This Japanese science fiction thriller series, adapted from a manga, begins with a disenchanted and unemployed young man named Arisu. He spends his days escaping reality through video games with his two friends, Karube and Chota. One night, after a chaotic event in Tokyo’s Shibuya district, they find the entire city mysteriously deserted.
They soon discover they have been transported to a parallel version of Tokyo, known as the Borderland. Survival here depends on competing in dangerous games. These games are categorized by playing cards: the number indicates the difficulty, and the suit dictates the type of game. Spades test physical strength, Clubs require teamwork, Diamonds challenge the intellect, and Hearts are psychological games designed to break trust and sacrifice others.
The trio is forced to participate, quickly learning that losing or failing to complete a game before the time limit results in immediate execution by laser beams from the sky. As they struggle to survive, they meet other players, including a mysterious and resourceful mountaineer named Usagi, who becomes Arisu’s key ally.
Arisu uses his keen observational skills and problem-solving abilities to lead his friends through several brutal games. However, the cruel nature of the Borderland takes a severe toll, leading to devastating losses that leave Arisu traumatized and questioning his will to live. Usagi helps him find a new purpose: to uncover the truth behind the games.
Their investigation leads them to the Beach, a luxurious hotel controlled by a manipulative figure named Hatter. It operates as a sanctuary where a large group of players collects cards in an attempt to complete the entire deck, believing this will grant them passage home. The series builds to a climactic confrontation at the Beach, revealing betrayals and hidden agendas, all while deadly games rage within the hotel itself.
The season one finale reveals a shocking truth. Completing the deck does not mean escape. Instead, it forces the survivors to face even more difficult games, presided over by dealer-like figures. The final scene reveals that the players are actually in a limbo between life and death, following a real meteorite strike in Tokyo. The games are a brutal test to determine who is worthy of remaining alive or returning to the real world. The series ends on a cliffhanger, with Arisu and Usagi resolved to challenge the game masters directly, seeking true freedom and answers.
Alice in Borderland – TV Series – Season 1 – Summary
A young and unmotivated gamer named Arisu and his two friends, Karube and Chota, find themselves hiding in a public bathroom in Tokyo to escape the police. When they emerge, the entire city is mysteriously deserted. While exploring the empty streets, they are forced to participate in a deadly game. They learn they are in a parallel version of Tokyo, known as the Borderland, where they must compete in dangerous games to survive.
The games are divided into categories represented by playing card suits: Spades tests physical prowess, Clubs emphasizes teamwork, Diamonds challenges the intellect, and Hearts is designed to break players psychologically. The number on the card indicates the game’s difficulty. Winning a game grants a “visa,” which is extended by the number of days on the card. If a player’s visa expires, they are executed by a laser beam from the sky.
As Arisu and his friends struggle to survive, they meet other players, including Usagi, a skilled and solitary mountaineer. They face brutal games, including a game of tag in a locked apartment building and a lethal game of hide-and-seek. The psychological torment of the Hearts games proves especially devastating, leading to tragic betrayals and the deaths of Karube and Chota, leaving Arisu shattered.
Arisu and Usagi form a partnership, seeking answers about the Borderland. They learn about the “Beach,” a fortress-like hotel where a large group of players collect cards. The leader, Hatter, believes gathering all cards will allow them to return to their world. Arisu and Usagi infiltrate the Beach, encountering its enforcers, including the ruthless militant Aguni and a mysterious and strategic player named Kuina.
The season culminates in a deadly, complex game at the Beach itself—a Hearts game called “Witch Hunt.” Paranoia and chaos erupt as players accuse each other of being a “witch.” Hatter descends into madness, and Aguni goes on a killing spree. Arisu solves the game’s logic, but at a tremendous cost, with many players dead. He discovers the game’s mastermind was manipulating events from within.
After the final game, the remaining ten players have collected the entire deck of cards. The sky then shatters like a screen, revealing that they are being watched by unknown, god-like entities. All face cards—the Jack, Queen, and King of each suit—appear floating over Tokyo, signaling that the next stage of the deadly competition, featuring even more difficult games, is about to begin.
Alice in Borderland – TV Series – Season 1 – Trailer
Alice in Borderland – TV Series – Season 2 – Summary
After arriving in the abandoned cityscape, Arisu and his friends Usagi, Kuina, and Chishiya learn the shocking truth from the game’s organizers, the “citizens.” They are not in a parallel world, but in a version of Tokyo where they must continue to play to survive. The ultimate goal is to collect all the numbered playing cards by completing deadly games, which will grant them a permanent visa and the right to challenge the “face card” games.
