Manga- Netflix
Takeru Danma (弾間 剛, Danma Takeru), also known as Hatter (帽子屋, Bōshiya), is a recurring character in Alice in Borderland. He is the leader of the Beach society who represents the idealistic sector of the Beach residents. His specialty is not clearly stated in the show, however, the promotional poster hints at Hearts (♥️). He is portrayed by Nobuaki Kaneko.
Appearance[]
Hatter is a skinny middle-aged man with wavy shoulder-length hair, who always wears sunglasses and a brightly colored beach robe with red swim trunks underneath. His posture is always relaxed as he languidly walks around the Seaside Paradise Hotel, better known as the Beach, treating it as his own kingdom.
Personality[]
Hatter's personality before the Borderland is contrastingly different from the man who appeared in front of Arisu for the first time. In the real world, Takeru was shown to be sympathetic, kind, and caring towards his friends, specifically Mori-chan, whom he wanted to live a long life, and also deeply philosophical, which spilled into his Borderland persona as he quoted Gandhi and decided to create a utopia for all the desperate souls.
However, running the Beach made Hatter obsessed with the idea of sacrificing everything to obtain all the cards and leaving the Borderland, so he became egocentric, manipulative, and cruel. While sharing his life story with Arisu, he seems to be a lot more heartbroken over his host club dreams getting crushed than one of his subordinates dying. He even goes as far as to call that person's death "a necessary evil" for him to mature, demonstrating complete disregard for human life. He insists that all Beach members must dedicate their lives to his cause, making him the only hero to succeed in leaving the Borderland.
Additionally, Hatter is shown to enjoy drinking with the company of women.
History[]
Before Takeru arrived in the Borderland, he ran a famous host club in Kabukichō called "Beach", which, according to him, was advertised all over Tokyo on cars with loudspeakers. He desperately strived to be the best in Kabukichō, and his subordinates looked up to him, as he claimed to be ready to do anything to reach his goals. He had a mindset that if you are looked down on by a customer, it is over, and that no matter how much you are made to drink, "you must never lose your human pride". This mindset was then instilled into his subordinates, however, it pushed one of them over the edge and caused him to hang himself in his room. The incident resulted in everyone else leaving Takeru, and "Beach" going out of business. After the club went bankrupt, Takeru took over the family's hat shop to fulfill his father's dying wish.
Story[]
Season 1[]
Hatter explains how to leave the Borderland
Hatter giving a speech
Hatter asking Aguni who is the boss
Hatter enjoying himself before the game
Hatter makes an extravagant appearance after Arisu and Usagi are kidnapped and brought to the executive members' meeting room at the Beach. He claims to know the answers to all the questions the duo may have and proceeds to reveal what he and the others have found out about the Borderland:
- everyone in Tokyo did not disappear, but a certain group of people has entered another country instead, which is proven by the fact that they are all issued visas;
- in order to leave "this country", one needs to collect all the playing cards;
- the original world will not return, because only one person can go back to the original world upon gathering the cards;
- it is not possible for one person to collect all 52 cards, which is why nobody can leave while working alone.
He explains the main objective of the Beach, which is to unite people, gather all cards and allow #1 to return to the real world. Per his order, Arisu and Usagi's cards are taken away to add to the current collection. When Arisu attempts to refuse, Hatter laughs in his face and claims that there is no choice, and then explains the rules of the Beach:
- You must always wear swimsuits at the Beach, because you cannot hide firearms in a swimsuit, which makes it safe for everyone. Players are free to drink, take illegal substances, and have sex, however, all the door locks are damaged with super glue, so nobody can hide anything.
- All playing cards belong to the Beach. Those who have contributed more cards are promoted to a higher rank.
- Death to the traitors.
Hatter is convinced that one day all Beach members will be able to leave the Borderland, which is the mission of the organization, and those, who show contempt for that, are labelled traitors. As the atmosphere gets tense, Hatter laughs and exclaims that he finally got lucky to obtain the Seven of Hearts card, so he might consider increasing Arisu and Usagi's ranks.
Later that day, as the time for games draws near, Hatter makes an appearance in the lobby and gives an encouraging speech about uniting as one and fighting your fears in order to beat the games, while Beach members excitedly cheer for him.
