Imawa no Kuni no Alice

Alice in Borderland is a manga I enjoyed reading. The question of why we live life is a wonderful and difficult theme. The answer the manga comes up with is avoiding the question entirely. As the answer is, it's different for everyone but life is ultimately valuable.

Arisu struggles with a lot of emotional issues and the solution for all of them is a girl. A girl that pathetically only exists as his motivation. The manga makes up for it by other female characters that make an impact, especially in the Side Stories. Arisu is very much a typical Seinen protagonist similar to Battle Royale, Oyasami Punpun, and Parasyte. Indecisive young men who learn life lessons and eventually become normal. Something that plagues this genre is external motivations, a girlfriend, a job, or a stable family life. These things are important to young Japanese men and they are the targeted audiences.

Story: 6/10
Unfortunately, Alice in Borderland utilizes all the typical elements of its genre to tell a story. His motivations, his friends, his rivals, his journey are all things we have read or watched before. We know what path the story is going to go in. I can't express how much I hate the line "protective instincts". When I read it I wanted to vomit. Are the main characters incapable of internal motivations, it is always reserved to side characters like Kyuuga?

Character: 8/10
Despite the weak writing, the characters are interesting. This is the strength of a serialized manga. As almost every character needs a backstory even ones that don't deserve it. Arisu's development is strange as he regresses at some points in the story. Thankfully, this allows for side stories. These side stories use the setting to the maximum advantage. While many of the characters in these stories are also typical manga characters. The short time we spend with them and the curiosity of knowing them to keep you interested. While the ending of many games can be strange, they are used to elevate the characters involved in them.

I wanted to highlight these two things as these are a result of the medium and genre. The medium allows for internal monologues and extended time exploring the characters and an elevation of suspense as time passes according to the author whims. While the genre holds back the manga.By being held prisoners to certain themes and cliches for the young men reading. We don't want our main characters to be complex people that we can disagree with. We don't want our love interest to be humans that can elevate us from our comfort by being active. We want them to be puppets that do things when we what them to.

For an author in the modern age, there is perhaps no greater accomplishment than being able to craft a captivating story that no one has ever seen before, but there is something to be said about authors who are able to revisit old, overdone ideas while still managing to innovate them in new ways. Asou Haro’s **Imawa no Kuno no Alice** is an excellent representation of the latter, finding success in the Battle Royale subgenre normally tainted by mediocre writing.

The most immediate draw of **Imawa no Kuno no Alice** is simply how creative some of the individual games can be. Other titles such as **Kakegurui** or **Kamisama no Iutoori** often have games that, while unique, are either far too simple or complicated for their own good, while others are too fundamentally similar without much twist. While **Imawa no Kuno no Alice** does occasionally have moments like that, the majority of games presented are either completely unique or have an added twist to them to make them more interesting. Both the King of Diamonds and Jack of Hearts events are excellent examples, constructing unique games with simple rules but a wide room for story telling and strategy. The Six of Diamonds is a good example of a game where it completely borrows from another (Blackjack) but still manages to make it narratively interesting by exploring the many different ways the game can be approached. Asou Haro also seems to understand that the task doesn’t end at creating the game but seeing it to its completion; many games are well-thought out and crafted, but they also end in clever ways that don’t betray the entire concept of them to begin with. Even the Five of Spades uses a layer of strategy that could’ve easily be written as something far lazier such as the use of raw strength.

