We know him best as the artist behind Death Note, but Takeshi Obata has now taken on another project about a young man trying to outwit his adversaries.
There's a supernatural element too. However Keiji Kiriya is not armed with a Death Note. He's got a gun.
There's a supernatural element too. However Keiji Kiriya is not armed with a Death Note. He's got a gun.
| Obata has teamed up with Ryōsuke Takeuchi (storyboards) and Yoshitoshi ABe (character development) in order to recreate Sci-Fi novella All You Need is Kill as a graphic novel. Hiroshi Sakurazaka's 2004 novel focuses upon the tale of a military man trapped in a time loop. Aliens are invading the Earth and Keiji Kiriya was just one soldier sent on a suicide mission to stop them. He was duly killed within seconds, but that was not the end of his story. He awoke just minutes later to find that time had rewound until the day before his fatal mission. He's sent straight back out again, in full knowledge that this will be the end of his life. But once again, his death is followed by resurrection on the eve of his deployment. Each time it occurs, Keiji grows a little wiser and much more cunning in how he meets the alien Mimics. So will he eventually be able to defeat them? There seems to be little choice but to keep on trying. After all, the time loop is not going to stop thrusting him into his Fate. All You Need is Kill was nominated for a Seuin Award (Japan's equivalent of the Nebula Awards) when it was first published. It rose to even greater international prominence in 2010, when Warner Bros optioned it for film adaptation under the title Edge of Tomorrow. Starring Tom Cruise and Emily Blunt, the movie is due for release in June 2014. |
| Takeshi Obata's version of All You Need is Kill began serialization in Shonen Jump magazine in January 2014. He ultimately aims to release the full collection of chapters as a complete graphic novel. However, we might question why that is necessary, when Sakurazaka has himself adapted his short story into this same format. The author enlisted the help of Nick Mamatas (adaptor) and Lee Ferguson (illustrator) to produce his All You Need is Kill graphic novel. It's due for release in May 2014. Once Obata's graphic adaptation hits the markets too, that's bound to spark some confusion amongst fans of the genre. It's effectively two books, telling the same story, using the same illustrative device, published in the same year. But then, with Tom Cruise and a Hollywood block-buster on board to promote the work, there's patently going to be a lot of money in the franchise. Fans will be hungry for more merchandise. Perhaps there's room for both graphic novels after all. |
