Imawa no Kuni no Alice (2020)

Adore it

While usually I prefer plots where the main thing happening doesn't rely only on one specific aspect this one was really good overall! I just absolutely loved it similar to My Name it was amazing, just something about it that was good, spectacular even, the concept was executed really well, and the acting is amazing. Overall everything was just really good, I can't even really think of anything that I didn't like at all I also love the way the characters interacted and that they weren't all one dimensional but the best part was that they didn't spend too much time focusing on making extra characters more fleshed out but rather focused on the characters that mattered more. Some shows get a bit too ambitious in trying to add dimension to too many characters in too short a period of time...

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Eh..

Hi, I’m just a Kdrama addict trying out a Japanese drama for the first time in my life after seeing this one advertised everywhere. Suffice it to say, I probably won’t be coming back, and here’s why. Since the very beginning, I felt no real connection with any of the characters. The only character I even remotely found myself liking was the FL and that was only because I thought her mountain climbing hobby was pretty dope. Still, I wouldn’t have minded if she died in this drama. The directors and writers tried to remedy this by working in some flashback scenes for individual characters, but at that point in the drama I just wanted to see how the final conflict would be resolved, not watch several minutes of an irrelevant side character’s sob story. It felt really forced and honestly ruined the flow of the action for me. After going from a pretty conservative style to korean dramas, I was entirely baffled by the amount of sex and nudity in this drama. To be honest, I rarely watch American TV, especially TV that is rated M or R, so seeing this in a Japanese thriller felt really out of place and reminded me of the days where I would watch anime that was disgustingly saturated in fanservice. While I’m on this topic, I have to say that the rape scene in the latter half of the drama felt absolutely unnecessary and completely uncalled for. It gave me a foul feeling because of the way that it was portrayed and the fact the FL quickly bounced back from the experience as if being almost raped was completely normal. Hell, even the rapist himself was justifying his act as “normal human behavior.” It disgusted me beyond belief. With that said, I did enjoy the premise of the drama. While it’s not original by any means, I’m a sucker for sadism and bloodshed (I watched too much TWD in my day), so this drama was mostly meant to be a mindless thriller that I can watch after a long day. It didn’t require much thinking on my part, which I appreciated, and it was quite nice to just watch people kill each other in a deadly arena, as sick as that sounds. My final words are: don’t expect much in the way of depth or character development from this because you won’t get it. Despite that, I say watch it for the cinematics and the awfully entertaining death scenes. This might not be for everyone though ;).

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...as long as one is safe, it doesn't matter how many others die. Isn't that humanity?

My lord, what an utterly incredible experience this was. I've always thought that Sato Shinsuke was a director capable of making live-action adaptations that are not only watchable but actually entertaining (let's just ignore Bleach). His combination of dark humour, uncompromising ruthlessness, kinetic action sequences and high budgets allow his works to succeed where others have been derided. Alice in Borderland is probably his most popular work to date (breaking into the Western mainstream), and in my opinion, his best as well, in its blending of intense, hair-raising thrills with probing questions about morality and survival.

Alice in Borderland is a series that examines how 'human' qualities- compassion, rationality, camaraderie- are stripped away by death's cold stare, leaving behind the singular impulse to fend for yourself and throw your brethren under the bus without a second thought. In the process, the capacity for high reasoning is often left behind, and the tragedy of many of the games is that participants will impulsively launch themselves to their deaths without realising that the solution could have been easily discovered with just a bit of thought and teamwork. In the second half of the series, The Beach sets up an interesting Lord-of-the-Flies-esque scenario that demonstrates the impossibility of establishing order amongst humans in the absence of societal restraints, resulting in (especially amongst the executives and militants) the emergence of violent and hedonistic impulses that only have a chance to creep forth in parallel Tokyo. As suggested by some of the characters' names (rabbit, cheshire) and the recurring zoomorphic elements in the games (tigers, jaguars, horse-headed killers), Alice in Borderland reminds us that we were born as animals, and, if we were to be placed in a world where we are both hunted and allowed to roam free- we will become animals once more. And those who value their humanity? Though anyone can die, they stand the highest chance of survival.

