| Alice in Borderland | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Japanese | 今際の国のアリス |
| Genre | |
| Based on | Alice in Borderland byHaro Aso |
| Written by |
|
| Directed by | Shinsuke Sato |
| Starring | |
| Composers |
|
| Country of origin | Japan |
| Original language | Japanese |
| No. of seasons | 3 |
| No. of episodes | 22 |
| Production | |
| Executive producer | Kaata Sakamoto |
| Producer | Akira Morii |
| Cinematography | Taro Kawazu |
| Editors |
|
| Camera setup | Multi-camera |
| Running time | 41–80 minutes |
| Production company | Robot Communications |
| 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;lit. 'Arisu in the present world') is a Japanesescience fictionthrillerdrama television series based onthe manga of the same name byHaro Aso. The series is directed byShinsuke Sato. It starsKento Yamazaki andTao Tsuchiya as allies trapped in an empty,parallel version ofTokyo, forced to compete as players in dangerous, fatal games. The type and difficulty of each game is represented by playing cards based onFrench suits 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 includedShibuya districts and a green screen studio replica ofShibuya Crossing. The show's visual effects were produced in an international collaboration between Japan'sDigital Frontier and teams from Singapore, the United States, and India. The musical score was composed byYutaka Yamada, who had collaborated with Sato.
The first season premiered on theNetflix 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 thesurvival genre, including the filmsBattle Royale (2000) andCube (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, which premiered on September 25, 2025.
In the first season, Ryōhei Arisu and his two friends are suddenly transported to an alternate, desolate Tokyo, where they must play life-or-death games to survive.
In the second season, Arisu and the rest of the players must fight against theface cards, citizens of Borderland, while they seek to find out if they will return to their world if they win.
In the third and final season, Arisu is forced to return to the Borderland when Yuzuha Usagi enters again, convinced by Dr. Ryuji Matsuyama, a doctor obsessed with death, who is part of Sunato Banda's plan for Arisu. While trying to save Usagi by playing the life-and-death games again, Arisu seeks to defeat theJoker.
| Season | Episodes | Originally released | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 8 | December 10, 2020 (2020-12-10) | ||
| 2 | 8 | December 22, 2022 (2022-12-22) | ||
| 3 | 6 | September 25, 2025 (2025-09-25) | ||
| 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, jobless and video game-obsessed Arisu hangs out with his friends Chōta and Karube. After causing a disturbance inShibuya 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 aplaying 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, andhearts 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 abotanical 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 withfacial 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 hisEverest 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 apanther, 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 theface cards have not yet appeared. Arisu and Usagi are assigned to join groups of players to collect the remaining cards. Arisu's group includes the Beach executive Ann, Chishiya's associate Kuina, and Tatta, now the Beach's mechanic. Despite deducing the answer herself, Ann has Arisu solve the logic puzzle as a test, to see his potential. Later, Hatter reveals to a group of Beach executive members, now including Arisu, 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 and Usagi to help him and Kuina 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 Kuina try to flee 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 Tatta, his friend Joe, and Momoka's best friend Asahi to rescue Arisu. They successfully free him, although Joe is killed in the process. 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 Asahi wander through the empty city, the latter 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. | |||||
| 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 thepip 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 mangled his hand to pull off his points bracelet and transfer it 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. Chishiya leaves while the two plan to torture Enji for information, but Enji commits suicide, ending the game. Kuina leaves Arisu and Usagi to search for Ann and Chishiya. Hopeless, Arisu speculates that since all citizens were once players, clearing the games might only lead to becoming one of them. He and Usagi discover a slaughtered community outside Tokyo, attacked by the King of Spades, and watch a recording 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 a woman named 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 by besting everyone in combat but struggles alone. Usagi helps a young boy whose visa is expiring by accompanying him in the queen-of-spades game, which Arisu also enters, and the two reunite. 