今際の国のアリス

IMAWA NO KUNI NO ALICE

MANGA

STATUS
COMPLETE
VOLUMES
18
RELEASE
March 2, 2016
CHAPTERS
87

DESCRIPTION

Eighteen-year-old Ryohei Arisu is sick of his life. School sucks, his love life is a joke, and his future feels like impending doom. As he struggles to exist in a world that can’t be bothered with him, Ryohei feels like everything would be better if he were anywhere else. When a strange fireworks show transports him and his friends to a parallel world, Ryohei thinks all his wishes have come true. But this new world isn’t an empty paradise, it’s a vicious game. And the only way to survive is to play.

(Source: VIZ Media)

Note: Chapter count includes 22 side story chapters.

CAST

Ryouhei Arisu
Yuzuha Usagi
Shuntarou Chishiya
Mira Kanou
Hikari Kuina
Ginji Kyuuma
Daikichi Karube
Morizono Aguni
Akane Heiya
Suguru Niragi
Chouta Segawa
Saori Shibuki

CHAPTERS

RELATED TO IMAWA NO KUNI NO ALICE

OVA ActionImawa no Kuni no Alice

MANGA ActionImawa no Michi no Alice

Cover Art for Imawa no Kuni no Alice RETRY

MANGA ActionImawa no Kuni no Alice RETRY

REVIEWS

tindreams
80/100
Overall, it’s good. Interesting parts are the intriguing characters and using different card suits for categorization.
I watched the Netflix adaptation first before I decided to read the manga of Alice in Borderland. I found some of the characters really interesting, so I gave the manga a shot to learn more about them. If you know me pretty well, I believe you can already tell who my favorite characters are.

First, Chishiya Shuntarou. He may not be the protagonist of the story and he could be labeled as a douche by many, but for me, he’s my top 1. The main reason why I like his character would be his unbelievable level of intellect and cunningness. Chishiya doesn’t have an interest in other human lives. He’s even willing to sacrifice people along the way in order to prove his theory and meet his goal. That doesn’t sound really humane but he’s just being realistic and practical. They’re being stared at by death in the face each second of their stay in the Borderland, is there anything you shouldn’t do in order to live? Also, he beat both the Jack and King of Diamonds in a day single-handedly. End of discussion.

Second, Arisu Ryouhei. Like Chishiya, he’s a highly intelligent person. However, Arisu is more of like a slacker and a last minute doer that’s why I pick Chishiya over him for the #1 spot. The latter tends to plan ahead of time and Arisu seems to be quick in finding solutions when they’re already close to the endgame. Regardless, I admire his deep desire to understand what it means to live. Contrary to Chishiya, Arisu leans toward saving people using his own cleverness rather than treating them as pawns.

Third, An Rizuna. Rational, calm, inquisitive, and a scientist. Everything about her screams exemplary. I like how she didn’t take advantage of being an elite on the Beach and went the most logical route during the Witch Hunt. On top of that, she beat the Queen of Diamonds during the 2nd stage of the Games. Another reason why I like her is that despite the fact that she’s a person of Science, she’s not closing her mind to the existence of things that cannot be fully explained rationally. She tends to respect other people’s beliefs and doesn’t laugh at them even when they say things that are superstitious.

I get excited when people use their scientific knowledge and explain the process thoroughly when solving problems or overcoming challenges. That's why two of my favorite moments in the manga would be Chishiya creating a DIY flamethrower and An making use of existing supplies to find the identity of the witch.

I didn’t expect how the story in the manga ended. I was kind of anticipating a scientific explanation behind their situation but for the record, I’m not saying it’s bad. It made sense in a way but it was not the kind of route that I was expecting.

Overall, it’s good. The factors that made me like Alice in Borderland are its intriguing characters and the thought of using the different card suits in categorizing Games and people’s strengths.

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Samin787
85/100
For what purpose do you live?
Have you ever felt bored? Felt like your life had no direction and you want something that can help you feel the thrill of life? To go to another world that can offer the true thrill, the joy of living? Our main protagonist Arisu felt the same, everything he did in life was without any real purpose and any sense of fulfillment until one day he was thrown into a place called the "Borderlands'' where these death games take place and he has to participate without knowing exactly why. Like Arisu, many other players are thrown in there and forced to participate in those death games without knowing why or where the end is. So, the premise of Alice in Borderland fits the theme of the story where it will eventually go on to express.

Alice in Borderlands addresses a lot of themes throughout its story such as selfishness, what would you do in a dire situation where you and your teammate are facing death and only one of you can survive, would you sacrifice yourself or him/her? What is the Worth of a Life? In exchange for what would you save or give life? are all lives equal? Are you the same as you used to be? Can you change yourself or stay the old you, coward and loser who is constantly running away or is content with the life you're leading?

