All You Need Is Kill

[Arabesque]

Well, that was an interesting variation on the novel's ending.

So, the final chapter of All You Need Is Kill had been published last week, and I've been debating whether I should post my impressions on the manga before or after watching Edge of Tomorrow. Part of it was me wanting to see every iteration on the story so I'd be able to give a more informed opinion on the franchise as a whole. I had already read the novel before the manga started back in 2011, and re-read it again right before the final chapter came out, so my perspective on this particular adaptation had already been skewed to see what would be changed or made different by the mangaka duo (or just Obata-sensei, since I'm not entirely sure how much involvement Takeuchi-sensei had overall given how little attention he had received).

I ended up putting Edge of Tomorrow off for another day, however, since I didn't want to get sidetracked from talking about the manga itself.

Impressions on the Manga

Spoiler for The Story: 7/10:

What drew me in to read the manga were several factors (I liked the Light Novel back when I read it years ago, I am a huge fan of Obata-Sensei's art and would always give a series he works on a look and I wanted to make full use of my subscription to ESJ) but the biggest draw to me was that the premise was really appealing to me as a sci-fi and anime fan.

It's really easy to draw comparisons (especially with the movie coming out now) to Groundhog Day in a sci-fi setting which I think is a fair correlation further supported by Keji's trademarked cliché movie one-liners (The battle might not need him, but he sure needs it!). But as an anime fan my thoughts drifted to a different example. Having read this novel after the Steins;Gate anime had ended, that might have been why the anime connection seemed so pronounced but I still couldn't shake the feeling that this series was closer to the likes of Higurashi and Steins;Gate both tonally and structurally.

Without getting too much into spoilers, Keji's journey from going to be a green horn recruit to a ''killing machine running on blood instead of oil'' and how slowly but surely he is mentally changing and becoming slowly more experienced and more efficient at destroying Mimics made me think about how brutal Higurashi was whenever a ''failed'' timeline would end being resolved. Keji's method might seem like he is attempting to brute force his way through the time loop, but he always makes sure to take something new from each attempt and over time becomes more willing to die and restart rather than prolonging his suffering. He goes from being terrified of the Mimics appearance are (and to be fair, Obata draws some ghastly looking mimics) to no longer caring much about how his terrifying his opponent might look like and instead focuses on foreseeing their next attack and best counter for it. Seeing how he goes from that point to the end is really an interesting journey, since we also get to touch a bit on how the mental toll it takes on him seeing the same mundane tasks being repeated in front of him (and seeing people close to him die) not only lead him to becoming depressed, but also start to try and build connections and certain rituals to keep himself sane.

Of course, that is only half of the story. The other half deals with Rita's journey and how she went from being a 14 year old Illinois farm girl to the hardened soldier who became the Valkyrie and the strongest weapon humanity has against the mimics.

Despite taking less time to be told than Keji's side, I honestly thought Rita had the stronger motivation for her to plow through and escape the mimic loop. Sure, Keji ended up developing a strong hatred for the mimics after they had him dying repeatedly over and over again. But Rita ended up losing everything she had in a single night, and then went on to lose other people she cared about due to the mimics even when she put in her all to defeat them. To Keji, fighting the mimics started off as a means of escaping from his old life, while for Rita it was always a personal quest for vengeance.

Now, I don't want to focus too much on the difference in Rita's characterisation from the novel here, so I will just say this before moving on: I feel that the omission's to Rita's story made her arc weaker when compared to the novel take. That said, I felt the the way Rita was drawn had made up in part for that, and made me still care for her a great deal. I suppose one way to look at it as being a trade for some of Rita's arc in the overall story in exchange for impactful visual scenes. It would've been preferable if we had gotten both but C'est la vie ...

Aside from that, I really liked the subsequent couple of chapters where they ended up revealing that they were both kindred souls who understood each other better than anyone else in the entire world. From seeing them both sort out together in battle for the first (and last) time was really fun, especially with the little banter that goes on between them when they are ready to lay down the pain on the mimics. And of course, the chapter where Rita and Keji just went on to have fun all day long and ending with them just sitting down and talking about whatever was really rewarding after seeing how they ended up becoming while they were stuck in the loop. It managed to get the idea across that for the first time in a long time for those two, they had finally had a genuine human interaction with someone who understood them.

Spoiler for The Ending:

I have to say, while I did expect from the original Novel that Rita would revel to Keji that she too had been stuck in the mimics' loop, I didn't expect the twist for it to be a variation of Steins;Gate's meets The Highlander (again with the film comparisons ...). I mean I might have entertained the thought that Rita might possibly die by the end, but certainly not while engaged in a death match with Keji. I ended up questioning a bit the logic she used to reach that ''solution'' for getting out of the time loop, but it sure did give a really strong climax on top of an already solid final conflict to the manga.

