#Hiroshi Sakurazaka

[nevinslibrary]

Weird & Wonderful Wednesday

I don’t think that I realised that Edge of Tomorrow (the movie) was based on a book. This is that book.

Alien Mimics invade Earth, and Keiji is recruited to wear a ‘Jacket’ (the name for the armour that they’re wearing) and kill these mimics. Keiji dies on the battlefield. Except, he doesn’t, because every morning he is reborn to fight and die again and again and again. Until he gets a message from someone known as the Full Metal Bitch, will she be a way out of the cycle for Keiji.

I had seen the movie, but, honestly, (wait for it… and keep in mind I am a librarian), the book was better. I didn’t really realise when it was written, and so, while I was reading it sorta felt a lot like a lot of the Sci Fi that I read in my more youthful times. And, come to find out, it was actually written in 2004, more youthful times. Such a great read.

You may like this book If you Liked: Bokurano: Ours by Mohiro Kito, Mobile Suit Gundam by Yoshikazu Yasuhiko, or Go! Go! Loser Ranger! Vol. 10 by Negi Haruba

All You Need is Kill by Hiroshi Sakurazaka

[zahirevliyasi]

1. Öldür Yeter (All You Need Is Kill, 2 cilt) Bilim kurgu ve uzaylı kümelerini ayrı ayrı sevenlerin çok seveceği bir kesişim kümesi Öldür Yeter. İki ciltten oluştuğu için keşke grafik roman olarak tasarlanmış olsaydı diye iç geçirdim çünkü hakîkaten buna lâyık. Evvelâ ortada bir bulaşıcı ölememe ya da tekrar günbaşına dönme durumu var ki… 

Yazıyı okumak için tıklayınız

[choujinx]

ALL YOU NEED IS KILL (2014) by sakurazaka hiroshi & obata takeshi

[cvrsndstff]

All You Need is Kill Volume 2 (Story by Hiroshi Sakurazaka, Art by Takeshi Obata)

[ellevandersneed]

Edge of Tomorrow: A Film Review

I've gotten a few positive comments on a casual review I wrote for the 2014 Doug Liman x Tom Cruise vehicle: EDGE OF TOMORROW and figured it'd be fun to share my thoughts here! Review: vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv

Phenomenal and deeply Randian - a compelling visual treatise on why certain individuals - say, Übermensch - are being held back by the limiting nature of hierarchy and beaurocracy when they could be achieving greatness through physical conditioning via extreme circumstance. This is the framework of all great classic American™ actioners of the era of the mainstreaming of Objectivist infused American Libertarianism (1960's - now) that posit a hero who must defy his superiors (be they material: "boss" or ideal: "rule of law"). Edge of Tomorrow extends this framework to time itself, in which the Übermensch heroes of Thomas Cruise Mapother IV and Emily Blunt are both existent outside of the ideological constraint of "history" and are thus able to dominate and change it. 

It is somewhat interesting, the power fantasy of failure into greatness, with the meta understanding that the material is illusion beyond its existence as a challenge; that is to say, the power fantasy of always being able to "try again." This fantasy has it's appeal as can be seen extensively in, essentially most if not all, video games which are only differentiated from one another by the contents within which are designed for the player(s) to overcome. This is fundamental to any videogame where you can die or get a game over screen or are sent back to the beginning or moments before your fatal error is made. To reiterate: the fantasy of being able to always try again is a popular one, infused with a lot of familiar media. I mentioned Objectivist infused American Libertarianism specifically because the ideology of Edge of Tomorrow, when Tom Cruise reaches the zenith of his experience and is faced, ultimately, with a choice, he chooses (as if this could ever be a spoiler for a Tom Cruise action vehicle) humanity over himself. He understands that his happiness lies with the happiness of humankind, and rejects one of the most selfish, hateful aspects of that antagonistic, thoughtless ideology of Objectivism. This veers the film in a new direction, but this new evolution of philosophy is ambiguous. What is humanity that we must sacrifice ourselves for? Is this a fascistic moral or an empathetic one? It hard to answer. Should one give her life to save the lives of many? The ideologically militant often agree with this idea, to the extent that it is the often framed as the hallmark sign of one who has become "militant" in belief. What saves Edge of Tomorrow from having to answer this question is it's own medium: entertainment. Or this is what muddies the waters further. I will step back from this debate for the moment.

