Season 2 of Alice in Borderland (今際の国のアリス, Imawa no Kuni no Arisu), a Japanese sci-fi thriller live-action drama series, was released on Netflix on December 22, 2022.[1][2] It consists of 8 episodes and illustrates the Second Stage of the game cycle.
The preceding Season 1 premiered on December 10, 2020. The succeeding Season 3 was released on September 25, 2025.
Synopsis[]
The game's Next Stage begins when the King of Spades, an expert marksman, starts shooting players indiscriminately. The King of Spades game arena spans the entire city, and the presence of the hosting Citizen is marked by a blimp carrying his Face Card that follows his movements. Arisu, Usagi, Kuina, and Tatta escape into hiding together, while Chishiya and Ann are forced to flee separately. Will clearing all Face Card games finally allow players to return to the real world?
Cast[]
Main Players[]
- Kento Yamazaki as Arisu
- Tao Tsuchiya as Usagi
- Nijiro Murakami as Chishiya
- Aya Asahina as Kuina
- Dori Sakurada as Niragi
- Yutaro Watanabe as Tatta
- Sho Aoyagi as Aguni
- Ayaka Miyoshi as Ann
- Yuri Tsunematsu as Heiya
Minor Players[]
- Hayato Isomura as Banda
- Katsuya Maiguma as Yaba
- Shiori Hashiba as Shinobu Furuta
- Ryuhei Watabe as Genki Kiryu
- Kazunari Tosa as Masashi Ota
- Yusaku Mori as Ippei Ōki
- Seiichi Kohinata as Akifumi Seto
- Aina Yamada as Urumi Akamaki
- Mayu Adachi as Mika Takeda
- Yuzuki Akiyama as Meisa Tokui
- Akiko Yoshioka as Eiko Yamaguchi
- Akane Sakanoue as Satomi Aoki
- Tity Hasegawa as Kakeru Kishoin
- Junichi Gamou as Hiroshi Tomita
- Yuenchi Kojima as Motohiko Kaneko
- Honami Sato as Kotoko Shiga
- Anam Sekiguchi as Kato[3]
- Syohei Shikano as Junpei Nagano
- Hidehiko Yamada as Hiroto Yamashita
- Ruse Ota as Kota
- Miyu Yagyu as Nozomi
- Jun Hashimoto as Benzo Yashige
- Wakato Kanematsu as Takashi Asuma
- Aimi Satsukawa as Hinako Daimon
Recurring Players[]
Citizens[]
- Ayumi Tanida as Shirabi
- Tsuyoshi Abe as Kuzuryu
- Riisa Naka as Mira
- Tomohisa Yamashita as Kyuma
- Ryohei Shima as Shitara
- Alisa Urahama as Uta
- Eita Okuno as Goken
- Eishin as Maki
- Kai Inowaki as Matsushita
- Chihiro Yamamoto as Risa
Episodes[]
- Directed by: Shinsuke Sato
- Written by: Yasuko Kuramitsu & Shinsuke Sato
| Picture | Title | Release Date | |
|---|---|---|---|
 |
"Episode 1" | December 22, 2022 | |
| The games' Next Stage starts when the King of Spades, an expert marksman, begins shooting players with an anti-tank and assault rifle. The King of Spades' game arena is the whole city, and his presence is marked by a blimp with his Face Card that follows him. Arisu, Usagi, Kuina, and Tatta escape into hiding together, while Chishiya and Ann have to flee separately. Still searching for answers, Arisu decides to play against the King of Clubs, along with Usagi, Kuina, Tatta and Niragi as his teammates. Kyuma, the King of Clubs, introduces himself and his team as "Citizens" of the country. | |||
 |
"Episode 2" | December 22, 2022 | |
| Kyuma explains that all Face Card games are deathmatches against Citizens. The King of Clubs game, "Osmosis", is a points-based game where players have the opportunity to increase their points in certain ways, including battling, finding items, and touching the base. The team with the highest points at the end wins. At first Arisu's team takes the lead, only to be surprised by Kyuma and his team's fearlessness and willingness to die in order to help their team win. After Arisu's half-failed plan, Kyuma's team still leads by 500 points, and it seems impossible for the players to catch up. | |||
 |
"Episode 3" | December 22, 2022 | |
| Kyuma and Arisu, who have grown to understand each other, have a chat while waiting for the countdown to run out. Arisu realizes that Kyuma and his team were once regular players, and fears this means that clearing all the games will not let them return home. Arisu asks to shake Kyuma's hand; when Kyuma does, he loses 500 points, putting Arisu's team in the lead. It is revealed that Tatta smashed his hand to give his bracelet to Arisu, who could use the accumulated points to win one last battle. Kyuma and his team accept their deaths, and Tatta dies of his injuries. Elsewhere, Chishiya plays the Jack of Hearts game, "Solitary Confinement", in a prison, where players have to correctly guess the playing card suit on the back of their collars to avoid being killed, but at the same time find the Jack of Hearts who is hiding among them. The game turns into a true Hearts challenge: players team up and betray each other, while the Jack of Hearts is silently waiting for the end and tricking his opponents. | |||
 |
"Episode 4" | December 22, 2022 | |
| The Jack of Hearts is discovered by Chishiya and two other players: a serial killer and a con man. While Chishiya keeps harmlessly eating cookies, guessing his own mark with his intuition, others want to torture the Jack of Hearts for information about the Borderland, and the Jack of Hearts eventually chooses to end the game by giving a wrong answer in order to stop the pain. Kuina leaves Arisu and Usagi to find Ann. Arisu is depressed after Tatta's death, but Usagi urges him to help her hunt. They find a community that was slaughtered by the King of Spades, and are separated when the King of Spades attacks again. Arisu is rescued by Aguni and his new female friend, Heiya. | |||
 |
