All You Need Is Kill

I will keep this nice and simple The art is a seven because combat at times seemed messy to me and hard to make out but characters looked good and the environment. The story and characters get a 7 because it focuses on the Main char way to much for my liking when they could maybe have gotten more moments with the others and the story seems kind of rushed like the ending came outta nowhere and i am just not a fan of it and maybe would have liked to have seen how other areas around the world where effected rather than then just the island off japan. Overall bagged it for 10 quid looks nice on the shelf and for a one shot i suppose if you aren't to bothered on constantly reading the best of the best why not grab it.

Note: I also wrote this review on Goodreads under the name Animelove24 but it is my review.

All You Need Is Kill is a manga drawn by Takeshi Obata(the same guy who did Death Note and Bakuman) based on the light novel by the same name written by Hiroshi Sakurazaka. In it the main character Keiji is in the army trying to defeat a group of aliens called Mimics who have come to take over Earth. During his first battle, Keiji is seemingly killed by a Mimic but somehow wakes up the next day. This is repeated a few times before he realizes in order to get out of the loop he must defeat the Mimics and the story is basically him running around training and trying to go through the same day over and over without dying. It's like Groundhog Day but with aliens.

I found the story over all to be a fun little adventure story. It was funny at parts like with the sour plum eating contest, and heartwarming in others, such as wheb Rita and Keiji find, what I'll call their "common ground" without giving away spoliers. We also see the main character, whose very relatable in his quest to just live, grow as a person and push himself to his physical limits. It's also fun to watch him go through all the same things everyday. While it does exhaust him a lot after a while it's pretty funny to see him know everything that's going to happen, especially when he uses that knowledge to sneak past a bunch of guards. Keiji is also strong willed and I like the even after over 50 loops he still hasn't given up and doesn't even go off of his mission for a second even though he very well ould and it'd be understandable. I liked Rita as well. She definitely a badass as the only one whose known to been able to take down the Mimics in combat and she walks around carrying a giants axe that ways a couple tons so she's pretty tough. But she also has a softer side as we get to see in her backstory. Rita loves her family and her friends and is shown to be just a regular girl at heart. She's stubborn, she cries, loves jewellery likes to have fun as shown in the cafeteria scene and that's what I really enjoyed about her character. I like it when writers create female characters who have all kinds of different facets to their personalities and aren't just the stoic, unfeeling, bitchy type characters we usually get; she is called The Full Metal Bitch but she's also called The Valkyrie so it evens out. That all being said, I hated what became of her after she and Keiji have their "bonding moment". She just becomes the love interest after that and has no real character besides at the end which I won't spoil, but it's a bunch of crap.

The artstyle is well done. Takeshi Obata is also very detailed with his work and has his own in dividual style which a lot of sharp lines and hard edges which is different to see inanineor manga. It's part of what made Death Note stand out more than it already did. He also does good with movement especially with hair. It actually moves like real hair and seems silky and smooth. He also didn't great with making Keiji look exhausted from all the hard work he was putting in to defeating the Mimics. He looked exhausted and like he was about to break and just the way the eyes were drawn and the bags under them made me feel tried just looking at him. I also liked the interpretations of the mech suits and the Mimics. The suits looked sufficiently heavy as well as the axes and the Mimics looked like what the Langoliers should have looked like. Terrifying monster balls with teeth that look like they're oozing evil. I will say on downside is all the action scenes. I'm not sure if it's just the style of manga books overall or if it's that Obata doesn't draw action that often but I found it hard to really tell what was going on half the time. The characters would start doing something and then the next panel would be them doing somethibg completely different with no inbetween panels. This was especially prevalent in the final two battles. Overall I do enjoy Obata's art however but perhaps he should stick with doing the more person centric stories.

