Alice in Borderland (TV series)

Alice in Borderland
Promotional release poster
Japanese	今際の国のアリス
Genre	Science fiction Thriller Drama
Based on	Alice in Borderland by Haro Aso
Written by	Yoshiki Watabe Yasuko Kuramitsu Shinsuke Sato
Directed by	Shinsuke Sato
Starring	Kento Yamazaki Tao Tsuchiya Yūki Morinaga Keita Machida Ayame Misaki Nijirō Murakami Yūtarō Watanabe Sho Aoyagi Ayaka Miyoshi Dori Sakurada Aya Asahina Shuntarō Yanagi Mizuki Yoshida Kina Yazaki Tsuyoshi Abe Nobuaki Kaneko Riisa Naka Tomohisa Yamashita Ayumi Tanida Hayato Isomura Kai Inowaki Katsuya Maiguma Honami Satō Yuri Tsunematsu Chihiro Yamamoto Jun Hashimoto Aimi Satsukawa Wakato Kanematsu
Composers	Yutaka Yamada Benson Taylor (Songs)
Country of origin	Japan
Original language	Japanese
No. of seasons	2
No. of episodes	16 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producer	Kaata Sakamoto
Producer	Akira Morii
Cinematography	Taro Kawazu
Editors	Tsuyoshi Imai Shoukichi Kaneda
Camera setup	Multi-camera
Running time	41–80 minutes
Production company	Robot Communications Inc.
Original release
Network	Netflix
Release	December 10, 2020 (2020-12-10) – present

Alice in Borderland (Japanese: 今際の国のアリス, Hepburn: Imawa no Kuni no Arisu) is a Japanese science fiction thriller drama television series based on the manga of the same name by Haro Aso. The series is directed by Shinsuke Sato. It stars Kento Yamazaki and Tao Tsuchiya as allies trapped in an empty, parallel version of Tokyo, forced to compete as players in dangerous, sadistic games. The type and difficulty of each game is represented by playing cards based on French suites and the games are used to extend their "visas" that, if expired, result in the player's execution by lasers shot from the sky.

The series' first season was announced in July 2019 and filmed from August to December 2019. Set locations included Shibuya districts and a green screen studio replica of Shibuya Crossing. The show's visual effects were produced in an international collaboration between Japan's Digital Frontier and teams from Singapore, the United States, and India. The musical score was composed by Yutaka Yamada, who had collaborated with Sato.

The first season premiered on the Netflix streaming service on December 10, 2020, and received positive reviews from critics, who praised the action sequences, direction, and acting. They compared the show to many entries in the survival genre, including the films Battle Royale (2000) and Cube (1997). The first season's strong performance and high viewership in many countries resulted in Netflix renewing the series two weeks after its premiere; the second season was released on December 22, 2022. On September 27, 2023, it was renewed for a third season, set to premiere in September 2025.

Cast and characters

Main

• Kento Yamazaki as Ryōhei Arisu:
  A video game-obsessed man who "doesn't fit in with his family". He teams up with Usagi while in the Borderlands and later develops romantic feelings for her.
• Tao Tsuchiya as Yuzuha Usagi:
  A mountain climber who was transported into the empty city of Tokyo shortly after the death of her father, whom she deeply respected. She teams up with Arisu while in the Borderlands and later develops romantic feelings for him.
• Nijirō Murakami as Shuntarō Chishiya:
  A mysterious, quiet, and sly player who teams up with Kuina to steal Hatter's deck of cards, believing that a full deck would transport them out of the empty city. He later becomes interested in Arisu and Usagi after helping them escape a game of "tag". Before arriving in the Borderlands, he was a medical student.
• Ayaka Miyoshi as Rizuna Ann:
  An executive member of "the Beach" who wins difficult games through rational thinking, later becoming an important ally and friend to Arisu and his group. Before arriving in the Borderlands, she was a forensic scientist for the police.
• Aya Asahina as Hikari Kuina:
  A close friend of Chishiya, whom she helps steal Hatter's deck of cards. A former clothing shop clerk, Kuina is revealed to be transgender in a flashback in episode 7, in which she was disowned by her father.
• Dori Sakurada as Suguru Niragi:
  A young yet dangerous member of "the Beach". He is described as being "aggressive due to his complicated past" and is part of "the Militants". Before arriving in the Borderlands, he was often bullied by other students at his high school.

