The Borderland (今際の国, Imawa no Kuni, lit. "Land of the Dead") is a world that acts as a border between life and death, where the consciousness of multiple people, who suffer a near-death experience or clinical death, is sent to.
In the Alice in Borderland series (manga, OVA, and the Netflix live-action show), the Borderland serves as an overarching antagonist which represents the constant opposing force throughout the entire narrative, creating deadly games in order to test the players' resolve and the will to survive.
The world is portrayed as an emptied-out version of Tokyo, overgrown with vegetation. The live-action emphasizes that all electronic devices stop functioning.
Overview[]
Scientifically theorized, the Borderland is a "collective consciousness" where minds interconnect while in a state between life and death.
Within the Borderland, people exist as "immigrants" in order to decide whether they continue to the world of the dead or earn the right to return to the world of the living. For this, the people, known as either players or Dealers, are forced to participate in a sequence of elaborate games, in which their lives are put on the line in order to test their will to survive. The wounds suffered in the Borderland are reflected in the body in the original world, so getting killed there also means dying in the world of the living. Once all the games are cleared, the survivors can choose to return to the real world or stay in the Borderland as Citizens, who create and operate the next set of games in the next immigration cycle. No player or Dealer in the Borderland is aware of this until they clear all the games.
Time in the Borderland passes very differently from the world of the living. What a consciousness perceives as months can mean mere seconds to its true body. The victims of the Tokyo Meteorite Disaster end up at a different distance from the epicenter, which causes them to get affected at slightly varying times, and they arrive in the Borderland days and weeks after each other. A single immigration cycle takes an average of about 60 days and ends once either the players, or the Dealers, or the Citizens emerge victorious. After that, the Borderland resets, and new groups of people begin joining.
Upon entering the Borderland, all the memories of the experience that led people there are lost and replaced with artificial ones. In the manga, they also enter a psychedelic wormhole and get transformed into marionettes before arriving in the Borderland. In the Netflix live-action, everyone, who is at the Shibuya Crossing or in the Shibuya area, witness huge fireworks in the sky, suddenly realizing that all the people in Tokyo have disappeared.
Once it is possible to leave, all memories of the Borderland are lost in the same way, only certain feelings of the experiences from there remain.
Conditions[]
To be sent to the Borderland, a person needs to meet the following criteria:
- They have suffered a clinical death or a near-death experience.
- They were heavily dissatisfied with their life.
- Their real-life body has to remain physically functional and intact enough to sustain life once the heart restarts.
There are a few ways to keep the memories while going in and out of the Borderland:
- An important object that the players take with them can distort their perception of what is real, rekindling memories of what happened before they reached the Borderland.
- Upon the second Sojourn, the memories of the first visit to the Borderland return and remain present after the player goes back to the real world once again.
- If a player is physically unable to choose between life and death after all the games are cleared, their memories of the Borderland may remain intact after they return to the world of the living.
Appearance[]
The Borderland is a parallel of the 23 special wards of Tokyo, and the games in the Borderland take place within the area. However, the parallel Tokyo is abandoned, and the effects of time and nature have a clear toll on it. Many of the buildings are in poor condition, and trash can be seen everywhere. In the manga and the anime OVA, lots of vegetation can be seen growing through cracks and hanging on infrastructure from the very beginning of Arisu's journey, however, in the Netflix adaptation, the Borderland reach this state only by the middle of Season 2.
A weather cycle still exists, as proven by the rainstorm and typhoon, and the day and night cycle exists as well. However, the Borderland is perpetually in the summertime around July, meaning the days are humid and hot.
As the land approaches the edge of the wards, it grows more ruinous, eventually turning into massive forests and mountains.
.png "Arisu, Karube, and Chota in the Borderlands for the first time (OVA).png (8.43 MB)")
.png "Overgrown traffic lights (OVA).png (6.35 MB)")
.png "Overgrown buildings (OVA).png (8.39 MB)")
.png "Chota checking the state of the metal fence (OVA).png (7.86 MB)")
Alice on Border Road[]
During the events of Alice on Border Road, the Tokyo area is visibly in ruins.
Groups[]
There are three groups of people in the Borderland: the players, the Dealers, and the Citizens. Players and Dealers both have to keep their visas in mind, but Citizens do not have to worry about it since they have earned their citizenship.
Players[]
Players play the games. A player ID has the format of 10000XXX.
Dealers[]
Dealers supervise the games. A Dealer ID has the format of 00000XXX.
Citizens[]
Citizens create the games.
Rules[]
The rules and mechanisms of the Borderland can change with each new wave of immigrants.
Alice in Borderland[]
Every night after sundown, the games commence. Games can take place at any location, indoors or outdoors. Players have to register in the game lobby, where the rules to the game and the difficulty will be announced. The difficulty is not announced until the registration is complete. Once a player enters a venue, they cannot leave. Some games have entry requirements as well, such as reaching a player limit, requirement, or having all players equip special objects prior to the start of the game. The rewards players get for achieving GAME CLEAR are as follows:
- Extension of a player's visa determined by the game's difficulty (e.g. Clearing Five of Spades extends the visa by five days)
- An additional prize for some games (e.g. the mutton prize from the Seven of Hearts game in the manga)
Dealers are the people who set up the games and clean up the venues after the games are done. They also often participate in games to create additional conditions (for example, acting as Taggers in the Five of Spades game, or confusing the players in the Ten of Hearts game). The rewards Dealers get for players achieving GAME OVER are as follows:
- Extension of a Dealer's visa determined by the kill count (e.g. Six of Diamonds had four deaths, so the visa is extended by four days)
Once a person's visa day count reach 0, they are killed by a laser. This is why players and Dealers must continue participating in games. This system applies only during the First Stage, but the rules change drastically in the Second Stage.
There are two ways for the First Stage to end:
- If all 40 number card games are cleared, it is a player victory, and all Dealers are killed. A single person does not need to clear all the games nor have all the cards; every game just needs to have been cleared at least once.
- If all players are killed, then it is considered a Dealer victory.
The victorious faction will have a three-day Interval, where visas do not count down. At the end of the three days, the Citizens will make their announcement for the Second Stage.
During the Second Stage, twelve new Face Card games begin, and the survivors have to compete against the Borderland Citizens representing the Face Cards in their designated arenas. These games are much more difficult, have extremely strict entry requirements, and have the survivors play against the Citizens. All games have their difficulty displayed on a blimp above the game venue. However, the visa system is still in effect. If all Citizens are defeated and the games are all cleared, the remaining people get to choose whether to return to the real world or gain permanent residency, becoming new Citizens and making new games in the next immigration cycle.
Alice on Border Road[]
In Alice on Border Road, twelve people end up in overgrown Kyoto, each holding a Face Card. They have to bring their respective card from Kyoto to the exact point in Tokyo where they suffered their near-death experience.
Alice in Borderland (Netflix Season 3)[]
The system shows a significant change; visas and cards are no longer part of the games. Instead, all players participate in a grand event, Joker Tournament. The tournament includes multiple starting games, semi-final games, and the final game on predetermined dates and locations. Players can no longer choose where or what to play, dying instantly upon losing a game or failing to participate as directed.
Trivia[]
- The Borderland itself represents the myth of the Sanzu River, which symbolizes the boundary between the living and the dead, where souls must cross to reach the afterlife.
- "Imawa" (今際) is a Japanese term derived from "ima wa kagiri" (今は限り) from the Tales of Ise, which literally means "the very last by now". It is also a euphemism for "the very last moment one dies".
See also[]