Alice in Borderland (2020)

An adrenaline rush coming of age type of story

This drama was nothing spectacular in terms of story but it had its stimulating & intoxicating moments...
Worldclass in terms of production; the opening credits were stupendous and the scenery was stunning. Such things are naturally to be expected from a Nextflix Original.
The setting was done on a huge scale in a fake town, where roads, and some structures were solely built for the sake of this project. That entire empty Shibuya crossing sequence was breathtakingly beautiful!

The dogfight, battle royale mindgame concepts were nothing new in the competitive death match genre. But surely, they were thrill-inducing!
The worldbuilding & the game rules were intriguing. This kept me guessing: What will happen next? Who the Game Master is? What will they do to come back to their usual lives?
The drama & suspense had me on the edge of my seat the whole time, the games keep me guessing how they'll end, who will be sacrificed in a cruel & unusual death & how will the next game rules be defined...

Characters:
The title's pun "Alice in Borderland" and the "Alice Illusion" aspect in terms of referential names (Arisu=Alice, Usagi=Bunny, Chisiya=Chesire, Hatter, Doudou, ..) was a good "clin d'oeil" to the masterul literary work.

The NEET MC was definitely the most fleshed out character. His internal struggle & character evolution was well elaborated. Despite his larger-than-life intelligence & gaming skills, he was a relatable flawed character, who went from being presented as a relatively simple & plain-looking young NPC to a rough, battered, determined MC displaying heroic willpower. The strength of his character leveled up by a new found sheer force of will & empathic virtue.

The strong FL character aka "athletic badass action girl" was worth rooting for as a composed, dependable, well-determined, likeable tough cookie.
Both lead characters were memorable, their complicity in/out of battle was symbiotic. Their actor casting choice was also appropriate.

The rest of the characters and their individual backstories were clichéd. Though they had diverse talents, struggles and goals. They were altogether enjoyable to watch.

Cons:
-The live action format is very limiting but this is the best example of a potential anime story being translated extremely well.
-The viewer must overlook the nudity & the gratuitous explicit scenes. That were "just there" where they could have been hinted at subtly instead. This "mature audience appeal" though is expected from Netflix.


Overall:
Although there were no grand "moral lesson" to be had. The whole concept applied the rule of cool really well. The journey was definitely entertaining & gratifying.

10/10 in terms of enjoyment. An enthusiastic 9 out of 10 if everything else is taken into account.

Lire davantage

a solid show...except?

after putting AiB on hold for four months i finally sat down and binged watched it. am i satisfied? id say so. this is one of those dramas you sit and watch for the heck of it and dont feel much attachment to after (if you were a hardcore fan of the manga you may disagree).

this is a solid watch if youre into action, thriller, mystery, or gore content (or if you enjoyed sword art online) and i have nothing bad to say about the plot, acting, or pace. but for a show that focuses on the themes of morality and humanism, it almost... fails to divulge in it? to explain, our characters often ponder about their lives before the games, and a lot of them show remorse for their actions in it, depicting their humanism and morality. we also get to see their lives in the real world: their struggles, relationships, families. but at the same time, the characters seem somewhat superficial, their personalities underdeveloped in exchange for more screentime for gore and bloodlust. now i understand, this show isnt meant to make you question your life choices but i think a good show takes everything into consideration.