Recurring

• Yūki Morinaga as Chōta Segawa:
  A highly religious IT technician and friend of Arisu and Karube. Chōta severely burns his leg while participating in a game titled "Dead or Alive", and as a result, slows down his friends while recovering. In season 2, he makes many appearances in flashbacks, and in the last episode, he and Karube encourage Arisu to enjoy his life and live it to the fullest.
• Keita Machida as Daikichi Karube:
  A bartender and close friend to Arisu and Chōta. Before being transported into the empty city, Karube was preparing to propose to a woman he worked with at a bar, who happened to be his boss's lover. In season 2, he makes many appearances in flashbacks, and in the last episode, he and Chota encourage Arisu to enjoy his life and live it to the fullest.
• Sho Aoyagi as Morizono Aguni:
  A strong fighter and Hatter's best friend, Aguni is first introduced as an important member of "the Beach". He is in charge of a violent group named "the Militants". After leaving the Beach, he becomes an important ally to Arisu towards the end of the face-card games.
• Nobuaki Kaneko as Takeru Danma / Hatter:
  The leader and founder of "the Beach", a hotel inhabited by dozens of players. His main goal is to collect all the playing cards given to players for winning games. After his death in season 1, he often appears as a ghost to Aguni during the events of season 2.
• Riisa Naka as Mira Kanō:
  A mysterious woman with an "elegant presence", and an executive member of "the Beach". She is revealed to be the Queen of Hearts in the second season and the last enemy of Arisu and Usagi in the Borderlands.
• Yūtarō Watanabe as Kōdai Tatta:
  A former car mechanic who is saved by Arisu during a game and later becomes a member of "the Beach"; in season 2, he joins Arisu's group. Before arriving in the Borderlands, his mistake caused his co-worker to lose a hand.
• Kina Yazaki as Momoka Inoue:
  A member of "the Beach", a 'game dealer', and Asahi's best friend.
• Tsuyoshi Abe as Keiichi Kuzuryū:
  An executive member of "the Beach". In the second season, he is revealed to be the King of Diamonds, and Chishiya participates in his game. Before arriving in the Borderlands, he was a lawyer who was dissatisfied with the outlook of human life and the morality of others, particularly those in positions of power.
• Yūhei Ōuchida as Takuma:
  An injured player in the Four of Clubs game: Distance. In a flashback, he was revealed to have helped Kuzuryū in a game.

Season 1

• Shuntarō Yanagi as Takatora Samura / the Last Boss:
  A strange man and dangerous member of "the Beach", the Last Boss has his face covered in tattoos and carries around a katana to intimidate members. He is also part of "the Militants"
• Ayame Misaki as Saori Shibuki:
  The first person Arisu and his friends encounter while in the deserted city. At first, Shibuki is presented as an experienced player who helps the group get past their first game. However, she is later revealed to be manipulative in order to get what she wants.
• Mizuki Yoshida as Asahi Kujō:
  A member of "the Beach", a 'game dealer', and Momoka's best friend.

