Manga Review: ALL YOU NEED IS KILL

ALL YOU NEED IS KILL 2-in-1 Edition (MANGA)
VIZ MEDIA/Haikasoru – @VIZMedia

STORY: Hiroshi Sakurazaka
STORYBOARD: Ryosuke Takeuchi
ORIGINAL ILLUSTRATIONS: yoshitoshi ABe
ART: Takeshi Obata
TRANSLATION: Tetsuichiro Miyaki
LETTERS: Evan Waldinger
ISBN: 978-1-4215-7601-5; paperback, (November 2014); Rated “T+” for “Older Teen”
430pp, B&W, $14.99 U.S., $16.99 CAN, £9.99 UK

All You Need is Kill is a Japanese science fiction novel written by author Hiroshi Sakurazaka, and first published in 2004.  Bestselling author John Scalzi (Old Man’s War), called All You Need is Kill “science fiction for the adrenaline junkie.”  The novel is also the source material for the 2014 film, Edge of Tomorrow, starring Tom Cruise and Emily Blunt.

Back in July 2009, All You Need is Kill was first published in English by Haikasoru, the science fiction imprint of VIZ Media, the largest distributor and licensor of manga and anime in North America.  VIZ Media also produced an original comic book adaptation of Sakurazaka's novel, All You Need is Kill: Official Graphic Novel Adaptation, created by Nick Mamatas (script adaptation of the novel), Lee Ferguson (artist), Fajar Buana (colors), and Zack Turner (letters).

There is a manga adaptation of All You Need is Kill, produced by artist Takeshi Obata with writer Ryosuke Takeuchi (storyboards) and yoshitoshi Abe (original illustrations).  VIZ Media originally premiered the manga in its Weekly Shonen Jump digital manga anthology.  Under its “Shonen Jump Advanced” imprint, VIZ recently published an omnibus print edition (5.5” x 8.25”and 430 pages) of All You Need is Kill the manga, which is black and white with several color pages.

All You Need is Kill opens sometime after Earth has been invaded by the alien Mimics.  In Japan, the United Defense Force (UDF) was created to fight the Mimics, which are difficult to defeat.  In the 17th Company of the UDF, Keiji Kiriya is a “Jacket soldier,” named because of the armor he and other soldier wear, called a “Jacket.”  One morning, Keiji awakens after a strange dream in which he died in battle.  He spends the rest of the day with a sense of deja vu.

Then, the U.S. Special Forces, which is basically the only military that is successful against the Mimics, arrives.  Keiji sees Rita Vrataski, the leader of the U.S. Special Forces, known as “the Valkyrie,” and also as the “Full Metal Bitch.”  Keiji knows that he has seen her... on the battlefield... before he died.  Keiji has been dying in battle, only to be reborn the next morning, to fight and die again and again.  Is the Full Metal Bitch the key to Keiji escaping the cycle or the catalyst to meeting his final death?

Takeshi Obata is one of my favorite manga creators, so I was excited when VIZ Media gave me a copy of the All You Need is Kill manga for review.  It truly deserves to be called a “graphic novel,” not only because of its length of 430 pages, but also because of the epic scope of its narrative.

All You Need is Kill is rousing military science fiction, and it offers the thrill of a frenetic action movie.  It is also the manga adaptation of a light novel reborn as a genuine shonen battle manga, because this feels less like an transfer of mediums and more like something first born as a manga.

Ultimately, what makes the manga All You Need is Kill successful is the attention to character drama and personal details.  Readers will buy the idea that Keiji and Rita are imperiled because the creators of this manga go to the emotional center and into internal conflicts of the characters.  The world seems at risk because the readers see it through characters in which they can believe, so the risk feels real.

Takeshi Obata deserves to be called “great” because his storytelling is always potent, regardless of genre, and he gives texture and life to drawings on paper.  All you need is talented manga creators who can deliver and you get high-quality science fiction manga like All You Need is Kill.