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 decide 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, questioning if they truly prefer to remain in the games rather than hold out for a chance to return home and start over. Her words persuade them to cooperate against the Queen of Spades, and they win the game. Afterward, Arisu and Usagi find ahot spring in the ruins 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 that Kuzuryu, a former lawyer, 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 only two face-card games left to clear, players begin to 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 fight the King of Spades but are ultimately overpowered. Aguni and Arisu finally disable him with an explosive, with Aguni delivering the final shot. With their allies gravely injured, Arisu and Usagi proceed to the final game—the queen-of-hearts. | |||||
| 16 | Episode 8 | Shinsuke Sato | Yasuko Kuramitsu & Shinsuke Sato | December 22, 2022 (2022-12-22) | |
Mira reveals herself to be 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 previous "Hide and Seek" game to provoke Arisu, who restrains himself upon realizing that killing Mira would prevent the game from ending. Mira continues to psychologically manipulate Arisu, causing him to hallucinate that he is in a mental hospital, with her as his psychiatrist convincing him to quit. Usagi snaps him out of the illusion by slitting her wrist. Moved by their love, Mira concludes the final round and is executed. After the game, all surviving players are given a choice: become "permanent residents" or simply decline the offer. Those who refuse later wake up in a hospital as survivors of a meteorite impact, with no memory of the Borderland. Arisu and Usagi meet at a vending machine and walk together, while ajoker card appears on a table. | |||||
| No. overall | Episode | Directed by | Written by | Original release date | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 17 | Episode 1 | Shinsuke Sato | Yasuko Kuramitsu & Shinsuke Sato | September 25, 2025 (2025-09-25)[10] | |
Five years after the meteorite strike, Arisu is interviewed by Professor Ryuji Matsuyama, who is fascinated with the afterlife and is investigating the Borderland's existence. Arisu and Usagi have since married, but Usagi is haunted by recurring dreams of her late father. Ryuji's investigation leads him to a secret "game seminar", where the winner of anOld Maid game will undergo a controlled near-death experience while the losers die by electrocution. He wins and meets Banda, a citizen of the Borderland, who transports him there. Arisu is approached by Ann, who still remembers the Borderland. Usagi has a déjà vu about the Beach massacre.[a] She calls Arisu but then disappears. He later finds her unconscious in a hospital, along with Ryuji, who is comatose; Usagi is revealed to be pregnant. Banda appears to Arisu and warns him that his memories of the Borderland will return along with the games—with Usagi as one of the players. Arisu visits Ann, who reveals that he has only two minutes to save Usagi before her heart fails. She injects him with a drug that induces cardiac arrest, sending his consciousness to the site of the first new game inside a temple. | |||||
| 18 | Episode 2 | Shinsuke Sato | Yasuko Kuramitsu & Shinsuke Sato | September 25, 2025 (2025-09-25) | |
Arisu joins a group of players for the ten-round game "Fortunes", in which a different player must draw afortune containing a riddle or mathematical question each round; incorrect answers trigger a trap that fires flaming arrows at the group. Arisu, whose memories have returned, answers incorrectly during his turn but uses clues from the previous fortunes to lead the remaining survivors to safety. The group realizes that they have all been in the Borderland and deduce that they now have to defeat the Joker. They agree to work as a team when they join other players for the "Zombie Hunt" game, where a small number of assigned "zombies" must "infect" the rest of the players to win, while the humans try to avoid and identify them. Rei, an outsider, proposes a trust-based strategy to prevent infection, but many players reject her plan and instead choose to kill those they suspect of being zombies. | |||||
| 19 | Episode 3 | Shinsuke Sato | Yasuko Kuramitsu & Shinsuke Sato | September 25, 2025 (2025-09-25) | |
Arisu is revealed to have been one of the original zombies, and he has been secretly infecting his allies, ensuring a majority zombie win. Rei joins Arisu's group as they travel to the next game arena. Elsewhere in the Borderland, Usagi and Ryuji win a game together. Ryuji, knowing that Usagi is haunted by her father's death, invited her to join him as part of a secret deal with Banda. The pair join others for "Runaway Train", where players have to make their way through the cars of a train, each of which might be filled with nerve gas, with the choice to wear a gas mask with limited oxygen cartridges. With three cars and two cartridges left, Usagi decides to wear her mask, but her guess is wrong. | |||||