To reiterate, it’s impressive when authors can still come up with new ideas in previously explored subgenres, and even moreso when it’s done in an area where it isn’t required. In that regard, **Imawa no Kuno no Alice’s** card system should be considered as a stroke of genius. Upon sight, each card immediately conveys to the reader two vital pieces of information of what the implications of the game are. A higher number means a harder game, and the specific suite hints at what kind of game it’s going to be. A lot of titles that involve having different trials and events like **Gantz** and the aforementioned **Kamisama no Iutoori** either don’t offer the consistency or variety that there events have between them, nor arguably do they need to. Regardless, the suite provides that little knot that adds the sense of a greater systematic and nebulous theme to the wider picture while also grounding the games within some degree of reality without going too off the rails. It can even add a more psychological dimension to it as effectively demonstrated in the Four of Clubs side story. In addition, the difference in games allows characters to specialize in some games more than others, giving them uniquely individual flairs and specialties while at the same time giving them harsh weaknesses. Even simply revealing that the game is one of "Hearts" is enough to strike fear in both the characters and the reader. The overall point is that the card system is a brutally efficient idea that eloquently ties many of the elements of the story together while also providing an easy thrill and sense of understanding for the readers. Even the numbers on the card have a dual function as they also explain how many more days are added to a player’s visa.
The card system is only one example of how effective Asou Haro is at executing simple ideas to add to the narrative. The laser beams that come from the sky to eliminate players are fantastic; not only is the execution visually simple, but it also demonstrates an ability to reach the player no matter where they’re hiding, adding to the claustrophobic setting provided by the story. Not only that, but its visually simplistic design allows it to be drawn at a macro scale that immediately conveys to the reader what each laser implies without having to show what each individual one directly resulted in. It is a far more eloquent solution for **Imawa no Kuni no Alice’s** setting than the often used “brain bomb” trope.

Speaking of efficient, **Imawa no Kuno no Alice’s** art deserves extremely high praise. It’s not impressive in the same way such titles like **Vagabond** and *One Punch-Man** are; while there are some aesthetically pleasing moments, there aren’t many moments where the reader is completely blown away by the art. Rather, the art is impressive not in depth but in breadth. Bluntly speaking, art in manga at the end of the day is just another tool, and a tool is only as useful as the skill of its user. Takehiko Inoue, the author **Vagabond**, didn’t even know how to draw a foot when going into one of his first works, the ever-popular **Slam Dunk**. The reason why this is relevant for Asou Haro in particular is that his style is incredibly flexible. The reason why games can have venues like exploding water geysers, courtrooms, traditional festivals, zoos, and more is because the mangaka is able to draw literally all of them. It isn’t easy at all to draw animals like leopards and crocodiles, nor is it easy to draw cities, much less in a dilapidated state, but Haro is able to do all of them effectively. To put it in another way, the story of **Imawa no Kuno no Alice** is only made possible because Haro is able to draw it. However, the most important result of Haro’s high breadth in his art is not that he’s able to draw so many different individual objects, but rather the character design’s themselves. Many authors fall victim in making their characters look too similar, and it can often be hard to remember characters because their designs are too redundant. In **Imawa no Kuni no Alice**, almost every single character in the manga is drawn in a different and unique way, whether it be through posture, structure, facial expression, or clothing. No two characters have very similar designs, even minor characters that don’t appear for very long. For a manga that pumps out side characters like it’s nothing, this is an extremely impressive accomplishment in the scale of the story.

I’ve been mostly talking about the more superficial dimensions of **Imawa no Kuni no Alice**, so you might be wondering what there is to say about its more central, thematic ideas that drive the story forward. Unfortunately, this is where the story falters a little bit since the main character and the end goal of the story is a little cliché. The main character fulfills his role as main character should quite well, in that he becomes the blank canvas that becomes more detailed the more he interacts with the world around him. Arguably however, the story paints on him a little too much, and the colors often muddle and overlap with each other. While a main character should go through development, his ideology changes a little too frequently and reactively based on what just happened. Thankfully, the author beautifully executes side stories, creating a healthy amount of different characters to distract readers from the main one. Not only does this provide somewhat of a fresh state and perspective while undermining plot armor, but it also allows the world to build more and not revolve solely around the actions of the main character. While all of this does serve another purpose, for better or worse they also serve as a band-aid for how frivolously the narrative addresses the main character’s perspective.