So, one of the main changes from the light novel ("All You Need Is Kill" - Hiroshi Sakurazaka) is that Cruise's protagonist is no longer a fresh recruit but the face of the propaganda arm of the international "earth" military coalition* The only way he is able to get as far as he does in the narrative is through his skills as a negotiator and public speaker. He is held back by three things: his own flaws in personality, his physical prowess, and the overwhelming, amorphous might of fascistic, militarized government. As time passes, and as he dies, he is able to convince people more and more of his preferred outcome. He does not improve at speech craft but instead changes as a person, and utilizes his tools of speech craft to better communicate. He finds that people submit to strong authority, not uniform and ideal of authority, but this Übermensch behavior of "taking charge, properly utilizing violence, and applying a firm, paternalistic guidance (utilized by Cruise in the later Mission Impossible titles) to get what you want." They do not respect Tom Cruise the Weasel but Tom Cruise the Commandant, the "Great Hero" and fall in line. Cruise can only utilize his powers of speech as well as he does because of his innate capacity for it and thus the writers adapting the story for english audiences have changed Cruise's occupation from fresh recruit, to chief propagandist. The system is corrupt (as I will discuss shortly) but the individuals in positions of power have achieved their positions fairly and on merit. The myth of the meritocratic nature of fascist governments is one I personally recognize as being believed by American Libertarian individuals who find heroes in their own military or heroic figures in the old armies of the terror regimes of the pre-neoliberalism era (those brave designers of German Tanks, Nazi 'Super-Weapons... Japanese Zeroes... Gee, those Nazis sure were evil but doggone it they had fashion! I love Albert Speer's architecture! I pledge allegiance to Wernher Von Braun and his darling Apollo Saturn V rockets!). The "indomitable human spirit" which is itself defined by its capacity for productive contribution, is spiritually too powerful to be hindered by the confines of beaurocracy and "ethics" and "ideological commitment." Again it must be stressed that although all humans possess the "indomitable spirit" only the Übermensch may be allowed to tap into it during times of extreme crisis, so as to guide the rest of humanity and allow us feeble mortals to achieve our own personal, lesser happiness. Why else then would Emily Blunts character be the greatest fighter in the earth military? Even with its flaws, the best fighter is still the best fighter and, as the movie itself says at the beginning - Imagine an army of Rita Vrataski's - Imagine a world where everyone is the best... it's a shame, the movie says, that only a select few people actually are. Why else would Tom Cruise be relegated from an everyman role into a position of power and prestige? Why individualize him beyond his evolving response to the extreme circumstances he is put under? Again this is open ended. Maybe he is the coward propagandist because he is a special individual set apart from the rest OR he is someone we are trained not to like; a faker, a selfish coward, a.... valor thief? Hm.... I'd say it's a mixture of both. Either way we are meant to dislike him, only to find his "true" spirit when presented and molded by extreme circumstance. "Hard times create strong men", etc...

Let's discuss the state of Earth in Edge of Tomorrow. The aliens have invaded several times and humanity has lost... Germany? Uh oh. In response, the governments of Earth have formed the United Defense Force. The UDF employs a branch dedicated entirely to media appearance - the army itself has a propaganda machine. Tom Cruise is arrested (probably for good reason) but is not given a fair trial and is, essentially, lined up for execution. His execution will come with his deployment as a part of the first wave of troops against the alien invasion. The army leadership knows it is sending in its first wave to die, or at least knows that the ground troops are expendable and thus dehumanize their own citizens. Commanding officers are allowed to torment their respective charges and can refuse to teach privates crucial skills for survival as punishment. The CO that Cruise tries to reason with says he is not American but is "from Kentucky," thus referring, or becoming relatable to, the American Libertarian "states rights" demographic. In any case, this both endears us to the CO and alienates him further from Cruise - which elicits both endearment and anxiety in the audience. The advanced technology used by the military is both meant to impress (see: film poster) and reveal the failure of fascist beaurocracy: the guns jam, design flaws make the suits somewhat dangerous, the main scientist character is himself an outcast because his superiors didn't understand his "radical technological theories," etc. Cruise ultimately always abandons the exosuit. Rita Vrataski is never believed when she was a part of the loop and thus the "greatest fighter against the aliens" is relegated to the front lines and marketing material. It is no wonder that Cruise and Blunt have to reject this corrupt system and "do things their own way."

