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Alice in Borderland (Japanese: 今際の国のアリス, Hepburn: Imawa no Kuni no Arisu) is a 2020 Japanese science fiction thriller drama streaming television series based on the manga of the same name, by Haro Aso. Directed by Shinsuke Sato, the series stars Kento Yamazaki and Tao Tsuchiya as allies trapped in an abandoned Tokyo, where they are forced to compete in dangerous games, the type and difficulty of which are determined by playing cards. After surviving their first game, players receive "visas", which are extended the more they compete. If the visas expire, the individuals are executed by red lasers being shot from the sky.
First announced in July 2019, each episode of the series was written by Sato, Yoshiki Watabe, and Yasuko Kuramitsu. Filming began in August and concluded that same year in December, with locations including various districts of Shibuya, and a green screen studio serving as a replica of the popular Shibuya Crossing, where a large portion of the series takes place. In an international collaboration, Japan's Digital Frontier worked with teams from Singapore, the United States, and India to add post-credit visual effects, with the music featured in the series being composed by Yutaka Yamada, a frequent collaborator with Sato.
Alice in Borderland premiered on Netflix on December 10, 2020. It received positive reviews for its action, cinematography, and performances and comparisons to the films Battle Royale (2000) and Cube (1997). Two weeks after the first season was released, Netflix renewed the series for a second season, which is set to premiere on December 22, 2022.
Synopsis[]
| “ | An aimless gamer and his two friends find themselves in a parallel Tokyo, where they're forced to compete in a series of sadistic games to survive. | ” |
—Official Netflix Description[1] | ||
Arisu— a listless, jobless and video-game-obsessed young man— suddenly finds himself in a strange, emptied-out version of Tokyo in which he and his friends must compete in dangerous games in order to survive. In this strange world, Arisu meets Usagi, a young woman who's navigating the games alone. Together, they set out to unravel one mystery after another as they risk their lives and confront what it means to live.[2]
Cast[]
- Yamazaki Kento as Ryohei Arisu / Alice
- Ito Shunta as young Ryohei Arisu (Ep.1)
- Tsuchiya Tao as Usagi Aoiha / Rabbit
Soundtrack[]
Episodes[]
Season 1[]
| No.overall | No. in
season |
Title | Directed by | Written by | Original release date | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | "Episode 1" | Shinsuke Sato | Yoshiki Watabe, Yasuko Kuramitsu, & Shinsuke Sato | December 10, 2020 | |
| In Tokyo, video-game-obsessed Arisu hangs out with his friends Chōta and Karube. After causing an altercation in Shibuya Crossing, the trio hide from police in the station bathroom but reemerge to find the city empty. At night, they follow a billboard's instructions to a "game arena." They find a stack of phones, which display the game's difficulty level, illustrated by a playing card. The group is joined by a high school girl and another woman named Shibuki who informs them that once a player enters an arena they cannot leave, as a laser will shoot them dead if they try. In this game, a "Three of Clubs" difficulty-level titled "Dead or Alive," the group is forced to pick between two doors under a certain time limit, one containing an entrance to another room with the same choice, and the other, certain death. The original trio and Shibuki make it out alive, with Chōta badly injured. Outside, the group is given individual "visas," which are extended the more they play and result in execution once expired. | ||||||
| 2 | 2 | "Episode 2" | Shinsuke Sato | Yoshiki Watabe, Yasuko Kuramitsu, & Shinsuke Sato | December 10, 2020 | |
| With no way of escaping the abandoned city, Arisu and Karube decide to play another game to extend their visas, leaving Shibuki to tend to an injured Chōta. Arisu and Karube find another game arena in an apartment complex and encounter several new players, such as the mysterious Usagi, the strong Aguni, and the sly, quiet Chishiya. Arisu also learns the meaning of each card; Spades correlate to games of strength, Clubs are team battles, Diamonds are a battle of wits, and Hearts correlate to games of betrayal. This game, a "Five of Spades" difficulty-level titled "Tag," force the players to hide in the building from two armed murderers while also looking for a room containing two buttons that must be pressed at the same time to stop a bomb from killing them all. Arisu, Chishiya, and Usagi work together to find the room and win, though Arisu later feels guilty when he sees the murderers executed. Karube finds a radio telling them to "Return to the Beach." | ||||||
| 3 | 3 | "Episode 3" | Shinsuke Sato | Yoshiki Watabe, Yasuko Kuramitsu, & Shinsuke Sato | December 10, 2020 | |