But depth of themes alone don't make a series memorable- there has to be fun and games! And how darkly hilarious these games are, blending an off-kilter playfulness with horrific violence and ironic twists that are often so obvious that participants will trip over them and fall to their deaths. Eschewing the grandiose, sweeping setpieces so often seen in Western dystopian works like The Hunger Games and Maze Runner, Sato opts for ordinary apartment complexes and subway tunnels, plainly decorated and illuminated with sterile white light that contrasts with the red of spilt blood. Marrying the fast-paced hand-to-hand combat of 'Kingdom' with the wanton firearms slaughter of 'I am a Hero' and 'Inuyashiki', the series DELIVERS on the action sequences (my favourite would have to be a certain strobe-lit fight scene in the penultimate episode), though these are sadly somewhat absent from the middle of the series, which suffers slightly by trading off thrills for a slightly fanservicey mystery element. And as shown in the infamous third episode, this is is a series which isn't afraid to pull its punches, driving home the hard premise that anyone can die-and that ultimately, survival is as much a product of pure luck as it is of intellect and stamina.

With the backing of Netflix and his usual high-level polish, Sato's budget and camerawork far exceed the tacky, cheaply-filmed quality of most Jdramas. As usual, he brings in a cast of A-listers, all of whom perform at least admirably. Yamaken was dashing as usual, but the standouts were Tsuchiya Tao and Asahina Aya, who demonstrate a capacity to be excellent action heroines, and Murakami Nijiro, who delivers an enigmatic, smirking performance as the Cheshire Cat of this violent, bizarre Wonderland. Overall, Alice in Borderland is a must-see, and I just hope that the second season keeps the same level of quality.

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Wild ride full of adrenaline

I have not read the manga which was this show based on, but I watched this because of good ratings and I really was not disappointed.
Kento Yamazaki is my favorite actor and he proves he can act really well, all the emotions he was able to show was really amazing to see. The other cast was great as well, I liked especially the cold character of Chishiya played by Nijiro Murakami.
Overall it was a really wild ride, I was on the edge of my seat all the time and there were definitely some moments I really did not expect to happen.
I am looking forward to the second season, really good job and I am curious how the story will continue.

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There Better Be A Season 2

I loved the brain games they had to play. I don't mind gore or sex or any of that which they showed in this. It reminded me a little bit of Battle Royal (2000). Good acting, great FX, interesting story, decent music and great production. I liked Murakami Nijiro's character: Chishiya Shuntaro and hope he's got more screen time in Season 2.

The reason I'm not giving it a 10/10 is because there better be a Season 2 or else the ending makes me mad. There were some scenes that were irrelevant or not really needed. IF Arisu and Usagi are to become more than friends or partners of the game, then the writers need to make that clearer in Season 2.

Overall I binge watched this show. I've rewatched it a few times too!

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Hit and Miss

Jumping into this show, I had no idea how it would turn out to be. I only started watching it after getting many suggestions to do so. I first thought that it was some fantasy series where the protagonist gets teleported to another realm to fight monsters and stuff, but to my surprise, it was quite the opposite. Here, you don't get to see a lighthearted magical story but a dark and twisted one. One that doesn't shy away from showing the true colours of human nature. one that is so gruesome and unforgiving of the fact that a person would go to any lengths in order to survive. While that doesn't apply to everyone, of course, some may not be interested in throwing others down for their own survival, but a large number of people surely won't be eager to sacrifice their own lives in order to save others. And that is exactly what is depicted in this series. How almost all the people want to survive because they have dreams, ambitions, loved ones waiting for them, unfulfilled promises, or just because they value their lives. 
 