| 20 | Episode 4 | Shinsuke Sato | Yasuko Kuramitsu & Shinsuke Sato | September 25, 2025 (2025-09-25) | |
Using the knowledge of a train hobbyist player, Usagi leads Ryuji and others to jump off their train to safety. She spots Arisu playing the same game on another train, but the pair are unable to reunite. Ryuji tells Usagi that he caused the death of his student who was as obsessed with death as he is, when their experiment to simulate a near-death experience with a drug went wrong. For the semifinals, Usagi and her team clear "Tokyo Bingo Tower", which requires climbingTokyo Tower, while Arisu and his team clear "Kick the Can" with exploding cans, although three of them are killed. Ryuji meets with Banda, who tells him to kill Usagi in the final game, which he believes will make Arisu choose to stay in the Borderland as a citizen. | |||||
| 21 | Episode 5 | Shinsuke Sato | Yasuko Kuramitsu & Shinsuke Sato | September 25, 2025 (2025-09-25) | |
Arisu and his team enter the final arena by following projections of their possible future lives, and Arisu reunites with Usagi. The final game is "Future Sugoroku", where the players are inside a labyrinth of rooms and have to find the exit, with dice rolls deciding the number of people allowed through each door. The players all wear bracelets with points, which are deducted depending on the chosen room. Usagi's unborn child is included as the tenth player of the game, and she is given a second bracelet. The walls project images of the players' potential futures, either good or bad, which emotionally influence them in choosing which door to go through. Arisu tries to direct the players when they have to split up, but Ryuji encourages them to spread out to find the exit faster, while others decide to go on their own. Tetsu dies after an emotional Nobu does not enter a room depicting a possible death for his mother, whilst Sota only removes points from his own bracelet to protect Yuna. Thus, when he and Yuna are forcibly separated, he dies in front of a projection of her wedding. The remaining eight players deduce the location of the room with the exit door but realize they do not have enough points to ensure everyone's survival. | |||||
| 22 | Episode 6 | Shinsuke Sato | Yasuko Kuramitsu & Shinsuke Sato | September 25, 2025 (2025-09-25) | |
Arisu successfully guides everyone to the exit, but only seven can leave, so he sacrifices himself by staying behind. Ryuji attempts to shoot Usagi but ultimately cannot go through with it. Arisu is told that he is the winner, and he is met by Banda, who reveals that the new games were his plan to convince Arisu to become a Borderland citizen. Arisu rejects him and escapes to help Usagi and the others when the Borderland starts falling apart. Banda is about to shoot Arisu, when he himself is killed by a game laser. A Watchman reveals himself and tells Arisu that the Joker is merely a symbol of the in-between, and as such, he merely watches over the Borderland, a place "between life and death". The Watchman says that a bigger catastrophe than the Shibuya meteor is coming and asks Arisu to make a choice. Arisu chooses to live and saves Usagi. He wakes up in the real world and rushes to Usagi's side as she wakes up in the hospital. Some time later, Arisu and Usagi are expecting their baby, while warnings abound of a major earthquake. | |||||
On July 16, 2019, Netflix announced that they were creating a live-action adaptation of the mangaAlice 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".[1][11][12] A few months later, on August 4,Kento Yamazaki andTao Tsuchiya were cast as the main characters of the series, with the pair appearing as Ryōhei Arisu and Yuzuha Usagi, respectively.[13]
Filming for the series began as early as August 2019, when Yamazaki was spotted during filming inDōgenzaka, a district ofShibuya on August 8.[14] The following day, crew members were spotted near a store in Fukutomi-cho, located in the city ofYokohama.[14] From September 17 to 20, Yamazaki and Tsuchiya were seen filming in an apartment complex in front ofKita-Suzurandai Station, on theShintetsu Arima Line, in the city of Kobe.[14] According to the production companyRobot Communications, the show's script was revised to "match the building layout".[5] A scene from the first episode featuring Yamazaki's character, Arisu, meeting his friends Chōta and Karube near Tokyo's busyShibuya Crossing, was originally supposed to be filmed inside aStarbucks. However, due to the complexity of a glass-covered set, the scene took place in front of a sign outsideShibuya Station.[15] 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 afour-minute continuous take.[15][16] Extras were recruited for the series from August 9 to December 11, in various cities.[14][17][18] The creator of the manga the series is based on,Haro Aso, was allowed to visit various sets.[19] Filming took place in several cities and concluded in December 2019.[14]
Filming for the second season wrapped in March 2022.[20][21]