At night, when everyone has returned from the games, there is a conflict by the pool, involving Arisu, Usagi, Aguni and Niragi, and Hatter arrives to resolve it. He gives an order to Niragi, who openly disregards it and claims to only answer to Aguni, which makes Hatter question Aguni's allegiance and force him and the militants into submission by establishing that Hatter is the main boss. He invites Arisu to join the executives meeting, since Ann tested Arisu per Hatter's order and was satisfied with the result. In the meeting, Hatter reveals the necessity for him to join another game, since his visa is about to run out, and claims that he does not care what type of game it is going to be, because he is certain he will clear any.
After the meeting is over, Hatter invites Arisu to his suite and takes his time drinking and kissing two women, while making Arisu awkwardly wait on the sofa across the table. He offers Arisu a drink and then, seeing as Arisu is hesitant, takes a sip himself to prove it is not poisoned. Hatter explains that he likes to enjoy himself before a game and shares his life story about running a host club in Kabukichō.
Hatter expressing his wish to create hope in a place full of despair
Hatter leaving for his last game
"You must be the change you wish to see in the world."
— Hatter quoting Gandhi
The episode begins with a flashback of Hatter and Aguni first locating the hotel that will eventually become the utopia. Hatter wishes to create hope when there is none and therefore create the second Beach. The flashback turns into the current day events where Hatter looks over his stack of cards, that is almost full, as he prepares to join a game. He gets in a car, and the whole Beach sees him off, cheering for his success. Chishiya narrates in the background that Hatter is trying to keep the militants in check, but it is only a matter of time before they retaliate.
Hatter arrives at the game venue, which symbolically happens to be in Kabukichō.
Next morning an executive meeting is called to announce Hatter's death. There is a clear gunshot wound in his chest, and Niragi uses this meeting as an opportunity to take over the reins and make Aguni the new leader. When Kuzuryu mentions that Hatter would not want that, Niragi beats Hatter's corpse, calls him a tyrant and spits on him.
The only other mention of Hatter further in the episode is in Chishiya's explanation of how the black envelope works: it is an envelope that contains the location of the cards in Hatter's royal suite and the passcode for the safe. The envelope can only be opened by the next leader in front of other executive members and then sealed again with Hatter's BOSS ring. As deduced by Chishiya through careful observation, there is a drawing of a stag inside the envelope, which vaguely resembles the painting in Hatter's room, and the safe with the cards ends up being behind that painting. The code for the safe is 8022 which corresponds with the word BOSS on the ring.
Takeru Danma and Morizono Aguni in the real world
Hatter's death is officially announced to the public at the beginning of the "Witch Hunt" game. Ann claims that she has extracted a bullet out of his chest, and the bullet belongs to the Beach, which means one of the militants killed Hatter.
While looking at burning bodies of Beach members, Aguni remembers himself and Takeru back in the real world. He came to the "Hat Danma" shop one day to see his friend and tried one of the hats, but Takeru said it did not suit him. When Aguni pointed out how strange it was for a famous club host of Kabukichō to be working as a hatter, Takeru explained that he could not go against his father's dying wish. After Aguni revealed that one of their friends had been killed, Takeru patted him on the shoulder and stated that Aguni was the only friend he had left, wishing him to live a long life.
Hatter creating the third Beach rule
Hatter aiming a gun at Aguni
While trying to deduce who is the Witch, players turn on each other, and Aguni claims that the Witch is him, so the militants must shoot him. Arisu realizes that Aguni is actually suffering because of Hatter's death, as they were really close friends. A flashback follows, showing how Hatter and Aguni first ended up in the Borderland, how they discovered the "Seaside Paradise Tokyo" hotel, and how Hatter dreamt of creating a utopia. Despite Aguni's skepticism, Hatter's confidence was captivating, so his friend gave in. What followed later was Hatter losing his mind over his ideals and going as far as killing those who dared to defy him, which deeply shocked Aguni. After murdering a few players in cold blood for keeping cards from him, Hatter introduced the third Beach rule, "Death to all traitors". Seeing his once warm and caring friend beat people to death made Aguni realize that Hatter had become a completely different person.