Some people can and some don't. This addresses the theme of Humanity's lack of desire to progress once they achieve a comfortable living and need a mortal blow to progress and better themselves. We see people working hard, unlocking their full potential be it teamwork or physical strength or strategic mind which they would have never done under a normal circumstance. Arisu participates in the games and shows his unfailing potential and strategic mind by which he clears the games and under normal circumstances, we would never see those from him or any other person. Even though he was young, he gave up on his future without any ambition to move forward and labeled himself a loser or a failure, and accepted the boring life he leads. But in these borderlands when death is in front of you or someone you love, you have to use the gift you have to move forward. It shows people who cannot use their abilities to push themselves forward, but also shows people who can use them to continue surviving and at the end of the day be left with the question, "What is the meaning of life?" or maybe wondering why are they even struggling or trying so hard to "Live". Read to find out, you'll be able to reflect upon yourself and your life.

The world-building is good, now what do I mean by world building? It's just a post-apocalyptic world, right? Well, I liked how the unruly state of the borderland in contrast with the real or normal world. Some people will indulge themselves in worldly pleasure instead of trying to find a way out or if not pointing finger at everything else but themselves as an excuse which causes the state of the world to crumble and people lose the sense of what's right or wrong.

The characters are great, especially Arisu. The story is told and most themes are expressed from his perspective. Other characters are great too and are captivating when on-screen, like Chisiya who is my favorite character. The only problem I had with them was their backstory placements if that makes sense. When the time came for a character to shine, suddenly a backstory kicked in and it was kind of a flip the switch situation and I was kinda surprised every time. It bugged me. Other than that, very good characters. There are some characters in the side stories and their own separate story of conquering death which then ties into the main story.

These stories are very fun to read too and feature interesting games which are thrilling and enjoyable at the same time. It's better if you don't skip them.

The art is not groundbreaking but it is very good and expressive. It portrays the certain condition of games or characters without any dialogue sometimes and depicts the grim nature of the games and the borderland.

Finally, what is left to say, I enjoyed the series and its death games very much and it was a super wild ride from start to finish. I highly suggest reading it if you like survival and thriller stories because that's what this manga is. A lot of things can be said about the ending, but since this is a review, I'll keep it at that.
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LauruxKittyCat
85/100
Psychological warfare with one's true human nature.
To begin with, I started reading "Alice in Borderlands" in hopes to finally find a manga that was at least a little bit entertaining after being disappointed with other overhyped manga. I'm surprised that not a lot of people are talking about this manga more.

It's true that this manga can sometimes be a little edgy and pretentious. Even annoying at times, but it's been awhile since I enjoyed reading a manga and didn't feel like dropping it at any point. Yes, the beginning is a little cliche and not that interesting, you need to give this manga at least 5-7 chapters to become interested, but compared to other manga's that's not too much of a time sacrifice.

Honestly, I loved the whole concept of "Alice in Borderlands". Maybe it's because I love death games, mysteries and where the human nature is questioned. Loved seeing the dark nature of humans come to surface and how this manga showed the importance of not loosing your head or you'll become a "cray-cray" person.

The art is average, I've seen better, but I love the fact that you can actually understand what's happening, unlike other manga's.

Characters.... In all seriousness, the main character, Arisu, was definitely a pain in the buttocks, but I came to cheer for him down the line. This manga definitely feels biased towards the main protagonist, as in, you know he's gonna survive and he won't die so that's a bummer, but I didn't mind since I was still cheering for him. The rest of the characters were all interesting and it was fun to be introduced to new characters. I usually think it's a pain when out of nowhere there's a new character shoved in your face, but all the characters in "Alice in Borderlands" were enjoyable, even the villains were interesting and fun to watch how they react and progress in this series.
I wasn't too attached to the girl, Usagi, she was definitely strong and independent. A character everyone would love, but I just think she was a little bland, but maybe that was the point. She's such a bland, but a strong person, probably to indicate that all the readers should be like her. To not give up like she did in the beginning. To find strength and happiness in life and to continue moving forward. You can see that she clearly cared for Arisu.

The ending... It's probably the reason why I would never give this manga a 10/10. The expectations were so high for this ending. ~!!~Yes, it does seem realistic and definitely explains everything from a more scientific aspect of things. Of course, not everything is explained, we still need to speculate on how did the meteorites' landing corresponds to all of the people having the same "visions" of the borderlands. It is definitely interesting, but I was hoping for a lot more. Not gonna lie, I would have hoped for everything to end like the lies Mira told. They seemed so interesting, but I guess it's kinda the point. ~!!~ We expect way too much of ourselves and others and get disappointed for nothing. Kinda feels like death in a way. Life is full of ups and down, just like this manga and the ending just ends abruptly, without a warning. Kinda feels like death, doesn't it? Of course, how would I know, I've never been dead, so I don't know what death feels like.

All in all, I recommend this manga for the people that love to have psychological warfares with themselves. It's pretty fun and will keep you entertained. Heck, I play Blackjack with my friends and one of the games here was Blackjack, I got so excited, but the level these characters were playing at were totally different, but it was fun to see~
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