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.
– No Spoilers –
Alice in Borderland Season 2 Review
In true Alice in Borderland style, the second season opens with mass murder in the middle of the road. It’s one hell of a way to open a show, reminding us of Arisu’s past, his history of gaming and how, like those in the video game, he is caught in the same situation.
Alice in Borderland season 2 is madness from the first minute of the first episode – just how we love and know the series to be. Bullets flying everywhere, figuring out what the heck is going on in between the lines and high-speed chase sequences. The series is a gift that gives on giving.
Arisu and Usagi are still stuck in the strange and murderous world. They have made new allegiances and are, as usual, trying to stay alive when the game wants nothing more than to blow their brains off.
Apart from the horrific bloodshed, we also face our protagonists’ emotional turmoil surrounding their past lives. Arisu is still reeling from his friends’ deaths, while Usagi walks around with the burden of her father’s probable suicide. As the characters battle with the feeling of staying or going, you are taken into how difficult life can be for them to choose to stay in chaos forever.
The season is also the time to go against the ‘royalty’, and it’s as brutal as you’d expect. The deathmatches are more horrible than ever and will leave you feeling sometimes heartbroken and sometimes rather squeamish. The matches where everyone in our main team faces loss are truly emotional and tough to watch, especially because they have such a good relationship with each other.
The characters from the first season (and now the second season) are so well developed that when you see new characters or those whom we won’t follow, it’s still absolutely thrilling. Even in the shortest time, you learn deeply about everyone, and thus their good and bad impact on you. Chishiya is clearly the best watch here – that man has really stolen my heart in a matter of a few episodes. Getting the true taste of his smarts and backstory sealed the deal for me.
The series focuses on every character and gives them their own chunk in episodes. It helps us to feel something for everyone, but surprisingly, it doesn’t bog the runtime down. Thus, characters whom we didn’t feel anything for in the first season become close to our hearts. Even if they die in the first episode or last, their deaths, thus, mean something.
The idea of a blimp following the king of spades (or floating over the area of games) and then exploding when the game is won is absolutely amazing. The blimp following the king of spades is great, and it increases the thrill of watching these moments because you get a taste of the mayhem right before the shooting starts.
These games are the best part of Alice in Borderland and make you want to keep watching every moment of it. They are the perfect combination of smart and bloody and have a good amount of both. Every game is different, with something crazy happening.
Apart from the blood and gore, there’s also the finding answers part in the series. With a few new characters out there, there’s a lot to look forward to in the series apart from the games. Do we get the answer as to where we are? Do Arisu and Usagi go back home? Who is pulling the strings behind such huge ventures? Who lives till the end?
Several questions – but are there enough answers?
The series ends on a wild note, confuses you (and Arisu) to no end and then answers what all of us have been waiting to know since 2020. It’s an emotional turn of events that makes the heart a little heavy and gives us something to think about. It’s just a little out there, but honestly, not out of the realm of possibilities. But truth be told, I would’ve believed them if they told me that aliens had invaded the planet.
That being said, the ending doesn’t feel as invigorating to watch as you’d expect after such thrilling two seasons. I didn’t hate it, but it doesn’t mesh with the overall series. But – it sort of ends on a cliffhanger, and if this is what I think it is, the ending is genius.
Also Read: Netflix’s Alice in Borderland Review and Ending Explanation: Energetic, Thrilling and Emotional
Alice in Borderland Season 2 Games
Just like last season, Alice in Borderland season 2 is ripe with interesting and extremely brutal games that will test your sanity.
The first game that we come across is Osmosis by the King of Clubs (Episode 2), in which Arisu and his team play together. It’s an interesting game created by an interesting king. You have to play together and use your brains to come out alive on the other side. This was a great game with some very profound conversations and a great way to open the series.
A game played among several people (Episode 3), with Chishiya in the mix, is our next entry – Prison Cell by the Jack of Hearts. Hearts games, of course, are all about trust and betrayal. And this is one that truly puts forth the idea of how trust breaks even when you’re in a group among seemingly trusted people.
The King of Spades is an enemy throughout the runtime of the series and appears all of a sudden out of nowhere. He’s a formidable enemy who apparently refuses to die and is one of the toughest foes to beat because it’s just fighting against gunpowder.
The Queen of Spades game Check Mate (Episode 5) looks futuristic but is sort of like shogi, as one of the characters explains. With members pressing buttons on the back of others to bring them to their team, taking turns. It’s a simple game, but with more to it than simply pressing each other’s buttons!
Probably the weirdest and the most out-there game of the lot (Episode 6), the King of Diamond’s Balance Scale makes you guess numbers, averages everyone’s numbers, multiplies by 0.8, and then the person closest to the result wins. Let’s just say that if you lose, things get hot and sticky.
The last game is a game of croquet… or is it the last?
Alice in Borderland is streaming on Netflix.
Also Read: Alice in Borderland Season 2 Ending Explained: Queen of Hearts, King of Spades and the Joker!
Honestly, there better be season 3 or else the season 2 ending is definitely bringing down the entire series’ reputation.
