I admit that I'm a sucker for post apocalyptic series, so it should come as no surprise that I gravitated to Netflix's latest adaptation of the manga 'Alice in Borderlands' by Haro Aso. It's a rather refreshing take on the premise and interweaves characters from Alice in Wonderland. The story begins in the bustling heart of Tokyo where our main protagonist Ryohei Arisu (Kento Yamazaki), our Alice, meets up with his best friend's Chota Segawa-carpenter (Yuki Morinaga) and Daikichi Karube-walrus (Keita Machida).Arisu is a gamer with no direction in life. Chota works in a deadend IT job. Karube, the toughest of the three works as a bartender and is the voice of reason of the trio. They cause a minor ruckus in the middle of a busy intersection and run into a restroom cubicle in the subway to hide from the cops. Whilst hiding, the power goes out and everything changes. The whole city is deserted. And so begins the madness. Our group discovers that they are somehow transported to an alternate world where they have to play games to earn a visa, that is if you survive the game. The games are based on a deck of playing cards! The symbols determine the type of games. As an example if a heart card is drawn, the players are pitted against one another and there can only be one winner. The number of symbols on the said drawn cards determine the difficulty level, as well as the number of 'free' visa off days before you have to play again. So what happens when your visa expires? Well you get dead via laser beam through your head!
As with all post apocalyptic themed series, this show relies on shock and gore, so I would classify it under the horror genre. And you get that in spades. And much like TWD, the characters all have crosses to bear and must each find their inner strength, the reason to live, and finally to escape the madness. Arisu makes it his quest to find out who the game masters are, and if there is a way to get home. Mixed rather brilliantly into this is character parallels from Alice in Wonderland. Key players that we encounter through Arisu's journey's include the first person they meet Saori Shibuki (Ayame Misaki), Yuzuha Usagi -White Rabbit (Tao Tsuchiya), who would later becomes Arisu strength and partner, Kuina-the smoking caterpillar (Asahina Aya), Shuntaro Chishiya-Cheshire Cat (Nijiro Murakami), Tatta, archer Heya and members of the Beach, Ann-the White Queen, Takeru-Hatter and Aguni-March Hare. See if you can identify the inferred players with their Wonderland counterparts. There are currently two seasons and definitely worth the watch!
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