The season escalates into a battle for survival against the citizens, who are former players who chose to stay. Arisu’s group, along with other remaining players, must compete in the brutal “face card” games. These are large-scale, team-based contests representing Kings, Queens, and Jacks of each suit. The games test not only physical prowess and intellect, but also psychology, trust, and the will to live. Key confrontations include a fierce game of “King of Spades,” a city-wide hunt by a lethal soldier, and Arisu’s emotional and strategic battle in the “Queen of Hearts” game, which preys on his deepest psychological traumas.
Throughout the season, characters are forced to confront their pasts and their reasons for living. Allies are lost, and sacrifices are made. Arisu grapples with the guilt over his friends’ deaths and must find a renewed will to fight, not just for survival, but for Usagi and a future together. The final games culminate in a poignant choice for the winners.
After the last card is collected, the survivors are given a choice: accept permanent citizenship in this world or reject it. Those who reject it are given a chance to return to the real world. In a twist, it is revealed the entire Borderland was a prolonged near-death experience. All players were victims of a catastrophic meteorite strike in Tokyo, and their hearts stopped simultaneously. Borderland was a purgatorial arena where their will to live was tested.
Arisu and his surviving friends choose to return, waking up in the ruins of the real Tokyo, rescued from the rubble. They have no memory of each other from Borderland, but feel a deep, inexplicable connection. The series ends with the survivors meeting in the healed city, drawn together by fate, ready to rebuild their lives with a newfound appreciation for living.
Alice in Borderland – TV Series – Season 2 – Trailer
Alice in Borderland – TV Series – Season 3 – Summary
The third season of Alice in Borderland opens with a significant time jump. Arisu and Usagi, now living together in the real world, are struggling to adapt. The trauma of the Borderlands haunts them daily, creating a quiet tension. Their peace is shattered when Arisu begins seeing fleeting, ghostly visions of the Borderlands’ citizens and symbols superimposed on Tokyo. These disturbing premonions culminate in a terrifying public event where digital billboards across Shibuya scramble, revealing the ominous countdown from the games. The sky darkens, and the iconic Shibuya Scramble Crossing is suddenly emptied of all people except Arisu, Usagi, and a few select others.
They are forcefully pulled back into the Borderlands, but the environment is unsettlingly familiar yet wrong. The city is a twisted, decaying replica of Shibuya itself, far more menacing and dilapidated than the vacant Tokyo of the previous seasons. They soon discover they are not alone; joining them are new faces, including a confident and clever young woman named Yaba, and a stoic, observant man named Banda. Crucially, their old friends and allies, like Kuina and Ann, are nowhere to be found, forcing them to rely on and learn to trust these unpredictable strangers.
The games of this season reach a new level of psychological and physical horror. They are no longer just tests of wit or strength but are deeply personalized, often designed to exploit the players’ deepest fears and regrets from their time in the real world. One early game forces the players to confront literal manifestations of their guilt, while another manipulates perception and memory in a deadly maze. The Face Cards are present, but their role evolves. They are now more like ruthless game masters, observing and manipulating from the shadows, with the King of Spades embodying a relentless, terminator-like force that hunts players in the open city between games.
The core mystery deepens as the players begin to uncover clues that the Borderlands is not merely an alternate dimension, but is intrinsically connected to a collective human consciousness and a specific, catastrophic event in the real world. Fragments of memories and data suggest the Borderlands functions as a brutal sorting ground or a processing arena for souls in a state of collective crisis. Arisu becomes increasingly obsessed with finding the true “game master” behind it all, convinced that defeating this entity is the only way to achieve permanent freedom for himself and everyone trapped in the cycle.
The season builds towards a devastating climax where the true cost of survival is laid bare. Alliances are tested and broken under extreme pressure. A major character makes the ultimate sacrifice during a high-stakes game to save the group, mirroring the tragic losses of previous seasons but with even greater emotional weight. The finale reveals a shocking truth: their return to the real world was never complete. They exist in a precarious, in-between state, and the final game of the season is not for visas, but for the right to challenge the very architects of the Borderlands. The season ends on a massive cliffhanger, with Arisu and a battered, reduced team standing before a colossal, otherworldly structure, ready to face the source of the games in what promises to be a final, world-altering confrontation.
Alice in Borderland – TV Series – Season 3 – Trailer
![Alice in Borderland: Season 3 - Official Trailer [English] | Netflix](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/YcxoWVeYLow/0.jpg)
Alice in Borderland - TV Series - Online ENGLISH Dubbed
- Alice in Borderland - Season 1 - Online ENGLISH Dubbed
- Alice in Borderland - Season 2 - Online ENGLISH Dubbed
- Alice in Borderland - Season 3 - Online ENGLISH Dubbed