Season 2

• Tomohisa Yamashita as Ginji Kyuma:
  A band frontman and the King of Clubs, who is challenged by Arisu's group in the game "Osmosis".
• Ryōhei Shima as Sogo Shitara:
  A former member of Kyuma's band and his teammate in the Osmosis game.
• Alisa Urahama as Uta Kisaragi:
  A former member of Kyuma's band and his teammate in the Osmosis game.
• Eishin Hayashida as Takumi Maki:
  A former member of Kyuma's band and his teammate in the Osmosis game.
• Eita Okuno as Goken Kanzaki:
  A former member of Kyuma's band and his teammate in the Osmosis game.
• Hayato Isomura as Sunato Banda:
  A serial killer who participates in the Jack of Hearts game with Chishiya and decides to stay in Borderlands at the end of season 2.
• Katsuya Maiguma as Oki Yaba:
  A con man who participates in the Jack of Hearts game with Chishiya and decides to stay in Borderlands at the end of season 2.
• Kai Inowaki as Enji Matsushita:
  A sly young man who is later revealed to be the Jack of Hearts in the prison game with Chishiya.
• Honami Satō as Kotoko Shiga:
  A woman who participates in the Jack of Hearts game with Chishiya.
• Yuzuki Akiyama as Meisa Tokui:
  A woman who participates in the Jack of Hearts game with Chishiya.
• Yūsaku Mori as Ippei Oki:
  A timid man who participates in the Jack of Hearts game with Chishiya.
• Yuri Tsunematsu as Akane Heiya:
  A high school girl skilled in archery who works with Aguni after losing her foot in the Seven of Spades game.
• Ayumi Tanida as Isao Shirabi:
  The King of Spades, whose game involves him shooting players on sight. Before arriving in the Borderlands, he was a mercenary.
• Chihiro Yamamoto as Risa:
  A highly athletic woman who is the Queen of Spades and the main opponent in the game "Checkmate".
• Aina Yamada as Urumi Akamaki:
  A sly, cunning woman who participates in the Jack of Hearts game with Chishiya.
• Jun Hashimoto as Benzo Yashige:
  A man who participates in the King of Diamonds game with Chishiya.
• Aimi Satsukawa as Hinako Daimon:
  A woman who participates in the King of Diamonds game with Chishiya.
• Wakato Kanematsu as Takashi Asuma:
  A man who participates in the King of Diamonds game with Chishiya.
• Miyu Yagyu as Nozomi:
  A woman who befriends Usagi and a child, Kota.

Episodes

Season	Episodes		Originally released
1	8		December 10, 2020 (2020-12-10)
2	8		December 22, 2022 (2022-12-22)
3	8		September 2025 (2025-09)

