Adapted from the manga of the same name by Haro Aso, Alice in Borderland is a modern take on the tropes popularized by the likes of Battle Royale and Saw. It’s definitely as brutal as the latter, and the way it dispenses its characters may remind audiences of Game of Thrones and The Walking Dead.
Ryohei Arisu (Kento Yamazaki) spends most of his days playing battle royale online games. When his brother asks him to stop being a deadbeat for the umpteenth time, he simply announces that he is moving out and walks out of his home. He meets his long-time friends Karube (Keita Machida) and Chota (Yuki Morinaga) at a train station and starts goofing off. The three of them eventually end up in a train toilet stall, but when they emerge out of it, they find that most people in Tokyo have disappeared. Soon, they find themselves competing in deadly games along with other ‘players’ to survive and extend their ‘visas’ in this dangerous new world.
Alice in Borderland wastes no time in setting up the premise and thrusting its characters into danger. Although Arisu is initially reluctant to participate, he starts to rely on his wits to figure out how to win the games. “Every game has a solution”, he says, and as he participates in more and more of them, he grows more confident. However, a particularly treacherous game forces him to make difficult choices, and by the end of it, he is left questioning whether he even wants to live.
Alice in Borderland puts its characters in difficult situations and challenges them to decide what kind of persons they want to be.
Many of them have been changed so drastically by the games that it might be impossible for them to lead a normal life back in their own world. LIke The Walking Dead, the people in this series also set up societies of their own in the wake of devastation, complete with egomaniacal rulers and brutal enforcers. Despite such circumstances, Arisu ends up bonding with new acquaintances, such as the athletic Usagi (Tao Tsuchiya).
The series is not without its faults, especially those inherited from its source material. Sometimes, the flashbacks happen just as characters are on the brink of death or facing a formidable challenge, which can make the tone overly dramatic. However, the show should be praised for its diverse cast of characters. Even as people get killed off, we get to understand their motivations and the reasons behind their choices. The show fleshes out its characters pretty well, which is surprising since the games take up most of the runtime. Speaking of the games, most of them are well thought out. There are four types of games, and each of them require a different kind of mindset and aptitude.
Alice in Borderland has already been renewed for a second season by Netflix. There is enough source material there for three seasons, if not more. The main mystery behind the game world and its game masters is intriguing enough to make people coming back for more, in addition to the tense action as well as character moments. This is probably one of the best original Netflix series coming out of 2020. Let’s hope it gets even better in future seasons.