Sesson two the container game, the kings side cheating and fighting, and laughting all the way in 2 whole episodes, then they lose THEY STILL LAUGHTING TOO MUCH, was that all one beam and its over?!? Should have been a few more in the head and body, i was not pleased fucking bitches, and a solid loong 15 minutes talk between the leaders,
Everbody in episode 5 gets shots, the group is splitting up,
Another place other gets blown up, the whole soccer arena get blown to bits, thats was not a game thats was clear excution, who have aford to this,
I hope something horrible hapoen to the shooters and the villians behind this, not jus arrested or dissapears, or atlest take some of them down with the bombs they have around the their neck,
And those the people who made this have a grugde against girks?!? Its always them who dies or gets hurt the most or woundet, im at eps 5 another girl AGAIN GETS WOUNDET (soccer arena)
AND NOW MY BLOOD BOILS ANOTHER SESSON, A FUUCK MORE OF THE SAME, only loses and little wins,
Sesson 2 episode the checkmate game, its was alright but WHAT WAS WITH THAT BITCH AT THE END, SHE JUST MADE FUN AND MOCKERY OF THE OTHER SURVIORS, THEN SHE JUST LAUGHTING AND JUMPED OF THE PLATFORM?!?!?!???? OKIES I HATED HER I WOULD LOVE TOO PUSH HER OF A CLIFF MYSELF, IF I EVER MEET HER, FUCK THIS, I HOPE YOU DIES IN THE REAL WORLD.
Sesson 2, Episode 6, the guessing the number on a computerscreen, a bit boring, and another women get the worst of it, and the blonde guy is way to calm,
How about instead of sitting down, place the persons in a big room with numbers, where they push button on the floor or walls, they vcould do it seperate each room, but the could talk to eachother throug the walls,
But then someone lose its could end the same way, the room gets filled with accid or deadly gass,
If they gonna kill people make it good, not just get shoot in a forest by a armed coward mecaries with full body armour,
So far this sucks,
Soooo sesson 2 episode 7, the survivors is starting too shott eachoter, great maybe this end a bit faster then, the guy with the magnum pistol have like 6 bullets in it, but so far he has shoot like 7-8 shoots without reloading it, it beginning too be a bit stupid, and ALOT of flashback the life of all of them before the games almost every 5 minutes,
Still episode 7, someone finallay hit that crasy guy with machingun down, a whole car crash pluss eplotion and squised between two cars,
BUT GUESS FUCKING WHAT, HE JUST RAISE HIMSELF UP FROM THE FLAMES, THEN CONTIUOS TO SHOOT ALOT OF OF PEOPLE, AND UNHARMED,
EXCUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUSSSE ME BUT I DIDENT KNOW THIS WAS A TERMINATOR SHOW, WHAT THE FUCKING FUCK, THIS IS GETTING DUMBER AND DUMBER,
hope they sue this show for this HARD, DO WHAT YOU FUCKING WANT IM OUT OF THIS SHIT, NOT GONNA SEE THE NEXT SESSON,
IF HE DIE IN THE OR THE 8 EPISODE HE BETTER STAY THE FUCK DOWN, I KNOW YOUR FACE NOW, ASSHOLE, IS HE ABLE TO WATCH THE FUTURE TOO?!? HE LIKE KNOW WHERE THW ARROW COMES FROM AND AVOID IT!????
jesus chrissus anaholes., GREAT HE JUST KILLED THE ARROW GIRL, AGAIN WITH THE KILLING GIRLS, AVOIDING BULLETS, THROWS A MAN DUBBLE THE SIZE LIKE NITHING,
I DONT CARE THEY WINS ITS MEANS NOTHING, BUT I WANT THAT FUCKING GUY DEAD BEFORE EPISODE 8, ITS 20 MINIÅUTES LEFT, THE CANT FIGHT THAT LOONG,
AGAIN A GIRL GETT HURT BADLY, HE JUST STABBED THE CARATE GIRL IN BLUE BRA 3-4 TIMES, TELL ME WHO HE IS SO I CAN DO IT TOO HIM,
Still in episode 7, where the terminator guy is like FUCKING SORRY, GIVE AWAY A GUN AND MAKE HIM SHOOT HIM, WHAT A BULLSHIT, AND HES LAUGHTING HIS ASS OFF, LET HIM ROTT I WILL NEVER FORGIVE NETFLIX FOR MAKE ME WATCH THIS STUFF, AND THE DONT SHOW HIM DIES SO HE WILL LIJELY RETURN LATER IN THE SHOW, I DON KNOW ABOUT YOU BUT IM BEYOND PISSED, FUCKING KILL HIM ALREADY MY PATIENT FOR THIS GUY WAS OVER A HALF A SESSON BACK,
IL GIVE YOU SORRY MY ASS FORKILLING THOSE GIRLS, I HOPE FORHES SAKE THEY STILL ALIVE, OR ITS NOTHING MORE TO WATCH HERE
The last 8 episode was nothing, boring shit, 90% was just talking, drink tea, playing croccet ball game like nothing anything els means nothing, that smiling bithc of a qeen,
And its like over, one zap, AFTER THAT SHIT THE WENT TROUGHT, GOD GRIEF JUST DROP THE NEXT ONE, IL WILL NOT SEEING THAT ONE, unless its a very short movie AND NOT A PAINFULLY 8 EPISODES, IF THEY DO I WILL BE BACK TOO WRITE MY AND EXPRESS MY FULLY ANGER.