Last night I finished watching this cool Japanese series where 3 friends are suddenly transported to an alternative version of Tokyo that, in the beginning, appears to be completely empty. These friends are transported by accident and they don't understand what's going on. Later on, they find other people who are in a similar situation to them and without realizing become participants in a very evil and sinister game.
It turns out, that this alternative Tokyo is under the control of an anonymous group of people but their goals are a mystery. Regular people who suddenly find themselves living in this place are issued a sort of visas that only last for a few days. In order to gain more visa days, they need to participate in these games and win. The games are dangerous and they can easily die while playing, and if their visa numbers reach zero a red laser appears from the sky and kills them.
The type of games is varied, for example, in the first game they go inside a room with 2 doors and have to decide which one is the correct door. They have a time limit and if they choose wrong they are killed by the laser if they don't choose the room goes on fire with them inside and if they choose right they survive. They need to do this several times because there are several rooms. This is similar to the movie Escape Room from 2019 but in a much larger setting. Some parts of the story also reminded me of the Hunger Games.
At the beginning of new games, the players are informed about what type of game they will be facing using poker cards for this. The cards range from A to 10, indicating their difficulty and each of the 4 symbols represents the type of game which can be individual games, or games that require a team working together, or betrayal games, etc. When the game ends and there are victorious players they receive the corresponding poker card.
New characters are constantly being introduced and a similar number of characters are constantly getting killed. We will eventually discover how organized people living in this world really are, both the creators of the sinister game but also its victims. There is a lot of scifi in this story, the laser coming from the sky and the mysterious way in which all of these people were transported aren't explained.
I thought the series only lasted 1 season but the ending made it very clear there is at least a new season in development in which players will have to play new games to obtain the higher cards. It wasn't clear if those cards existed in this game because so far only cards with numbers were being used.
The series is very entertaining and the possibilities when facing new games are endless thanks to its open-world setting. There were a few action scenes that I didn't enjoy in the end but the story and its exciting setting make this series worth watching. I will be expecting season 2 although it will be released hopefully in about a year and probably in 2022.
For those interested in knowing the full story this show is based on an already released manga. In my case, I will wait for the new season. If you enjoy movies like Escape Room, Hunger Games, then this series will be a blast. Saw isn't a proper comparison because there is a lot of sadism and gore in Saw while in Alice in Borderland there isn't neither of them. There is some cruelty in the games because people can easily die, and some betrayals in the players depending on the situation but no disgusting gore or diabolical sadism like in Saw. There are also honorable players that try to do what's best and help people when the possibilities allow it.
The best
- It was entertaining seeing which new games the characters would have to face.
- I love the fact there is an open world full of these sinister games. This provides a lot of possibilities.
The worst
- In the end, there were some unconvincing scenes, such as a fight against a crazy man with a sword.
More information: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt10795658/ Review: AAA In numbers: 8/10