Alice in Borderland 3

Story: Arisu (Kento Yamazaki) and Usagi (Tao Tsuchiya) have escaped the strange world known as Borderland and are back in reality, where they have since married. The two have no memory of the events of four years ago, but scientist Ryuji (Kento Kaku) is investigating the near-death experiences of the survivors of the meteorite impact in Tokyo. He discovers that there are similarities in the stories and that the survivors repeatedly speak of games that had to be won in another world. Ryuji is fascinated by these experiences and suspects that there is an intermediate world before the realm of the dead, or that the interviewees have actually already been to the realm of the dead. He becomes obsessed with the idea and one day is actually approached by a man who promises to bring him to this world if he takes Usagi with him. Meanwhile, Usagi remembers some of the events from the deadly games and, driven by her desire to see her dead father again, follows Ryuji to the Borderland. Arisu eventually learns of this and is contacted by a mysterious man who gives him a card with a joker on it as an invitation. With the help of another returnee from the Borderland, he then takes a drug that stops his heart, hoping to find his wife Usagi in the Borderland, where time runs differently, and return with her.

Review: There are shows or movies where a sequel is unexpectedly announced, and you immediately think: But why? When the credits rolled after the second season of "Alice in Borderland" I was thrilled and completely happy with the end result. Sure, some questions remained unanswered, but they were the kind that were better left a mystery. None of the possible answers would have been satisfactory, and that was precisely what was played with insidiously during the finale. In short: The series was over after two seasons. And the material from the original manga by Haro Aso had also been covered. So why a third season? Unfortunately, all my fears came true, and even though a lot of effort was clearly put into this sequel, it feels soulless and like a cheap imitation of what made the first two seasons so great. Not even the games can fascinate, but what is even more important is that the characters and their traumas are supposed to be in the center, but they simply leave us cold.

We begin with Arisu treating the people traumatized by the meteorite impact and the resulting near-death experience. Arisu's wife Usagi is also struggling with a traumatic experience, but for her, it's still her father's suicide that haunts her. This, however, isn't cemented enough to make it credible that this is why she follows the potential antagonist Ryuji to his death, who, in turn, is interested in nothing more than seeing the in-between world with his own eyes. Ryuji is actually a fascinating character, plagued by feelings of guilt. Because of what he has already done, he sees no other option than to pursue his goal even more fanatically. Sadly, not much is done with him as a character, but at least there are a few scenes in which his inner turmoil comes to light. The same cannot be said for the other characters. Of course, at the beginning you don't know who will come out of the next game alive, but even after we have an idea of who it could be worth getting emotionally involved with, it's very difficult for us to do so.

The final game revolves around the individuals being able to see and choose possible paths in their future lives, although their choices are perfidiously limited by the game's rules. This means, however, that we repeatedly get glimpses into their futures. At first, it occurred to me that I would have been much more interested in this had it centered around the people who didn't survive the previous game. But then it also becomes clear that none of the characters are truly interesting. Everything seems unintentionally flat, as if painted with a broad brush. This leads to us wandering through the game's rooms, almost panicking and realizing that this game could become quite repetitive. And unfortunately, that's exactly how it turns out. The final game drags on unnecessarily without offering any particular value. And yet, we were actually looking forward to the last two episodes, because the first two are meant to be an introduction, while afterward, of course, a few games, which once again demonstrate the magnitude of what's at stake, have to be played.

This is where the biggest problem becomes apparent: The series was actually finished, and the director is just trying to recycle leftovers. At least, that's the impression you get. And that's not entirely wrong. Ultimately, some of the games from the original manga that didn't make it into the first two seasons are taken up and partially adapted. A little inspiration was also taken from the manga sequel "Alice in Borderland: Retry". But all in all, the third season tells its own story, and it simply can't compete with what we've seen before. The games seem more or less unoriginal, with maybe two exceptions, but even with those, you get the feeling the director is just going through the motions. It doesn't help that we're already familiar with the premise of the series, and the plot makes us feel like everything is simply being rehashed. Most disappointing for me, though, was that Arisu and Usagi remain shockingly wooden as characters. I had little interest in their fate this time.

The finale then aims to provide us with a few more answers, and anyone who thought these would surely fall short of expectations wasn't thinking pessimistically enough. While they do attempt to answer a few questions, they only manage to damage the magic and mystery of the world without really giving us any deeper insight into the mechanisms and the masterminds. Anyone who thinks the joker's plot will finally be revealed will be left looking pretty foolish.
So far, all of this sounds pretty negative. But at least it remains to be said that the series operates at a very high level in technical respects and it delivers good CGI as well. It's brutal and relentless in the right places, and, as I already mentioned, a few of the games can be fun. Every now and then, it even shines through that one or two characters had potential. Why the epilogue has to turn the whole thing into a franchise again — similar to what happened with the last season of "Squid Game" — is beyond my comprehension. Of course, you don't want to miss out on the money, but there was a time, when you could accept a movie including maybe a logical sequel as being over and done. Today, however, everything has to be rehashed again and again. For me, "Alice in Borderland" ended after the second season, and I'm very happy with that. Everyone else should think the same way.

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