All You Need Is Kill is a Japanese “light novel” by Hiroshi Sakurazaka, published in 2004, that became the basis for the surprisingly excellent Tom Cruise sci-fi flick Edge of Tomorrow. It’s now receiving a much more faithful anime adaptation from director Kenichiro Akimoto, coming out next month, and the first trailer is breathtaking.
I need to confess: To my own detriment, I am not an anime guy. It’s a massive gap in my cultural awareness and personal entertainment, and I deserve all your ire. However, from the opening frames of the All You Need Is Kill trailer, I was hooked. This film looks stunning.
The time loop novel told the story of Keiji Kiriya, who had recently joined the United Defense Force to help battle an alien race called the Mimics. The war is not going well, and like so many, Keiji appears to be killed on his very first mission. Except, for some reason, he wakes up to find himself back at the start of the same day, Groundhog Day style. This time loop allows Keiji to become an ever-more-skillful soldier, as well as recognize that fellow soldier Rita Vrataski is also trapped in the same loop.
This movie, however, flips the script, focusing on Rita’s perspective of the events, where we see her early experiences of the time loop as she’s repeatedly killed by a giant alien flower, and her eventual discovery of Keiji’s involvement. It’s due to release in Japan on January 9, and then come to the U.S. by January 16, distributed by GKIDS, the company that released The Boy and the Heron in 2024.
I’m so taken by the mix of media in the trailer, especially the incredibly brief and extraordinary use of the first-person perspective when Rita wakes for the first time. It looks compelling, and early word is that a screening at the French Annecy International Animation Film Festival went down very well.
Meanwhile, I think it might be time for yet another rewatch of Edge of Tomorrow.
