After the monumental success of Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – The Movie: Infinity Castle, there’s little doubt we’re going to see considerably more genre-bending anime hit stateside theaters. Starting the year off strong, Kenichiro Akimoto’s feature debut adapts the seminal light novel All You Need is Kill, imbuing the source material with staggering emotional depth and gorgeous visuals courtesy of Studio 4°C. It’s a must-see for fans of not just the light novel (or subsequent manga adaptation), but genre fans in general. It’s lean, mean, resonant sci-fi anime at its best.
A Familiar Story
If the story sounds familiar, it’s because it is. In an unspecified future, a massive alien plant dubbed Darol makes landfall, spreading its roots across the globe. The first year proves curious yet benign. A team of shelter volunteers regularly visit the crash site to examine the roots and biological function of the extraterrestrial flora in hopes of understanding why it’s arrived on Earth in the first place. On the first anniversary, Darol awakens, so to speak. Its spores birth monstrous alien creatures that quickly lay waste to the entire globe, including introverted volunteer Rita, but not before she gets in one lucky shot at a beast charging toward her.
Subsequently, Rita awakens at the start of her day, convinced the invasion was nothing but a bad dream. But then it happens again, and again, and again… ad infinitum. Audiences are likely most familiar with Doug Liman’s Edge of Tomorrow (subsequently retitled Live. Die. Repeat.), the first filmic adaptation of the source material. Yet, where that live-action blockbuster featured a massive scale (and massive star power), All You Need is Kill opts for a more intimate POV, imbuing lead Rita with a new emotional resonance not seen in previous takes on the material.
The capital-p Plot largely sticks to the basics. Rita dies often, learning new strategies to combat the invaders, all the while endeavoring to find a way to break free from the time loop. She’s later assisted by tech nerd, Kenji, who is similarly trapped in the loop. Their dynamic is strong, though emotionally raw, and for all the stunning cell-shaded animation and action sequences, this is a human story at its core. A traumatizing, deeply affecting one whose pathos transcend the regular, often gruesome, bloodshed.
Rita is an Exceptional Protagonist
Like the source material, and where it primarily dovetails from Edge of Tomorrow, is not just style, but tone. This is an R-rated adaptation that never neuters the brutality of the invading force. Rita’s arc is all the more affecting as she watches friends and comrades violently torn apart loop after loop, aware that she bears the burden of not only the world but also the lives of those closest to her. That is, if she closes the loop too late, it will be for naught if everyone she knows is dead beforehand.
Most successfully, All You Need is Kill isn’t just about navigating a broken world. It’s about wishing for it to have been broken in the first place. Where Rita excels as both an entry point and a lead is her innate, paradoxical reluctance and eagerness to see it all burn. If the world’s on fire, the flames will snuff out her own personal grief. If everyone’s suffering, her trauma might finally settle. It’s heady, mature stuff, and proof that animation, as a genre unto itself, is capable of delivering profoundly meaningful stories in new, exciting ways. Come for the bloodshed. Stay for the meditations on what it means to carry on with a broken heart.
Summary
All You Need is Kill is the year’s first great anime feature. Moving, gruesome, and regularly electric, it’ll blow you away.
Categorized: Reviews