That being said, the important thing is consistency, and despite how cliché some of the narrative can sound, it’s impressive that the central theme of “What does it mean to live” is effectively addressed throughout the entirety of **Imawa no Kuni no Alice**. While the theme itself isn’t exactly original nor can I personally admit it’s particularly that evocative, Haro is fairly effective on addressing the different types of ways people can answer this question while also making sure it stays as a central focus for the main character. However, perhaps the biggest saving grace for **Imawa no Kuni no Alice**’s less original themes is how creatively Haro implements them as plot points. One of the biggest mystery’s in the entire manga is the explanation of why the world they’re in exists in the first place. The reader understands that to answer that question also inevitably explains how the characters can escape, which is the implicit end goal for the wider story. However, the story hints many times that there might not actually be an escape to their world, which fundamentally changes how the central theme is asked. Why did we play the games? Are our opponents just mirrors of our future selves? Will we still have the will to live? The condition that there might not be anything left even after everything’s all said and done is a harrowing thought that by itself already distills a sense of dread and wonder that allows the atmosphere to prosper. But if added with the overarching question of the meaning of life, the once cliché theme is given a level of tangibility that requires it be addressed before the story reaches its conclusion rather than allowing it to exist as a more fundamental idea. As stated before, consistency is key, and Haro does an impressive job in still tying everything together without superficially adding too many elements. In comparison, titles like **Gantz** and **Kamisama no Iutoori** have comparatively sloppier executions with very little or no consistency in what they want their overarching theme to be, which is often why titles like those have unsatisfying endings that don’t serve as proper conclusions.

Upon reading **Imawa no Kuni no Alice** for the first time, it’s easy to brush it off as just another generic title based on its first few chapters. After all, the beginning doesn’t really hint to anything that other titles haven’t already offered. However, most people who have read this story will tell you that the journey is worth it if you keep sticking with it until the end. As time goes on and more stories are created, truly original content will only become rarer and rarer, and it’ll all become that much more worth it once we all find that title that grants us that new perspective. But **Imawa no Kuno no Alice** is a fantastic example of how perfecting old ideas can be as equally as satisfying as the real thing and shows that the solution to stagnation doesn’t always have to involve relying on that unlikely chance.

Imawa no Kuni no Alice is the only survival game story where I can actually feel invested into many characters. Lots of times, these "death game" stories involve a large volume of people, many of them who get introduced very quickly and don't have much of a personality. They might die soon, or stay for the ride for a certain amount of time. The fact that Imawa no Kuni no Alice has a pretty large host of characters, having some of them die, and them still having unique and developed personalities with dynamic thoughts and actions is definitely a feat that I have not seen in any other survival death game. It's the only death game story with good characters all around the board. This can definitely be attributed to the fact that unlike many of the other series like these, the mysteries, the games, and the side stories all add a world building and depth of characterization that is unmatched. Everything in this story is about learning about the motivations that a character has, and what weaknesses they have. The fact that there is such a focus on this aspect of feelings the past that makes them what they are today makes for a story with rich characters.
Like I mentioned before, one of the reasons why this story is great is because of the side stories. These side stories don't involve the main cast of characters, but have a great focus on side characters. Not only are these side stories entertaining to watch in terms of death game content, it also brings along the introduction and analysis of the many different side characters that influence the plot later on. This, paired along with the large focus on the feelings of characters and the exploration of their pasts and motivation make the characters the strongest aspect I've ever seen.
Imawa no Kuni no Alice is also much more realistic in the depiction of characters' psyche. While a lot of these death game protagonists have seemingly unbreakable hearts, Alice has a lot of hesitation and darkness within his heart that gets explored in the entire series. That's to be expected. He experiences tragedy and falters, and his heart gets broken. The other characters are the same. Their life was hard as it was, so why do they have to play death games? Maybe just end it all. There's a lot of characters that don't have the courage to face death games anymore, or these death games twist their personality to an extreme.
Other than that, I think just the variety of death games that Alice plays are interesting and fun on their own right, but also the process of trying to figure out the mysteries of the island are. It was very fun seeing how the atmosphere of near death situations affects peoples' actions, and how a decision can mark the death of a person, and Imnawa no Kuni no Alice perfects this craft. Not only can the reader experience the chaos of the situation, they also in turn, are able to learn more about the characters and their inner thoughts.
Of course, the final arc was huge bust. It was pretty trashy, and it's the reason why I lowered the score from a 9 to an 8. It's a cheap bailout is what it is. Pair that along with some massive plot armor and questionable actions that some characters make in order for Alice and his friends to survive, it's definitely not a perfect novel.

