SummaryArisu (Kento Yamazaki) and his friends Karube (Keita Machida) and Chōta (Yūki Morinaga) end up in a parallel Tokyo where they must play games or be killed in this series based on Haro Aso's Japanese manga series.
SummaryArisu (Kento Yamazaki) and his friends Karube (Keita Machida) and Chōta (Yūki Morinaga) end up in a parallel Tokyo where they must play games or be killed in this series based on Haro Aso's Japanese manga series.
The start of the first episode is one of the most engaging ever. Then they get into the game and everything engaging and original is promptly forgotten. It becomes dull. The only reason I'd keep watching is in the hopes that it explains the distinctive premise. But this is a series so I don't see that happening until there is nothing remotely watchable left in it as they drag the concept out as long as people still tolerate it. Then we'll get a loose ending giving no satisfaction like Lost. Or we'll get one interesting series that completes the story and more series after that where nothing happens like Westworld (2016-2022). Anyway good characters, acting, creativity but uneven pacing. Some surprising technical issues like shadows and the ugly gimbal movement.Rather than review each episode I am going to do a first season review. Overall it is pretty uneven. There are some enthralling exciting moments but there are also sections where nothing really happens. The story changes slightly through the series which renews interest. It is better than Squid Games and has more character and story. Cube (1997) is a similar high-concept film, which I still prefer on balance. The characters take so long deciding things which doesn’t make sense in timed games. There is also lots of time spent explaining everything which we already understood. The effects are mostly good, the most obvious problems are the CGI animals and the bad water in the tunnel. Pacing would have been good if the series was two episodes shorter.I didn’t like the conclusion to the season and don’t have high hopes for the second series but I will probably watch it. It’s entertaining and worth watching so long as you know that there is some series procrastination. The first season of Westworld is better than the first season of Alice in Borderland.
Not such a huge fan of this, it feels unfocused to me, and often asks me to suspend my disbelief too much. So many plot points felt contrived and I think it has squandered what was a pretty engaging mystery at the start of the show. I ended up rolling my eyes a LOT after episode 3 and ultimately just feeling disengaged as it broke my immersion. Probably not going to watch S2 due to this, just feels too unbelievable to me.