Other things I didn't like besides the action scenes and the way Rita was treated as a character were...well there's really only two things. #1 The ending. The ending was a load of bullshit. Without saying any spoilers, it makes sure Rita definitely not pass the Mako Mori test, if you catch my drift. She's such a cool character and to be reduced to THAT pisses me off. It also brings my to #2. The whole thing with the Mimic antenna makes no goddamn sense. Here's where it's going to get into spoilers, so if you don't want to read those, skip to the 👍(this includes ending spoilers). Okay so here it's goes. If whomever kills the antenna Mimic in their first loop slowly becomes an antenna over many different loops, made known by a headache one gets when becoming one, Rita should have never been able to leave her loop without the Mimics winning that battle and leaving her alive. Because the way it is explained in the story, is that the only way to get out of a loop is to ultimately kill all the antennas after destroying a bunch of other parts of the Mimic army, and Rita was an antenna during that time then she should have been stuck there forever because killing the antenna ultimately also restarts the loop so she couldn't kill herself. Therefore the only way to win an battle with antenna type Mimics is to let them win because that is the only way the loop stops. That also brings me to the bullshit ending where Keiji and Rita have to fight to the death because they have to kill all of the antenna but they're both antennas because they've both gotten the headaches for this loop and therefore there was no reason for Rita to fucking die because they shouldn't have been able to get out of that loop. What I'm saying really, in shortened terms, is that either the Mimics should have won that battle a longtime ago or Rita should be stuck in her first loop forever. I don't know if it's explained better in the books or not but here that whole thing makes no sense.

👍 Okay spoilers are officially over. Time for the end thoughts. Overall I did enjoy reading this book. Like I've said, I liked the artstyle, the story is an interesting look at what someone might do if the were stuck in the same day forever and the characters are fun to watch. There are a couple nitpicks here and there and two big nitpicks near the end of the book, but in the end if was a fun adventure to go on and makes me want to read the actual book and see the Tom Cruise movie. I probably won't read it again just because it's not really my genre but for anyone whose really unit sci-fi I'd say give it a whirl.

i picked this up one day and read it in 1 sitting, honestly took my by surprise how good it is. no spoilers its about a guy whose about to go into a battle war zone the next day but he keeps dying in battle only to wake up in bed and find out its still the day before battle, the goal is to figure out why or how this is happening. it really keeps you interested in seeing all the different methods that are tried. character development isnt really there except for the MC though. its a good pick up if you have extra money.

Personal Rate: 9
Overall Rate based on the different criteria: 8

Not familiar with the novel... Never heard of the movie. This is a short review about the manga and only the manga.

Story: 8
Art: 9
Character: 6
Enjoyment: 9
Overall: 8


Story: 8

Classic setup revisited countless times in movies of different genres hence the minus 2. So far, this is the first time I see this principle applied to a war story. It fares very well for a short manga of 2 volumes... So I'll try to judge it based on its length.

It's an open ending... which I'm not too fond of, especially since it's a wide opening but I can't hold it against the manga. It's well for such a short series.

Art: 9

Classic Takeshi Obata. Never disappoints. It's a blast though some action scenes are a bit confusing.

Character: 6

I'm not sure they deserve a 6. There is nothing to them really but the thing is... it couldn't be more since it's such a short story... The stresses had to be made on the action scenes OR the characters... So the action scenes won. Though I'd argue that they did well in exploring a little of their past, especially Rita's in such a short number of pages.

Enjoyment: 9

Read it in a go. Very engaging. It's not gonna leave me changed or with a lasting impression but it was great entertainment while it lasted.

Overall: 8

Nice reading if you're in the mood for something short and punchy. Takeshi Obata's art is in full display, the robots, mechas and weapons are gorgeous. The story stands well on its own... To be honest... This is really not my type of novel. I'm not sure about what to expect of the movie... Did Hollywood dared do the ending we got here? My guess is no, they just love to sugarcoat everything... but hey, I might be wrong. I'll see.

After the release of the live-action movie "Edge of Tomorrow", it was interesting to find that it was actually based on a Japanese light-novel. It came even more as a surprise to see that a manga version had been released, likely coming after the acclaim of the live-action film. The film had some good characters, writing, and some interesting use of the plot's lore. It shouldn't have been a stretch to expect even more from the actual source material, not being held back by the hour and a half length of the movie. However, the biggest surprise came when it became clear that the movie didn't cut content, but actually beef it all up.

The "All You Need Is Kill" manga was taken up by the mangaka behind the art of manga like "Death Note", so it should be expected that the artwork would be top-notch. The characters and designs for the mechanisms and creatures are all well done, and there are plenty of well-realized actions shots to go along with it. Even with such great detail in the artwork though, there isn't enough world-building in place to truly make a lot of interesting locations or situations be shown. The action moments get slightly repetitive and the reader might begin focusing on the dialogue to move onwards. Even though that kind of direction would fit with the story at hand, it's still a less interesting way to present things when you take into account that this manga is only seventeen chapters long.

