If Ken’ichirô Akimoto’s new anime feature “All You Need Is Kill” feels familiar, that’s because it is. The film is an adaptation of the Japanese light novel of the same name by Hiroshi Sakurazaka and Yoshitoshi Abe that also inspired “Edge of Tomorrow,” the 2014 Tom Cruise hit directed by Doug Liman.
Liman’s film, a sci-fi thriller about an ordinary man (Cruise), forced into battle during a massive alien invasion and cursed with having to relive the same day over and over and over again, took plenty of liberties with the source material. Akimoto’s new take, written by Yûichirô Kido and Hiroshi Sakurazaka takes its own liberties, but it keeps the novel’s much better title — and also maintains the flinty charm of the Liman movie.
As “All You Need is Kill” opens, Earth is dealing with the arrival of Darol – a massive outer space plant whose intentions are unknown. Its roots have caused havoc with its electromagnetic surges and entire teams of scientists are working to uncover its mission. The film aims to tell the story of the original novel but from a different point of view, and so it is we meet Rita (a version of the character played by Emily Blunt in “Edge of Tomorrow,” here voiced by Ali Mikami), a young woman working on the team to figure out what the hell Darol is.
On the one-year anniversary of its arrival, she has an encounter with a creature that has sprouted from the plant’s massive stalk. She is killed by the creature but not before she can take it out; once she dies she wakes up again, in her crummy apartment with her crummy job. And it happens again and again. (She writes, in big block letters, on her hand, how many times she’s come back.)
Eventually she meets Keiji (Natsuki Hanae), who also is working on the team investigating Darol and who also is experiencing the same day repeatedly. Together, they work to discover how they can finally kill off the monsters once and for all and return themselves to a normal life.That of course doesn’t quite track 1:1 with the original novel, and
There are a number of elements that are similar between this and “Edge of Tomorrow” – there’s a romance between the two main characters, vaguely squid-ish monsters and mechanical suits that aid in their abilities. But there are just as many detours. “All You Need Is Kill” feels decidedly more anime-y, not just in the dazzling visuals from Studio 4°C, which handily mix hand-drawn techniques with computer animation, but in the way that the central romance unfolds, with calls to mind recent anime hits like “Weathering With You” and “Suzume,” both directed by the singular Makoto Shinkai. Both of the main characters are more richly drawn (they are also saddled with more tragic backstories), which adds a lot of much-needed heart and humor to the more action-heavy sequences that see them going up against the alien horde.
And it’s in these quieter, more sensitive moments that “All You Need Is Kill” really comes to life.
“All You Need Is Kill” is so immaculately designed, from the look of the characters to the suits that the characters wear to the robot helpers they pick up along the way, that it’s easy to be seduced by the film’s overwhelming aesthetics. But it’s the emotion of the story, the bond between the two characters and their utter desperation to get unstuck from the loop, that really carries you through as an audience member. It’s easy to get involved with them and to root for them because of that connection and it acts as a way to ground the action, even when it gets overrun with alien creatures and the dialogue becomes somewhat lost in techno jargon mumbo-jumbo. The movie’s giant heart cuts through all of that and even makes the film’s last act, which like “Edge of Tomorrow” meanders a bit when it should be more dialed-in, emotionally resonant and affecting.
In terms of adaptations of the same source material, “All You Need Is Kill” could not be more different than “Edge of Tomorrow,” with one a young adult romance (with monsters and mechanical suits) and the other a go-for-broke action spectacular (also with monsters and mechanical suits). There are some similarities built into both movies, that they share with their original novel, but tonally and aesthetically they are leagues – maybe even galaxies – apart.
If you loved “Edge of Tomorrow” and want to experience it again (just like the characters in the movie), then you’ll undoubtedly love “All You Need Is Kill” too. And if you’re new to the concept, the characters, and the world, “All You Need Is Kill” can be a fitting introduction. It’s one of the best, most deeply felt and most gorgeously animated features of the year. On this or any other planet.
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