Alice in Borderland review by Conrad Gardner

Picture the scene: five people stand in a room. There are two doors, marked ‘Live’ and ‘Die’. They have two minutes to select the correct door. Gas seeps through the floor. A person steps through the door marked ‘Live,’ and is shot through the head by a laser. This is the first death game in Alice In Borderland’s opening episode.

Renewed for a second season two weeks after its premiere, Alice In Borderland follows slacker Arisu (this show’s Alice), an intelligent young man who does nothing with his life. After emerging from a public toilet to a blackout in an empty Tokyo, Arisu is forced to put his brain and gaming knowledge to the test and survive this new world he has entered, a land of terror, rather than wonder. This show is an adaptation of a manga of the same name by Haro Aso, which I have been unable to read since it is not translated into English. With the show’s success, perhaps it will be.

The series plays out like a city-wide Cube, where different games are dictated by various playing cards; numbers and suits determine the type of game and the number of players required. Arisu, along with his friends Chōta and Karube, navigate the city, trying to find out what is going, their bond being tested with every new obstacle that is thrown their way. They want to stay together, but they want to survive too, and sacrifices are going to be made as they continue their journey.

What struck me with this show was how I kept watching episode after episode (a rarity for me) despite being stressed even more by each new game. It’s that strange blend of entertainment and nail-biting dread which is so brilliant with the series. I won’t go into too much detail about the games here, because they are one of the most fun parts of the show to experience, but I will give an early game as an example. 13 people are forced to play a game of tag. The person who is named ‘tagger’ must find and kill the others with a gun. Everyone else must find the ‘safezone’ within twenty minutes to render the game defunct, or they will all blow up. We know this because a detonator is shown, adding suspense.

Injecting this game with two conditions amps up the pressure here. We want to see Arisu escape the tagger, but survival is only half of it. If he can’t find the ‘safezone’, then his survival is all for naught. My lip drew blood since I kept biting it during this episode.

Each game is a puzzle that the viewer tries to solve with Arisu. Fun can be had in trying to guess a solution to each one with a friend or family member, which is a good game in itself and can add to the entertainment value.

Over eight episodes, all of which run around fifty minutes, the viewer is hooked. With the length and number of episodes, the show never meanders or hits a lull, managing to give us enough character without any subplots that go nowhere. Everything on-screen contributes to the progression of story and character, leading towards a conclusion that leaves us wanting what all shows should: more. If you think you can stand eight episodes that force enough anxiety on you to finish them all in a day, Alice In Borderland is here for you.

Words by Conrad Gardner

Edited by Sophie Williams