The length of "All You Need Is Kill" brings rise to the next, and biggest, problem with the manga which is that it's too rushed and forced. The basic plot of "All You Need Is Kill" is that a soldier on a futuristic earth is sent out to fight an army of alien invaders that are seemingly impossible to defeat, but he has been trapped in a time loop that makes him face defeat and death over and over again. That's a potentially great plot element that could be used to make some really interesting situations. However, the story is rarely ever imaginative with that element, making the details behind it very basic and simple to conclude. The movie, "Edge of Tomorrow", put in-place more depth and reason behind what goes on, and made everything that happens interaction-wise more intelligent and complex.

The lore of the manga is just used as a gimmick from what it develops into and what events it creates in the process. Besides the most basic of effects from adding the time-loop element in the story, the manga doesn't go into detail about how the main character can better be successful in his next attempts or what might be going on elsewhere in the world at the time. The whole situation with the alien invaders, known as "mimics", is presented as if they're destroying the entire human race across the globe. However, the entire manga takes place on a small battle on an isolated island. The world is never delved into and it's just assumptions to what happens elsewhere, even though characters in the story end up being involved.

The characters in the story aren't bad, but they aren't too unique either. The main character is generally smart and acts reasonable for what situation he's gotten into, but most of the other characters never feel as focused on as him, making them all feel like side characters. A romance also forms a bit into the story, but this romance still suffers from that same problem of other characters besides the main not being treated well enough. The story ends up trying to force content from the love-interest of the main in a chapter or two, focusing on what's going through her mind. Being so forceful in her character development, when moving to a lovey-dovey scene right after, just makes the entire relationship feel contrived. During the build-up of their feelings for one-another, which takes up a very short period, their characters also change slightly in ways that don't seem natural for what is going on for them. They change in slight ways to make their relationship feel more justified and more powerful, but in the end it just makes it feel even more artificial.

That romance leads to the ending, which is mainly where the plot felt rushed and where the focus changed for the worse. The main situation at hand noticeably took the back-seat as the drama of the romance clearly became the main plot of the manga. Barely receiving any development in the details of what is causing the time-loop and what will happen due to it, a quick bow is tied around that entire plot element along with the relationship, making it feel as though the producers of the manga just wanted to end the story and move on. I haven't read the novel, so I couldn't say whether or not it went through everything in the exact same way, but I would imagine that might be what happened when looking at the short length of the novel as well.

The main flaw with this story was the length as the beginning of "All You Need Is Kill" was actually well-paced and had generally good characters. However, wanting to fit everything in just a few chapters later made everything very unsatisfying and feel extremely rushed. The characters take a hit during this time. The lack of length makes the ending less detailed and complex from what it could, and should, have been. The story becomes basic and simple, wasting the potential of the manga's gimmick. The manga had a good budget in the art and design, but the lack of those other details makes for some repetitive scenes and some lack of presenting the world beyond the front-focused battle. "All You Need is Kill" is enjoyable and still worthy of being read, but it would be much more enjoyable to watch the live-action movie first then move on to the manga for some interesting comparisons.

In the battle for Tokyo, Keiji Kiriya - a young Japanese soldier from the exoskeleton squad - is brutally murdered by the Mimics - alien fleas bigger than a horse ... In the battle for Tokyo, Keiji Kiriya- a young Japanese soldier from the exoskeleton squad - is brutally murdered by the Mimics - alien fleas bigger than a horse ... In the battle for Tokyo ... WAIT! Hasn't this happened before?
This is exactly the plot for ALL YOU NEED IS KILL!

The hero lives in a constant loop from the day before his death and must do everything to change his fatal future. In just 17 chapters, we follow through the magnificent arts of Obata Takeshi - designer of the acclaimed Death Note - the result of the protagonist's effort to study, train and adapt for tomorrow's battle by living the same day hundreds of times.

The constant repetition of exactly same events of that day, makes food lose its taste, jokes humor, people charisma and life meaning. Kiriya Keiji is used to death just like someone is used to play videogames. With the evolution of his training and learning from his mistakes, becomes a cold and listless warrior.