The film tries to tie itself to Starship Troopers by opening on marketing material meant to hype up the war effort: the ads and news reports themselves feel like something out of Metal Gear solid and give the impression that we will be watching a fun, "popcorn," satire. It's hard for me not to see this as the dumb guy's interpretation of Verhoeven's "Troopers" but with a such a clearheaded interpretative vision (aside from what I feel are a couple of missteps) that it becomes an articulate dumb guys idea of Starship Troopers' something more in line with the Heinlein original than Verhoeven and Neumeier's adaptation. The articulation, the "clearheaded-ness" that I talk about helps create a refreshing picture. It is, in a weird way, nice to see something with such a recognizable language that seems to understand what it is preaching without "overtly" preaching it and thus remaining "entertainment." Edge of Tomorrow is the "preferred" dumb actioner, superior to other narratives within the same vein critically. It is looked back on fondly. "Those so and so movies are so old hat... but I loved Edge of Tomorrow! It's better than Cruises other action junk lately! (Jack Reacher, Oblivion, The Mummy... Knight and Day????)" It makes a compelling argument for self-sacrifice and discipline and individuality. It is good propaganda, entertaining even, and I wonder if that is what people are drawn to in the USAmerican canon of Action Masterpieces. A lot of fun... but watch out! Its ideology is actually kinda dogshit! I think Hayao Miyazaki would like this movie in a bad way. 👍👍

*(which is itself headed by one of the 5-6 Irishmen that you've heard of in the acting world that you know is Irish, Brendan Gleeson.... I can presume his character lore is that he was a part of the Northern Ireland occupation force before being promoted to head a military operation on foreign (non-British) soil or else the British ex-Empire has totally and utterly collapsed in the face of the slow alien invasion because there is no way they'd let an ol' Irish fella be in charge of an operation this big unless he got trained on shooting rubber bullets at his neighbors.)

[allyouneediskilly]

All You Need Is Kill by Takeshi Obata, Hiroshi Sakurazaka

Chapter 3 - loop

[rickmoya]

the books I read in 2023

Welp, time to finally face this post and submit it. I'm kind of embarrassed because I am so bad at reading anymore. No explanation, no excuses. I used to read twice this many books as a matter of course, and now I ... like, don't. My TBR barely budged ... I cleared some stuff out thanks to summer camp, but then I got new stuff to fill it back up.

I don't know. Maybe one day I'll start reading again. Not today, though, probably. This year's list has two books on it so far, both of which I'm maybe a quarter into. Ugh.

Wired Style, Constance Hale & Jessie Scanlon

Once Upon Atari, Howard Scott Warshaw

Dragonwatch: Master of the Phantom Isle, Brandon Mull

The Illustrated Al, ed. Josh Bernstein

Fucking Apostrophes, Simon Griffin

Jazz in the Bittersweet Blues of Life, Wynton Marsalis and Carl Vigeland

The Kitchen Detective, Christopher Kimball

Decoding Boys, Cara Natterson

The Maxx (1-35, complete), Sam Kieth (1)

Bury My Heart at Chuck E. Cheese’s, Tiffany Midge

Barely Functional Adult, Meichi Ng

What If? 2, Randall Munroe

8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter, W. Bruce Cameron (2)

Over Sea, Under Stone, Susan Cooper

This Mournable Body, Tsitsi Dangarembga

The Goldfinch, Donna Tartt

The Rapture of the Nerds, Cory Doctorow and Charles Stross

The New Hacker’s Dictionary, ed. Eric S. Raymond (3)

All You Need is Kill, Hiroshi Sakurazaka

Wind/Pinball, Haruki Murakami

Disappearing Earth, Julia Phillips

Where Nobody Knows Your Name, John Feinstein

We Should Hang Out Sometime, Josh Sundquist

Watchmen, Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons

The Philosophy of Modern Song, Bob Dylan

Guardians of the Galaxy: The Complete Collection, Dan Abnett & Andy Lanning, et al.

The Dark is Rising, Susan Cooper (4)

Banana Ball, Jesse Cole

A Love Supreme: The Story of John Coltrane’s Signature Album, Ashley Kahn

Free Lunch, Rex Ogle (5)

Greenwitch, Susan Cooper (6)

The Shepherd, the Angel, and Walter the Christmas Miracle Dog, Dave Barry

italics: read it before bold: read it to my kid in bed struck: unfinished

I’d read the first ten or so issues of this before, out of interest because I watched the animated series on MTV. This is the first time all the way through and I didn’t realize it was so dark and triggering.

I read this one when mine was a toddler, and remembered it being pretty patriarchal and victorian. Thought maybe it would hit different now that she’s actually teenaged, and ... like, it did! it’s even worse! Absolutely zero of this shit fits a kid who is not 100% straight and searching. I got through four essays and took it back to the library.

I got up through the Bs and then I LOST MY COPY.

The more I read of this, the more I realized I maybe only read the first couple chapters. Still keeping the italics (making up for claiming I never previously read The Maxx).

I subbed a middle school reading class where this was the text. Ended up reading the whole thing across the day.

