Tarō (タロウ, Tarou) is a minor character in Season 3 of Alice in Borderland. He is part of Usagi's Team. He is portrayed by Kanro Morita.
Appearance[]
Taro is a large-built man with medium-length, straight hair. He wears a checkered shirt with a beige vest on top and light-colored trousers.
Personality[]
Taro is a shy and non-confrontational young man who struggles with social interactions. He is decisive when it comes to survival, knowledgeable in multiple areas, and quick to admit his mistakes and apologize.
History[]
Same as the other participants of the Joker Tournament, Taro had played the games before, making his Sojourn in Season 3 a return to the Borderland rather than his first visit. However, the games he experienced in the past were not the same ones faced by Arisu and his group. Since Borderland games are created and overseen by individual Citizens, their scale, rules, and format vary depending on who hosts them. Therefore, Taro's earlier participation took place under different Citizens, resulting in a distinct set of challenges.
Story[]
Taro first appears during the "Runaway Train" game. In the beginning, he does not participate in making major decisions. When everyone agrees to keep their masks off after wasting one of the canisters with the neutralizing agent, Taro decisively puts his mask on, only to notice that nobody else does and then take it off again.
Later in the game, the players see another parallel train, and Taro informs them that it is heading towards Asakusa. When the participants on that train start dying from gas poisoning, the group realizes they need a new strategy. Ryuji points out that Taro is knowledgeable about trains and asks for his opinion on the placement of the gas tank. Taro awkwardly shakes his head but then confirms that it is possible to determine the presence of a gas tank by checking the train type and the position of the pantograph. With his guidance, the players proceed through the next few cars successfully.
In the sixth car, however, Taro rechecks the position of the luggage racks and realizes that he misidentified the train model, meaning his earlier predictions were wrong and the group survived purely by chance. He apologizes for misleading them and admits that he has no idea what to do next. Juri lashes out at him with accusations, but Usagi intervenes and decides to take a risk. The group puts on their gas masks, but the substance released this time is oxygen, which means they have wasted another canister and cannot clear the game.
Seeing everyone's desperation, Taro points out that they have just passed Jimbocho Station, which means they are near the area where the trains run in parallel. Panicking, he yells that the train they saw earlier should appear again soon. Usagi asks if this is the only way to proceed, and Taro nods, so she decides to jump. Right after Usagi, Itsuki, and Yuna successfully leap onto the other train, Taro follows them decisively despite the fear written all over his face.
The players survive and find a place to spend the night. To help Ryuji, Taro brings him a pair of support braces.
The next game they participate in is the semi-final game, "Tokyo Bingo Tower". Taro climbs the tower alongside the others and pushes the first buzzer with #72 on it. A few minutes later, he manages to reach buzzer #68 in a difficult spot and completes the horizontal row in the middle, leaving only the "FREE" space to clear at the top of the tower. While he is lying on a metal lattice beam, balls meant to knock players off the tower start falling from above, hitting him and causing him to slip. He grabs onto a lower beam, screaming that he does not want to die, but another ball hits him in the face, causing blood to splatter from his head, which immediately knocks him off and kills him midair. Ryuji tries to reach out and catch him, but he is too far away, and Taro falls even further, hitting multiple metallic beams and falling out of sight.
Games Played[]
Trivia[]
- The forename Tarou is commonly written as "太郎" (first son, eldest son). The exact kanji depend on the official spelling, which is not provided in the show, as the name is written in katakana.
- Taro is a new character who did not appear in the original manga series.