The Full Metal Bitch - Rita Vrataski, an American considered to be the triumph of humanity in the fight against the Mimics, due to her skills with a giant ax - is Keiji's main inspiration to keep her spirit and mind alive.
Obata's gigantic drawings, with facial "zooms" in the protagonists' expressive features, details in the exoskeletons, explosions and blows filling the top of the page to the bottom, transforming the manga into a "portfolio of drawings" for those reading . As if it were a Light Novel with illustrations in every corner.

The short, straightforward plot does not give space to work relationships between members of the army, or even care about their deaths. But , you do have some LITTLE light background shots of characters goals, ideals, and personalities, that could lead for some bigger and deeper development if the workd had more chapters.

As a video game player, dying several times before defeating the big boss, AYNIK is a work of insistence and self-teaching with a lot of action, gore and a message about how valuable life is and the little moments to be enjoyed.

AUNIK, All You Need is Kill - Manga vs Motion Picture

If you've read some of the personal information, you know that I usually like to complete some of the author's works to fully enjoy the experience of that certain mangaka. In this particular case, I will dive into one of the most famous works of Obata Takeshi: All You Need Is Kill.
This little unique story uses immortality and time loops to build the setting, which is something very interesting due to the fact that, in some cases, it is very rare to find stories like this.

Before I dive into the concrete story, I'd like to mention that this manga was sold in many languages and it was published very quickly, making it one of the most international mangas volumes ever made. That is something that I find unique and wonderful at the same time because proves that Japanese manga is not only sold within Japan.

All You Need Is Kil (or simply AUNIK) kinda reminds me of American comics because the way the environments are expressed. The character designs and the detail are one of the best things that you will ever read and as some people will say, it is done by the same author that did Death Note, Bakuman and/or more recently Platinum End. But the story has nothing interesting beyond the loops and the immortality, in fact, this story is pretty basic, to begin with. The looping it's the main reason to read it, no spoilers for those who have not read yet but the main protagonist slowly learned how to used and the reader too, along with him. There are many ways to use it and the main protagonist chooses one of them.

As for the main character, he is the definition of a "military bored soldier" and that's basically how things work from there. There are other characters which personally should have appeared more often but that's a personal opinion like the mechanic girl named Shasta Raylle or the cantina girl named Rachel Kisaragi, for example (I personally think that both Rachel and Shasta are one of the most beautiful well-designed characters that Takeshi Obata ever made so far). In response to this, not all characters are equal and that's a shame, unfortunately. However, Keiji (the main protagonist) finds Rita (the main heroine) but we never find much about this characters anyway because this has a small plot with very limited characterization and development and that's the weakest aspect of this manga. The artwork is just very detailed and overall is amazing, as usual of Obata.

I'd recommend this manga for people who like very little stories, Obata works or even to try something new, just don't get your expectations too high because it will go to be not worth it.
Read this manga as something new or eventually buy it, like this you will love it for sure.

Story: 8 | Art: 10 | Character: 9 | Enjoyment: 8
Score: 8

Personal Note: This manga took two months to be complete in Portugal and this review is based on the Portuguese edition.

The manga is now finished, so it's the time to make a review based on full read through and here is what I ended up with:

Story - as far as story and concept goes, I think that's the weakest aspect of this manga..
Concept of the story is pretty much a continued session of 'loops' of the exact same time period happening. Some people who maybe have just started with reading manga may find it innovating, but it really isn't, as such concept was used in numerous manga series already.
Story itself was a bit disappointing too - the story is based on the light novel, but the manga misses a few important details, which ruins the overall experience and may make the manga feel a bit rushed.

Story gets something between 7 and 8, I had much higher expectations.

Art - certainly one of the strongest aspects of the manga. I enjoyed both the style and how detailed everything was. Usually we only get detailed MC's, but in this case almost all the side characters are pretty detailed too.

Art is a strong 9.

Characters - characters sure do feel alive, the MC's personality realy changes a lot due to loop and the progress of that is well described. Side characters also get some personality, but they aren't realy developing, mostly because manga is stuck in 1 day probably.
Relations between character felt a bit rushed though and it felt like relations of side characters to the MC were improving with loops even though they don't know about it. We shouldn't forget that MC is supposed to be a green newbie in eyes of the army and higher ups probably wouldn't ever pay attention to him.