That and Rita went out with a really awesome line.

Further thoughts on the ending in the comparison with the Light Novel tag.

Spoiler for The Art: 8/10:

I will avoid giving individual credit here to either Obata or Takeuchi sensei, since I am still unsure who I should credit for what exactly. Regardless, I can say that for the most part I thought that the art in this series, outside of minor issues, was fantastic.

I had mentioned before that there were a few moments where I felt helped cover weaknesses caused by certain omissions from Rita's storyline. In particular the very first time we end up getting a clear view of her face post-the death of her parents in particular her vow to kill every mimic on Earth made me think ''Oh, I believe you''.

The second moment is a small one, and one that we had seen the effect used on Keji during the fight in the cafeteria, but it really gotten the idea across of how jaded Rita had become even when she learns of good news to a person she cares deeply about, due to being stuck in the loop for so long.

And finally, it was when Rita had escaped the loop on her 211th try. It ends up not being such a glorious moment for her a page later, but I did feel that unlike the novel where Rita's story was being told as a matter of fact, here it really personalised the struggle she endured in order to escape from her loop and I thought that page got the idea across quite potently on how much of a triumph it was for her to manage to never lose to the mimics.

The manga is filled with panels and pages similar to those that really helped it augment moments that might have seemed trivial in the novel, so for that I can certainly put it as a huge plus.

However, I did have some criticism in that early on, some of the character designs where derivative of some of Obata's older to a degree at first that it took me a while to not see Old!Mikami in Keji's design and Fukuda with dreadlocks in Yonabaru at times. It's not really that much of an issue but I did fell it was a bit distracting.

Other than that I didn't have much of an issue.

Spoiler for Comparison with the Light Novel:

The first thing I want to say is that I thought that as a manga, ignoring where the story first originated, this series was very good. I don't regret reading it, and I loved reading it from start to finish.

That said, in terms of being of an adaptation of an existing work, my feelings on the manga end up being mixed.

The biggest weakness that the manga has is the fact that it removed bits from Rita's story, which in turn made critical moments and elements less poignant overall. Yes, all the key components are there still, and it can certainly be argued that things like why Rita actually hated the colour red and always drank (and had a strong attachment) to coffee as being nothing more than flavor, but I'd say that it is that additional flavor that makes already strong moments even more powerful.

However, I will again reiterate that while manga!Rita might be weaker due to the missing meanings to her story, her story visually is told wonderfully. I can say that I felt a greater level of attachment to manga!Rita in certain parts of the manga than I did in the novel due to how she was drawn and how she behaved in them.

Aside from that, I have not felt that the manga had any weak parts in regards of it being an adaptation ... but I did feel that in its attempt to make the ending less bitter, it made things a little less interesting.

So the biggest deviations other than the omissions to some of Rita's story was that the reasoning behind sending the mimics to Earth and what the mimics were actually was only alluded to very briefly and otherwise removed entirely, and of course what tone the series attempted to set with it's closing chapter.

I can understand why the mangaka decided to omit the Outsiders from the adaptation. It wasn't by an means crucial, and if I know for certain that if I were in the position of making an adaption of any sort of this tale, the Outsiders section would be the first to go. And that makes me sad.

Like with the missing bits with Rita, the missing Outsiders section was some really interesting reading in a Japanese Light Novel. It reminded me a lot of late 19th and early 20th century sci-fi literature, especially with it's anti-imperialist and environmentalist themes. However, the part that I felt sad about not getting reveled in the manga is what the mimics actually were.

In the novel,

Spoiler for Novel spoilers:

the revelation is that the technology used to create the mimics were never intended to be for warfare of any sort. It wasn't even designed for combat of any sort in mind. It was just a really aggressive colonising machine sent to random spots in the universe with the intention of terraforming planets tell they are suitable for the Outsiders to come and live on them. The Outsiders (or the ones who sent the program in motion at least) never really cared much for the original indigenous lives on the planets they were going to use the mimics to terraform. And I thought that was a great twist that add a new dimension to the story.

From humanity's view point, they were engaged in a life and death struggle against invaders that sought to destroy them and their home. But the actual reality is that humanity were never actually in a fight. The mimics can not communicate since they are nothing more than machines with a very set objective. The Outsiders don't even know that humanity is on Earth when they had sent the machines that would become the mimics.

And that's what makes me sad, since it would've made for such a fascinating twist on the story. It would've needed to go the first thing to go in order to save time, but I still wish it would've been there.

The other deviation is the tone the ending tried to get across. No matter how you cut it, both the manga and the Light Novel ended on a bittersweet. Though it is obvious that the manga ended with less bitterness and more focus on the sweeter parts.

