Alice in Borderland

Alice in Borderland season 2 review - an impeccably-constructed battle royale. This article contains no spoilers for the Netflix series.

The games are thrilling, the psychological subtext is fascinating, and the human core beneath it all, emphasizing the depth of the trauma being caused and the slim chance of anything ever returning to normal in its aftermath, is truly engaging. The main, perhaps only problem with Alice in Borderland Season 2 is that it’s very much in love with its own concept, and it’s so aware of how good the games themselves are that it sometimes forgets to properly flesh out the world around them. The games remain very clever in their structure and execution, being not just all-out physical challenges but also more cerebral puzzles that challenge the characters’ understanding of themselves, their relationships, and the world of the show itself. There is almost nothing to fault in the show’s structure and presentation; it’s a fantastic-looking, sometimes confoundingly well-executed action-thriller that’ll have you asking, “how did they do that?” more often than perhaps any show in recent memory. The games themselves were a standout element of the first season and they remain so here, featuring more complex setups and higher stakes thanks to the escalations of the plot. [Alice in Borderland](https://readysteadycut.com/2020/12/10/alice-in-borderland-season-1-netflix-review/) was a tremendous hit for [Netflix](https://readysteadycut.com/category/streaming-service/netflix/) back in 2020, taking the [Haro Aso manga series](https://aliceinborderland-manga.com/) and turning it into, essentially, a live-action anime with a breathless pace, no shortage of imagination, and a killer structure.

ALICE IN BORDERLAND Season 2 is on Netflix and the Japanese genre-hybrid continues the style from season 1. Read our full review >

Kyuma is the leader of the band (the new group of friends, we meet during the first game of season 2) and is a proud nudist. However, despite Alice in Borderland season 2 not having a recap at the beginning, episode 1 of this second season does have a few flashbacks. In season 1, the characters (or players in this crazy game) all focused on getting all the playing cards to win and return home. The episode shows us a new group of friends (bandmates) who are trapped in this world together. Well, we get to this after the very brutal opening sequence which is the result of them being in the King of Spades game. ALICE IN BORDERLAND Season 2 is on Netflix and the Japanese genre-hybrid continues the style from season 1. Season 1 premiered on Netflix in December of 2020, so it’s been a good two years. We get a few reminders of how the characters ended up in their current predicament. Read our full Alice in Borderland season 2 review here! Season 2 of Alice in Borderland does not open with a recap. ALICE IN BORDERLAND Season 2 is out on Netflix with eight new episodes. Not exactly new for this Japanese Netflix series, but still a very brutal and direct way to open season 2.

Alice in Borderland, based on the manga series by Haro Aso, returns to Netflix for a second season starring Kento Yamazaki, Tao Tsuchiya, and Riisa Naka.

A third season of Alice in Borderland has not yet been confirmed - however the series has proven very popular so it’s likely that it is in the works with Netflix. But it Usagi and Arisu do get through the final tests, it’s still not clear whether they will be allowed to leave the Borderland alive. Alice in Borderland was watched by an estimated 18 million households in the first 28 days of its release in 2020 - and was renewed for a second season two weeks after it premiered.

Just when Arisu (Kento Yamazaki) and his comrades thought they were home clear and free, the gamemaster drew a doozy of a card from the stack: the Joker.

We won't make you battle your way through a series of games to find out the answer but sadly we have no good news for you on this front. In doing so, it's likely that a new game has already started unknown to them all and they'll have to break free. Though thoroughly battered (Niragi more so), they made it out of season two so we expect to see them in season three. It could be that all the contestants are in a virtual reality environment, much like the one Arisu found himself in the final episode. We fear Arisu and co are in for a big shock next season. Here's everything we know about Alice in Borderland season three.

Alice in Borderland season 2 is now streaming on Netflix. Is Alice in Borderland season 3 happening? Here's what we know about a potential third season.

Based on the second season’s ending, the story could go in so many different ways in Alice in Borderland season 3. We just have to see how the story continues in an Alice in Borderland season 3. The completion rate is very important because it’s also believed to factor heavily into whether Netflix will renew a show. [Alice in Borderland season 2](https://netflixlife.com/2022/09/24/alice-in-borderland-season-2-release-date/) is finally streaming on Netflix. There were also tons of exciting, action-packed scenes that will have you on the edge of your seat. The second season had viewers on another wild ride with many unique twists and turns.

Episode 5 of Alice in Borderland Season 2 starts with Usagi alone in the woods, calling out for Arisu. However, Arisu is with Aguni, who we learned last ...

