honestly, wasn’t what I was going to get going into ALL YOU NEED IS KILL… maybe subconsciously expected some kind of Eva v. Angel action, but it was more the characters overcoming something. Don’t get me wrong, not trying to crap on character development, just the ratio threw me off.
The movie itself was a little slow going at first, and I’m sure a good portion of that is because I’ve seen EDGE OF TOMORROW, but once it started going, I was definitely into it.
Ultimately, I enjoyed this movie, but again, if you’ve seen the Tom Cruise pic, I might wait for this to rent on Digital. But if you haven’t seen EDGE? Then, heck yea, check this one out in theatres!
