Alice in Borderland

Have you ever felt bored? Felt like your life had no direction and you want something that can help you feel the thrill of life? To go to another world that can offer the true thrill, the joy of living? Our main protagonist Arisu felt the same, everything he did in life was without any real purpose and any sense of fulfillment until one day he was thrown into a place called the "Borderlands'' where these death games take place and he has to participate without knowing exactly why. Like Arisu, many other players are thrown in there and forced to participate in those death games without knowing why or where the end is. So, the premise of Alice in Borderland fits the theme of the story where it will eventually go on to express.

Alice in Borderlands addresses a lot of themes throughout its story such as selfishness, what would you do in a dire situation where you and your teammate are facing death and only one of you can survive, would you sacrifice yourself or him/her? What is the Worth of a Life? In exchange for what would you save or give life? are all lives equal? Are you the same as you used to be? Can you change yourself or stay the old you, coward and loser who is constantly running away or is content with the life you're leading?

Some people can and some don't. This addresses the theme of Humanity's lack of desire to progress once they achieve a comfortable living and need a mortal blow to progress and better themselves. We see people working hard, unlocking their full potential be it teamwork or physical strength or strategic mind which they would have never done under a normal circumstance. Arisu participates in the games and shows his unfailing potential and strategic mind by which he clears the games and under normal circumstances, we would never see those from him or any other person. Even though he was young, he gave up on his future without any ambition to move forward and labeled himself a loser or a failure, and accepted the boring life he leads. But in these borderlands when death is in front of you or someone you love, you have to use the gift you have to move forward. It shows people who cannot use their abilities to push themselves forward, but also shows people who can use them to continue surviving and at the end of the day be left with the question, "What is the meaning of life?" or maybe wondering why are they even struggling or trying so hard to "Live". Read to find out, you'll be able to reflect upon yourself and your life.

The world-building is good, now what do I mean by world building? It's just a post-apocalyptic world, right? Well, I liked how the unruly state of the borderland in contrast with the real or normal world. Some people will indulge themselves in worldly pleasure instead of trying to find a way out or if not pointing finger at everything else but themselves as an excuse which causes the state of the world to crumble and people lose the sense of what's right or wrong.

The characters are great, especially Arisu. The story is told and most themes are expressed from his perspective. Other characters are great too and are captivating when on-screen, like Chisiya who is my favorite character. The only problem I had with them was their backstory placements if that makes sense. When the time came for a character to shine, suddenly a backstory kicked in and it was kind of a flip the switch situation and I was kinda surprised every time. It bugged me. Other than that, very good characters. There are some characters in the side stories and their own separate story of conquering death which then ties into the main story.

These stories are very fun to read too and feature interesting games which are thrilling and enjoyable at the same time. It's better if you don't skip them. The art is not groundbreaking but it is very good and expressive. It portrays the certain condition of games or characters without any dialogue sometimes and depicts the grim nature of the games and the borderland.

Finally, what is left to say, I enjoyed the series and its death games very much and it was a super wild ride from start to finish. I highly suggest reading it if you like survival and thriller stories because that's what this manga is. A lot of things can be said about the ending, but since this is a review, I'll keep it at that.