Characters get an 8.

Enjoyment - I personally found it very enjoyable and entangling, I loved the concept of looping and enjoyed the development of MC's personality. The plot also isn't complex at all for such concept, as it usually is, so it should be realy enjoyable for a casual reader.

Enjoyment is a 9

Overall I think the manga was very good (8) - it felt a bit rushed at times, but the art and some twists really kept you entangled enough to enjoy this short read.
It is interesting enough to read through, but don't expect anything complex, I judged it based on the fact it's an 17 chapter manga and for such length the plot was realised pretty well, but I originally hoped they would make it a bit longer, skipping less small details.

It's a good manga, short, interesting, with good characters. I love the theme of dying and coming back and staying in this loop for quite some time while learning to survive creating a better ending. I saw this in Re: zero and in the movie in which this manga was based "Edge of Tomorrow". I liked the ending, seriously, not so much of the reason for it, but it was a good ending. I also think that it could have been bigger, after all it is that kind of story that does not need a continuation (if the problem had in fact been solved). Anyway, it's a great manga to read. 7.75 (I apologize for my spelling mistakes)

(PT-Br) É um bom mangá, curto, interessante, com bons personagens. Eu adoro a temática de morrer e voltar e ficar nesse loop por bastante tempo enquanto aprende a sobreviver a criar um final melhor. Vi isso em Re: zero e no filme em que esse mangá foi baseado "Edge of Tomorrow". Eu gostei do final, sério, não tanto do motivo pra ter acontecido, mas foi o um bom final. Também acho que ele poderia ter sido maior, afinal é aquele tipo de história que não precisa de uma continuação (caso o problema tivesse de fato sido resolvido). Enfim, é um ótimo mangá para ler. 7.75

I bought the two volumes of All You Need is Kill as soon as they were for sale. The moment I heard the ST&RS author and Takeshi Obata were gonna be in charge of the manga adaptation, I knew this was a must buy.

I just wanna clarify that as of this moment, I have not read the original "All You Need Is Kill" novel, so I'm just gonna be talking about the manga and won't make any comparison with the original work.

I gave the story an 7/10. The story itself is pretty good, it hooks you up as soon as you start reading. The script was really well done, and it's not predictable at all. Explanations are very clear and allow you to understand the background of the story better, to the point were you start making your own theories. There's a great combination of action, drama and a bit of romance. I think you can even include a tragedy tag. The main problem I have with the story is the pacing. The first half of the story develops at a relatively slow pace, while the second half goes a lot faster. I would've preferred a normal pace, and maybe the authors would've been able to fit a few more details. Also, I'm sure once you finish reading the series, you're gonna want a sequel. To a certain extent, at the end you feel as if the story was only a prequel to what's really gonna come.

As for the art, there's not much to say. It's Takeshi Obata we're talking about. You can expect some high quality extremely detailed character drawings. The details are so good, that at times you don't even need dialogues to know how the characters are feeling. Action scenes were so well drawn, that they make you feel as if you were part of the battle. There's not a single complain I can make about the art. I gave it a 10/10.

Talking about the characters, the cast is small, which makes it easier to remember all character names. There's two main characters, one male and one female, and both of them are given proper development. You can see how both of them grow as the story moves on. As for the secondary characters, there's no need for them to have any character development. Their job is only to support the main characters and give them guidance or a reason to improve. I gave the characters an 8/10 just because I felt the story would've been more intense if we had known a bit about the past of the male MC.

I gave the enjoyment a 9/10. This should've been a 10/10, but I think there's always a space to improve. I enjoyed this manga so much that I read it completely in a few hours. As I said in the beginning of my review, this story hooks you up with the first few pages and keeps you interested until the end. While you're reading this, you'll feel excited, sad and even confused at moments. If a story is capable of doing this, it must be an enjoyable story.

My final grade is a 9/10. The series is really good and quick to read. It made me want to read the original novel, and I think I'll do it. The same goes for the movie, I'll probably watch it very soon. In conclusion, I totally recommend this series. Seriously, you should read it! Hope this review is helpful!