During filming, scenes focusing on the empty city of Tokyo were primarily shot usingspecial effects andgreen screens, with Sato explaining that with the help of hisassistant 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".[12][22] Using theAshikaga Scramble City Studio,[22] a large set 100 kilometers from Tokyo constructed for the series and the filmDetective Chinatown 3 (which was filmed during the same period),[23][24] 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".[5][25][non-primary source needed] To keep the scenes "authentic", visual effects director Atsushi Doi recreated the shadows of the Tokyu Building where they would normally fall.[16] A scene in episode 4, which showed an underpass being flooded with water, was created with the help ofprevisualizations, allowing the crew to "experiment with different elements before the actual shoot".[5] The panther that appears in that same episode was created using visual effects developed after the crew visited multiple zoos.[22] Additionally,Academy Award winnerErik-Jan de Boer supervised the production of the tiger featured in episode 5, which was created by Anibrain, an animation studio in India.[15] Post-credit visual effects were added in with the help of Japan'sDigital Frontier, who worked alongside teams from Singapore, the United States, and India in an international collaboration.[26]
The score forAlice in Borderland was composed entirely byYutaka Yamada, who had previously worked with Sato onBleach (2018) andKingdom (2019). Produced by Kohei Chida, the music was performed by the FILMharmonic Orchestra ofPrague. The song "Good Times", by Jan Erik Nilsson, was featured various times throughout the show.[5]
On September 18, 2020, Netflix released a teaser video revealing thatAlice in Borderland would debut in 190 countries on the platform on December 10, 2020.[27] On October 24, 2020, six set images were released to promote the series.[28] Four days later, an official trailer was issued, along with a poster and a list of the main cast.[4] According to various critics, the first season ofAlice in Borderland covered 31 chapters of the original manga, leaving 33 untouched.[6] The first season came out on December 10,[23] 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.[23] Overall, the series did better in countries located in Asia and Europe than those in North America.[23] On December 24, 2020, Netflix renewed the series for a second season, two weeks after the first one had been released.[23][29]
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, titledAlice in Borderland Retry onWeekly Shōnen Sunday.[30] Launched on October 14 (#46, 2020 ofWeekly Shōnen Sunday), the first volume of the mangatankobon was shipped out on December 11, one day afterAlice in Borderland premiered. The manga series ended on January 20, 2021 (#8, 2021 of the magazine). The second and final volume oftankobon was released on February 18, 2021.[31][32] The second season ofAlice in Borderland premiered worldwide on December 22, 2022.[33]
On September 27, 2023, the series was renewed for a third season.[34] In July 2025, Netflix announced that it would come out on September 25, 2025, and released a teaser trailer.[10]
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,[35][36] but left mixed opinions on its advancement without special focus on character development and its story in general, particularly in the second half.[37][38] Onreview aggregatorRotten 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.[39] A month after its release, the first season had accumulated 18 million households in viewership.[40] On Rotten Tomatoes, the second season ofAlice in Borderland holds an approval rating of 89% based on nine reviews, with an average rating of 7.1/10.[41]
FromThe 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."[37] Writing forReady 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 filmBattle Royale and the American horror filmSaw.[42]Ars Technica journalist Jennifer Ouellette called the show "emotionally intense" and compared its games to those found in the booksReady Player One andLord of the Flies, and the 1997 filmCube.[6]Salon's Melanie McFarland compared the series to theCBS All Access miniseriesThe Stand, stating thatAlice 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."[2] FromYahoo! 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."[43] Writing for theAnime 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.[38] After watching the first episode and praising it for its tone, soundtrack, and ability to "shift gears so fast", the crew atDecider recommended viewers to stream the show.[44]
| Year | Award | Category | Recipient | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2021 | 3rd Asia Contents Awards | Best Creative | Alice in Borderland | Nominated | [45] |
| 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 | [46] | |
| Best Visual or Special VFX in TV Series or Feature Film | Alice in Borderland | Won | |||
| Best Direction (Fiction) | Shinsuke Sato | Won |
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