Season 1

No. overall	Episode	Directed by	Written by	Original release date
1	Episode 1	Shinsuke Sato	Yoshiki Watabe, Yasuko Kuramitsu, & Shinsuke Sato	December 10, 2020 (2020-12-10)
In Tokyo, video game-obsessed Arisu hangs out with his friends Chōta and Karube. After causing a disturbance in Shibuya Crossing, the three hide from police in the station bathroom and reemerge to find the city deserted. At night, they follow a billboard's instructions to a "game arena", where they find a stack of phones displaying the game's difficulty level, indicated by a playing card. They are joined by a high school girl and a businesswoman named Shibuki, who warns them that once a player enters an arena, they cannot leave, as a laser will kill them if they try. In this three-of-clubs difficulty game, titled "Dead or Alive", the group must enter one of two doors within a time limit: one leads to another room with the same choice, while the other leads to certain death. The original trio and Shibuki survive, but Chōta is badly burned. Outside, they are each given "visas" that must be extended through continued play, or they will expire, resulting in execution.
2	Episode 2	Shinsuke Sato	Yoshiki Watabe, Yasuko Kuramitsu, & Shinsuke Sato	December 10, 2020 (2020-12-10)
With no way to escape the abandoned city, Arisu and Karube decide to play another game to extend their visas, leaving Shibuki to tend to the injured Chōta. They find a new game arena in an apartment complex and meet several players, including the agile Usagi, the friendly Tatta, the gruff Aguni, and the sly, mysterious Chishiya. Arisu also learns the meaning of each card: spades represent physical games, clubs are team-based, diamonds involve wits and intellect, and hearts focus on trust and betrayal. In the five-of-spades game titled "Tag", players must evade two armed attackers while searching for a room containing two buttons that must be pressed simultaneously to stop a bomb from detonating. Arisu, Karube, Chishiya, and Usagi work together to find the room and win, though Arisu later feels guilty when the attackers are executed. Karube discovers a radio message instructing them to return to the "Beach".
3	Episode 3	Shinsuke Sato	Yoshiki Watabe, Yasuko Kuramitsu, & Shinsuke Sato	December 10, 2020 (2020-12-10)
Karube tells the group about the radio message. To extend Shibuki and Chōta's visas, they head to a game arena in a botanical garden, where they enter a seven-of-hearts difficulty game titled "Hide-and-seek" as the only participants; they soon learn that only one can survive. Equipped with facial recognition headsets, they are assigned animal identities, with three players as "sheep" and one as the "wolf". Players switch animals whenever they make eye contact, with the wolf ultimately winning and the sheep dying. After a long struggle, Arisu becomes the wolf and searches for his friends, who have decided to sacrifice themselves for him. They communicate via the headsets, spending their final moments saying goodbye; Arisu watches in horror as they are killed.
4	Episode 4	Shinsuke Sato	Yoshiki Watabe, Yasuko Kuramitsu, & Shinsuke Sato	December 10, 2020 (2020-12-10)
In a flashback, Usagi is devastated after her mountaineer father commits suicide following public doubt about his Everest climb. In the present, she finds a despondent Arisu and decides to help him. They enter a game arena inside a bus in an underpass and are joined by three other players. For the four-of-clubs game titled "Distance", they are told only to "reach the goal". Believing the goal is at the end of the tunnel, Arisu, Usagi, and two others run toward it, leaving behind a player with a sprained leg. Midway, they are attacked by a panther, which kills one player. At the tunnel's end, Arisu runs to save the injured player, planning to return on a motorbike. However, upon reaching the bus, he notices it has the word "goal" written on it, realizing they had been running away from the goal. Water begins flooding the underpass from the tunnel's end, and while the other player is killed, Usagi reaches the bus and survives with Arisu and the injured player.
