Manga- OVA
- Netflix
Yuzuha Usagi (宇佐木 柚葉, Usagi Yuzuha) is the deuteragonist of Alice in Borderland. She is a skilled mountain climber, who specializes in Spades (
).
Appearance[]
Usagi is a young woman with short hair, which becomes slightly shorter over time. Her bangs are uneven: the shorter strands reach her eyebrows, while the longer center section reaches between her eyes. She is well-toned, very athletic, and able to climb with ease. When she first appears, she is wearing a school uniform, and her underwear is sportswear. At the Beach, she wears a tight bathing suit with a zipped jacket over it.
Personality[]
Usagi is a quick thinker. She trusts her abilities and does not try to help strangers if she knows she cannot. She deeply cares about those close to her and is very protective. She prefers working alone, explaining that becoming attached to others makes survival more difficult. This changes when she meets Arisu. She also does not want Arisu to say that he was the only one who saved everyone during the Five of Spades.
Aside from this, Usagi is polite and considerate. When she grows close to someone, she places her trust in them.
History[]
Usagi had difficulty with social relationships since childhood because she did not side with the majority. When she tried to please two opposing groups of girls, she ended up being isolated by both sides. She was physically capable from a young age due to her mountaineer father, and the two often climbed together when he returned to Japan from overseas expeditions. Usagi felt free from social expectations when she was climbing and looking out over the mountains.
Usagi in front of a memorial
Her father decided to challenge Mount Everest via an unexplored route and without supplementary oxygen. His achievement, however, was widely regarded as a fraud, and experts publicly claimed that the photographs he took during the expedition were falsified. Following this, their house was vandalized with hate graffiti. The backlash and accusations eventually drove him to end his life. His last words were "I have never lied to the mountains." Grieving her father's death and the social rejection that took away the only person who understood her, Usagi saw the fireworks of the Borderland. Her arrival there was unique, as her body did not temporarily turn into a marionette.
Story[]
Arriving in Borderland[]
On her first day of Sojourn, Usagi completes the Four of Spades. While still kind-hearted, she prefers to keep her distance from others and lives alone. Because she used to camp in the wilderness while traveling for mountaineering, she has no trouble catching and preparing small animals, which are abundant in Borderland Tokyo.
Five of Spades[]
Usagi climbing up to the next floor
Ryohei Arisu and Daikichi Karube first meet her during the Five of Spades. She enters the arena alone, but when she hears Karube call out for players to announce the Horse Head's position aloud, she cooperates, which surprises Shuntaro Chishiya, who believes that people act selfishly. Usagi demonstrates her climbing ability, allowing her to move vertically between apartment corridors without using the elevator or stairways.
Near the end of the game, she catches up to Arisu to activate the game clear mechanism, which requires two players to press the switches at the same time. In the manga, Usagi enters the lair before the Horse Head. After the game ends, she introduces herself to Arisu but turns down his invitation to travel together, warning him that some games require betrayal between players.
Looking for the Beach[]
Usagi helping Arisu
Eventually, she manages to clear both the Three of Diamonds and the Six of Clubs. In Chapter 13, she is shown killing a rabbit after it falls into her trap. After Arisu sorrowfully survives the Seven of Hearts, losing Karube, Chota Segawa and Saori Shibuki, Usagi shelters him at her isolated camp. She gives him food and clean clothes. The next night, when he tries to sleep outside, he is bitten by a mosquito. Completely unaware of the sexual implications, she allows Arisu to sleep beside her in the tent. Arisu, embarrassed, struggles to sleep.
Following a vague clue passed from Karube through Chishiya, the two begin searching for the Beach in hopes of learning the truth of the Borderland. As they travel, Usagi teaches Arisu practical survival skills. She shows him how to use a knife, how to identify and pick daikon radishes, how to follow boar tracks, and how to hunt. The two gradually grow closer.
One night, instead of asking others about the Beach, Arisu decides to follow people wearing key-bracelets after a game ends. They hear a strange sound around a corner and realize that Beach residents have access to working cars. By tracking their movements over the next several days, they eventually find the Beach.
The Beach[]
When they are greeted by the Beach's leader, Hatter, they are uneasy, but still decide to stay. Usagi becomes popular among the men there, likely due to her appearance. The Hatter explains the rules of the Beach and what he believes to be the "answer" to leaving the Borderland.
When Arisu is apprehended for attempting to steal the Beach's cards, Usagi immediately goes after him. She is also captured and is nearly assaulted by Suguru Niragi, but the announcement of the "Witch Hunt" interrupts.
