This review may contain spoilers
They dropped the ball with this season
I'll start by saying that I loved seasons 1 & 2. Alice in Borderland is one of my favourite shows of all time. So my expectations were season 1 & 2 level, which it didn't meet.
Positives first: amazing production quality, the games were creative and acting was great. So if you're purely into action with suspense, you'll definitely enjoy it. The premise of an extra Joker round where only people participate who played before is also really interesting and promising. So, I definitely think its own season is warranted.
Now to my criticism. The writing was not good. Usagi's reason for going back to Borderland is what exactly? To meet her father? Whom she knows isn't in Borderland? Makes absolutely zero sense. Her dynamic with Ryuji also makes no sense. Why are they so close? Why is he kind of obsessed or into her? There's no reason at all. But okay - Arisu decided to follow her to save her.
But it's fine, I mostly enjoyed the games about the show anyways. So I was disappointed when they let me down. They were creative - yes. And I liked that there was usually some "loophole" to save yourself. Very nice characteristic of a Joker game. What endlessly frustrated me was that there was always at least one person who ruins the plan ... just cause? Wouldn't they want to survive? And don't even let me get started with the zombie game. From the beginning of the game, I was thinking 'just make everyone a zombie, then nobody has to die', but smartiepants Arisu (who holds a zombie card the whole time) doesn't come up with this idea? I thought he wanted to save everyone? Hello? Where's the logic? I won't even go into the pure frustration that was the future game. In season 1&2, even when I didn't agree with a character's choice, I still thought 'fair enough'. But this time, the stupidity was frustrating. And these are all returning players? Please.
The ending just confused the hell out of me, so I won't even say anything about that. Overall, it was nice for the production and action, but definitely not on par with the past seasons. The idea of the Joker card is great, but not executed well.
Positives first: amazing production quality, the games were creative and acting was great. So if you're purely into action with suspense, you'll definitely enjoy it. The premise of an extra Joker round where only people participate who played before is also really interesting and promising. So, I definitely think its own season is warranted.
Now to my criticism. The writing was not good. Usagi's reason for going back to Borderland is what exactly? To meet her father? Whom she knows isn't in Borderland? Makes absolutely zero sense. Her dynamic with Ryuji also makes no sense. Why are they so close? Why is he kind of obsessed or into her? There's no reason at all. But okay - Arisu decided to follow her to save her.
But it's fine, I mostly enjoyed the games about the show anyways. So I was disappointed when they let me down. They were creative - yes. And I liked that there was usually some "loophole" to save yourself. Very nice characteristic of a Joker game. What endlessly frustrated me was that there was always at least one person who ruins the plan ... just cause? Wouldn't they want to survive? And don't even let me get started with the zombie game. From the beginning of the game, I was thinking 'just make everyone a zombie, then nobody has to die', but smartiepants Arisu (who holds a zombie card the whole time) doesn't come up with this idea? I thought he wanted to save everyone? Hello? Where's the logic? I won't even go into the pure frustration that was the future game. In season 1&2, even when I didn't agree with a character's choice, I still thought 'fair enough'. But this time, the stupidity was frustrating. And these are all returning players? Please.
The ending just confused the hell out of me, so I won't even say anything about that. Overall, it was nice for the production and action, but definitely not on par with the past seasons. The idea of the Joker card is great, but not executed well.
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