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'All You Need Is Kill' Novelist Is Now Writing a Sequel

In an interview published in the May issue of Shueisha's Miracle Jump magazine on Tuesday, novelist Hiroshi Sakurazaka revealed that he is now working on the sequel to his All You Need Is Kill novel. The science-fiction novel already spawned a manga by artist Takeshi Obata (Hikaru no Go, Death Note, Bakuman.) and writer Ryōsuke Takeuchi (ST&RS) in Shueisha's Young Jump magazine in January. It is also inspiring the upcoming Hollywood movie Edge of Tomorrow with Tom Cruise.

Shueisha will republish the original novel in a new edition with cover and interior art (pictured at right) by Obata on June 19. On the same day, Shueisha will also publish the two volumes of the manga.

Viz Media published Sakurazaka's novel in English to launch its Haikasoru imprint for Japanese science fiction and fantasy in 2009. The book's original cover art was drawn by Yoshitoshi ABe (Serial Experiments Lain, Haibane Renmei). Viz describes the novel's story:

The story is set in the future when aliens called Mimics invade. Keiji Kiriya is just one of many recruits shoved into a suit of battle armor called a Jacket and sent out to kill. But he dies on the battlefield after only a few minutes, only to be reborn each morning to fight and die again and again. On his 158th iteration, he gets a message from a mysterious ally – the female soldier known as the Full Metal Bitch. Is she the key to Keiji's escape or his final death?

Viz will also release a one-volume full-color graphic novel adaptation of the story on May 6. Nick Mamatas (Move Under Ground) adapted the story and Lee Ferguson (Green Arrow, Miranda Mercury) drew the art.

Warner Bros. describes the story of the Hollywood film version, which stars Tom Cruise, Emily Blunt, Charlotte Riley, Kick Gurry, Bill Paxton, Kidus Henok, Tony Way, and Marianne Jean-Baptiste:

The epic action of Edge of Tomorrow unfolds in a near future in which an alien race has hit the Earth in an unrelenting assault, unbeatable by any military unit in the world. Lt. Col. Bill Cage (Cruise) is an officer who has never seen a day of combat when he is unceremoniously dropped into what amounts to a suicide mission. Killed within minutes, Cage now finds himself inexplicably thrown into a time loop—forcing him to live out the same brutal combat over and over, fighting and dying again...and again.

But with each battle, Cage becomes able to engage the adversaries with increasing skill, alongside Special Forces warrior Rita Vrataski (Blunt). And, as Cage and Rita take the fight to the aliens, each repeated encounter gets them one step closer to defeating the enemy.

The film will open in the United States on June 6 after opening in select international theaters on May 30. Haikasoru is reprinting the novel with a new cover featuring the movie poster art (pictured below) on April 29.