I honestly think no amounts of words that I will say will be able to give this Manga series any justice. This was only the fifth manga I read but out of the five, this one had the most impact to me the most.

The OVAs are actually what brought me here. When I watched the three episodes, it really left me wanting more to the point that I thought it would be a good idea for me to read the manga instead. And boy, am I GLAD I DID.

I am a huge fan of stories that involve surviving/completing puzzles or whatnots to survive and this manga definitely delivered on that. Each game had its own unique and mind-bending twist that really, it always makes me think who or what you have to do to survive it.

Aside from that, the characters are also given amazing backstories that you can't help but emphatize with them.

Like I said, I don't think my words will be able to do this manga any justice, so please, read it and see it for yourselves.

Fuck... This won't be seen.

Disclaimer: The numbers reflect not what I think you'll get out of the piece of media i'm reviewing, It all is just to pay lip service to how much I love this series and may even go down on subsequent reading, So I ask you base your understanding from one of intense bias, And tackle it based on if you think we'll have similar tastes as I explain why I love it so much.

Alright! I need to explain myself before I explain my score, so here we go.
I came into this looking for a generic Isekai to waste time away through indulgence and to hope for something that was competently made in some regards (Fuck you smartphone) and ended up with this, however, it didn't surprise me for long, as it honestly feels like this was made to reinforce all my beliefs, So why would that be you think? How could I be so self-conceited? Well it was, And it was also made for everyone else who doesn't think so, People who find this in search of self-indulgence and a reminder to something, To appreciate your extremely pointless life, Cause "What's the point of a game, If not to enjoy it?" and so I answer.

it's 10/10 cause it was another level of self-indulgence, It was actual verification of my existence. It was done that convincingly, Even though I acknowledge some changes in characters were a little drastic, Even though I acknowledge I only like it as much because it's all to my bias. After all, this feels like my life but emphasized, through the lens of a group of fictional characters, A.K.A a relatable story. And the first that has had such an intense effect so soon after finishing, I feel like I could end the review there and I'd be fine with it, to be honest, But I need to show this to my friends and brag I wrote something long so I won't be cutting it short, So alas, Why is this manga my now favorite manga of all time?

Art: It's fine, The subtle details in some parts meant to hold extra weight do what they need too and I never found it intruding on the story after the first few chapters(Which are the weakest part of the series). In the end, it mostly added to the story so I'll be harsh to counteract the disgusting amount of praise I will be giving this series.
7/10-I enjoyed it

Characters: To put it simply there was a part where I could define 3 characters as the embodiment of current humanity, the hope of humanity and the doubt of humanity, Where then you realize that similar situations happened all over the story, The author made characters that can facet into multiple on dimensional roles while still making it so that they hold individualism, And even if they don't fulfill one single ideal, That just means they had no set tracks as people, This ties into the story and its themes not as a theme in of itself but rather to serve the existing ones, That's the amount of depth I could gleam from one interaction. The relationships sometimes felt rushed or shoehorned in but I could care less.
10/10- Mastah piece.

Enjoyment: read the 1st part
10/10

Story: It never dwelled on one idea long, It wanted to introduce it, Then let it serves as something and disappear, And other than the 1st idea that was introduced the rest of it was stellar and extremely interesting to hear the inner-workings of every part they bothered to explain, I sometimes figured out the mysteries or answers and other times the pages figured it out first. However, I cant wholeheartedly recommend this if I don't mention that there's some stretch in logic in the individual segments and that the overall themes and story lead to something that can seem very dismissive of some beliefs that people may have, But if you think yourself to be virtuous I challenge you to read this and if you don't end up disagreeing with the "Answer" then I can completely respect you, Even if you don't fully agree with it either.
10/10-I feel like I'm underselling everything.