Seeing snippets of Ann, Aguni and Chishiya helps to give more context over exactly what’s been happening to each of them and I’m sure we’ll see Arisu and Usagi joined with Chishiya down the line… The Queen is adamant that she wants Arisu on her side, and our characters soon suss that out. The Kings cannot be turned, and the opposite is true for the Challengers team. If the button on their back turns red, they turn to the Queen’s team and may not move for the remainder of the round. Arisu continues on and ends up in an overgrown part of the city, completely overcome by nature. The pair hug tenderly but it’s quickly interrupted by the Queen of Spades showing up on a big screen. Thankfully the boss turns and leaves, with the plan a complete dud. Arisu is separated from the others and wanders alone through the streets until he comes upon a tent. As for Aguni and Akane, the former ends up shot and passes out. Akane managed to free herself and crawled through the vents and away. As for Aguni, he intends to strike down the King of Spades and likens all of this to a battlefield – the last battlefield they’ll compete on. Arisu points out that the group are all separated and Tatta didn’t make it.

Will there be an Alice in Borderland season 3? Here's everything we know so far, and what to expect in the possible third season of the Japanese sci-fi ...

Will there be an Alice in Borderland season 3? It could even involve a whole new set of games that could be even more sick and twisted than the ones before it. Season 2's final moment shows a deck of cards on the table. If the show does well with viewers and reaches the Top 10 charts across the world, there's a strong chance that Alice in Borderland could return for season 3. In the final scene, we see Arisu and Usagi meet. We'll likely know more when (or if) season 3 is confirmed and production begins.

Unsurprisingly it's down to Arisu and Usagi (Tao Tsuchiya) to defeat their last, formidable face-card opponent. However, like much of the tasks thrown their way ...

In any case, they decide to walk together in the hospital gardens and the uplifting, grandiose music almost has you believing they've achieved their happy ending. A trickster card that has lured them into this false sense of security by wiping their memories and landing them 'home,' when really they, like Dorothy, couldn't be further from Kansas. Mira convinces Arisu that he is in a hospital receiving psychiatric treatment from her, his doctor and that Usagi is a patient with whom he has formed a strong attachment to. Just in time too, as Mira was close to getting him to 'quit the game' in order to relinquish the delusion's hold on him. He continuously presses Mira about what happened to the real world and she toys with him. Not perfect, but at the very least they are home. The catastrophic damage claimed many lives but they survived. However, like much of the tasks thrown their way thus far, this challenge is anything but easy and is blighted with twists. Her cryptic words are shortly followed by her being shot through with a laser and killed. The only one left standing in their way is the Queen of Hearts, aka Mira (Minako Kotobuki). Their unified assault on the King of Spades has resulted in victory. At this point Usagi's wounds need urgent attention – she is limp but obliges when Mira insists they sit for tea.

Expect more mayhem, mysterious violence, spirited gameplay, and character reveals in season 2 of Netfllix's Alice in Borderland.

But it revels in making or breaking the rules it’s created for its topsyturvy world, and the core characters are compelling and fully rendered. [Squid Game](https://decider.com/show/squid-game/), the runaway Netflix hit that functions on a life-or-death axis of competition similar to Alice in Borderland. Once we do that…” Arisu has always put his faith in the natural rules of gameplay. (The latter’s transgender identity was explored in one of last season’s most powerful and emotional flashbacks.) The moral compass is totally destroyed in Alice in Borderland, along with the trappings of our daily existence. Parting Shot: So far, the King of Clubs and his accomplices haven’t shared much about their identities or intentions beyond their leader’s promotion of a nudist lifestyle, and Arisu wants answers. The Gist: At the conclusion of that first season of Alice in Borderland, Arisu, Usagi (Tao Tsuchiya), Hikari Kuina (Aya Asahina), and Chishiya (Nijiro Murakami) fought their way from the carnage of the Beach back to the city center and a whisper-quiet Shibuya Station. Our Take: Alice in Borderland continues to trade easily on the fates of its non-player characters. But from a viewer’s perspective, everyone in the background of the main characters’ gameplay seems to be cannon fodder for advancing their narrative. Opening Shot: In a flashback that itself is a flashback to the beginning of the first season, obsessive gamer Arisu (Kento Yamakazi) is in his bedroom, playing first person shooters on repeat instead of attending job interviews. Once it’s determined that joining a different game might avoid more immediate destruction, the group roars off in Tatta’s commandeered Mustang convertible and approaches a part of town apparently controlled by the King of Clubs. [Alice in Borderland debuted on Netflix in December 2020](https://decider.com/2020/12/11/alice-in-borderland-netflix-review/), as the world reeled from lockdowns and the pandemic. As refugees from the Beach are shot down around them, Arisu and Usagi infer that it’s the King of Spades causing all of this mayhem.

Episode 4 of Alice in Borderland Season 2 starts with us back at the prison. Chishiya is alone but he manages to convince Matsushita (the emo-kid) that ...

In the present, rumbling ensues as the King of Spades catches up to Arisu and Usgi, his blimp flying overhead. Meanwhile, Arisu and the others try to work out the next phase of attack. With a razorblade in hand, Banda and Yaba have their way, eventually resulting in the Jack of Hearts blimp exploding. Chishiya is convinced that he’s the Jack and warns that he’s going to start getting aggressive soon. They were communicating through the snacks they picked up, with Chishiya realizing that the colour of the packaging correlated to their symbols, helping them through the game until this point. Chishiya is alone but he manages to convince Matsushita (the emo-kid) that Sunato Banda (the man he’s hanging around with all game long) is a serial murderer and it was all over the papers.

