Happy New Year! My first post for 2023 was originally supposed to be a music post, but nothing moved me enough to want to write about it. And since I’ve had little breaks because of Christmas and New Year’s, I was able to binge some Dramas on Netflix. So, I decided to kick the year off with some Drama Reviews 🙂
First, I will talk about the second season of Alice in Borderland! I couldn’t wait for this second season since I completed the first season lol. Also, I started reading the Manga after the first season, which was fun. But I will say that even though I pretty much knew what was going to happen, I wasn’t sure how much they were going to put into the series.
Check the link for my review of Season 1 below!
*SPOILERS AHEAD! READ AT YOUR OWN RISK! IF YOU’RE CURIOUS LIKE ME AND WANT TO READ ANYWAY, THEN BE MY GUEST. YOU MUST STILL SEE EVERYTHING FOR YOURSELF TO TRULY EXPERIENCE IT*
*TRIGGER WARNING! MENTIONS OF DEATH, SUICIDE, AND SEXUAL VIOLENCE*
My Review!
To start, the second season focuses on the Face Card games in the Borderlands. Arisu is still on his mission to find out what happens once all the games are cleared. Will they go back to the “real world”? Was this a dream? Will they be stuck in the Borderlands forever? Will they be killed anyway? The answer is given but will probably still confuse a lot of people…
Arisu and Usagi
This series placed a lot of focus on the relationship between Arisu and Usagi. Their true feelings for each other began to show, even though Usagi tried to push him away. What I did find interesting, and almost funny, was that a couple of the other female characters tried to make a move on him LOL. I guess it was funny, to me, because he was a bit awkward around women, but had finally gotten comfortable with Usagi.
Chisuya
I don’t know what it was about him, but I enjoyed watching Chisuya ever since the first season. He was cold and calculating in the beginning, always lurking in the background. As he continued to play, and win his games, you could see a change taking place. His background, from his old life, was the most interesting.
Character Returns
I was kind of surprised at the characters that did return from last season. Niragi and Aguni, who “died” in a fire at The Beach in season 1, made their returns. It looked like Niragi had changed a little bit, but his memories of his past life brought him right back to being his “normal”, psychotic self. Aguni still struggled with his shooting of his good friend “Hatter” back in season 1.
Devastating Character Deaths in the Borderlands
Most of the deaths were pretty brutal, and I will still remember when Arisu’s best friends, Chota and Karube, were killed in season 1. But there were some in this season that really got me. One of those was Tatta, who was really helpful to them in season 1 at The Beach. He sacrificed himself inn the King of Clubs game so that they could win.
Also, the King of Spades running around the Borderland killing anyone and everyone in his sight. When he was fighting with Aguni, Kuina, Ann, and Usagi… That was A LOT. Watching him stab Usagi and Kuina multiple times made me nauseous. Also, when he shot Heiya, while Aguni watched, that was tough as well.
The Final Card Game
The overall theme for the Queen of Hearts was kind of cool to me because of the nod to Alice in Wonderland. But it ended up being the most psychologically challenging game of them all. After lying about the “truth” of the games, she tried to make Arisu believe that he was in a mental facility, and everything was an illusion. It took Usagi cutting her wrist and almost dying to snap him out of it.
Surprise Ending?
This messed with me in both the Manga and tv series. The story is that the fireworks that everyone remembers seeing before waking up in the Borderlands, wasn’t the case. A meteorite hit the center of the city where they all apparently were. They were all injured, and their hearts had stopped beating for a full minute.
During that minute, it felt longer and like that time was spent somewhere else. But, is this the real ending? At the very end of the episode, a Joke card appears; the only card we haven’t seen. Could this all be an illusion as well?
