If you weren't aware that Edge of Tomorrow -- the new Tom Cruise movie that opened in American cinemas last weekend -- was based on a Japanese illustrated novel (or "light novel"), it'd be pretty understandable. For one thing, the title is different. The 2004 book  by Hiroshi Sakurazaka and illustrator Yoshitoshi ABe was called All You Need Is Kill. For another, the book -- as Japanese science fiction often does -- featured Japanese teenagers in the midst of a gruesome war for Earth's fate, rather than a caucasian actor in his early 50s.

Publishers of the original work, Viz Media is making a big effort to make sure you know the truth. The publisher is releasing a new manga adaptation of the novel for digital download June 17. The new two-volume version comes courtesy of Takeshi Obata, who you may know as the creator of the super-popular Death Note and Bakuman series. The adaptation was serialized earlier this year in Viz's Weekly Shonen Jump anthology. The complete manga will be released across virtually all digital platforms including Viz's app, Kindle, iBooks, GooglePlay, Kobo and Nook, and presumably ComiXology given the recent news of its arrangement with Viz. What's more, the digital edition will be released in North America on the same day as it is in Japan.

Viz is also planning a deluxe print release of this new adaptation of All You Need Is Kill sometime in November. Until then, you can read the digital version over and over again until you get it right. As you'll see from the exclusive 10-page preview below, the plot remains more or less the same, but the feel is pretty different from the movie.

Note: the following pages are to be read right-to-left.

 

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