This could be the last new book I ever read to my own children. We generally don't read to sleep during holiday breaks, instead allowing them to fall asleep in front of a TV. But when school restarted, my youngest (officially a teenager) didn't want me to read to him at bedtime anymore. The end of an era. I may have cried a little bit. I expect the Dave Barry on Christmas Eve tradition to continue at least another year (my oldest likes it and specifically requested it again), but maybe no more new ones.

[randomtimes-com]

December 24# : National Eggnog Day

“The armored infantry was Santa Claus, the battle was our Christmas. What else for the elves to do on Christmas Eve but to let their hair down and drink a little eggnog.” Hiroshi Sakurazaka Gather round the fire and sip on a creamy, frothy festive classic, seasoned with cinnamon or mixed with alcohol for an extra punch! We all know eggnog, that famous holiday drink sold in stores only during the…

[wr1t3w1tm3]

Level 1

Fandoms that occur on Earth, in a real location or a fictional, named and pinpointed location. Includes all fandoms set in the past and all elements up to the present. As time progresses, future elements will be added as they appear in the canon timeline. Elements that do not directly involve Earth will not merge with the base universe until Level 2 or 3.

Canons that run parallel or are from other timelines within a fandom are rectified either with separate exclusion zones or with a hybrid caricature/doppelgänger. This is especially rare.

Examples:

Marvel (And all affiliated media)

DC (And all affiliated media)

Chronicles of Narnia (Lewis; Earth related portions only; And all affiliated media)

Harry Potter (Rowling; And all affiliated media)

Top Gun and Top Gun Maverick

Edge of Tomorrow (Live, Die, Repeat - 2014)

All You Need is Kill (Hiroshi Sakurazaka)

The Outsiders (Hinton)

Percy Jackson (Riordan; And all affiliated media)

Hocus Pocus and Hocus Pocus 2

Hocus Pocus and the All New Sequel (Jantha)

War of the Worlds (2005)

The War of the Worlds (Wells)

That Was Then, This is Now (Hinton)

The Outsiders (1983)

That Was Then, This is Now (1985)

Gravity Falls

Supernatural (And all affiliated media)

Magisterium

Michael Vey

Smallville (Earth related portions only)

Dukes of Hazzard

Indianna Jones

Jungle Cruise

Ready Player One (When applicable)

The Crucible (Miller)

The Crucible (1996)

Scarlet Letter (Hawthorne)

Princess and the Frog

The Lion King (1994; And all other affiliated media)

Ratatouille

Hamilton (Miranda)

In the Heights (Miranda)

In the Heights (2021)

Power Rangers (1993- present; Earth related portions only; all media)

Super Sentai (1975- present; Earth related portions only; all media)

Hamlet (Shakespeare)

Romeo and Juliet (Shakespeare)

MacBeth (Shakespeare)

Warm Bodies* (2013)

Walking Dead* (All media)

Twilight (And all affiliated media)

Five Nights at Freddy's (And all affiliated media)

High School Musical (And all affiliated media)

Stargate (Earth portions only; And all affiliated media)

Peter Pan (London portions only; And all affiliated media)

Hook (London/US portions only; And all affiliated media)

Girl vs Monster

Tombstone (1993)

Gallipoli

Night at the Museum (And all affiliated media)

Mission Impossible (1996)

Mission Impossible (1966)

Etc.

Note - any fandoms marked with an * are subject to what is known as the "Blanket Effect". Due to such a wide area of effect by a large number of similar universes, their "Blanket Rules" canceled each other out and while minor aspects from these universes still exist, most if not all of them impacted with each other during the initial Merge, causing an implosion over the Atlantic Ocean loud enough to break the sound barrier twice around the world.

[secondaryartifacts]

Edge of Tomorrow (also known as Live Die Repeat: Edge of Tomorrow) is a 2014 American science fiction action film starring Tom Cruise and Emily Blunt with Bill Paxton and Brendan Gleeson in supporting roles. Directed by Doug Liman with a screenplay written by Christopher McQuarrie and the writing team of Jez and John-Henry Butterworth, its story is adapted from the 2004 Japanese light novel All You Need Is Kill by Hiroshi Sakurazaka. The film takes place in a future where most of Europe is occupied by an alien race. Major William Cage (Cruise), a public relations officer with limited combat experience, is forced by his superiors to join a landing operation against the aliens, only to find himself experiencing a time loop as he tries to find a way to defeat the invaders.

[duinlam]

“They say people who die in dreams are supposed to live forever.”

All You Need Is Kill.

- Hiroshi Sakurazaka -

Edge of Tomorrow (2014).

Directed by Doug Liman.