This sprawling Japanese manga adaptation is rarely subtle, but its ability to deliver on expectations of scope make it a true TV standout.

When the main group from the end of Season 1 is forced to split up, “Alice in Borderland” shrewdly finds challenges to cater to each of their individual strengths. Avoiding that middle ground leads to some messiness, all the way up until the last episode starts to fill in some of those strange gaps. When it lands on genuine character relationships and sacrifices that feel motivated, “Alice in Borderland” also earns its chance to head to whatever challenge is next. Where “Alice in Borderland” does land on some semblance of subtlety is in leaning into being a pandemic parable. So the first season of “Alice in Borderland” was a primal story of survival. Of course, it’s hard to describe the logistics of “Alice in Borderland” without putting words like “real” and “home” in the imaginary quotes that the show’s characters basically put around them when spoken out loud. A lot of the philosophizing here can get repetitive over the course of the season, especially when it comes to different players psychoanalyzing each other mid-game. Staring into the eyes of the mastermind of each challenge makes it less of an ambiguous test and more of an elimination round. There’s the one that its characters find themselves in and the one that they want to return to. Before long, Arisu and the gang are thrust right into the heart of one of the most thrilling car chase sequences on any-sized screen in recent memory. Picking up right where the last season left off, there’s barely time to take a deep breath before the real threat of violence comes charging up the abandoned avenue. [Netflix](https://www.indiewire.com/t/netflix/) show based on Haro Aso’s manga, Arisu is just one of a roughly undefined group of people looking to stay alive in their new alternate reality, where each person staves off death by playing wickedly manipulative games designed to pit players against each other and themselves.

Episode 8 of Alice in Borderland Season 2 starts this finale with a look at the devastation caused by the King of Diamonds. Akane and Aguni are barely ...

I appreciate the manga continues with Alice in Borderland: Retry, but the ending we get here is actually really solid and it’s not really needed to drag this one out. It would appear that the game is now over but of course, there could be another twist to the tame. The game world serves as a sort of gateway between life and death. Then again, there’s also the idea that the Joker represents unexpected changes in fortune, which could have a simple meaning of showing that Arisu has now changed his fate and managed to find good fortune among all this misery. While Arisu and the others head down to the bottom of the train station and hide out, a meteor crashes and smashes into Tokyo, blowing the entire place to smithereens. Kuani is reunited with her mother and father, while Arisu looks out the window and notices all the characters we’ve seen over the course of the season with their loved ones or recovering in hospital. The Joker card at the end generally tends to act as a wild card. All the cards disappear, with the only one left happening to be the Joker. They encourage Arisu to live his life to the fullest and not waste a second of it. This seems to be part of the Queen’s game, given Usagi is bleeding out and is on borrowed time. Of course, this brings us to the final game. To win, they need to pass their balls through the six hoops in a certain order then hit the final finishing peg.

As much fun as it was to spend some hours in the company of Arisu (Kento Yamazaki), Usagi (Tao Tsuchiya), and Chishiya (Nijiro Murakami) in Alice in ...

In all card games, the Joker is a wild card that usually subverts the pre-established rules, and that last addition would fit in perfectly with the Alice in Borderland world. If that’s the case, there could be blind spots to the game master’s world, and that would be a nice element to explore in the future. If there’s one thing we learned from Season 2 is that the citizens – who initially seemed to be a level above the rest of the players – don’t know much. On top of that, in the same videos, there is some evidence of people who managed to live outside the realm of the Borderland games. By the end of Season 2, we still don’t know who are the game designers, who controls Borderland and other details that we don’t even imagine. Halfway through the season, Arisu and Usagi find some home footage in which there is a girl who claims she remembers everything about the day everyone was taken from Tokyo. And they all – or most of them – ended up in the afterlife because a meteorite exploded over central Tokyo and killed them all. All the players we rooted for throughout Season 2 decline, and they are transported back to Tokyo and find out that only a few minutes had passed. The way that Season 2 ends provides closure for most characters – especially the main ones – and wraps up the citizens' arc. While [Season 1](https://collider.com/alice-in-borderland-season-1-recap/) provided us with virtually no information about the game makers, Borderland itself, and what exactly are the rules, Season 2 had the job of finally helping us understand what the heck is going on in the Japanese series. But now, we finally have the answer: What are the games and Borderland after all? She adds that he will be presented with two choices and no matter what he chooses, the answer will be given.

And they have made speculations about the third season. With both seasons of Arisu and Usagi, the Japanese sci-fi series hooked its viewers. The mystery of ' ...

When will Alice in Borderland 3 be released?Since Netflix is yet to make any announcements regarding the same, settling for a date wouldn't be possible. [Usagi](/topic/usagi), the Japanese sci-fi series hooked its viewers. According to rumours, filming for the next season has already begun, but waiting for an official announcement is a better option.