5	Episode 5	Shinsuke Sato	Yoshiki Watabe, Yasuko Kuramitsu, & Shinsuke Sato	December 10, 2020 (2020-12-10)
Arisu and Usagi, searching for the "Beach", secretly follow a group of players with similar wrist tags to a resort filled with players. They are captured and brought before the leader, Hatter, who confirms they have arrived at the "Beach". Hatter explains that their mission is to collect all the playing cards, which they believe will allow them to leave the city once complete, though the face cards have not yet appeared. Arisu and Usagi are assigned to join groups of players to collect the remaining cards. Later, Hatter reveals to a group of Beach executive members, including Arisu, who participated in a game as a "test" from Ann, that the only remaining number card is the "ten of hearts".
6	Episode 6	Shinsuke Sato	Yoshiki Watabe, Yasuko Kuramitsu, & Shinsuke Sato	December 10, 2020 (2020-12-10)
To extend his visa, Hatter leaves to complete a game but is brought back to the Beach dead, with his henchmen claiming he died during the game. Niragi, a vicious Beach militant, forces the executives to vote Aguni in as the new leader, and Aguni receives the code to a safe containing the collected cards. Chishiya decodes the safe and convinces Arisu to steal the deck. However, it is revealed to have been a ruse for Chishiya to find the real safe, and Arisu is caught. Niragi confines Arisu to ensure he dies when his visa expires and torments Usagi, intending to rape her. Chishiya retrieves the cards from the real safe. He and his accomplice, Kuina, try to leave with the deck but are stopped as a wall of lasers rises around the Beach to prevent anyone from leaving. An announcement summons all players to the lobby, revealing the Beach to be the arena for a "Witch Hunt" game, with the difficulty marked ten of hearts.
7	Episode 7	Shinsuke Sato	Yoshiki Watabe, Yasuko Kuramitsu, & Shinsuke Sato	December 10, 2020 (2020-12-10)
A girl named Momoka is found stabbed to death, and the players are tasked with identifying the "witch" who murdered her and throwing them onto a bonfire to win. With only two hours to identify the killer, Aguni and his militants decide to kill everyone to collect the last card. As dozens are murdered, Usagi teams up with a group of players and rescues Arisu. Ann discovers that Hatter was murdered and searches for fingerprints on Momoka's body. The resort is set on fire, Kuina kills the dangerous militant known as the Last Boss, and Chishiya severely injures Niragi. After assessing the game's events, Arisu identifies the witch; Ann also learns the witch's identity but is knocked unconscious by Aguni's militants.
8	Episode 8	Shinsuke Sato	Yoshiki Watabe, Yasuko Kuramitsu, & Shinsuke Sato	December 10, 2020 (2020-12-10)
In a flashback, Momoka and her friend Asahi wander through the empty city, recording videos on a cellphone. In the present, Arisu confronts Aguni who, believing he is the "witch", confesses to shooting Hatter in self-defense. Arisu reveals the real witch to be Momoka, who killed herself. As Aguni engages Niragi, who still intends to kill everyone, the remaining players throw Momoka onto the bonfire, ending the game. Chishiya collects the final card. The next day, Arisu and Usagi watch videos recorded by Asahi, who had sacrificed herself during the game. In the videos, Asahi and Momoka reveal they are "dealers", players who organize games to extend their visas. One video shows them descending into an underground lair for "gamemasters". Arisu, Usagi, Chishiya, and Kuina locate the lair, only to find the "gamemasters" dead, and learn they were also players. Mira, one of the Beach's executives, appears on screens around the city and introduces new games to collect face cards. The four wait for the king of spades game to begin in Shibuya Crossing.

