Alice in Borderland - General Discussion

[xaxat]

From the Primtimer description.

Quote

When video-game-obsessed Arisu (Kento Yamazaki ) finds himself in a wasteland version of Tokyo, he must compete alongside his friends for survival. Along the way he encounters the solitary Usagi (Tao Tsuchiya), and the pair set out together to unravel the mystery behind their dangerous predicament.

I really enjoyed this. I'm not a fan of Battle Royale torture porn, but I thought the writers gave a depth to the characters that elevated this show above that genre. I thought the puzzle aspect was really well developed. And the action scenes were memorable (Hikari/Kuina's fight with the swordsman).

I thought the cast was great. Arisu and his friends were a compelling crew (for as long as that lasted). The quiet competence of Usagi. And, even though he was mad as a, Hatter was charismatic enough that you could see why he developed a following. Perhaps the most impressive thing the show did was make me feel sympathetic to the two dealers.

The first thing I did after my binge was check to see if there will be a season two. And there will be!

But in a world were no one is safe, I really don't want to lose any of our remaining four. Even too cool for school Chishiya.

(Mods, this is probably best for Topics. Hell, I might be the only one here watching it. But I don't know how to start a thread there.)

[libgirl2]

On 12/26/2020 at 7:06 PM, xaxat said:

From the Primtimer description.

I really enjoyed this. I'm not a fan of Battle Royale torture porn, but I thought the writers gave a depth to the characters that elevated this show above that genre. I thought the puzzle aspect was really well developed. And the action scenes were memorable (Hikari/Kuina's fight with the swordsman).

I thought the cast was great. Arisu and his friends were a compelling crew (for as long as that lasted). The quiet competence of Usagi. And, even though he was mad as a, Hatter was charismatic enough that you could see why he developed a following. Perhaps the most impressive thing the show did was make me feel sympathetic to the two dealers.

The first thing I did after my binge was check to see if there will be a season two. And there will be!

But in a world were no one is safe, I really don't want to lose any of our remaining four. Even too cool for school Chishiya.

(Mods, this is probably best for Topics. Hell, I might be the only one here watching it. But I don't know how to start a thread there.)

You are not the only one watching it.  We decided to give it a go one Friday night and ended up watching it all in two days. Really clever premise and not afraid to really run with it when it needed to. I also liked that the characters, even the bad ones, were fleshed out enough so you could see what got them to how they are now. 

Very excited for another season! Woo hoo! 

[Zuleikha]

I'm watching it, too. I binged the show and then attempted to binge the manga (but apparently the fan translation I found is missing some of the content). 

What I liked about this is that it was high stakes, but it didn't feel like torture porn to me. The deaths were generally quick. There wasn't a lot of lingering on physical suffering (mental/emotional on the other hand...).

I think it was a good adaptation of the manga as well. It preserved most of the characters and the themes. I think Hatter and Aguni both worked even better on the live action than in the manga. Those actors were amazing! An, Kuina, Chishiya, Last Boss, Niragi, Arisu, Usagi, and Mira were all perfect. 

I felt very bad for the dealers. Their lives were also on the line. They didn't have any more choice than the players.

The only characters who I thought the live action botched were Shibuki and Chota. The actress was great with what was written for her, but Shibuki is functionally a different character in the live action. I think the manga version was better in every way. Because they changed Shibuki, they made Chota behave in a morally questionable way during 7 of Hearts. In the manga, Chota is the moral heart* of the game. 

* no pun desired. I tried to find an alternative word, but couldn't

[tennisgurl]

I decided to watch this on a whim, and I ended up watching the whole show in two days, its a great binge, really fast paced and exciting with tons of mystery and plot twists. This was really good, I am thrilled to hear that they are doing a second season, I cant wait to see what happens next. They also had a lot of good action scenes, and the puzzles were all unique and interesting. 

All of the actors were great, even the people playing minor characters really made the most of their screen time, and I was shocked that the original group was almost entire wiped out so quickly, but they all made a big impression in just a few episodes. Everyone was really fully formed, so even when people were doing terrible things, you could see how they got to that point. 

I felt bad for the two dealer teens, its not that this is something they actually wanted to do. No idea if that woman really was the Game Master, or just another person working for them, or who the Game Masters actually are. 

Edited January 30, 2021 by tennisgurl

[xaxat]

[Quilt Fairy]

Good news.  This show, unlike Squid Game, left us with a cliffhanger.

[xaxat]

[libgirl2]

We watched almost the whole second season over the weekend. Really enjoying it. It is reminding me quite a bit of Squid Game.