Ôru Yû Nîdo Izu Kiru
Yasuhiro Maeda
" Still, as I perceived the film, feeling the art design should be overruling everything else, there is a lot of valuable music, just not all as experienced in context and fares better separately. "Written by Joep de Bruijn - Review of the regular release
Ôru Yû Nîdo Izu Kiru (All You Need is Kill, 2025) is a Japanese animated film based on the light novel written by Hiroshi Sakurazaka, earlier made as the live-action American film Edge of Tomorrow. In its execution, Studio 4°C excels in unique, outlandish, creative, and colourful animation, whereas the characters and the traditional dystopian future story are less important. After screenings at festivals in 2025, the theatrical releases emerged in 2026.
The original score is composed by Yasuhiro Maeda, who was taught the trade of composing under the guidance of Jô Hisaishi, often in a supporting musical role. Only in the last few years, Maeda began to compose himself. In performance, it is a collaboration of WUTARU MUKAI and Friend Orchestra, with piano and synthesisers by the composer. Maeda stated he did not write music to tell a story but created sounds to aid the visceral experience, which is an erroneous statement.
As an alien invades Earth, a cleaning crew is assembled to dispose of all its rootings. Rita joins them, suddenly getting caught in a time loop, experiencing the same day again and again, and getting killed by the aliens' flowering henchmen. Maeda underscores the dystopian setting with bleak, atmospheric, and electronic music, while also being supported through live instruments, not only for that feel, but also for the desperation and isolation of Rita, intermingled with small flashbacks of her traumatic past. Small traces of mystery, perhaps prophecy-filled content, are enhanced through some minimal electronic music, later transcribed for live instruments.
As the film and score progress, limited live instruments begin to emerge in scenes as Rita is starting to feel sorrow in being caught in a time loop. As Rita advances in her journey to fight the creatures, there is a collage of her learning curve, failing and failing, as heard in the cue Resolution.It uses the usually noisy and unimpressive electronics, but it is very functional in this assembly.
Full orchestral ingredients depart once Rita discovers there is another person, Keiji, who also experiences the time loops, and the amount of electronics is restricted through the remaining time. The intimate and larger-in-scope orchestral compositions balance between the continued sorrowful melodic content but also a newfound warmth and positive attitude as the two connect emotionally and join forces in destroying the invader.
There is a small series of highlights:
The aforementioned futile attempts to overthrow her enemies were gritty and electronic, but now, as the two characters join forces, the orchestral and melodic music and the full-blown cheerfulness in a looping collage of trying to defeat the flowering enemies is underscored by the exciting, upbeat, whimsical, and well-orchestrated cue Just a little more!
A second highlight features stripped-down low strings with piano in a scene in which the characters are driving towards their final destination, neither talking, in which the cue Together describes their feelings. Most of the other compositions, varying in degree of expression, are fully orchestral and emotionally linked to the characters, though they also vary in how effective they are on film.
Another component worth mentioning is the world-building, with its animations coping extremely well with the mostly electronic music, with no specific cue to emphasize. There is also a series of cues in which the evil entity, dystopian feel, and puzzling progression of the main character are expressed strikingly through various forms of minimal phrases, either through live instruments, electronics, or both simultaneously.
However, an unremarkable example of epic strenght - Two of Us - is used as the characters reach the climactic endgame. It is an almost full orchestral cue, with small hints of minimal lower-key emotion, some supporting choir, traces of electronic support, and several well-performed expressive solo strings. However, it stands in stark contrast to the red-lined, explosive, and creative sensations in the animation design, while also failing to make any musical impression at all.
Yasuhiro Maeda's music is well written and performed, of which some of the subtle, lower-key dramatic moments and dystopian feelings are excellent, while in other areas it is all too much of a streamlined and predictable score. Still, as I perceived the film, feeling the art design should be overruling everything else, there is a lot of valuable music, just not all as experienced in context and fares better separately.
Rating
In context 8 out of 10 (despite a lot)
Separately 9 out of 10
Tracklist
01 introduction 0:58
02 red flash 0:54
03 darol 0:17
04 something is wrong 0:25
05 sudden rampage 1:37
06 doubt 0:49
07 isolate 0:38
08 dread 0:40
09 relentless dread 2:07
10 mother 0:36
11 flashback 0:30
12 tedious repetition 0:42
13 know the future 0:24
14 Blame the Future 0:47
15 resolution 1:24
16 over and over 0:23
17 jacket 0:42
18 improvement 0:50
19 weapon 0:33
20 don't be afraid! 0:28
21 this won't do 1:21
22 Unbroken 0:49
23 battle-axe 0:51
24 found it! 1:06
25 despair 1:13
26 uncertain 0:51
27 tailing 0:46
28 92nd time 3:50
29 experiment 0:58
30 my hero 0:44
31 feelings of closeness 1:59
32 cooperation 1:12
33 just a little more! 2:37
34 disappointment 1:16
35 research institute 1:17
36 quartz spores 1:19
37 together 2:50
38 reconciliation 1:00
39 beautiful world 0:53
40 heart wound 0:48
41 trauma 1:55
42 inside 1:38
43 premonition of doom 1:40
44 two of us 3:12
45 bond 1:55
46 alone 1:17
47 tomorrow 1:28
48 Alias 2:32
Disc length 59:01
(04-08-2026)
The original score is composed by Yasuhiro Maeda, who was taught the trade of composing under the guidance of Jô Hisaishi, often in a supporting musical role. Only in the last few years, Maeda began to compose himself. In performance, it is a collaboration of WUTARU MUKAI and Friend Orchestra, with piano and synthesisers by the composer. Maeda stated he did not write music to tell a story but created sounds to aid the visceral experience, which is an erroneous statement.
