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ALL YOU NEED IS KILL 🧑🏼🚀
The animation team at Studio 4°C had a strong presence at this year’s Fantasia International Film Festival with two SOLD OUT North American premieres for both of their anime feature films, which included the adaptation of Hiroshi Sakurazaka’s Japanese light novel, ALL YOU NEED IS KILL.
In this version of ALL YOU NEED IS KILL, first-time director Kenichiro Akimoto changes things up and tells the story through the perspective of Rita Vrataski, who is stuck reliving the same day an alien plant awakens on earth and destroys the entire human race. With no end in sight, Rita reaches her breaking point—that’s until she meets Keiji Kiriya, who is the only other person on earth reliving the same day. The two decide to work together in hopes of finding a solution to save the world, which will put their lives and budding friendship to the ultimate test.
What initially caught my attention was the time travel element to the story, but what sold me on watching this was the fact that ALL YOU NEED IS KILL was the inspiration for one of the most underrated movies of the 2010s, and my personal favourite Tom Cruise movie, Edge of Tomorrow.
I’m not much of a gamer (NBA 2K, FIFA, and that’s it), but when I do mess around with role-playing games, one of the best feelings is when you have that breakthrough moment of realizing how to defeat a character and move onto the next level, and that’s why I enjoyed this so much.
The first half of the film is repetitive for obvious reasons; when you’re dealing with time loop scenarios, it’s to be expected, but as soon as our two lead characters meet, the story takes off and makes the frustration of the repetition feel worth it.
As someone who has been through depression, I felt a lot of the film was coded in what every day feels like when you’re in that state. Life can seem like you’re in a repetitive infinite loop, and breaking that cycle isn’t easy. After learning about both characters’ backstories, the end goal of “saving the world” means nothing when you realize what they’re actually doing is saving each other. When most people see a male/female relationship, they automatically assume it’s romantic, but this allows these two to connect with each other simply by understanding where the other came from and caring for each other on a human level, which was heartwarming to watch.
ALL YOU NEED IS KILL is a vibrant, escalating timescape that will capture the imagination of those patient enough to live through the looping nature of its story.
Enjoy!
7.6/10 🍿 🎥
Runtime: 1hr22mins
Where: The 2025 Fantasia International Film Festival
All You Need is Kill Review (2025) The Richmond Reviewer - August 10th, 2025.
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