Throughout the show, it stays true to its initial concept. I really liked some of the game levels because I got to learn from them, especially "four of diamonds." Once you get comfortable with the characters, you realize how unpredictable the show actually is. Arisu's character development was impressive. His wit and analysis were extraordinary and would amaze me. I also liked Ann's and Kuina's characters. Kuina's background story was touching and excellently put together. 
 
But these are about the only good things I can say about the series. I did not find the show exceptionally good or extraordinary. It was kind of frustrating at a few places for me. People's obsession with surviving at any cost was kind of stupid for me because of my beliefs. And it gets overwhelming at times. There is no benefit to living longer if it's going to be full of regrets or traumas from killing innocent people, as is also potrayed in the series.
So, I couldn't really get attached to this series because the whole concept strikes against my principles. Regardless of that, the show just couldn't get my attention as well as some others have. There weren't any moments where I was thrilled or kept wondering what was going to happen next. It is a highly rated show, and I do not question its ratings. It's nice that people got to enjoy it, but I guess it just wasn't my cup of tea.
 
 
 
 

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This is was "Squid Game" was trying to be to be honest. I know both shows are different in terms of story and motivation, but I just enoyed this so much more than SG. This was dark and depressing yet entertaining and exciting. The games are completely unhinged and scary and I think I wouln't survive a day in Borderland because wow. I really liked the actors and their characters. Fan favorites such as Usagi and Kuina were just amazing queens, but I also think that Arisu deserves some credit. I feel like he is a little underrated in his own show. Chishiya was an unhinged 5-minutes craft king and Niragi may look hot but he really isn't. It's crazy how some characters just aren't redeemable, but that is what makes him interesting in the first place. An overall super entertaing, scary show that I very much enjoyed and I deffo would rewatch because the cinametography alone was stunning.

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At the time when I really wanted to watch Alice in Borderland, something happened before

Episode 1-2 spoilers (Read carefully):

The times when I saw it on my Netflix feed on Netflix, I wondered if I was going to watch it or not because I wasn't interested in watching Alice in Borderland, because I was thinking that I might see a bad ending but the 2 years ago has passed, presents days. I didn't hesitate to watch him to see what would actually happen in his story. After I watched episode 1-2, I wanted to give a spoiler but just a taste so as not to tell others too much. A player (villain) chases him or calls him like a pig or buffalo, because I don't know. When I saw Chishiya doing nothing but staring at the players who ran and hid. Then they also asked Usagi, who is really good at parkour, to climb the (I don't know what it's called). Then they meet Arisu (Kento Yamazaki) and Chishiya (Nijirō Murakami) who correctly guessed the real exit door. When the enemy (villain) shot, Arisu shouted that the real exit door was on the 2nd floor and sent the others to escape. Until then, Arisu, Usagi and Chishiya survive the game.

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...

the production was good, I can't complain .
I also say that the performance was incredible, it would be a sin if I complained.

I love the actors, I loved the characters.

Of course, not everything is perfect, I can't lie, but what a drama that doesn't have a single flaw.

So in conclusion, I recommend...

I say it's worth watching, maybe it's bad for some, but for me it was good.

This is just my opinion, you better watch it and have your own opinion.

I don't know what to say, because I think everyone has their own opinion.

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The most game drama ever!!

Love the games in Alice in Borderland. This is way better than the "mickey mouse" games shown in Squid Games.

Each episodes the games are quite unique. The cast is incredible young and it a superb job in their role.

In the carefree, pre-pandemic Before Times, escape rooms were all the rage as fun group activities, where people had to solve a puzzle or mystery, or complete a series of tasks, in order to escape. Alice in Borderland, a hugely entertaining new Netflix series from Japan, takes that concept to a whole new level, transforming Tokyo into an alternate dimension called "Borderland."

The Netflix adaptation follows the same basic premise, with a few minor tweaks—most notably, the central characters are young adults rather than high schoolers.

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