Overall: Fuck you
10/10

*This review will contain minimal spoilers for interested readers.

"Why do you think you're alive?"

Imawa no Kuni no Alice (今際の国のアリス), also known as Alice in Borderland, is a beautiful, psychological manga that primarily focuses on themes such as human nature, changing one's path, and most importantly, life. It is inherently able to provoke readers in protruding thoughts around the meaning of life and how far and willingly we can define what life is. Is life what you make it? Is life simply us being born? Questions like these is what the author attempts to evoke from us readers.

STORY - 8/10:
You most likely have already read the synopsis written for Alice in Borderland. It is about our main character who sees fireworks with his friends late at night and are randomly stuck in this post-apocalyptic world where they play games based on a card value and ranking. Hearts - Psychological; Diamonds - Intelligence; Spades - Physical; and Clubs - Balanced/Cooperation. The higher the card value, the more difficult the game is. Thus our protagonist and friends are left to find a way back to their original world and answer to why they are here, but what makes the story so charming is how pleasant everything plays out. Sure, we've already seen similar stories based on survival game-like genres but this story in particular really hooks the reader is how immersive the entire story is. It never gets boring or dull to read and manages to keep everything interesting and well-paced for a survival manga.

ART - 8.5/10:
The art is an enjoyable treat for the eyes as the manga progresses along with the author's form and art style for this particular manga. It is delicate, yet rough enough to illustrate different meanings during scenarios. Character art is excellent and the author's attention here is definitely evident. If a character is upset, you're able to really feel the intensity in their anger with every stroke in the panel. The background art surrounding characters is beautifully done and readers are able to visualize the story easily. There's enough details that any less or more would take away meaning behind what's happening during a situation.

CHARACTERS - 10/10:
In my opinion, this is where the manga truly shines and it is easily seen throughout the story. There is considerable raw development in not only our protagonist but in many characters. We're able to understand their pasts and how this world affects who they will and have become after experiencing traumatic moments. Arisu, the protagonsit, is a somewhat underachiever in life who doesn't get great grades and is always being compared to his genius, younger brother. But one game after another, we see how much he changes and the journey of him finding the answer to this world. I don't necessarily want to give out too much about the characters but most of them are great.

ENJOYMENT - 9/10:
This manga is one a kind and I really enjoyed it from start to finish. It was well-paced and always kept me reading and wanting me to know more. There are twists, psychological warfare, intense action, outstandingly wits and cleverness, and amazing teamwork all blended into one fulfilling manga.

OVERALL - 9/10:
In the end, I believe anyone reading this review should check out this manga if you came this far. It really starts to pick up the pace after a few chapters in, but if it's not exactly your tastes then that's okay because that's also what life's about.

What do you live for?

Neither the question nor the answer to it might particularly interest you, yet reading this manga's attempts at trying to give you answers to this very question can still be a great investment of your time.
The name might strike you as very odd, "Alice" from Disney and in"the borderlands"? Will there be over-the-top humor and a little girl protagonist or what?

Audiences:
Borderlands primarily targets 2 kinds of audiences.
The first one being people who enjoy to read manga with games of life and death and an abundance of characters that make these sort of games interesting to spectate.
The second one are people with a very reflective or depressed personality. The manga manages to find a good balance between keeping dark/serious topics with drama and feels at the core and still keeping a very shounen-esque positive, friendly atmosphere that manages to turn heart-tearing stories into heart-warming experiences.

Don't mistaken this with material like One Piece or Naruto, just because it wears the shounen tag. This manga is rich with consequences. You'll see people die for taking wrong steps at every turn.
However, this isn't a Tokyo Ghoul or Re:Zero either. The characters have heart and are relatable to a certain extend. The writer did a good job trying to portray people that you could possibly meet anywhere.