As an alien invades Earth, a cleaning crew is assembled to dispose of all its rootings. Rita joins them, suddenly getting caught in a time loop, experiencing the same day again and again, and getting killed by the aliens' flowering henchmen. Maeda underscores the dystopian setting with bleak, atmospheric, and electronic music, while also being supported through live instruments, not only for that feel, but also for the desperation and isolation of Rita, intermingled with small flashbacks of her traumatic past. Small traces of mystery, perhaps prophecy-filled content, are enhanced through some minimal electronic music, later transcribed for live instruments.
As the film and score progress, limited live instruments begin to emerge in scenes as Rita is starting to feel sorrow in being caught in a time loop. As Rita advances in her journey to fight the creatures, there is a collage of her learning curve, failing and failing, as heard in the cue Resolution.It uses the usually noisy and unimpressive electronics, but it is very functional in this assembly.
Full orchestral ingredients depart once Rita discovers there is another person, Keiji, who also experiences the time loops, and the amount of electronics is restricted through the remaining time. The intimate and larger-in-scope orchestral compositions balance between the continued sorrowful melodic content but also a newfound warmth and positive attitude as the two connect emotionally and join forces in destroying the invader.
There is a small series of highlights:
The aforementioned futile attempts to overthrow her enemies were gritty and electronic, but now, as the two characters join forces, the orchestral and melodic music and the full-blown cheerfulness in a looping collage of trying to defeat the flowering enemies is underscored by the exciting, upbeat, whimsical, and well-orchestrated cue Just a little more!
A second highlight features stripped-down low strings with piano in a scene in which the characters are driving towards their final destination, neither talking, in which the cue Together describes their feelings. Most of the other compositions, varying in degree of expression, are fully orchestral and emotionally linked to the characters, though they also vary in how effective they are on film.
Another component worth mentioning is the world-building, with its animations coping extremely well with the mostly electronic music, with no specific cue to emphasize. There is also a series of cues in which the evil entity, dystopian feel, and puzzling progression of the main character are expressed strikingly through various forms of minimal phrases, either through live instruments, electronics, or both simultaneously.
However, an unremarkable example of epic strenght - Two of Us - is used as the characters reach the climactic endgame. It is an almost full orchestral cue, with small hints of minimal lower-key emotion, some supporting choir, traces of electronic support, and several well-performed expressive solo strings. However, it stands in stark contrast to the red-lined, explosive, and creative sensations in the animation design, while also failing to make any musical impression at all.
Yasuhiro Maeda's music is well written and performed, of which some of the subtle, lower-key dramatic moments and dystopian feelings are excellent, while in other areas it is all too much of a streamlined and predictable score. Still, as I perceived the film, feeling the art design should be overruling everything else, there is a lot of valuable music, just not all as experienced in context and fares better separately.
Rating
In context 8 out of 10 (despite a lot)
Separately 9 out of 10
Tracklist
01 introduction 0:58
02 red flash 0:54
03 darol 0:17
04 something is wrong 0:25
05 sudden rampage 1:37
06 doubt 0:49
07 isolate 0:38
08 dread 0:40
09 relentless dread 2:07
10 mother 0:36
11 flashback 0:30
12 tedious repetition 0:42
13 know the future 0:24
14 Blame the Future 0:47
15 resolution 1:24
16 over and over 0:23
17 jacket 0:42
18 improvement 0:50
19 weapon 0:33
20 don't be afraid! 0:28
21 this won't do 1:21
22 Unbroken 0:49
23 battle-axe 0:51
24 found it! 1:06
25 despair 1:13
26 uncertain 0:51
27 tailing 0:46
28 92nd time 3:50
29 experiment 0:58
30 my hero 0:44
31 feelings of closeness 1:59
32 cooperation 1:12
33 just a little more! 2:37
34 disappointment 1:16
35 research institute 1:17
36 quartz spores 1:19
37 together 2:50
38 reconciliation 1:00
39 beautiful world 0:53
40 heart wound 0:48
41 trauma 1:55
42 inside 1:38
43 premonition of doom 1:40
44 two of us 3:12
45 bond 1:55
46 alone 1:17
47 tomorrow 1:28
48 Alias 2:32
Disc length 59:01
(04-08-2026)