Alice in Borderland Season 2 Review (Part 1)

After 2 years of waiting, Netflix has officially released the blockbuster survival game Alice in Borderland 2 with more interesting and challenging games. After only a few days, the series quickly becomes viral on all social media.

Overview of the next stage

This season is the next stage of the Borderland world when all players won all the numeral cards. In this stage, Arisu and his friends have to compete against face cards – the citizens of the Borderland world. The difficulty of the new games is on a higher level. The question is, after winning all the games, can everyone return to the real world? Arisu and his friends have to complete all the games to achieve the final answer about this world.

King of Spades (K♠️) game begins

At the beginning of episode 1, a mass murder happens, which means the K♠️ game has begun and the K♠️ arena is the whole Borderland map. K♠️ is a trained and experienced soldier. He is also well-equipped and uses rifles to shoot the players from a distance. Chishiya is separated from the group; Arisu, Usagi, Ann, Kuina, and Tatta are pursued by K♠️. After that, Ann also gets lost and the group has 4 people left.

King of Clubs (K♣️) game: Osmosis

To get out of K♠️ arena, Arisu, Usagi, Kuina, and Tatta decide to go to K♣️ arena which is a port far away from the city center. When they get there, they see that Nigari is still alive. At this moment, 5 people have no choice but to participate in this game together. K♣️ introduces his name as Kyuma. The K♣️ game, named Osmosis, is a 5v5 game in which Arisu’s team has to compete with the K♣️ team. The rules are a little bit complex but here’s the summary:

– The time limit is 2 hours.

– Both teams start with 10,000 points each. Each team divides the points between members before the game starts.

– They battle each other for points, and the team with the most points at the end clears the game.

I will jump right into the end of the game. At this moment K♣️ team has 35,500 points while Airsu’s team has only 35,000. When the game is only 7 minutes left, Tatta decides to break his hand to remove the bracelet and give it to Arisu, from which Arisu’s points will be increased to 14,950. Arisu secretly brings Tatta’s bracelet and battles with Kyuma. Finally, Arisu wins and clears the whole game.

This is the hardest teamwork game that requires not only the best strategy but also a willingness to sacrifice for the team. Tatta has sacrificed to bring the team victory, which makes the game so emotional and meaningful. Although Kyuma has lost, he and Arisu have had a wonderful conversation. Like the name of the game, they become friends and understand each other.

Jack of Hearts (J♥️) game: Confinement

This game is placed at a prison and has the participation of Chishiya. The rules are quite simple:

– Each player has to guess the card suit that appears on the back of their collar, of course, they cannot see their own suit.

– The time limit for each round is 1 hour. During the last 5 minutes of each round, each player has to enter a prison cell and guess what their own suit is.

– If the player guesses their suit incorrectly or the player doesn’t answer, their collar will explode and the game is over for them.

– There are 20 players in total and J♥️ is one of them. When J♥️ is killed, the game will be cleared.

When the game has only 5 people left, J♥️ finally appears. He thought he won the game, but surprisingly Chishiya, Yaba, and Banda were still alive. Chishiya guessed his suit correctly by himself without anyone’s help, moreover, Yaba and Banda collaborated and told each other’s suit. Chishiya observed that J♥️ secretly collaborated with Kotoko to tell lies to Yaba and Banda. Eventually, Chishiya, Yaba, and Banda clear the game.

In my opinion, this game is expected to be the hardest game in Borderland. Yaba and Banda won the game excellently. However, in the final round, Chishiya just guessed his suit by luck, which reduces the attraction of Chishiya as well as the game. The psychology of J♥️ is also not shown clearly. In the manga, he is described as a great magician who has the ability to observe each person and create a strategy to win the game.

Arisu, Aguni, Heiya vs K♠️

When Arisu and Usagi run away from K♠️, they get separated and Arisu gets lost in the forest. Fortunately, he was saved by Heiya and Aguni. Aguni is lucky to have survived after the game 10♥️ at the beach. Heiya, a new character, is a strong girl with good archery skills who survived in the 7♠️ game. At midnight, 3 people prepare for the battle with K♠️. Unfortunately, they cannot defeat K♠️, and Arisu has to jump into a waterfall while Aguni is injured. Meanwhile, Kuina has just finished the game J♠️ and Ann is exploring everything around her.

Queen of Spades (Q♠️) game: Checkmate

This game is a brand-new game that is not mentioned in the manga. Arisu meets Usagi at the Q♠️ arena. In this game, the Queen team (4 members) will compete against the Challenger team (16 members). Here are the rules:

– Each team has to choose a person to be the King. The King of the Queen team is definitely Q♠️, but the King of the Challenger team is just a little boy. The King cannot change teams.

– Each team will alternate taking turns for a total of 16 rounds.

– When it’s the Queen team’s turn, the members of the Queen team will chase the member of the Challenger team. When the button on the back is pressed, it will change from blue to red, which means that person now belongs to the Queen team.

– When it’s the Challenger’s turn, the roles are reversed.

– The team that has the most members clears the game.

While Usagi and Arisu promise to protect the little boy, 17 other people join the Queen team because they think this is the only way to survive. When the Challenger team has only 3 members left, Usagi convinces everyone to switch teams so that if they win, they can return to the old world. In the end, the Challenger team has 19 people while the Queen team is only Q♠️ left. As a result, the Challenger team clears the game and Usagi kept her promise to protect the little boy.

To be honest, this game is the most simple and easy among all the games in the Borderland world. The reason for this is that this game is not included in the manga and it was created by Netflix. In this game, all you have to do is join the team that has the most members without any fighting or danger. Usagi’s psychology is clearly described, but her lines in this game are too much for a physical game like Q♠️.

Final Thoughts

Overall, these games so far were not only more challenging but also more interesting to the audiences. In season 1, the story is told from the players’ perspective, but in this season, the games also exploit 2 perspectives of both the players and the face cards. Two opposite psychology helps create a deeper conversation, making the audiences put themselves in the position of both two sides. The graphics and the music are great. The minus point for the series so far is that Chishiya playing J♥️ relies on luck, and the Q♠️ game is too simple.

Find out the next games and the final answer in Alice in Borderland Season 2 Review (Part 2): The Final Answer. You should also have a look at those articles like Top 5 Dark Anime Episodes that you will not forget and Spy x Family Part 2 Episode 12 Review.