for one, it felt like some of our main characters dont get much of a personality outside of their 2d cutouts: arisu is a genius neet rejected by his family, his friends are his moral support, usagi likes climbing rocks with her dad. wouldnt it make more sense for the characters to be more developed and realistic so we can grow more attached to them and experience more of a shock factor if something happens to them? instead, show replaced valuable screen time that couldve been used for a meaningful conversation to allow for emotional growth on sex scenes and gore. not that i particularly mind, but one less dead person wouldnt have affected the body count, but it did take away time from us learning the characters. on the same note, a character that comes in later in the show seems to possess no emotions at all? (i believe his name is chishiya, the blonde one). again, this show focuses so much on humanism but this guy has one facial expression for the entirety of his screen time. he isnt fazed by death, important/shocking discoveries and revelations, or even when standing in a building on fire. this, to me, felt like either lazy characterization or inadequate acting. it was off putting to watch him act nonchalant amidst chaos because real humans dont act like that. at the beginning of the show, i was under the impression that our characters were supposed to feel real. their shock when entering the game world felt- what i would assume to be- accurate, their internal struggle when they had to choose between their lives and the lives of their loved ones was heartwrenching. but why then, are some of the more important characters not more fleshed out? why are the evil deeds done by antagonists done just to be done and we dont see reasoning behind them? this was more prevalent from episode 6 and onwards, where it really lost that humanistic touch.

nonetheless, this isnt the focus on the show. its just things that i noticed after watching it for 8 hours straight. this show is still very solid, and very much worth the watch.

Lire davantage

It's all fun and games until someone dies

If you are planning on watching this show, just be prepared to see a lot of blood, killing, psychological trauma, and gore. I started watching this Jdrama very late into the hype and since I kept having it on my watch list, I gave it a try. It was very entertaining and it really makes you think about the next move of the players.

If you don't want to see any spoilers please skip this review. At first, I thought that Arisu's friends were going to make it to at least halfway through the show or at least that Arisu was going to find a way to save them but I guess that just made it more interesting. I didn't think that the show was going to be that interesting and that it was overhyped but it was totally worth it. Watching the show made me want to read the manga since I know for sure they probably changed some of the details from the original manga.

The acting, I have to say that it was great. I love Arisu's acting and at some point, his acting made me want to be the one solving the games (not really since I, for sure, would die). One actor that I didn't really understand was Chishiya, he was always lurking around in the shadows, just observing and kinda not helping but I guess that was his role. He did help here and there but not as much as I thought, and the betrayal part really made me want to kill him. On the other hand, Sakurada Dori (Niragi) was so good, I mean I have only seen him act in another drama and that was a totally different type of role that he played here. It was great to see him going from the caring and kind acting in Coffee & Vanilla to a crazy and maniac acting in Alice in Borderland. At first, I couldn't believe that it was the same person in those two dramas but A great actor is someone that can do any role.

One thing that really caught my eye was the stories that were revealed for some of the characters during the last few episodes. As for the title, it was very clever to name it Alice in Borderland. Which if you think about it really resembles a lot of Alice in Wonderland. Both main characters went into a different and alternate dimension, they had to play games and think critically about the answers, there was even a [mad] hatter in both and they had cards that in the main story appears. At first, it didn't really connect the dots that Arisu sounds very alike to Alice in English, which was very mindblowing to me when I found out. Overall it was a great drama to see, I really recommend it for anyone that has the stomach to watch it.

Lire davantage

Great story, concept and presentation

Assume that one day you find that all the residents of your city has gone missing. Your busy city got so quiet you can't even imagine to. You are now forces to play games which risks your survival. If you won , you will get to live for some more days but if you lost , you are over. Sounds interesting, is'nt it? Yes it definitely is. This show perfectly delivers us this in a mind blowing way. The games were really interesting and brainer. The games were not all the same , they were different according to the Card you get. I had rated this a full 10/10 but unnecessary adult scenes made me cut a star. Overall it was great and a amazing journey. Highly recommended.

Lire davantage

Messes the viewer's psyche, but also messes its story's logic

This is the second Jdrama that I have ever watched, so I really don't have a solid opinion about their storytelling technique as of now. But based on my "background knowledge" on animes, I have come to conclude that Jdramas, especially for this genre, know how to portray gore and violence well. This show was not an exception.

