What Is the Story About?
Alice in Borderland is a dystopian survival thriller that follows the game for survival trope following films like Cube, Battle Royale etc. The second season picks up from where season one ends. The remaining survivors including Usagi,Arisu, Kuina, Tatta, Ann and Chishiya needs to now play the face-cards games to eventually find out who is the king-maker in this dystopian bloody game-series and get back to reality.
Performances?
All the surviving major characters from season 1 and new entries in season 2 excel. Kento Yamazaki and Tao Tsuchiya are really good as Arisu and Usagi. Unlike season 1, the duo gets a better fleshed out emotional arc in the second season where they forge new bonds, reminisce their traumatic pasts and struggle to survive with jaw dropping stunts.
Analysis
Alice in Borderland Season 2 begins right from where the first season concluded. After acquiring number cards and surviving the destruction of Beach, a team comprising of Arisu, Usagi, Kuina, tatta, Ann and Chishiya now needs to conquer the face cards, find out the root of all the mishaps and eventually leave the borderland. There’s more gore, violence, tragedy, drama and thrill in the second season written by Shinsuke Sato, Yoshiki Watabe and Yasuko Kuramitsu. Based on the manga that goes by the same name by Haro Aso, the series was directed by Shinsuke Sato.
The games’ Next Stage starts when the King of Spades, an expert shooter as he begins shooting players indiscriminately. The whole city is King of Spades’ game arena, and his presence much like all the face cards is marked by a blimp that follows them/their game arena. Most of the survivors of beach gets mercilessly killed by King kf Spades while the survivors including Usagi, Arisu, Ann, Chishiya, Tatta and Kuina attempts other games trying to avoid the looming villain : King of Spades.
The team from Alice in Borderland season 1 plays games one after the other and meet new characters like Kyuma who is the King of Clubs, Jack of Heart etc. When the survivors beat the face cards, their respective blimps burn and get destroyed. The games are far more brutal this time. They’re also much more thrilling with no stones unturned when it comes to throwing violence onscreen. The screenplay also is pretty tight in comparison to the first season where the writing takes a backseat when the survivors land at the beach.
Unlike the first season, there’s more scope for drama in Alice in Borderland Season 2. The MVP surviving characters of former season and the newest additions in the second season get their well deserved dramatic back-stories. There’s room for their personal tragedies, heartbreaks, trauma and individual victories in Alice in Borderland Season 2. Characters like Chishiya, Kuina, Ann and Aguni shine brighter apart from main leads Arisu and Usagi. It becomes impossible to not root for their survival and for the ultimate reveal, if there ever was one.
The run-time of Alice in Borderland Season 2 is quite too long. Every episode exceeds an hour unlike its predecessor. No matter how important is the drama quotient, the adrenaline rush takes a visible dip once each game culminates. It also gets tiring after a point. For ardent fans of the show, this might not be a huge setback. But, for non-fans the run-time could be very tiring. The 3rd and 7th episodes are bonafide rollercoasters in truest sense because they are intelligent, thrilling and equally emotional.
However, the climax was underwhelming, confusing and a bummer of sorts as it fails to land well. If the climax twist is something we presume that it is, then it could be a genius precursor for a subsequent season. Otherwise, one could say the show fails to live up to the momentum it set up in its previous episodes as it suffers from the disappointing finale syndrome like Squid Game season 1. Now that the audience is already accustomed with the world that the dystopian borderland sets out for, there’s a loss of novelty in the second season. The games formats might come across as exhausting because there’s little much happening beyond the world-of-games.
In short, if you’ve liked Alice in Borderland Season 1, you’d find Alice in Borderland engaging too. The characters work pretty well as a team and individually this time around.
Other Artists?
The MVP of Alice in Borderland Season 2 is Nijiro Murakami who plays the enigmatic and super smart Chishiya. He gets more screentime to flex his charismatic screen presence this time around and it’s a joy to see him flexing his intellectual muscles. You root for him all the time and with a touching back-story, he manages to steal the show. Aya Asahina’s Kuina is yet another favourite. She was fabulous in season 1 and is as powerful as ever in the second season 2. Ayaka Miyoshi is badass as ever as Ann, Sho Aayogi’s Aguni is the rockstar that he is, while Dori Sakurada still manages to disgust you like in Season 1. Tomohisa Yamashita’s Kyuma, Yuri Tsunematsu’s Heiya makes the maximum impact in whatever they’re given to do.
Music and Other Departments?
Yutaka Yamada has gone all guns blazing with Alice in Borderland Season 2. The opening credits, background score and music amps up the thrill quotient as and when required. The VFX work has also improved very much in comparison to the second season. Taro Kawazu’s cinematography was also fluidic.
Highlights?
Main Cast/Recurring Cast
Emotional Back-stories
Thrilling Survival Games
Engaging Screenplay
Supporting Cast
Drawbacks?
Confusing Climax
Elongated Drama sequences
Length of the Show
Did I Enjoy It?
Yes
Will You Recommend It?
Yes. If You Enjoyed Season 1, Season 2 Would Entertain You for Sure
Alice in Borderland Season 2 Series Review by Binged Bureau
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