Ten of Hearts[]
Asahi Kujo and Usagi are falsely accused of being the "Witches" and of murdering Hatter. The new leader, Morizono Aguni, orders his followers to kill all Beach residents. In the ensuing chaos, Usagi and Asahi manage to escape. Usagi then subdues one of Aguni's men to find Arisu, believing that he can solve the trick behind the Hearts game. After rescuing him, Usagi embraces Arisu.
Interval[]
During the Interval, Arisu confesses his determination to return to the original world with Usagi, but she hesitates, fearing she is unable to forgive the previous world and step forward like Arisu, her rejection deeply hurts him. Despite this, Usagi still accompanies Arisu to the King of Clubs arena with Hikari Kuina, Kodai Tatta, and Niragi.
King of Clubs[]
After the initial distribution of points, Kuina chooses to pair with Niragi, leaving Usagi and Arisu together. To avoid awkwardness, Arisu asks to switch partners with Kuina, placing Usagi with Niragi instead. In an effort to turn the situation against the Citizens' team, Usagi volunteers to bait one of the opposing members, despite knowing that failure means instant death. She realizes that her physical abilities have sharpened under constant life-or-death pressure. She also wants to catch up to Arisu and support him, which allows her to out-jump a pursuing Citizen across a wide gap. Her arm is injured in the landing, and she secures it using a triangular bandage.
However, after Tatta's death, Arisu becomes overwhelmed and withdraws from further participation. Usagi stays with him, while Kuina says a sorrowful farewell. The two continue on their own.
Fourth and Fifth Day of Exhibitions[]
One day, Arisu notices a rainbow and is motivated to follow it with Usagi. Instead, they arrive at the former arena of the Seven of Spades and spend time together in the hot spring. They begin bathing separately, but Usagi allows Arisu to come closer. They have sexual intercourse in the hot spring and later in their camp.
Seventh Day of Exhibitions[]
When Arisu does not return for some time, Usagi becomes worried and goes to look for him, only to find him caught between Niragi and Chishiya. The psychotic Niragi, who previously attempted to assault her, blames Usagi for influencing Arisu and preventing him from becoming like Niragi. He shoots Usagi, but the already wounded Chishiya pushes her aside and takes the bullet instead. Usagi is surprised, remembering that Chishiya previously betrayed her and Arisu during the card theft at the Beach. She quickly uses her triangular bandage to treat Chishiya's injury, but his internal damage cannot be addressed in the Borderland.
After witnessing the crash of the King of Spades' blimp and the announcement of Isao Shirabi's defeat, Usagi encourages Arisu to participate in the final game, hoping that Chishiya and Niragi can return to the real world for proper medical care.
Queen of Hearts[]
They head to the Queen of Hearts' arena and meet their former allies before entering. Usagi and Arisu both win rock-paper-scissors and proceed first into the final game, where they face Mira Kano. The game becomes increasingly unstable as Arisu is influenced by Mira's spiked tea. Usagi, who does not drink it, cuts her own wrist with a knife to shock Arisu back to awareness. Arisu clears the game in time, and the two refuse permanent residence, choosing to return to the real world.
After Borderland[]
Usagi reunites with Arisu in the hospital, neither of them remembering their time in Borderland. She stops him to return his change from a vending machine, and when Arisu asks if they have met before, she replies by asking if this is a new flirting technique. Embarrassed, Arisu decides to go along with the moment and asks her on a date. The two begin a relationship over the next two years.
Eight years after their return from Borderland, the couple is married, and Usagi has taken the name Yuzuha Arisu (有栖 柚葉, Arisu Yuzuha). While Arisu is returning from a seminar in Shizuoka, Yuzuha goes into labor and calls him from the hospital. Unaware that Arisu is caught in a near-fatal accident at that moment, she gives birth to their child. She and their newborn become the driving force for Arisu to survive in the Borderland for a second time.
Games Played[]
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- The forename Yuzuha consists of the kanji "柚" (yuzu) (grapefruit, pomelo, citrus fruit) and "葉" (ha) (leaf, plane, lobe, needle, blade, spear, counter for flat things, fragment, piece).
- The surname Usagi is a combination of the three kanji: "宇" (u) (eaves, roof, house, heaven), "佐" (sa) (help, aid), and "木" (gi) (tree, wood).
- Her surname is a translation of the word "rabbit" in Japanese (兎) (usagi) and refers to the White Rabbit in Alice in Wonderland. The White Rabbit is fast and serves as a guide for Alice. Similarly, Usagi is athletic, helps Arisu and is a driving motivation for his survival in Borderland.
- Her married name Arisu consists of the kanji "exist" (有) (ari) and "nest, rookery, hive, cobweb, den" (栖) (su).
- Usagi is one of three female characters with a Spades specialty, the other two being Akane Heiya and Hikari Kuina.
- Usagi is also tied with Arisu for having the highest numbers of mentioned games cleared.