Fundamentally, it shares the same root as Squid Game in that it is a survival show where morality is often questioned and often times, it's grey. They both focus on how the main lead would push through several challenges/games, and ethical dilemmas along the way, then ultimately survive in the end. However, the best distinctive characteristic for this particular show is that it focuses more on the narrative and its story, rather than the people around said narrative and story (which is not the case for SG). My opinion for SG is that it focused too much on the characters rather than the story, and that is what I loved on its Japanese counterpart.

The best episode for this show has got to be the 3rd episode. I won't be sharing how the events happened for this specific episode, but it was just messed up, to say the least. And it being messed up and its unexpected outcome was just brilliant in the storytelling perspective. I utterly gasped as the credits rolled, and just couldn't properly function for some time.

Moving forward though, there were some illogical events and inconsistencies on its story. The screenwriter was not able to properly grasped the game's complexities, therefore some plot holes appeared here and there. I want to make this review spoiler-free, and to be honest, said inconsistencies are not that obvious on its first watch. But then again, when it is becoming quite prevalent, one would question whether it is really just a coincidence or already an inconsistency.

Furthermore, I was just impressed on the male lead's character development. Arisu (Yamazaki Kento) came a long way from being a wimpy loser into a strategic and mature person. But at the same time, was quite disappointed with the female lead's character development. Usagi (Tsuchiya Tao) fell prey on the "strong FL at first, but became dependent on the ML later on" syndrome, and I was quite disappointed on that. I hope it changes on the 2nd season since the dynamic between them is already great. By the way, I am already predicting a romantic subplot later on.

But, the most obvious letdown here is the plot twist as to who the game master is. I was appalled when the person's identity was revealed at the end. Yes, it was surprising and shocking. But unlike its Korean counterpart, the show did not invested some story and emotions on said person, yet I am hoping that this would be tackled more on the next episodes.

Despite all that, Alice in Borderland (今際の国のアリス) is still better than SG in that it was consistent on the story that it wanted to tell. The gore and violence was much extreme and bloody, which in my opinion, made this series more thrilling and gripping. Each episode was just different, and the level on shock increases as more that I watch this. Still, I just can't visibly omit my criticisms for this series and also can't say that it's miles better than SG. Overall, this Jdrama messes the viewer's psyche, but also messes its story's logic.

Lire davantage

Dubbed Japanese Hunger Games

I watched this after seeing the hype on Netflix and not sure why, it just didn't live up to the hype for me. The first 2 episodes had a great start and after persisting through the next few episodes, i thoroughly enjoyed the final episode.

I honestly wanted to see the storyline move a bit faster in terms of them understanding the reason for the games and looks like we will see much more of this in Season 2.

I haven't seen the manga or anime, but I do really love Liar Game (A similar psychological Japanese drama which i HIGHLY RECOMMEND) and i just felt that liar game was soo much better.

All in all, i still think Netflix did really well in terms of staying true to the anime/manga, so I will look forward to a Season 2, which is hopefully even better than Season 1!!!

Lire davantage

Un drama imperdible que nos regala este 2020.

Todo el mundo estaba hablando de él y la verdad me ganó la curiosidad.

¡Qué buena decisión tomé!

Para ser honesta, la historia no la veo del todo novedosa, porque tiene como "tintes" de lo que son obras como GANTZ, pero aún así, la llevan bastante bien, lo suficiente como para que al final de cada capítulo quieras ver el siguiente; ningún capítulo es relleno, no he leído el manga pero no creo que el Live action sea tan diferente.

El cast es bueno, hay algunos que aparecen muy poco pero cumplen muy bien con su rol, incluso la actriz femenina (Tao), que no es mucho de mi agrado pero debo reconocer que aquí hizo un buen trabajo. Mi única 'queja' sería Yamazaki Kento, que en ocasiones sus expresiones faciales me parecieron sobreactuadas.

Del OST no hay mucho que decir, es 'la cereza del pastel' para terminar de ambientar las escenas a la perfección.

