All You Need Is Kill

First came Hiroshi Sakurazaka’s ‘light novel’ in 2004. Ten years later, we saw adaptations as manga, American graphic novel, and the Hollywood blockbuster Edge of Tomorrow. And now, an anime directed by Kenichiro Akimoto. Each time, the story starts over, but slightly different.

Which, funnily enough, is exactly the premise of All You Need Is Kill. In its Groundhog Day (1993) meets video game concept, each time you die, your day starts over, you just know a little bit more about what’s coming (something about an alien invader and the total annihilation of Earth).

The two most significant changes made by Akimoto and his team are that the main characters aren’t military anymore, but civilian, and that the lead role has shifted from Keiji to Rita. With as an additional story layer the fact that Rita – although the word isn’t explicitly mentioned – is depressed. Which neatly fits the pattern of each day feeling the same, and having no interest at all in tomorrow.

Which effectively turns All You Need Is Kill – with all its clearly choreographed fight scenes and the angular, sketchy design for which Studio 4°C is known – into a series of therapy sessions (after all, therapy also requires endless repetition for even minor progress): unless Rita wants to keep dying for the rest of her life (‘Live. Die. Repeat’ was Edge of Tomorrow’s concise slogan), she has no choice but to take an interest in every single detail of today in an attempt to finally make it to tomorrow.