All You Need Is Kill

Went and saw the movie today... Pretty freaking good.

That ending though lol...

Yeah, it's a pretty big plot hole. Either Rita is part of the same network Kiriya is in, thus justifying the ending, or she isn't, thus justifying why she isn't remembering the loops; these are mutually exclusive states that the author fails to explain.

Its probably because each one of the server mimics creates its own loop, so because Keiji kills that particular server the first time, he is in the loop. In addition, Rita has been in more than one loop, thus there was indeed enough time for her to become an antennae, but only challenges Keiji to test his resolve because she would have to die anyway.

Wouldn't it haved solved everything, if one of them goes really far away?

Wow that ending was so sudden, did they axe the serious for no popularity or something o.o? It was a really good series though, solid story and awesome art style, the ending seemed rushed due to some holes in the plot like humans being servers :T but it was well done even rushed

The series was an adaptation from a light novel, and that's how it ended in the novel, so nope, it didn't get axed as far as I know.

Wow that ending was so sudden, did they axe the serious for no popularity or something o.o? It was a really good series though, solid story and awesome art style, the ending seemed rushed due to some holes in the plot like humans being servers :T but it was well done even rushed

also regarding all the "plotholes", I believe it's simply "network auto-resets if there are more than 1 antenna at the end if the server/antenna does not cancel the auto-reset" and "the antenna that sends the auto-reset retains all memory before the reset"

That doesn't resolve the plot hole at all.

The problem is Rita is either part of the network or she isn't; if she is then your auto-reset idea would be applicable, but the story repeatedly reinforces the fact that she isn't. Whenever Kiriya's loop resets, all of the Mimics on his network reset with him as evident by the fact that they keep changing strategies in subsequent loops to target him, however Rita does not experience the reset like Kiriya and the Mimics do, thus she isn't part of their network.

Yet in the end there's this sudden twist that Rita is part of the network, which forces them to duel to the death, but nothing explains why there is this sudden contradiction with the established story up until that point. There isn't even any foreshadowing, like Rita suddenly remembering a loop, or fragments of a loop, to suggest that she's been brought into the network. It's just:

"This is your loop, only you can break out of it."

"This is our loop, one of us has to die."

Volume 1 cover (HQ):

Spoiler

Volume 2 cover (HQ):

Spoiler

Yeah, it's a pretty big plot hole. Either Rita is part of the same network Kiriya is in, thus justifying the ending, or she isn't, thus justifying why she isn't remembering the loops; these are mutually exclusive states that the author fails to explain.

the author should revive rita using black magic ! i demand it

I'm not crying.  It's just that Gallagher was here a moment ago smashing watermelons.  I had to wash my face with something.

awesome triple release to the end, ty MTO. and this is why this LN/manga is awesome.

it's bittersweet, but awesome.

also regarding all the "plotholes", I believe it's simply "network auto-resets if there are more than 1 antenna at the end if the server/antenna does not cancel the auto-reset" and "the antenna that sends the auto-reset retains all memory before the reset"

And that sums it up on why " ALL THEY NEED IS KILL"

 

ok, i guess its time for me to die, too.

 

that what happened when you play persona 3 24h

And that sums it up on why " ALL THEY NEED IS KILL"

ok, i guess its time for me to die, too.

I find it hard to believe considering they had only met the night before, and just cuz 'there was coffee' doesn't mean anything because the author had made that one of her quirks. I understand why Keiji would have romantic feelings (has gone through multiple loops with her), but Rita 'still met Keijii only that day'. 

 

Also, I can't agree with your simple explanation with the loop because there's only antennaes, servers, and backups for this network. If there were clients, then the clients are the past selves that receive the information from the future. I would say she became a separate server, but that wouldn't make sense since it was explained that both of them were antennaes (the proof being their migranes, so their brains are probably working on overtime from doing other activities related to the alien network).

 

The author has Rita assert in chapter 16 that the server can still send out a tachyeon signal because their brains have adapted to become mimic antennaes. The only thing I can see from this is that Rita's brain is fully adapted (she DOES have more loops than Keiji), so is used as an adequate replacement for a mimic backup.

 

I don't get that part because (oh no) wikipedia states that she has no connection to the server/network. It doesn't make sense then because the server shouldn't be able to use her to send signals back to reset the loop - meaning that Keiji is the problem antennae.

 

The novel and manga though clearly have Keiji win, and ending the loop, so Keiji is probably still an inadequate replacement for a mimic backup. Then in this case, assuming that wikipedia is wrong and Rita is a mimic backup replacement (thus she has a connection to the current network), then the question is 'why isn't Rita getting the memories from previous loops'. It's back to square one, that Rita isn't part of the network at all, but that's not the case since her death did end everything for that battle.

 

The only concrete thing would be if the author bothered to make things clearer on what he meant by all this.

Yeah, it's a pretty big plot hole. Either Rita is part of the same network Kiriya is in, thus justifying the ending, or she isn't, thus justifying why she isn't remembering the loops; these are mutually exclusive states that the author fails to explain.

she no longer server in his loop but client and if it make you happy they really did it in the novel

I find it hard to believe considering they had only met the night before, and just cuz 'there was coffee' doesn't mean anything because the author had made that one of her quirks. I understand why Keiji would have romantic feelings (has gone through multiple loops with her), but Rita 'still met Keijii only that day'. 

