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 2 has 8 episodes, each with a runtime of 60+ minutes.
Alice in Borderland Season 2 Recap
The second season is about Arisu and Usagi coming to terms with themselves, what it means to be alive and the meaning of life. As they try to find the answers to these very difficult questions, they battle the brutal face cards to find out whether they can, in fact, go back home. Along the way, they find enemies, friends and then some enemies who turn friends most unexpectedly, highlighting the human core of a hopeless, unrelenting and brutal exterior.
Alice in Borderland Season 2 Ending Explained
What happened to Arisu – the truth. Or is it?
Sitting in front of the Queen of Hearts, Arisu demands to know what is going on – the truth of this world and their own. But the queen of hearts isn’t interested in giving up easily and gives him three fake explanations, including,
1. The world got so advanced that humans became immortal. It resulted in Virtual Reality gaming becoming a thing, and that is what this is.
2. Aliens took over the world and are using it for experimentation.
3. The world was destroyed by a nuclear war, and the rich bunkered underneath the earth and created androids with human memories planted in them to use for sport.
Also Read: Alice in Borderland Season 2 Ending Explained: Queen of Hearts, King of Spades and the Joker!
When Arisu calls her out on it, she “finally” tells him the truth – he created this world in his mind after the death of his friends Karube and Chota at the Shibuya Crossing in episode 1. He couldn’t process the grief of losing his two best friends, and his trauma response pushed him into creating this world. In reality, he is in a psychiatric hospital, and Usagi is another patient there.
Only that this isn’t the truth either.
Also Read: Alice in Borderland Season 1 Recap: A Refresher on What Happened Till Now
When Arisu and Usagi finally finish the games, the game gives them a choice – whether they would like to stay or leave. They choose to leave and are taken back to a time before the fireworks in the sky. That day at the Shibuya Crossing, there was a meteor strike that killed Arisu’s friends and a whole bunch of others. The ones who survived the tragedy were all there at the crossing, and their wounds here all reflect those from the game world.
Arisu meets Usagi in this world once more, and in the hospital, they go out for a walk together, finding familiarity with each other.
Only, when the series ends, we with see the only card that was not played in the game – the Joker, the wild card of the bunch.
Meaning of Joker Card in Alice in Borderland Season 2
I would like to believe that Arisu and the gang haven’t found the freedom they seek just yet. The Joker, in many card games, is the highest trump card or a wild card. This means that all of this that everyone is seeing and feeling might just be another game, the last one that they have to win. The world around them might just be an illusion, created specifically for those who win the other rounds – the toughest round that they have to beat.
This might just be the wildest and most sinister stage for Arisu and Usagi to beat if we get an Alice in Borderland season 3!
Alice in Borderland is streaming on Netflix.
Also Read: Alice in Borderland Season 2 Review: The Joker Conundrum