Review: Alice in Borderland volume 1 by Haro Aso *spoilers* PART 2

 

I decided to split my blogpost for volume 1 into 2 because it would be hella long and I wasn't about that. Plus having the first part posted makes me feel accomplished. The end of part 1 really hooked me and I am sucked into the story now. 

Part 2 starts off with seeing flashbacks from their lives. Shibuki was an office worker. Chota had shitty parents and Karube grew up without a dad and a mom who slept around for money. Karube is fishing in the river because they cant rely on canned food forever. Arisu and Chota ask if they caught anything and Karube shows two bike seats and says there are no fish and then a big fish jumps out of the water. I laughed so hard.

While they are eating their fish, they talk about the rules and the visas. Karube suggests that they do another game that night to extend their visa number. He mentions that Chota should sit out and recover and that they can't relax and lose their primal instincts. Chota gets upsets because he believes that he wont be pulling his weight and that they will leave him behind. Shibuki offers to stay behind with him and I am grossed out because Chota is a little perv.

Karube and Arisu go into their chosen arena and see a lot more people. They make it by registration deadline and a voice over tells them that a serial killer is on the loose and that the game is tag. Creepy as fuck! They realize that the group of people must be new to Borderland and they decide to not tell the people what they know yet. Arisu starts to think about the future and will he eventually have to cut ties with his group.

A shady looking dude comes up and starts talking to Arisu and Karube and tells him about the people who may are useful and know the way of the games. He also tells them about the suits of the cards and what games they will be for. The tag game is a 5 of spades. They get the rules for the tag game and a time limit of 30 minutes to find the base in an unlocked apartment.

When the game started, I thought the shady guy Nitobe was going to be IT, but it is a guy shooting people while wearing a horse head. There is a character being shown that is observing every angle from one spot and he is inner monologuing about how the game is genius and that they will never kill more than him.

Arisu and Karube realize that the horse dude can't walk so fat, so they start checking doors. Karube yells down to the other players about the guy and to work together to stay alive. We see one of the women who is a rock climber jump off the balcony and save her self. Then we see a guy aska buff dude could he snap the horse guy's neck and we learn about the type of gun he is using, and how he wants to fight back against Borderland.

Karube and Arisu are getting irritated with all of the lcoked doors and the horse guy comes up behind them. They get separated and Karube thinks that Arisu is dead. The horse guy has a limited field of vision and can't see Arisu hiding. Karube comes upon the two military guys who are going to fight back and he joins them in fighting against Borderland.

Karube and the other guys are fighting back with fire extinguishers until Karube can get close enough to kill the horse guy. He is trying to make up for the fact that he abandoned Arisu in the hallway. Arisu is trying to figure out the motive and drive behind IT and find out where the base is before time runs out. Karube realizes that the horseman has multiple guns and aborts the mission. Arisu realizes that the horse guy is protecting a certain part of the building and that it where the base is. 

Arisu finds the apartment with the base and notices that there are two podiums and he has to touch both at once, or two people have to be together. Karube is trying to stay alive and get to Arisu and the other guy from the beginning who was observing everything shots the horseguy and gives karube a chance.

The rock climbing girl shows up and she and Arisu hit the buttons completing the game and detonating the bomb vest on the horse guy. Arisu starts feeling awfule for killing a person and the girl says he isn't the only one to blame. We find out her name is Usagi. The observant guy is named Chishiya and he tells that Karube owes him a favor and he will collect once Karube gets more accostumed to Borderland. He mentions the book Alice in Wonderland and his theories about Borderland. He also mentions that they listen to the taxi driver channels for information.

This part ends with Chishiya finding the body of the horse guy and realizing it was another player in his own game trying to survive. Chishiya is also stealing cards from the dead players to be able to leave.

I am so obsessed with the manga series now. I am definitely a fan of game stories that are deadly. The Hunger Games, Squid Game, and now this. I also did not know that the Zom 100 series is a spinoff of this. 

Review: Alice In Borderland volume 1 by Haro Aso *spoilers* PART 1

 

I have been wanting to watch this series since watching the first season of Squid Game. Finally picked up the manga because my daughter is in a manga reading mood. She did not want this one and I am glad because of the sexism and raunchy image of the girl in the very beginning.

Arisu doesn't care about school or going to college and I have to admit, I was about to put the book down because it is too relatable with what I am dealing with, with my olderst daughter. He is friends with a guy named Chota who is a total sleeze and I am already annoyed with his laugh. Arisu goes to the bar where he meets up with a friend named Karube. We learn that Karube is a middle school drop out who saved Arisu and Chota from being shaken down by local thugs.

Had no idea if you die a virgin, you will turn into a fairy. Chota reminds me so much of Mineta from My Hero Academia. Why does every manga have to have a pervert. I have a sneaking suspicion that Chota is going to turn into a rapist in this series. I hope he dies. 

All three guys are walking to a town where they can meet up with runaway girls and they stop at a train station. They then see what they think are fireworks and realize that it is 4 in the morning and the firework is getting bigger. They wake up back in the bar and everything is coated in dust. I swear if this whole series is a dream world, I will riot. 

They step outside the bar and find the town completely neglected and abandoned. Chota and Arisu call it their paradise. They find the food moldy with an expiration date of 2010. They are walking around outside and they are having fun and bowling. Karube is waiting for Arisu and Chota to come to their senses and then a woman walks out of the bathroom and tells them that they have been entered into a game and that this is not a dream.

The first game starts with a 3 of clubs being shown on a screen. Shibuki tells them that the game has started and that they have to work together. They have to choose fortunes and the game will be over when all the lanterns are out. Karube draws his fortune first and signifies him as a leader and he asks Shibuki if she has seen someone die. Chota draws his fortune next and he gets a math equation that he has to answer out loud. Chota gives an estimate and with a wrong answer, flaming arrows start firing at him. The little idiot. 

While Shibuki is trying to figure out her fortune, Arisu is having an inner monologue about how he was a spoiled brat who worried to much about his small anxities and took for granted his life of ease. It is so freaking relatable to my oldest.... I need escapism not to read what I am living. Karube is trying to pull an arrow out of Chota's leg and Arisu is the last to get his fortune. He pulls the terrible fortune, which was very predictable. His question is what is earth's population in 2010, and it will let him round to the nearest billion. They start feeling hopeless and Arisu is such a Midoriya from My Hero. Inner monologues are such a drag especially when they are so pitiful.

We get more backstory on when Arisu was younger and he was being picked on by the school bully and Karube came and saved him. To get back at the bully, Arisu let the whole school know that he had a massive mole with a white hair and the next day the whole school was calling the bully Mr. Mole. Karube tells Shibuki that Arisu's power of observation will be useful for the fortunes.

Arisu gives an answer and it is wrong. 100 million flaming arrows start flying, but Arisu has figured out where the arrows are coming from and which direction on the cards should be the safest. The take the direction that was given on Karube's card because he was the goof fortune. They go south and find nothing. Karube startes digging and finds a bunker. They climb inside and the game is complete. They then get sent a visa, and they leave to go to the hospital to gather supplies. 

Shibuki tells the guys about Borderland and that there is a different game every night and the arena can be in any location. They are in the hospital and Chota is being a cry baby and he asks Karube if it was possible that aliens did this and are watching them play these games... and I immediately thought DUNGEON CRAWLER CARL!

Arisu is walking around the hospital and he comes across a person hiding. They say that they are leaving the game because it never ends and that their visa is about to expire. They push Arisu into a room and he sees the person die. Arisu then learns the purpose of the playing cards. His three of clubs tells him he has three days left to live, and to stay alive they have to keep playing the game.