The next flashback shows the previous night when Hatter and a couple of militants went to play a game. As it turned out, the game venue was right next to Hatter's own "Beach" host club, which made him nostalgic. Despite Aguni's confession about being at his limit, his suggestion to end the Beach made Hatter question his loyalty. In the following heated discussion, Hatter reminded Aguni of the Beach rules and asked him to keep hoping for the best, but Aguni had given up.
"For a king... There are times when we have to make difficult decisions. What a pity, Mori-chan."
— Hatter to Aguni before aiming a gun at him
Taking Aguni's words as a betrayal, Hatter aimed a gun at his friend and pulled the trigger. Confused and horrified, Aguni dodged and instinctively shot Hatter instead. However, when Aguni checked Hatter's gun, he realized that it was not loaded, which indicated that Hatter had never intended to actually murder his friend but wanted to die at his hand instead.
Season 2[]
Hatter's ghost appears to Aguni
Hatter's ghost appears again
While Aguni is brooding alone at night, a familiar voice breaks the silence, and Aguni refers to him as "Takeru". The camera zooms out and reveals Hatter in his Beach clothing standing in front of Aguni.
"This doesn't look like you. Why are you working with them? You even saved Arisu. Are you trying to repay for killing all those people at the Beach? The King of Spades is a warrior, he is not like you and me. You don't deserve to die like a hero. You really want to die so badly? Then ending your life is also fine."
Aguni asks him to leave, and Hatter's ghost disappears.
Later, the ghost appears again after Aguni hits his head, but refuses to go away despite Aguni's request, looking down at him with hostility, so Aguni shouts at him, and then Hatter disappears without saying a word.
After the King of Spades is defeated, Aguni decides to take his own life, and Hatter's ghost appears before him for the last time. Aguni asks why his dead friend came to him again and wonders whether he expects an apology, but Hatter suddenly claims that he is the one who has come to ask for forgiveness.
"I forced my best friend into an unpleasant role."
Hatter gently pushes Aguni's gun away from his temple, places his hand on Aguni's shoulder, and wishes him well. With a smile, he turns and walks away, disappearing into the smoke.
Hatter and Aguni in Shibuya moments before the meteorites
Hatter appears in a flashback of the day they all were transported to the Borderland: Arisu was at the Shibuya Crossing, waiting for his friends. The scene repeated the same way as Episode 1 (Season 1) at first, with the zombie talk, then Karube putting Arisu on his shoulders, and then the trio causing a road accident. However, this time it is revealed that all the other people Arisu met in the Borderland were also at the Shibuya Crossing at the same time, including Usagi, who was standing nearby, Niragi sitting on a bench, Kuina decisively rushing through the crowd, Chishiya having a nonchalant stroll, Hatter and Aguni walking out of a shop and talking, Tatta sitting in a big lorry, and Ann looking at her watch as she walked past Arisu and his friends. The same scene that was shown in Heiya's flashback before repeats itself, but now shows that the assumed fireworks were actually a few meteorites that hit Shibuya, causing a massive explosion and crushing all the buildings in the area.
Later, Takeru Danma's name is mentioned among the victims of the meteorite disaster.
Season 3[]
Danma does not make any physical appearances in Season 3 aside from flashbacks. However, it is shown that Aguni has kept his hat after the meteorite disaster and is now running his hat shop.
Games Played[]
The series does not clearly list any games played by Hatter, however, at least one unknown game is shown in a flashback, and Hatter's lack of participation in further games, along with his statement that the Beach members "have already discovered everything there is to know about this country", indicates that he has cleared enough games to earn many visa days.
Gallery[]
.png "Hatter standing by the table with all the cards taken from Arisu and Usagi (Netflix).png (6.09 MB)")
Trivia[]
- The forename Takeru is written with the kanji "剛" (strong, mighty, robust).
- The surname Danma is a combination of the kanji "弾" (dan) (bullet, projectile) and "間" (ma) (space, interval).
- Hatter's eccentric personality and his former occupation as a hat merchant makes him similar to the Mad Hatter from Alice in Wonderland.