Alice in Borderland (今際の国のアリス)is a sci-fi, action-adventure-thriller series created by Yoshiki Watabe and Yasuko Kuramitsu, and is based on the manga by the same name by Haro Aso. The series stars Kento Yamazaki, Tao Tsuchiya, Yuki Morinaga, Keita Machida, Aya Asahina and others.
Alice in Borderland season 1 has 8 episodes, each with a runtime of around 50 minutes.
Alice in Borderland Season 1 Recap
The series starts with unemployed gamer Arisu and his friends finding themselves in a parallel universe right in the middle of the day. One moment there are literally thousands of people in and around Shibuya Crossing and in the next, they are the only people to be found for literal miles on end.
However, their fear of being left alone in the world is quickly met with shock and fear when they realise that they aren’t, in fact, alone in the world. Unfortunately for them, they have been transported to a world where they have to play death games with others to move on to the next round and survive.
As they make their way through this strange new world, they get a taste of what their future holds for them – the first game they enter has a difficulty of ‘three of clubs’, and there they meet two other players. It’s a bit confusing at first, but when they finally play the game, they realise that it’s not a joking matter and that death is too close for comfort if they don’t give it their all.
However, Arisu’s knowledge of games helps the team not die in the first round itself and apart from Chota’s leg burn, they all move on to another horrible game.
However, with an expired visa on their heads, the team cannot celebrate their win for too long. And after playing a brutal game of tag and then a game of hearts, Arisu loses his last connection to his old life as both of his friends sacrifice themselves to let him win and live.
With hopelessness looming large, Arisu eventually finds himself after he meets Usagi and the two play a deadly game of endurance on an underground highway.
After they leave that alive, the two find themselves going to The Beach, where hundreds of people gather to party all day and ‘game’ at night. Their leader, the Hatter, thinks that if you collect all the cards and complete a deck, then you can go back home. However, his reign isn’t sitting well with everyone around him and eventually, he gets killed off by a rival militant group whose leader proclaims himself as the leader.
Unfortunately for those at The Beach, their safe haven becomes a game arena when the tension reaches a high, and the inhabitants must play a deadly game of finding out who killed another resident, who turns up dead. Although the militants start straight up murdering everyone on sight, Arisu figures out that the girl who died actually killed herself.
Alice in Borderland Season 1 Ending
Arisu soon figures out that the dead girl from The Beach is actually working with the game developers and uses her phone to go to their headquarters. Once there, however, they are met with former friends who betrayed them previously, Chishiya and Kuina.
The headquarters itself is filled with dead bodies of those who were controlling the games thus far and before things get too heated between the two groups, the Hatter’s most trusted advisor, Mira, appears on the huge screens in the room and congratulates them for murdering their closest friends and allies.
The last scene is of several flying banners carried in the sky with images of the highly sought-after cards. The games are about to get deadlier and gorier and Alice in Borderland season 2 just might tell us how!
Alice in Borderland Cards: Meaning and More
Each card has a particular meaning associated with it. The number on the card at the beginning of the game represents the days one can stay in Borderland without playing a game and after winning one. Of course, if you lose a game you die, so that’s pretty cut and dry.
The numbers also represent the difficulty of the game, the more the number, the more difficult the game will be.
On the other hand, the suits represent the genre of the game they are about to play – clubs represent teamwork (Dead or Alive/Distance), hearts is betrayal (Hide and Seek/Witch Hunt), diamonds is about using your wits and spades (Light Bulb) is a measure of the players’ abilities (A Game of Tag).
Are you excited to watch Alice in Borderland season 2? Let us know your predictions about the upcoming season in the comments below!
Alice in Borderland is streaming on Netflix.
Also Read: Netflix’s Alice in Borderland Review and Ending Explanation: Energetic, Thrilling and Emotional