A

www.VIZ.com
www.shonenjump.com

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux


The text is copyright © 2014 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog for syndication rights and fees.

Graphic Novel Review ALL YOU NEED IS KILL (OGN)

ALL YOU NEED IS KILL GN
VIZ MEDIA/Haikasoru – @VIZMedia; @haikasoru

STORY: Hiroshi Sakurazaka
SCRIPT ADAPTATION: Nick Mamatas
ART: Lee Ferguson
COLORS: Fajar Buana
LETTERS: Zack Turner
EDITOR: Joel Enos
ISBN: 978-1-4215-6081-6; paperback, (May 2014)
96pp, Color, $14.99 U.S., $17.99 CAN

There is a new Tom Cruise movie arriving in theatres in the coming weeks.  This movie is entitled Edge of Tomorrow, and it is based on the novel, All You Need is Kill. Bestselling author John Scalzi (author of Old Man’s War), called All You Need is Kill “science fiction for the adrenaline junkie.” 

First published in 2004, All You Need is Kill is a Japanese science fiction novel written by author Hiroshi Sakurazaka.  Back in July 2009, All You Need is Kill and The Lord of the Sands of Time (by author Issui Ogawa) were the first two novels published by Haikasoru, a science fiction imprint of North American manga publisher, VIZ Media.

In the past few years, VIZ Media has been producing original graphic novels based on various media properties (Hello Kitty, Ben 10 – for example).  Now, its Haikasoru imprint is publishing an original English-language graphic novel of Hiroshi Sakurazaka’s All You Need is Kill.

All You Need is Kill: Official Graphic Novel Adaptation is created by Nick Mamatas (script adaptation of the novel), Lee Ferguson (artist), Fajar Buana (colors), and Zack Turner (letters).  The story focuses on Keiji Kiriya, a Japanese soldier of the 301st division of the United Defense Forces (UDF).  Kiriya is just one of many recruits shoved into a suit of battle armor, which is called a “Jacket,” and then, sent out to kill the alien invaders called “Mimics.”

Keiji dies on the battlefield, only to be reborn each morning to fight and die again and again.  However, he is not only starting to remember the previous iterations of his fight, but he is also learning more about the enemy and how to fight them.  After one particular rebirth, Keiji gets a message from a mysterious ally, Rita Vrataski – the American female soldier known only as the Full Metal Bitch.  And she may have a way to stop the Mimics.

Of course, All You Need is Kill is a fantastic title for a book, for a manga, and even for a movie.  Yes, producers of the Tom Cruise movie, All You Need is Kill is an even better title than Edge of Tomorrow, which is itself a cool title.

What about the quality of this original graphic novel?  It is a fantastic read.  When VIZ Media first sent me a copy for review, I did not expect much from it, after giving the book a cursory glance.  What surprised me the most is that the graphic novel is not like any other comic book on the market and shelves today.  And it is not Groundhog Day meets Starship Troopers.  If I had to compare it to anything I would compare it to Stanley Kubrick’s 1987 film, Full Metal Jacket.

Like Full Metal Jacket, All You Need is Kill the graphic novel tackles the absurdity of the war machine – from training soldiers and equipping them to sending them into battle.  At the same time, writer Nick Mamatas finds space in cutting the original text to present Keiji’s training method for survival as something that is plausible.  Basically Mamatas has adapted the novel into a graphic novel that does not seem like a collection of plot points and a narrative stream of the original novel’s best action scenes.  It is a complete comic book story with a good plot and well-developed characters and settings.

Artist Lee Ferguson draws the story in a spare style that establishes mood, captures the sense of desperation, highlights the absurdities, and clearly tells the story.  Fajar Buana’s colors depict the bloody horror of war, and some of the coloring also captures that otherworldly sense which classic science fiction has.

After enjoying this truly fine science fiction original graphic novel, I really want to read the original prose novel.  Readers looking for imaginative alien invasion science fiction will realize All You Need is Kill.

A

www.haikasoru.com

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux


The text is copyright © 2014 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog for syndication rights and fees.