Alice In Borderland
released 2020
www.ink2quill.com

“Alice In Borderland” is a japanese, thriller, action, drama streaming series based on a Japanese manga of the same name by Haro Aso. It was produced by Kaata Sakamoto, Akira Morii, Jason George, Daichi Kido, Masaki Koide, Tomoki Takase and Sekine Takeharu. It was written by Haro Aso, Yasuko Kuramitsu, Yoshiki Watabe and Shinsuke Sato who also directed it. It stars a huge cast of talented actors which includes Kento Yamazaki, Tao Tsuchiya, Takanobu Shiohara, Kenji Takagi, Seiya Goto, Yuzuru Yuyama, Nijiro Murakami, Yutaro Watanabe, Yuki Morinaga, Keita Machida, Sho Aoyagi, Ayaka Miyoshi, Dori Sakurada, Aya Asahina, Tsuhoshi Abe, Riisa Naka, Shuntaro Yanagi, Mizuki Yoshida, Kina Yazaki, Kento Shibuya, Takashi Kitadai, Ken Aoki and many more.

Alice In Borderland IMDb webpage

“Alice In Borderland” is one of the best, possibly the best, in its genre of scifi, arena action style story. The story follows the lives of several Tokyo residents as their world is turned upside down when they are teleported to an empty Tokyo where they must successfully complete challenges in order to survive. The nature of the games depends on the type of card they are given in the beginning. Some challenges require a team effort others are more cerebral. The games demand problem solving abilities as well as physical ones from the contestants. (or kidnappees for a more accurate term)

As in many of these stories the challenges are inventive and brutal and the characters get more interesting as we learn more of their backstories. This is a world, as is common in such stories, where the misfits excel and are usually the ones to discover qualities in themselves they never knew they had. In such stories it’s the heroes, antagonists, misfits, whatever you want to call them, that shine and are the most interesting. Just like in real life. Their useless qualities are suddenly that which they need to survive.

Now there are certain elements that this genre usually has in abundance. Firstly, that the characters are somehow, in some way, misfits. They do not fit in their worlds or their worlds just do not want them. So, in some way, on a positive note, these challenges show the characters that they have qualities that can be useful. Through the characters’ backstories we realize that it is more often the fault of society that they are not accepted. They are, in some ways, tokens of the failure of society. Another element is that the characters lives are at stake. And not only are they at stake but a violent end waits for those that don’t make the cut. So, the stakes are very, very high. And not only that but that the challenges are often not fair and cruel. The third and final element I will discuss are the questions. The whys and hows and by whoms. Those are as much for us the viewer as for the characters.

So if you mix those story elements with heaps and tons of imagination into a production team oven and you will end up with a disturbing masterpiece that will get you fans. I suggest that you add in some relevant, important social ills for everybody to think about so that your work of art has social value and you are helping to make the world a better place while entertaining the masses.

Similar films and series in this genre are “The Cube” (1997), “Battle Royale” (2000), “The Hunger Games” (2012), “The Maze Runner” (2014), “Squid Game” (2021), “Escape Room 2: Tournament Of Champions” (2021), and the list goes on but these are some of the best in that genre.

“Alice In Borderland” is a well done, albeit violent and disturbing series that I highly recommend. Playing computer games is one thing but being a flesh and blood person who is stuck in one is just hell and the mother of all nightmares and challenges. So, enjoy.

John Ink2Quill

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