Season 2

No. overall	Episode	Directed by	Written by	Original release date
9	Episode 1	Shinsuke Sato	Yasuko Kuramitsu & Shinsuke Sato	December 22, 2022 (2022-12-22)
The game begins when a cloaked gunman begins shooting players indiscriminately. The game arena spans the entire city, with a blimp displaying the king of spades card trailing the gunman. Arisu theorizes that to return to the real world, they must collect all the face cards, as they did with the pip cards. Arisu, Usagi, Kuina, and Tatta hide together, while Chishiya and Ann flee separately. Usagi, still grieving her father's death, confesses to Arisu that she does not wish to return to the real world. To extend their visas, Arisu and the group enter the king-of-clubs game and are joined by a surviving Niragi. The King of Clubs, Kyuma, introduces himself and his team as the "citizens of the country".
10	Episode 2	Shinsuke Sato	Yasuko Kuramitsu & Shinsuke Sato	December 22, 2022 (2022-12-22)
Flashbacks reveal that Kyuma and his team were a rock band before the games. In the present, Kyuma explains that all face-card games are death matches against the respective card's citizens. The king of clubs game, titled "Osmosis", involves players obtaining points via "battling" (touching an opponent, with the higher-scoring player taking 500 points), touching designated "items" scattered in shipping containers, and touching the opposing team's base—unless blocked by a defender. The team with the most points by two hours wins. Arisu's team initially takes the lead but is caught off guard by Kyuma's team's fearlessness and willingness to sacrifice themselves. As Kyuma's team takes a 500-point lead, Arisu desperately searches for more points while Niragi, feeling hopeless, attacks Usagi.
11	Episode 3	Shinsuke Sato	Yasuko Kuramitsu & Shinsuke Sato	December 22, 2022 (2022-12-22)
Kyuma and Arisu, who have come to understand each other, talk as the countdown nears its end. Arisu realizes that Kyuma and his team were once regular players and fears this means that clearing the games will not allow them to return home. He then asks to shake Kyuma's hand, causing Kyuma to lose points and shifting the lead to Arisu's team. It is revealed that Tatta severed his hand to transfer his points bracelet to Arisu, allowing him to win one final battle. Kyuma and his team peacefully accept their deaths, while Tatta dies from his injuries. Niragi leaves the group. Elsewhere, Chishiya participates in the jack of hearts game "Solitary Confinement" in a prison, in which players must correctly guess the playing card suit displayed on the back of their immovable collars with others' help to avoid execution, while identifying and defeating the Jack of Hearts, who is secretly one of them.
12	Episode 4	Shinsuke Sato	Yasuko Kuramitsu & Shinsuke Sato	December 22, 2022 (2022-12-22)
Chishiya and two other players—a serial killer and a con man—identify the Jack of Hearts, Enji. The two plan to torture him for information, but Enji commits suicide, ending the game. Kuina leaves Arisu and Usagi to search for Ann and Chishiya. Arisu speculates that since all citizens were once players, clearing the games might only lead to becoming one of them. While hunting for food, he and Usagi discover a slaughtered community outside Tokyo, attacked by the King of Spades, and watch a film where a woman reveals the "fireworks" seen before their arrival were not fireworks. They are ambushed by the King of Spades, forcing them to split up. Arisu is saved by Aguni and his companion, Heiya.
13	Episode 5	Shinsuke Sato	Yasuko Kuramitsu & Shinsuke Sato	December 22, 2022 (2022-12-22)
In a flashback, Heiya is the sole survivor of her first game, the seven of spades "Boiling Death", losing her leg in the process. In the present, Arisu teams up with Aguni and Heiya to ambush the King of Spades, but their plan fails, and he is separated from them. Ann hikes beyond the city, only to find it enclosed by mountains. Kuina survives the jack of spades game but struggles alone. Usagi helps a young boy whose visa is expiring by bringing him into the queen of spades game. Arisu also enters and reunites with Usagi. The game, "Checkmate", requires players to tag opponents to switch them to their team, with victory going to the team with the most members at the end. Usagi's team begins to lose as more players choose to stay with the Queen of Spades.
14	Episode 6	Shinsuke Sato	Yasuko Kuramitsu & Shinsuke Sato	December 22, 2022 (2022-12-22)
Usagi confronts the opposing players, asking if they truly prefer to remain in the games rather than hold out for a chance to return home and start over. Her words convince them to work together, winning the game. Afterwards, Arisu and Usagi find hot springs in the remains of a stadium, where they bathe and share a kiss. Meanwhile, Chishiya and three others enter "Balance Scale", a mathematics-based logic game against Kuzuryu, the King of Diamonds and former Beach executive. Chishiya realizes Kuzuryu has been grappling with the question of whether all lives hold equal value. To test him, he gives Kuzuryu the chance to kill him, but Kuzuryu ultimately decides to let Chishiya win.
15	Episode 7	Shinsuke Sato	Yasuko Kuramitsu & Shinsuke Sato	December 22, 2022 (2022-12-22)
Kuina and Ann reunite in the queen of clubs game and survive together. With two face-card games left, players gather in Shibuya. Niragi forces Arisu and Chishiya into a gunfight, during which Arisu shoots Niragi, and Chishiya is wounded while saving Usagi. The King of Spades arrives. While Arisu sets a trap, Usagi, Kuina, Ann, Aguni, and Heiya engage the king of spades but are defeated one by one. Aguni and Arisu finally manage to disable him with an explosive, and Aguni delivers the final shot. With their allies gravely injured, Arisu and Usagi proceed to the last game—the queen of hearts.
16	Episode 8	Shinsuke Sato	Yasuko Kuramitsu & Shinsuke Sato	December 22, 2022 (2022-12-22)
Mira is revealed as the Queen of Hearts, and her game, "Croquet", only requires Arisu to complete three rounds without quitting, regardless of the outcome. Mira reveals that she designed the "Hide-and-seek" game, enraging Arisu, who restrains himself after realizing that killing Mira would prevent the game from ending. Mira continues to manipulate Arisu psychologically, causing him to hallucinate that he is in a mental hospital, with her as his psychiatrist urging him to quit. Usagi snaps him out of the illusion by cutting her wrist. Moved by their love, Mira completes the croquet game and is executed. With the final game cleared, all surviving players are given a choice: become "permanent residents" or simply decline. Those who decline wake up in Tokyo as survivors of a meteorite crash. Arisu's brother reveals his heart stopped for one minute. The survivors retain no memories of the Borderland but feel a faint familiarity with each other. Arisu and Usagi meet at a vending machine and decide to walk together. A final shot lingers on a deck of playing cards, focusing on the joker card.