Also, I can't agree with your simple explanation with the loop because there's only antennaes, servers, and backups for this network. If there were clients, then the clients are the past selves that receive the information from the future. I would say she became a separate server, but that wouldn't make sense since it was explained that both of them were antennaes (the proof being their migranes, so their brains are probably working on overtime from doing other activities related to the alien network).

The author has Rita assert in chapter 16 that the server can still send out a tachyeon signal because their brains have adapted to become mimic antennaes. The only thing I can see from this is that Rita's brain is fully adapted (she DOES have more loops than Keiji), so is used as an adequate replacement for a mimic backup.

I don't get that part because (oh no) wikipedia states that she has no connection to the server/network. It doesn't make sense then because the server shouldn't be able to use her to send signals back to reset the loop - meaning that Keiji is the problem antennae.

The novel and manga though clearly have Keiji win, and ending the loop, so Keiji is probably still an inadequate replacement for a mimic backup. Then in this case, assuming that wikipedia is wrong and Rita is a mimic backup replacement (thus she has a connection to the current network), then the question is 'why isn't Rita getting the memories from previous loops'. It's back to square one, that Rita isn't part of the network at all, but that's not the case since her death did end everything for that battle.

The only concrete thing would be if the author bothered to make things clearer on what he meant by all this.

awww. . too bad, I was hoping for more of this. so they are like dipole antenna huh.,

second season maybe?

The original light novel was a one-shot that was published almost a decade ago. If a sequel is ever made, it'll be completely and utterly different (and thats assuming the author even agrees to make a sequel)

Wth? Tht's it? I am expecting a development similar to Gantz or at least Psyren, meh......

Thanks for the scans~

Now I'll just crawl inside my bed and mope.

Gah.. the ending &^%$@#

Thank you scanlators ♥

Spoiler

Rita is an antenna. Kiriya is a BACKUP antenna. So Rita's death doesn't trigger a loop. When Kiriya dies, or if he decides to run another loop, the loop kicks in.

Spoiler

I haven't read the LN, but somewhere in the comments someone stated that Rita is the only one that became a server. That is why regardless of what Keji does, he always loops (whether he dies or doesn't, kills the server or not). That is why Rita is destined to die. Not sure what's true though (the commentator or the manga), but the former would make more sense. I believe the sequence goes like this:

 

1. Rita fights, kills the server incorrectly, starts to loop

2. Rita kills server correctly, breaks out of her loop

3. Rita becomes a server herself probably because she looped so damn much (way more than Keji?) and arrives in Japan

4. Keji kills server incorrectly, enters his own loop. He's always stuck too because Rita is a server now 

5. Keji hasn't become a server yet, but will if he continues looping 

6. Keji kills Rita and breaks his loop. Still not a server and continues life as is

7. If Rita killed Keji, she proceeds as normal since she is no longer in a loop

After sleeping on it, I could only rationalize most of the story up until the end:

Basically each Mimic "battalion" is a network in itself, the server acts as a commander while the backups have a dual purpose of restarting the loop in case the server dies and triggering the server to restart a loop when one of them dies; the idea being that the commanding server sends backups out as "feelers" to gauge enemy strength and effectiveness of strategies, if a backup dies that represents an unacceptable loss to fighting strength and the server resets and tries something new (good ol' save-scumming).

So when Rita and Kiriya killed their first server, they were accidentally joined to the local Mimic network as backups, hence why the loop always restarts upon their deaths as well (server would blindly hit reload and update all backups, Mimic or otherwise); if they were their own, self-contained networks they would have never been able to loop in the first place because, as demonstrated by the Mimics, they need someone else on the network (another backup or server) to initiate the loop for them if they died (if simply dying triggered the loop then Mimics wouldn't need backups).

So how did Rita break out of her first loop despite killing her own network's server? Well, I can only think of two possibilities:

1) She became the de facto server for her own private network, which gives her the ability to reset loops, but without backups she cannot reset if she dies.

2) She isn't a "proper" backup in that she can receive information from the network, but - by dint of being human - can't fart tachyon particles on demand and thus couldn't reset the loop by herself; the only reason she can keep looping is because she's connecting to new Mimic networks wherever she goes and tricking the servers to reset the loop for her. This also means if she dies while not connected to a network (or connected to a network that has its reset ability compromised), she won't experience a loop.

second season maybe?

The thing is... We never learned anything about those people in space who were trying to terraform earth in the first place... THE WHOLE GODDAMN REASON WHY THIS SHIT STARTED IN THE FIRST PLACE.

I am confused about the ending.  If both Keiji and Rita have become antennas for the signal then isn't the only way to break the time loop is to kill all of the antennas (bugs, Keiji and Rita since they are antennas) and then kill the server before it realizes that the antennas have been wiped out. Why couldn't the server use Keiji as an antenna when it was being killed by Keiji?  Did I miss a chapter where we are told that Keiji and Rita are half antennas and together they count as a complete antenna.

IIRC, only Rita should be an antenna because she had a "previous relation" (in QM speak: entanglement probably?) to the servers, but somebody else killed the server before her. it might even be that she would not have looped if at any point she had decided to end a battle on the first loop and died.

Rather than "turning back time", the mimic time loop is really closer to something to brain being downloaded and restored, but with tachyons, so its "current" state is restored to the brain in a previous time frame. or rather in a universe otherwise completely identical to the former universe's previous timeframe. I haven't actually seen/played Steins;Gate, but it may be considered similar to a D-mail?