Is Tom Cruise's Edge of Tomorrow based on a light novel? Everything to know about the original novel by Hiroshi Sakurazaka

Tom Cruise's Sci-Fi film, Edge of Tomorrow, is one of the finest sci-fi blockbusters of the decade. However, this mind-bending movie is actually not an entirely original creation. Instead, it is an adaptation of Hiroshi Sakurazaka and Yoshitoshi Abe's Japanese light novel, All You Need Is Kill.

In the novel All You Need Is Kill, Keiji Kiriya, a soldier, is trapped in a time loop after dying in a conflict with extraterrestrials. This allows Kiriya to continually live the same day and hone his combat abilities.

As this article dive into this sci-fi masterpiece, fans will not only understand the main idea of All You Need Is Kill but also uncover the differences between the book and the movie.

Disclaimer: This article will contain spoilers for Edge of Tomorrow and All You Need Is Kill.

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Everything to know about the novel that Edge of Tomorrow is adapted from

What is All You Need Is Kill about?

Humanity is engaged in a struggle for survival after strange aliens known as "Mimics" invaded Earth. In response, humanity created the United Defence Force as a unified effort to combat this new menace. Soldiers who are committed to eliminating the expanding Mimic threat are sent into battle while wearing specialised exoskeleton fighting suits in an effort to level the playing field with their alien enemies.

Keiji Kiriya, a brand-new recruit, is instantly killed during his first deployment, but much to his surprise, he awakens precisely one day before his unit was placed into a Mimic invasion. He then discovers that he is caught in a time loop that was started by his death.

After a few more loops, he realizes that his unique condition is similar to Rita Vrataski's, a well-known fighter who enjoyed using a combat axe to a gun. He approaches her and her mechanic using his knowledge of the time, and from him, obtains a replica of her powerful axe.

As he replays the day hundreds of times, Keiji starts to use what he has discovered about the phenomena, gradually gaining strength and honing his abilities so that, finally, when he is faced with death once again, he will be prepared to alter his destiny.

On the 160th loop, they continue to destroy the alien's core. Once they are hidden from the allied forces, Rita strikes Keiji to prove her theory that being in the loop changed their bodies. In essence, both of them are similar to the antenna Mimics, meaning one of them has to die to stop the invasion permanently.

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The difference between Edge of Tomorrow and All You Need Is Kill

The core ideas of a time loop and a conflict with alien invaders are the same in both All You Need Is Kill and Edge of Tomorrow, but the settings, character backgrounds, cultural context, and presentation are different. Here are several notable variations:

Major Bill Cage and Private Keiji Kiriya

In the book, Cage is an American who never wanted to fight, whereas Keiji Kiriya is a Japanese soldier defending his nation. While Cage was coerced into the fight, Keiji volunteered to take on the Mimics. Cage and Keiji received training from Rita and Sgt. Farrell, respectively.

Rita Vrataski

Rita Vrataski has a different personality in Edge of Tomorrow than in All You Need Is Kill. In the book, Rita killed more Mimics on her own before learning how to "reset the day" and developing into a well-known war hero known as Valkyrie. Rita from the movie fought her first combat in Verdan as she changed into a human mimic.

Mimics

The novel and the movie include different depictions of the mimics' appearances and class structures. They are portrayed as enormous, bloated frogs with four legs, a tail, and a hard endoskeleton in the book. They are portrayed in Edge of Tomorrow as a hybrid between a mad octopus and a large metal hound.

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