The weakness in the writing for this work shows when characters start to act overly corny or when characters start to emotionally overreact at times. It makes you question whether the story even knows where it wants to go or if it doesn't know which audience it wants to target.
The truth of the matter is that Alice in Borderlands knows exactly where it wants to head with it's story and that it is doing what it is doing almost too well for it's own good, because what it is doing is neither popular nor wanted in most of the anime sub-communities. Alice in Borderlands applies a concept that is alien to most anime watchers and resented amongst many manga readers: The attempt to tell a story with a clear message through a storytelling that let's you look from different camera angles and let's you see the stories of different characters, distancing itself from being too judgemental or imposing and instead allowing readers with a free mind to think for themselves.

MC:
The main character, Arisu, is the person you'll be following throughout most of the story. He's not shounen-MC-level of stupid, but he's not a Yagami Light either. If you're into badass main characters, this manga will probably not do for you. The main character's attitude throughout the story fits the atmosphere of the manga very well, which is melancholic. So don't expect some ruthless guy finishing off adversaries in cold blood.

Plot:
Ever read one of those Battle Royale kind of manga, where a bunch of people are thrown somewhere and expected to kill each other off with certain rules in place? This is basically one of those.
The setting is some unknown, wide open area with certain places marked for games of life and death to be held there. None of the people there are forced to participate in these games. But finishing a game and surviving it extends the time on the victors visas, which will otherwise eventually expire, resulting in certain death.
To make the games more interesting, the manga introduces different game categories and difficulty levels represented through playing card symbols and it attributes characters that are especially suited to a certain kind of game with that category.
There are, for example, games that require intellect to survive or games that require physical fitness.

But it's more than just a myriad of death games following each other. The manga forces characters to face questions that you would typically try to avoid having to deal with. In that sense, you are being shown not only the ugly sides of the reality of the story and those questions, but also the brilliance that lies with all the different possible answers.
That's why the stories of these dozens of characters you'll be following are not just some decentralized, loosely tied one-shot stories to their own, but branches that come together at the end to form a whole tree.

Characters:
While there are a lot of great characters, there are also some very annoying ones. On top of that, the story burdens you with some very ugly, dislikable character designs for some characters. In the end, nothing I describe about the characters here will be on-point, because it's just too dependant on taste.
However, one thing that can be said about many of the characters is that they act very appropriate considering the circumstances they find themselves in and considering their states of minds.
And, I just have to say it, as if the constant whining of the MC wasn't enough during some chapters, they just had to add the probably most annoying side-character to tag along with him and become his mental and physical support.
At least in that regard this manga is very alike to almost every other manga you might've already read, with it pandering to self-absorbed hikikomori due to the relationship going on between that self-insert of a MC and his on-command make-up doll and inofficial girlfriend.

Conclusion:
I enjoyed this a lot, despite not being overly comfortable with many of the early cast and despite the manga sometimes giving you the feeling that it's trying to let the world revolve around that self-centered MC at times, with entire chapters contributed to nothing but whining from Arisu that I gladly skimmed through with a good fast-forward reading technique, called the autopilot. I wanted to read some manga with survival games going on, where there are stakes for the characters and not some illogical happy ends for the sake of letting friendship win. Alice in Borderlands delivered.
And it also made for a story with some depth to it, which I gladly took as the icing on the cake. It's far from perfect. There are just too many annoying and unnecessary scenes in this manga for a 10/10 and there are in fact so many of those that if you are either just enjoying to read for the brutality going on or just enjoy the story, but don't get enough enjoyment out of the action that a 7 or 8 out of 10 would be a fair rating. For me it's a 9/10.

The manga is based on a high school student who is about to face the tomorrow of independance,he makes a wish that brings him in a world of joy at the start,but good things may not last long.
He and his friends face the cruel reality of this dreamy world...a place where the strongest survive.The manga is well written with a great variety of characters and some quiet cunning thinking,I really love it so far I am looking forward finishing it.Whoever looks into it and they are in for survival they are not going to regret it!
Although everything good has it's cons as well.There is not much character development overall or it might be predictable to see how they are going to change.The manga does not tire you but as a psychological-survival it contains some explicit content so I advise you to read it if you are mature enough *smiles*.
That was all from me have a good day!