| Karube tells his group about the radio. To extend the visas of Shibuki and Chōta, they go together to a game arena in a botanical garden. There, they enter a "Seven of Hearts" difficulty-level titled "Hide-and-seek" as the only participants, but soon learn only one of them will survive. They are given facial recognition headsets and assigned animals, with three of them being "sheep" and the fourth being a "wolf." To play, a player switches animals every time they lock eyes with another, with the wolf at the end winning the game and the sheep dying. Arisu becomes the wolf and spends the rest of the game looking for his friends, who have decided to sacrifice themselves for him. They communicate via the headsets and spend their last minutes together saying goodbye; Arisu screams in pain as he is covered in Karube's blood. | ||||||
| 4 | 4 | "Episode 4" | Shinsuke Sato | Yoshiki Watabe, Yasuko Kuramitsu, & Shinsuke Sato | December 10, 2020 | |
| Usagi finds a despondent Arisu and decides to help him. They visit a game arena inside a bus, located inside an underpass, and enter the game with three other players. In a "Four of Clubs" difficulty-level titled "Distance," they are told to "reach the goal." Deducing that the goal must be at the end of the tunnel, Arisu, Usagi, and two other players run to it, leaving behind another player with a sprained leg. Halfway there, the four players are attacked by a panther, who kills one. At the end of the tunnel, Arisu finds diesel fuel in a motorbike and decides to go back for the other player. Once he returns, however, he learns the bus has the word "goal" written on it, and they were running away from the target. Water spurts from the end of the tunnel, and while the other player is killed, Usagi manages to make it back to the bus, and win alongside Arisu and the injured player. | ||||||
| 5 | 5 | "Episode 5" | Shinsuke Sato | Yoshiki Watabe, Yasuko Kuramitsu, & Shinsuke Sato | December 10, 2020 | |
| Arisu and Usagi, looking for "the Beach," secretly follow a group of players with similar wrist tags to a hotel housing many players. They, however, are found and taken to the place's leader, Hatter, who confirms they have made it. Hatter says the Beach's mission is to collect all the cards, which they believe will allow them to leave the city, but that the face cards have yet to appear. Arisu and Usagi are tasked with joining groups of players to collect the remaining cards. Later, Hatter reveals to a group of "executive members," including Arisu, who participated in a game as a "test" from Ann, that the only remaining number card to collect is the "Ten of Hearts." | ||||||
| 6 | 6 | "Episode 6" | Shinsuke Sato | Yoshiki Watabe, Yasuko Kuramitsu, & Shinsuke Sato | December 10, 2020 | |
| Needing to extend his visa, Hatter goes off to participate in a game, but his henchmen bring him back to the Beach dead, stating that he was shot during the game. Aguni is voted in as the new leader of the Beach, and given Hatter's deck of cards. Arisu teams up with Chishiya and Kuina to steal the deck, unaware that he had been double-crossed by them. Arisu is tied-up, aware that his visa expires at midnight, and Chishiya and Kuina prepare to leave with the stolen deck, only for a wall of lasers to stop them in their tracks. The Beach is revealed to be an arena for a game titled "Witch Hunt," with a difficulty-level illustrated by the "Ten of Hearts." | ||||||
| 7 | 7 | "Episode 7" | Shinsuke Sato | Yoshiki Watabe, Yasuko Kuramitsu, & Shinsuke Sato | December 10, 2020 | |
| A girl named Momoka is found stabbed to death, and the game's rules are stated; the players must work together to find the "witch" who murdered Momoka, throwing the suspect into a bonfire to win. With only two hours to search for the killer, Aguni and his militants decide to throw everyone into the fire to collect the final card. As dozens are murdered, Usagi teams up with a group of players and rescues Arisu. The building is lit on fire, Kuina kills a dangerous militant known as the Last Boss, and Chishiya injures Niragi. After thinking about the logistics of the game, Arisu tells the group that he knows the identity of the hidden witch. Ann figures out that Hatter was murdered and searches for fingerprints on Momoka's body. Ann learns the murderer's identity and is knocked unconscious. | ||||||
| 8 | 8 | "Episode 8" | Shinsuke Sato | Yoshiki Watabe, Yasuko Kuramitsu, & Shinsuke Sato | December 10, 2020 | |
| In a flashback, Momoka wanders through the empty city with her friend Asahi, recording videos with a working phone. In the present, Arisu confronts Aguni who, believing he is the "witch," confesses to shooting his best friend Hatter in self-defense. The real witch is Momoka, who killed herself. As Aguni attempts to kill Niragi,[6] who is still intent on murdering everyone present, the remaining players throw Momoka into the bonfire and win the game. Chishiya collects the final card. The next day, Arisu and Usagi watch the videos recorded by Asahi, who had committed suicide during the game. In them, Asahi and Momoka reveal they are "dealers," players who organize games to extend their visas.[8] In one video, the pair visit an underground lair filled with "gamemasters." Arisu and Usagi manage to locate the lair but find the "gamemasters" dead. Chishiya and Kuina appear and learn the "gamemasters" were actually players. A woman named Mira appears, who introduces a new set of games to collect face cards. | ||||||
Trivia[]
- The drama was adapted from the manga series of the same name by Haro Aso.[4]
Gallery[]
Official Poster
Official Poster 2
Official Poster 3
Video Gallery[]
Alice in Borderland - Official Trailer
Alice in Borderland - Official Trailer 2