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Alice in Borderland Season 1 Review

Alice in Borderland Season 1 is a Japanese science fiction thriller streaming series that premiered on Netflix in 2020. It’s a solid show that is flawed, but undoubtedly fun.

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“Just as water can overfill a container.

Madness is all the same“

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It follows allies trapped in an abandoned Tokyo where they are forced to participate in dangerous games, the type and difficulty of which are determined by playing cards. After surviving their first game, players receive “visas”, which are extended the more they participate; if the visas expire, the individuals are executed by red lasers being shot from the sky.

This is the type of gaming storyline, which I gravitate toward a lot. And that angle is the best on this series. The card mechanic is beautifully realized and the same goes for those “visas”. Although the show is lacking in terms of true SF elements, those that we got are very strong and the effects are excellent.

This is my first ever live-action Japanese series watch, and I really appreciated it. The acting in the dub is naturally horrible, but in the subbed version it is terrific across the board. The characterization is very good here, but it is the team dynamic that is the highlight. These people felt like real family and they were wonderful together.

Arisu and Usagi are the standouts obviously as the main players. Both received strong development and they are excellent together. I also liked some of the supporting characters with Aguni being a cool villain and Hikari being quite memorable. She is badass and her transgender backstory was unexpected and very well done. The flashbacks on this series are surprisingly well done with most delivering in terms of emotion and necessary character backstories.

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Alice in Borderland at first felt overly limited in its scope and ambition. Thankfully, the latter half changed that with the last two episodes being epic and so much fun. The action is stupendous and some fights are exhilarating to watch. The technical aspects are pretty good and the script is solid, but the season is too short with just eight episodes, and just when it became hugely entertaining, it ended, which frustrated me.