Alice in Borderland (TV show)

Alice in Borderland (Japanese: ) is a Japanese science fiction and thriller television show. It is based on a comic book of the same name by Haro Aso. The show is directed by Shinsuke Sato. It stars Kento Yamazaki and Tao Tsuchiya. They play two people who work together after becoming trapped in an empty, parallel version of Tokyo. They must play dangerous and harsh games to stay alive. Each game’s type and difficulty are shown by a playing card. People are killed by lasers from the sky if they do not join enough games.

The first season of the show was announced in July 2019 and it was made from August to December 2019. It was filmed in places like Shibuya and in a studio that was made to look like the Shibuya Crossing. The special effects for the show were made by different teams from Japan, Singapore, the United States, and India. The music was made by Yutaka Yamada, who had worked with the director before.

The first season was shown on Netflix from December 10, 2020. It received good reviews from critics, who liked the action scenes, the directing, and the acting. Many people compared the show to some other survival movies like Battle Royale (2000) and Cube (1997). The first season became very popular, so Netflix announced a second season only two weeks after its release. The second season came out on December 22, 2022. On September 27, 2023, Netflix announced that a third season would be made, which was released on September 25, 2025.

 Making 

Beginning
Alice in Borderland is a live-action show that Netflix announced in July 2019. The stories were written by Yoshiki Watabe, Shinsuke Sato, and Yasuko Kuramitsu. Sato also directed the show. He said he wanted it to feel like "one very, very long movie". A few months later, Kento Yamazaki and Tao Tsuchiya were chosen to play the main characters, Ryōhei Arisu and Yuzuha Usagi.

 Filming 
Filming began in August 2019. The actors were seen while recording in different cities like Shibuya, Yokohama, and Kobe. The company that made the show, Robot Communications, changed some parts of the story to fit a building they were recording in. A scene that was first written to take place in a Starbucks was moved to a spot outside Shibuya Station because it was hard to record through the café's glass walls. Another scene was recorded in one long shot without cuts inside Shibuya Station. Many extra actors were hired in different cities until December 2019, when recording ended for the first season. Recording for the second season finished in March 2022.

Special effects
The show used many special effects. Scenes of the empty city were mostly made with special green screens and computers. For the famous Shibuya Crossing, the team built a large set 100 kilometers from Tokyo. Many parts of the set were also made with computer graphics. A special effects director made sure that the computer-made buildings had shadows that looked real. The scene with a flooded tunnel under a road was created with special computer previews. The panther and tiger in the show were also made with computer graphics after the team studied real animals in zoos. The special effects were made by different groups from Japan, Singapore, the United States, and India.

Music
The music for the show was all made by Yutaka Yamada. It was performed by the FILMharmonic Orchestra of Prague. A song called "Good Times" by Jan Erik Nilsson was also used many times in the show.

 Release 
On September 18, 2020, Netflix released a short video to announce that Alice in Borderland would be shown in 190 countries on December 10, 2020. They released some pictures and an official trailer in October. The first season of the show covered 31 chapters of the original comic book, and did not use the other 33 chapters.

When the show came out on December 10, it became very popular. In its first few weeks, it was one of the top ten most-watched shows in almost 40 countries. Especially it was very popular in Asia and Europe. Because of its strong success, Netflix announced a second season only two weeks after the release of the first season.
To help promote the show, Haro Aso, the person who created the original comic, started a new comic book called Alice in Borderland Retry. The second season of the show released on December 22, 2022.

The show was renewed for a third season on September 27, 2023. Netflix later announced the third season would come out on September 25, 2025.

 Reviews 

After the release, Alice in Borderland got mostly good reviews from critics. They liked the recording style, editing, use of violence, and the acting performances of Kento Yamazaki and Tao Tsuchiya. However, not all critics agreed about the story and felt that the show did not focus enough on how character grows, especially in the second half.

The first season received an 80% good score on the website Rotten Tomatoes, and in its first month, it was watched by 18 million households. The second season did even better, with an 89% good score.

Some critics shared their thoughts on the show. James Hadfield from The Japan Times liked the directing but thought the most characters were not very memorable, although he liked Tao Tsuchiya as a strong action hero. Jonathon Wilson from Ready Steady Cut gave the show a positive review, saying the show got straight to the point without too much backstory. He compared it to the movies Battle Royale and Saw. Jennifer Ouellette from Ars Technica called the show "emotionally intense" and compared its games to those in Ready Player One, Lord of the Flies, and the 1997 movie Cube. Melanie McFarland from Salon said the show was better at introducing its characters than another series called The Stand. Lim Yian Lu from Yahoo! News said good things about the show for its "exciting story" and said it would keep viewers entertained despite its scary scenes. Theron Martin from Anime News Network gave the show a mixed review, saying it was just a "modest amount of entertainment". The staff at Decider recommended that people watch the show after seeing the first episode.

Awards and nominations
YearAwardAward typeReceived byResult3rd Asia Contents AwardsBest Creative Alice in BorderlandCreative Beyond BorderBest OTT originalTechnical AchievementBest ActressTao TsuchiyaAsian Academy Creative AwardsBest CinematographyTaro KawazuBest Visual or Special VFX in TV Series or Feature MovieAlice in BorderlandBest Direction (Fiction)Shinsuke Sato

 References 

 Other websites 



Category:Japanese action television series
Category:Japanese science fiction television series
Category:Japanese television dramas based on manga
Category:2020 Japanese television series debuts
Category:Japanese-language television programs