Much like with the Rita bits from the novel, they are little touches such as learning that when Keji went back to fighting after killing Rita that he ended up injuring his fellow soldiers (which is why they dubbed him Killer Cage afterwards) and caused Yonabaru to punch him in the face due to Keji injuring his girlfriend. Then there was how many of the civilians ended up dying and Keji no longer caring that much about it (Rachel in particular, since she was the only other person outside of Yonabaru and the sarge that Keji took note of) and the general sense of loss of innocence for Keji after everything he went through.

And of course, there was how Rita died.

In the novel, the death felt more impersonal due to how both of their helmets had been left intact IIRC, and as such they hid how they really felt behind their masks, and Rita ended up brushing off Keji's confession before dying.

Here, we get a greater sense of closer. I liked the fact that both Rita and Keji ended up having their helmets broken during their fights, since it did add a more personal connection to their final scene. I also liked that Rita wasn't so cold towards Keji after his confession, even if she had no way of really reciprocating his feelings (since they only did meet just yesterday). It had a markedly better impact on Keji, so that at the end when he is talking with Shasta, he isn't as broken up about it.

While I would've preferred if they made it a truly bittersweet ending, this change wasn't bad at all. I felt that making less depressing gave the story better closer overall and made it a nice, complete story.

Though I do wonder about some choices made in what fanservice to include here. I mean Rachel and Rita both get their fair share of cheesecake (as well as the sarge) and we even got Rita in her panties (which was just strange tbh), but no Shasta in a gala dress? >:T

Concluding Thoughts

I liked this manga. It told a competent story with and interesting premise and sympathetic characters. I thought it had some hiccups here and there, but nothing that made me feel like it stumbled and lost sight of what it was trying to achieve. I really enjoyed reading it and hope that the sequel novel ends up getting a manga by the same creative team.

7.5/10 overall.

[Gundamx]

Originally Posted by Arabesque

Spoiler for Novel spoilers:

the revelation is that the technology used to create the mimics were never intended to be for warfare of any sort. It wasn't even designed for combat of any sort in mind. It was just a really aggressive colonising machine sent to random spots in the universe with the intention of terraforming planets tell they are suitable for the Outsiders to come and live on them. The Outsiders (or the ones who sent the program in motion at least) never really cared much for the original indigenous lives on the planets they were going to use the mimics to terraform. And I thought that was a great twist that add a new dimension to the story.

From humanity's view point, they were engaged in a life and death struggle against invaders that sought to destroy them and their home. But the actual reality is that humanity were never actually in a fight. The mimics can not communicate since they are nothing more than machines with a very set objective. The Outsiders don't even know that humanity is on Earth when they had sent the machines that would become the mimics.

And that's what makes me sad, since it would've made for such a fascinating twist on the story. It would've needed to go the first thing to go in order to save time, but I still wish it would've been there.

.

if my memory is right they program them not to hurt or colonize any planet with life form -> human does not count since they are not really life form from their point of view

[Tiberium Wolf]

Hmmm... 17 ch... that's like eating soup before the main course.

[psicomenace]

Originally Posted by Gundamx

if my memory is right they program them not to hurt or colonize any planet with life form -> human does not count since they are not really life form from their point of view

I wonder if that point will be touched in the sequel?
BTW, awesome post @Arabesque

[ellifeedn]

Can coffee get moldy?

[kenjiharima]

Currently reading this manga, thanks to Tom Cruise's movie.
Will catch up on the discussion later.

[SuitUp]

8.9/10, really hated and loved this series at the same time:

Spoiler for Impressions on the series:

Even though I absolutely love psychological horror and stuff like that, and reading and reflect on the horrors of everyday things given a twist, I was longing for a happy ending here, even if it was cliché, the guy just got hit so hard, and there's absolutely no way he's not going to eventually kill himself or others (and as of now he's a killing machine that longs for the war, maybe he kills everyone) after everything he went through.
And Rita, oh God, poor Rita, if there has ever been a soul in despair desperately in need of someone who understands her it's Rita, and after getting that (for a single day), she dies, in a touching manner, of course, but it felt like her whole life, and Keiji's, was in vain.
In short and for a conclussion, it's a sci-fi tragedy, and if you're a sucker for happy endings or usually end up caring about the character, you should just skip this, because even if you take it the way the author meant it, the implications are awfuly sad, and the story breaks your heart (and the characters').

Also, I' just finished seeing Edge of Tomorrow, and:

Spoiler for Comparisson to the manga:

While it gave me the happy ending I was looking for, the changes they made to the story in the film convey a whole different message, that, instead of a really sad tragedy, the film was about the transition of a worthless man into a selfless hero, who gets rewarded at the end.

[nooneagain]

about rachel, last time I saw, seems like some other guy was hitting on her. Did the dude succeed?