Alice in Borderland Season 3 (2025) Review: The Whole Season only for Arisu

When it was first announced, watching Alice in Borderland Season 3 wasn’t particularly exciting. If you watched the ending of the second season, Arisu and Usagi’s story would have already ended happily, and the other players would have gotten their own endings.

However, Alice in Borderland Season 3 is still recommended for viewing, as it maintains the same quality of storytelling as the first season. Although there are some shortcomings that could be criticized, it would allow for further character development.

The story and gameplay challenges of Alice in Borderland Season 3 are again based on problem-solving rather than physical combat, as in the second season. Unfortunately, some aspects of the script are not maximized, leaving viewers with questions throughout the six episodes.

The story begins after the game’s second season has ended, and Tokyo is struggling to recover from the destruction caused by a meteor strike. Arisu (Kento Yamazaki) and Usagi (Tao Tsuchiya) begin a new life as a married couple, with no memory of their experiences in the Borderland world.

After the meteor crash, Arisu works as a psychology graduate student and interns as a trauma counselor. Meanwhile, Usagi builds a career at a sporting goods company in Tokyo.

Their lives are happy until Professor Ryuji (Kento Kaku) enters Arisu and Usagi’s lives and brings back the topic of the Borderland world, which they had forgotten. Ryuji is a mental health researcher and educator obsessed with the afterlife.

He is also one of the former players who survived and remembers the game. Ryuji believes that re-entering Borderland will allow him to see the afterlife he has long sought.

Ryuji meets Banda, who invites him back into Borderland, promising to take him to see the afterlife. On the condition that Ryuji also brings Usagi into the game without Arisu’s knowledge.

Desiring to discover the truth about her father’s sudden death, Usagi re-enters Borderland with Ryuji without telling Arisu. To save his wife, Arisu also enters the game world and confronts the Game Master, Banda.

The difference between this third season and the first and second seasons is that the audience is immediately introduced to the Borderland world players, divided into two teams. These team members remain the same until the end of the episode, with varying backgrounds.

However, it’s clear that the third season serves as a stage for Arisu to showcase his problem-solving prowess. Throughout the four game episodes, Arisu is shown as the team leader, determined to escape certain death.

If Arisu wasn’t there, this series wouldn’t be interesting to watch and would just be a place to slaughter game participants. Even though there is Usagi who plays the main character, she doesn’t have as strong an influence as Arisu

Unfortunately, unlike Arisu, Usagi, and Ryuji, who have their reasons for joining the game, the supporting cast members are not told their reasons for joining Borderland. Fortunately, each of these participants and supporting cast members has a role within Usagi and Arisu’s team throughout the game.

These supporting cast members are also engaging to follow because their backgrounds are well-explained and in-depth. They range from a housewife who was abused by her ex-husband, an anime lover who doesn’t get along with her mother, a drug addict, an unemployed person, to an orphaned sibling.

The diverse cast of characters allows the series to focus more than just on Arisu and Usagi, which can be boring. Once again, unfortunately, some of these supporting characters do not have good and complete development.

For example, Rei (Tina Tamashiro), one of the contestants who appears in the second game and joins the Arisu team. Initially, Rei is portrayed as a clever character who manipulates circumstances to her own advantage, much like Chisiya.

However, after the second game, Rei’s intelligence seems to disappear as she helps the Arisu team advance through subsequent games. Her role is inconsistent, ending up being little more than a supporting character throughout the series, especially in the final game.

Sachiko (Risa Sudou) is another character on the Arisu team who had an interesting life before joining the Borderland world. Sachiko was a victim of domestic violence by her husband, but throughout the episodes, she only touches on her life with her husband, without any major moments.

Furthermore, Kazuya (Hiroyuki Ikeuchi) also deserves some attention in the third season as Aguni’s replacement in the first and second seasons. His role is that of a front man capable of physically defending his teammates.

However, likely due to budget and episode limitations, Kazuya doesn’t have as much depth as Aguni and the Hatter (aka Takeru Danma). Kazuya and Arisu’s friendship bond is still not deep enough to be cried over, even though his death managed to stir the audience’s emotions.

But nothing was more disturbing throughout the third season than the relationship between Usagi and Ryuji. It goes without saying that Ryuji actually likes Usagi, but for some reason, this love triangle wasn’t developed in the script.

Even though all the foundations for the conflict between Arisu and Ryuji were well-established, this love triangle conflict was also underdeveloped because Arisu was solely focused on solving the game.

Meanwhile, Ryuji seemed unsure whether to be a protagonist or an antagonist, making him a supporting character rather than a key player.

Despite the flaws in its character development, this Netflix series is still worth watching for the surprises at the end of each episode.

7/10