"Episode 5" | December 22, 2022 | |
| Arisu joins Aguni and Heiya to set a trap for the King of Spades, but the plan fails, and Arisu is separated from them. Ann hikes out of the city but finds only forest, surrounded by giant craters. Kuina survives the Jack of Spades game, but struggles alone. Usagi decides to help a young boy, whose visa is expiring, by taking him into the Queen of Spades game and protecting him. Arisu also goes into the game; he and Usagi reunite. The Queen of Spades game is "Checkmate", a chasing game where tagging someone from the opposite team brings them into your team, and the team with the greatest numbers by the end wins. Usagi's team starts to lose when the other players decide to stay with the Queen of Spades. | |||
 |
"Episode 6" | December 22, 2022 | |
| Usagi confronts some of the players, asking if they would really prefer to stay in these games, instead of holding out for the possibility of going home and starting over. Usagi's argument works, and the players decide to unite in order to win the game. Arisu and Usagi find hot springs in the remains of a stadium; they bathe together and share a kiss. Chishiya and three others play "Balance Scale", a mathematics/logic game against Kuzuryu, the King of Diamonds and former Beach executive member. Chishiya realizes that Kuzuryu has been trying to figure out if all lives have equal value. | |||
 |
"Episode 7" | December 22, 2022 | |
| Kuina and Ann reunite in the Queen of Clubs game and win together. With two Face Card games left, players start converging in Shibuya. Niragi, Arisu, and Chishiya meet at the Shibuya crossing; Niragi drags the other two into a gunfight, during which Arisu shoots Niragi and Chishiya is shot saving Usagi's life. The King of Spades arrives. Arisu and Usagi team up with Ann, Kuina, Aguni, and Heiya. While Arisu prepares a trap, the others engage the King of Spades, who defeats them one by one. Aguni and Arisu blow up the King of Spades with an explosive, and then Aguni shoots him in the head, killing him. With the rest of their friends injured and near death, Arisu and Usagi start the final game, the Queen of Hearts. | |||
 |
"Episode 8" | December 22, 2022 | |
| Mira is the Queen of Hearts, and her game is "Croquet", where Arisu only needs to play three rounds of croquet without quitting, regardless of who wins or loses the game. Mira reveals that she designed the Seven of Hearts game that killed Arisu's friends; this enrages Arisu, until he realizes that if he kills Mira, they will never be able to finish the game. Mira's psychological taunting breaks Arisu's mind, and he hallucinates that he is in a mental hospital. Usagi gets Arisu out of his mental breakdown by cutting her wrist and forcing him to come back to save her. Mira is touched that their love was able to break Arisu out of the hallucination, and she finishes the croquet game with Arisu. The last game beaten, all players are given the choice to become "permanent residents" or not. Players who are still alive and who choose not to stay then wake up in the regular world, where they are the survivors of a meteorite crash in Tokyo. Arisu's brother tells him that his heart stopped for one minute, during which he was at the border between life and death. The survivors do not remember their experiences in the Borderlands, but some recognize each other, including Arisu and Usagi, who meet at a vending machine and decide to take a walk together. The last scene is a table of playing cards, with focus on the Joker card. | |||
Gallery[]
Promotional Images[]
Season 2 announcement
Behind the scenes
Stills[]
Chishiya hiding from the King of Spades
Chishiya listening to instructions during Jack of Hearts
Chishiya revealing who the Jack of Hearts is
The Player Team listening to instructions during Queen of Spades
Usagi during Checkmate
Arisu during Checkmate
Usagi and Arisu during King of Clubs
The player team in "Osmosis"
Niragi during the King of Clubs
Tatta during King of Clubs
Kyuma explaining instructions to Arisu during the King of Clubs game
Ginji Kyuma battling during the King of Clubs game
Matsushita during the Jack of Hearts game
Banda teaming up with Matsushita
Yaba telling Kotoko Shiga to "not trust anyone but him"
Yaba checking Kotoko's symbol
Usagi and Arisu in the beginning of the Second Stage
Kuina during the King of Spades
Usagi during the King of Spades
Arisu hiding in the bushes
Ann sitting in a car
Arisu, Chishiya, and Niragi fighting in Shibuya
Arisu and Usagi seeing the King of Spades approaching
Character Portraits[]
Arisu Ryohei
Usagi Yuzuha
Shuntaro Chishiya
Hikari Kuina
Ginji Kyuma
Rizuna Ann
Akane Heiya
Sunato Banda
Oki Yaba
Mira Kano
Videos[]
Alice in Borderland- Season 2 - Official Trailer - Netflix
Alice in Borderland- Season 2 - Cast Announcement - Netflix
Alice in Borderland Season 2 in the works! Netflix
Trivia[]
- Season 2 was first announced on December 24, 2020[4][5].
- On March 30, 2022, it was announced that Alice in Borderland season 2 officially wrapped production.[1]
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 'Alice in Borderland' Levels Up in Season 2
- ↑ Alice in Borderland Season 2 Releasing in December 2022 - Chronicles News
- ↑ Post by Anam Sekiguchi on his Instagram.
- ↑ Netflix Japan Announcement
- ↑ Netflix Gives Second Season to Japan Thriller 'Alice in Borderland'