Sorry for my bad English

My review is separated to 2 parts , first contains my review for general plot , and the second my review for the end , so If you haven't read the manga yet , I recommend to take a look first .

Basically this anime is like Kaiji ( survival and psychological ) , No game no life ( game / puzzle ) , btoom ( survival ) in my opinion .
In general , the main character and his friends have an ordinary life , but one day they were transferred to an unknown world , but after that they were involved in a game , and after that the secret of this world is revealed , basically if you want to continue residence you need to recharge your visa ( of this word ) by playing games by putting your life in danger , otherwise when your time limit reaches ( visa ends ) you receive your end by a laser from the sky penetrate your head .
What I have liked the most , is the psychological stress is all games , especially the heart one ( psychological game ) , the kill between the players to survive .
Every game , make you feel that the mangaka is genius game player .
The art was perfect , some scenery were unforgettable , there were also a frames like 3d

**************** Spoilers for the ending of story **********************
after reading the end , I was pretty disappointed .
For me , I think that there still nothing clear for the reason why there were transferred to the borderlands , And making all things like there were just dreams make it more and more bad , and also if the meteors were the reason of the transfer , does the borderlands repeat July month as it was said , and how the players gonna continue to transfer to the borderlands without meteors ( if that the real reason ) .
So for me I think it is a big mistake to end the story without revealing all things , I believe it is one of the mangaka duties to explain all mysterious things to the reader

*Review contains spoilers*

Story 8/10
It took me a while to write this review after reading the manga because it provoked so many clashing thoughts and emotions, that I had to take some time to think about it and sort it all out before putting anything into words. But here I go:
While reading this, I kept thinking this story seemed like a combination of Hunger Games, Maze Runner, Your Name and Saw...meaning, similar narratives are out there. However, this story felt fresh and unique because of the logistics of the game (using cards to easily identify type of game and difficulty) and types of relationships and alliances explored. This story managed to keep me glued to the pages and desperate to know what would happen next. There was never a dull or boring moment. I have to commend the mangaka for such creative games and intricate story. I really enjoyed to see how all the side stories and characters intertwined. Moreover, this is a story that makes you reflect on and think about many deep concepts, such as the meaning/value of life and/or reasons why you live, without becoming redundant or repetitive. I also loved how much you can relate and identify with the characters and their pain (I don't think I could ever get over the 7 of hearts arc).

The only reason I am not giving this section a 10 is due to the final 2 chapters, specially the ending (although I know liking the ending or not is a matter of taste and approach used to interpret the story). Basically, the whole Borderland was a place created in people's minds in light of experiencing a near death experience. I can't say the ending was unsatisfactory, but the explanation given to the Borderland I found a bit disappointing and not fulfilling. It didn't really make sense to me that the Borderland was just in people's mind and that coming out of it, they remembered nothing about what happened but did feel connected to those they became close with while in the Borderland (and also had the same injuries they got while being in the Borderland when they came back to their 'original world')...so the Borderland was a collective phenomenon created and terminated by who? who came up with this games concept? had the "players" who died in the Borderland actually passed away before even entering the games? did the "players" that died in the games even have a chance or where they doomed to die due to their meteor related injuries? did the games actually represent the "players'" fight to keep living in the "original world"? does people dying in the same game represent people dying due similar circumstances/injuries sustained in the meteor clash? And why even torture Arisu into thinking he was responsible of his friends' deaths if it was a meteor? I felt this ending left more questions than answers.

Yes! the Borderland can be taken as a figurative language, which would allow readers to focus on what it represents and how those people that go through a collective traumatic experience feel connected to each other. But then that would mean the book was mostly a parallel universe for the whole time, which I don't know that I feel too comfortable with after spending 62+ chapters reading about such a detailed and structured place. Obviously the author did it, but I don't think it is realistic for a character, unexpectedly and with such short notice (because none of the characters were even aware of them being struck by a meteor or pieces of it) could have created or imagined such an out of the ordinary place as the Borderland or come up with so many specific and complicated back stories for so many people. Honestly, I would have been happier with one of the Queen of Hearts explanations than the Borderland being a product of a catastrophe. Now, if you decide to see the Borderland as a figure of speech, the mangaka did an excellent job in creating a place you hang on in, battling between life and death and having a place where people can reflect on their life and the things they have done thus far...a place where you face yourself and your reality.

