My mild obsession with awesome far-east TV continues with another deliciously dark take on murderdeathkill gameshow shenanigans.
After the visual splendour and dark messages of "Squid Game" I couldn't resist having a look at "Alice in Borderland" next.
Based on the popular Manga (by popular I mean "yet another Manga I've never read but now have a burning urge to, as long as the series doesn't cost several hundred quid to read / complete), it's another grim look at murderous game-playing, through the eyes of a slacker gamer - Ryōhei Arisu - who spends most of his life bouncing off the four walls of his home, avoiding any responsibility or the adult world in general.
Ryojei's two besties, Chota and Daikichi, mostly put up with him as they all grew up together. All three dream of a better life but have no idea of the nightmare they're about to be dumped headlong into.
After a misguided prank, the three friends hide out in a mens room stall avoiding the police, but when they emerge, they find Tokyo altered beyond all recognition. Everyone seems to have disappeared, and as the three friends make their way through the deserted city, they're led to a building where they find mysterious mobile handsets, and instructions to take part in a game.
They find themselves thrown into the first game alongside Saori Shibuki, a young woman who seems fairly innocuous at first, but later reveals herself to be extremely manipulative, willing to do almost anything to survive.
The four are presented with a game where a series of rooms contains two doors - death and life. Despite their markings, one will lead to the next room (and eventually to the end of the game) and one will lead to instant death. If they do not move in time, they will be roasted alive. The clock begins to count down, and so begins their frantic race for survival.
What I love about far eastern stuff is that it really doesn't mess about setting the scene too much, you're literally dumped in at the deep end and assumed to be intelligent enough to work out what's going on fairly quickly (something I really wish a LOT of series would learn from, particularly some of the more recent Disney + / Netflix shows that spend an entire season slow-building, before their inevitable cancellation leaving you - the viewer - high and dry.
"Alice in Borderland" whips along at a cracking pace, with each episode bringing new games before tackling the mysterious "Beach" and the ragtag collection of players who use it as a sanctuary. Their hedonistic quest to pick up all 52 playing cards from the games themselves will result in one person being allowed to return to the 'real world' but humans being humans, this plan comes apart in spectacular fashion as the first season draws to a close, leaving as many questions about the mysterious power behind the games behind as there were at the beginning.
It's not as immediately visually impactive or meme-worthy as "Squid Game" but it's still pretty glorious stuff, though you very quickly become more interested in the peripheral characters that crop up during the show than the main protagonists (isn't that always the way though). Another slice of awesomeness showing just how stale western telly and movies are becoming, and how drawing on the right source material for a show can make a colossal difference if it's handled well. More please!
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