You might be surprised to hear that the latest Tom Cruise science-fiction epic, ¡°Edge of Tomorrow,¡± which hit theaters here recently, has a Japanese pedigree. It is based on the short novel ¡°All You Need is Kill¡± by award-winning author Hiroshi Sakurazaka.
First published in Japan 10 years ago and adapted by Ryosuke Takeuchi and Takeshi Obata into a serialized manga earlier this year, it centers on Keiji Kiriya, a soldier battling an invasion of Earth by a powerful race of aliens known as Mimics. Kiriya is quickly slain on the battlefield, only to come back to life and relive the same day in a pattern that repeats over and over. His only hope of escape from this existential loop lies in a stranger he encounters in the war zone ¡ª a peerless female warrior known as the Full Metal Bitch.
The book was translated into English for a 2009 release, and was republished in April as ¡°Edge of Tomorrow¡± to tie in with the film. An English-language graphic novel based on the book, separate from the Japanese manga, was released in May.
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