Season 3

No. overall	Episode	Directed by	Written by	Original release date
17	Episode 1	TBD	TBD	September 2025 (2025-09)

Production

Development

On July 16, 2019, Netflix announced that they were creating a live-action adaptation of the manga Alice in Borderland, with Yoshiki Watabe, Yasuko Kuramitsu, and Shinsuke Sato writing the scripts for each episode, and Sato directing in an attempt to make the show appear as "one very, very long film". A few months later, on August 4, Kento Yamazaki and Tao Tsuchiya were cast as the main characters of the series, with the pair appearing as Ryōhei Arisu and Yuzuha Usagi, respectively.

Filming

Keita Machida, Yûki Morinaga, and Kento Yamazaki at the Ashikaga Scramble City Studio, a large replica of the popular Shibuya Crossing

Filming for the series began as early as August 2019, when Yamazaki was spotted during filming in Dōgenzaka, a district of Shibuya on August 8. The following day, crew members were spotted near a store in Fukutomi-cho, located in the city of Yokohama. From September 17 to 20, Yamazaki and Tsuchiya were seen filming in an apartment complex in front of Kita-Suzurandai Station, on the Shintetsu Arima Line, in the city of Kobe. According to the production company Robot Communications, the show's script was revised to "match the building layout". A scene from the first episode featuring Yamazaki's character, Arisu, meeting his friends Chōta and Karube near Tokyo's busy Shibuya Crossing, was originally supposed to be filmed inside a Starbucks. However, due to the complexity of a glass-covered set, the scene took place in front of a sign outside Shibuya Station. Furthermore, a scene taking place inside Shibuya Station, in which the main characters enter a bathroom and reemerge to an empty Tokyo, was shot in a four-minute continuous take. Extras were recruited for the series from August 9 to December 11, in various cities. The creator of the manga the series is based on, Haro Aso, was allowed to visit various sets. Filming took place in several cities and concluded in December 2019.

Filming for the second season wrapped in March 2022.

Visual effects

During filming, scenes focusing on the empty city of Tokyo were primarily shot using special effects and green screens, with Sato explaining that with the help of his assistant director, he would run into the middle of the intersection of Shibuya Crossing with a small camera "to figure out which parts to actually build and which parts to CGI". Using the Ashikaga Scramble City Studio, a large set 100 kilometers from Tokyo constructed for the series and the film Detective Chinatown 3 (which was filmed during the same period), scenes featuring Shibuya Crossing were filmed using mainly green screens, with "everything but the road and the ticket gate at the east entrance [being] produced with computer graphics". To keep the scenes "authentic", visual effects director Atsushi Doi recreated the shadows of the Tokyu Building where they would normally fall. A scene in episode 4, which showed an underpass being flooded with water, was created with the help of previsualizations, allowing the crew to "experiment with different elements before the actual shoot". The panther that appears in that same episode was created using visual effects developed after the crew visited multiple zoos. Additionally, Academy Award winner Erik-Jan de Boer supervised the production of the tiger featured in episode 5, which was created by Anibrain, an animation studio in India. Post-credit visual effects were added in with the help of Japan's Digital Frontier, who worked alongside teams from Singapore, the United States, and India in an international collaboration.

Music

The score for Alice in Borderland was composed entirely by Yutaka Yamada, who had previously worked with Sato on Bleach (2018) and Kingdom (2019). Produced by Kohei Chida, the music was performed by the FILMharmonic Orchestra of Prague. The song "Good Times", by Jan Erik Nilsson, was featured various times throughout the show.

