Reviews

Oct 12, 2014
Mixed Feelings
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.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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