Another thing I think hurt the story a little was the frequent occurrence of non-realistic things even for a dystopian world. For example, Agni getting shot multiple times and not dying, not even because of a hemorrhage. The K of Spades having his neck broken and still remaining alive for a bit when that should be a fatal wound. Nigari being burnt, brutally hit and shot and still being alive...that guy at the church who shut himself in the mouth and still was alive and asking to be killed. This was some superhuman thing that could not even be passed off as a result of high adrenaline amount.

Art 8/10
In all honesty, initially, I hated the drawings. It felt very much like I was reading a Marvel comic and not manga (although I think Mangas are actually Japanese comics). It could also be that for this genre of manga the drawings are usually like this and I am not used to this type of drawings because of mostly reading shoujo. However, as the story progressed I stopped noticing the drawings and was mostly invested in the developments. I have to say though that character's both facial expressions and body language really conveyed character's emotions and reactions to events.

Characters 9/10
To me, this is an area where the manga excels. I very much liked the diversity of characters and what they each contributed to the story. You had very noble people, like Arisu or Momoka or Chouta but then you had quite the oposite, with psychopaths such as the winners of the J of Hearts, who wanted to remain in the Borderland to continue killing human beings. There was a ton of character development, specially in Arisu, Chishiya and Agni. It was great to see how the author provided solid back story to most of the characters.
Strongest characters:
-Karube. I loved Karube and I am sure if he had survived until the end many things would have turned out differently, even for Arisu himself. I really felt he was the backbone for their group and biggest support for Arisu and Chouta. I felt he was very resourceful and courageous enough to do what needed to be done to survive.
-Chishiya. Even though he was extremely condescending, I think he was a really clever character and smart enough to not allow himself to be swayed by his emotions. He was selfish and didn't really care for anyone else more than himself until the very end, but in a place like the Borderland, who could blame him?
-Agni. I have to say I hated Agni's guts until he met Doudou and showed to be capable of actually caring for someone else and act accordingly.
Weakest characters:
-Chouta. I found Chouta mostly annoying and a big cry baby.
-Usagi. Apart from bringing Arisu back from the hole he was in when his friends passed away and when the Queen of Hearts drudged him, I don't see anything important she contributed to the story. Usagi felt more like means to an end, which was to support Arisu through the process when he was alone (obviously anyone would need support to get through this, but she didn't really do anything too remarkable).
Worthy mentions:
-Arisu. I think Arisu really represented resilience and really liked how he was able to pull through and come back strongly after every blow.
-Niragi. Oh man, this was a very very very mean and cruel guy. However, I liked his roles because he represented a real group of people that doesn't matter what happens to them, remain being the same person despite how much life tells them to act differently. Unfortunately for him, he remained true to his character throughout the whole manga.
-Doudou. OK, so this character doesn't really get too many relevant scenes. Yet, I feel his emotions were one of the most realistics when finding yourself in this unknown and dangerous place. Doudou tried to use deceiving tactics to survive but couldn't do it for long because that was not who he was. He was very dependant on other people to survive. He was terrified for the most of the time and really showed his potential to fight back when a person he really cared about was in danger. I think Doudou represents people both in real life and the parallel world of the Borderland.

Enjoyment 8/10
I kept interested in the whole manga most of the time. There were a few chapters, specially towards the end, focussed in Arisu, that I thought could have been used for something else, such as covering how other games were cleared. Again, I have to commend the mangaka for such meticulous and ingenious world and games he created in this manga.

Overall 8/10
This is a truly enjoyable read, specially if you like things that keep you at the edge of your seat. I would recommend it to people.

*Side note: I came across this manga due to the Netflix show because I didn't want to wait for a year or more to see what would happen. I would say the show, at least the first season, remains 75-80% true to the manga.