Marketing and release

On September 18, 2020, Netflix released a teaser video revealing that Alice in Borderland would debut in 190 countries on the platform on December 10, 2020. On October 24, 2020, six set images were released to promote the series. Four days later, an official trailer was issued, along with a poster and a list of the main cast. According to various critics, the first season of Alice in Borderland covered 31 chapters of the original manga, leaving 33 untouched. The first season came out on December 10, and in its first few weeks, it "ranked in the top ten most-watched shows" on the platform in nearly 40 territories, including in Malaysia, Hong Kong, the Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, and Vietnam. Overall, the series did better in countries located in Asia and Europe than those in North America. On December 24, 2020, Netflix renewed the series for a second season, two weeks after the first one had been released.

On October 7, 2020, Haro Aso, the creator of the original manga the series is based on, announced plans to "celebrate" and promote the Netflix series by introducing a new manga, titled Alice in Borderland Retry on Weekly Shōnen Sunday. Launched on October 14 (#46, 2020 of Weekly Shōnen Sunday), the first volume of the manga tankobon was shipped out on December 11, one day after Alice in Borderland premiered. The manga series ended on January 20, 2021 (#8, 2021 of the magazine). The second and final volume of tankobon was released on February 18, 2021. The second season of Alice in Borderland premiered worldwide on December 22, 2022.

On September 27, 2023, the series was renewed for a third season. In February 2025, Netflix announced that it would be released in September 2025.

Reception

Following its release, Alice in Borderland received mostly positive reviews from critics, who applauded its cinematography, editing, use of graphic violence, visuals, and the performances of Kento Yamazaki and Tao Tsuchiya, but left mixed opinions on its advancement without special focus on character development and its story in general, particularly in the second half. On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the first season of the show holds an approval rating of 80% based on ten reviews, with an average rating of 6.8/10. A month after its release, the first season had accumulated 18 million households in viewership. On Rotten Tomatoes, the second season of Alice in Borderland holds an approval rating of 89% based on nine reviews, with an average rating of 7.1/10.

From The Japan Times, James Hadfield gave praise to Sato's directing but criticized the characters, stating that "few of the cast leave much impression, though Tsuchiya makes for an effective action heroine, and Nijirô Murakami has some fun as a smirking loner." Writing for Ready Steady Cut, Jonathon Wilson gave a generally positive review, lauding the series for skipping over "exposition and careful backstory-building" and "just getting straight to it". Wilson also compared the series positively to the Japanese film Battle Royale and the American horror film Saw. Ars Technica journalist Jennifer Ouellette called the show "emotionally intense" and compared its games to those found in the books Ready Player One and Lord of the Flies, and the 1997 film Cube. Salon's Melanie McFarland compared the series to the CBS All Access miniseries The Stand, stating that Alice in Borderland "handles the mechanics of introducing its characters more effectively and it doesn't throw off the audience by leaning heavily on flashbacks [...] but unlike "The Stand," the "before" profiles aren't extensive to the point of dragging on the story's progress." From Yahoo! News, Lim Yian Lu highly praised the series for its "suspenseful plot", stating that it "will keep you entertained and yearning for more despite its grisly and gory scenes." Writing for the Anime News Network, Theron Martin gave the series a C+ and accorded mixed feedback to the show's production, score, general storyline, and acting, while stating that it gives a "modest amount of entertainment" for its runtime. After watching the first episode and praising it for its tone, soundtrack, and ability to "shift gears so fast", the crew at Decider recommended viewers to stream the show.

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Category	Nominee(s)	Result	Ref.
2021	3rd Asia Contents Awards	Best Creative	Alice in Borderland	Nominated
		Creative Beyond Border		Won
		Best OTT original		Nominated
		Technical Achievement		Nominated
		Best Actress	Tao Tsuchiya	Nominated
	Asian Academy Creative Awards	Best Cinematography	Taro Kawazu	Won
		Best Visual or Special VFX in TV Series or Feature Film	Alice in Borderland	Won
		Best Direction (Fiction)	Shinsuke Sato	Won

External links

• Alice in Borderland on Netflix
• Alice in Borderland at IMDb