Tom Cruise

[litcityblues]

'Edge of Tomorrow' --A Review

I have heard great things about this movie for a long time and I think I feel safe to say that it's generally thought out of as one of Tom Cruise's best movies full stop and I might be inclined to agree with that assessment. It's also so refreshing to see a science fiction movie that while it's based a Japanese light novel All You Need Is Kill by Hiroshi Sakurazaka, it's not based on a video game or some other already existing franchise that a studio is milking every last drop of value out of. As a result (even though I am woefully ignorant about manga, light novels and anime in general, so it could have quite the franchise going in Japan), this feels right off the bat, extremely fresh and original.

In 2015, aliens called 'Mimics' arrive via asteroid in central Europe and quickly overrun most of the continent. The world quickly forges a global military alliance to fight the alien incursion- the United Defense Force (UDF) and finally gets a victory at Verdun five years later in 2020 thanks to newly developed mech-suits.

The movie opens with the UDF planning a massive invasion of France and General Brigham (Brenden Gleeson) orders Press Affairs Officer Major William Cage (Tom Cruise) to go the front to cover it. Cage has no combat experience whatsoever and has no intention of going anywhere near actual combat and tries clumsily to blackmail the General and blame him if the invasion fails. For his troubles, Brigham has Cage arrested, demoted and shipped off to the front where he's labelled a deserter and assigned to Master Sergeant Farell (Bill Paxton) and the misfits of J-Squad who all hate and belittle him.

On the morning of the invasion, it seems the Mimics knew they were coming and J-Squad is quickly ambushed and cut to pieces-- Cage uses a mine to kill a large blue one, but is wounded by the explosion and covered in the aliens blood and he then dies.

But, he wakes up back on the morning of the invasion and tries to warn J-Squad about what's coming, but no one believes him. Loop after loop happens and gradually, Cage becomes better at combat and he spots and tries to save the hero of Verdun, Sergeant Rita Vrataski (Emily Blunt) she realizes that he can loop time and orders him to find her when he wakes up.

Together the two of them figure out what needs to be done: the blood is what causes the ability to loop time, but the Mimics are being controlled by an Omega that's hidden somewhere and if they can destroy that, they can destroy the Mimics once and for all. After many, many time loops and deaths and resets, they locate the Omega- but not before Cage is stripped of his ability to reset time and the last chance attempt at once final reset is for the highest of stakes.

Overall: Who doesn't love a good mech suit? Honestly, this might be the best use of mech suits since Sigourney Weaver did her "get your hands of her you bitch" thing way back in Aliens-- (you can't really call them giant mechas like in Pacific Rim, but my familiarity with the ins and outs of Kaiju, mecha, etc. is limited). Love the alien invasion aspect of this movie. The combat scene are excellent and made even more excellent by the mecha suits everyone uses.

I like Star Trek, so I'm a bit dubious about time loops as a concept, because Trek can overuse them sometimes, but in this case, it works- and I think what makes it work so well is that they die and that's what causes the reset. In that, there's a parallel to the way video games works.

I love that this is a fairly simple concept: they keep repeating time until they can figure out how to kill the Omega and end the war. They get bad ass at mecha-suit combat and become really really good at killing aliens. The filmmakers don't even try to get cute with the alien invasion-- why reinvent the wheel when humanity has launched massive invasions of Europe before and you can draw on that imagery real easy (because there are some very obvious parallels to D-Day).

The cast is excellent. Bill Paxton is awesome in just about anything he does, but I like that Tom Cruise is kind of a little weasel at first- trying to get out of combat duty by blackmailing the General means his character is kind of running against type, which I sort of dug. Emily Blunt is excellent and could definitely pull off more action/sci-fi movies if she wanted too.

Best part of all about this movie: I don't think there was an obvious set-up for a sequel, which is so nice and refreshing. This (as of right now) appears to be a 'one and done' movie, which I love. Not everything needs a sequel, after all and I love that instead of laying down the foundation for a franchise, they focused on making the best movie possible instead, because they succeeded. My Grade: **** out of ****

[geekynerfherder]

'All You Need Is Kill' by Pablo Olivera.

36" x 12" giclee print, in a numbered Regular edition of 150 for $50, a numbered Variant Version edition of 75 for $60, a numbered Black & White Variant edition of 50 for $60, and a numbered Foil Variant edition of 100 for $70.

On sale Thursday June 10 at 12pm ET through Bottleneck Gallery.

[choujinx]

ALL YOU NEED IS KILL (2014) by sakurazaka hiroshi & obata takeshi

[bookwormlily]

Edge of Tomorrow (2014)

[allyouneediskilly]

All You Need Is Kill by Sakurazaka Hiroshi, Takeuchi Ryousuke and Obata Takeshi

Chapter 4 - Battleaxe