¿Volvería a ver 'AIB"? Definitivamente. Es de esos dramas muy entretenidos, tanto que siento que puedes verla una 2da o 3ra vez como por ejemplo, con amigos o hermanos y la experiencia será igual o mejor al compartir opiniones y teorías.

Como comentario final, debo decirles que si tienen algún tipo de duda con este drama, ya no lo duden más y vayan a verlo ahora mismo, es un drama de calidad inmensa en todos los sentidos, incluso si no eres fan del género o no has visto el manga (como yo), es un drama muy disfrutable para maratonear en estas vacaciones de fin de año.

"Alice in Borderland", un drama imperdible lleno de intensidad que nos regala este difícil 2020.

Lire davantage

Not for the faint hearted

This is the first Japanese drama that I've watched since the classic Ordinary People and Tokyo Love Story. I mostly just watch Chinese drama nowadays, but this one came up in my Netflix recommendation, so I decided to give it a try. Compared to c-dramas, this is very short and I was able to finish it in just one day. It has a 9 scale on a binge-worthiness level, but declines to 2 or 3 on a memorable and re-watch value. The story is interesting and the first four episodes I thought was very good and succeeded in catching my attention and pushing that "watch next" button on Netflix. However, the second part of the show was just so-so and I thought what happens after Arisu arrived at the Beach was weird with the organization, the parties etc were weird and a bit inconsistent and left me with many questions marks, and even after watching the last episode, I still have lots of question marks.This series is definitely not for the faint hearted. There are a lot of blood and violence and I wouldn't recommend it to you if the sight of blood on your screen leaves you feeling queasy. Acting is just sub-par I think. None of the actors or actresses are good in my opinion. They are just so-so actors with unmemorable performance. I don't watch many Japanese drama, so I am not familiar with the actors and actresses, but I am not impressed with their acting.

You might like this if you are a fan of the manga or the actors & actresses and likes gory psychological thriller. As for me? i am only in for the psychological thriller part, but only like 50% of the series, not like The Bad Kids, which I thought was superb from start to finish and still leaves some impression even months after watching The Bad Kids. Acting of the actors and actresses in The Bad Kids are far superior compared with Alice in Borderland.

But, hey, we all have different tastes and opinions.

Lire davantage

Gory thriller!

This is a thriller with some what similar premise to hunger games. However it is more gritty, fast paced with lots and lots of blood. The mysterious game master and brutal games keeps you guessing and pulls you inexorably into this world. I was able to watch it knowing that it is complete fiction. It ended at a great cliff hanger and has been renewed for a second season. Great acting, story and production. It warrants a one time watch if you are able to tolerate gory scenes.
PS: When I watched it on Netflix, I turned off the English audio and watched the original Japanese version with English subtitles. The English audio dubbing felt strange.

Lire davantage

Try to be wise but not enough.

Though there're many aspects of this series that I give low grades, I don't think it's worth my time to scrutinize all of them here as it'll be too much, so I'll just talk a bit only about one point out of the aspect that annoys me the most which is the story. To make this genre works, outsmarting the viewers is the most important. This story already tried to do so, but it was still not wise enough, not thorough enough, not good enough. I'm not satisfied that I foresaw the answers to 3 games plus the overall plot while the characters struggled too much to find them and even intended to overlook some of them so that they could show that they had to struggle. There're a lot more to criticize about the story, but it's too messy to clarify it in a short time and I don't consider this series worth that much of my time.

I think I should also mention that I came to watch this series after watching Squid Game. They both are in the same genre broadcasting one year apart, so it's difficult to not compare them while watching. Squid Game is smarter, more unexpectant, more succinct. There's much clearer of the system design of the story's circumstance thus more convincing. The editing is more skilled. The production as a whole brings a new taste to its own genre. It's more surprising and exciting to watch. Though I'm not that satisfied with the acting of Squid Game esp. in the early episodes, when comparing to this one, Squid Game is still more impressive.

Lire davantage