Alice in Borderland - Episode 5

 

This episode is different than the ones that have come before. In the first scenes of the episode, Arisu and Usagi are spending time together and getting to know each other better. Previously, they were too busy trying to stay alive and trying to recover from an onslaught of tragedy to really talk to each other.

Eventually, they follow other players who are wearing wrist tags to a place called the “Beach”. This place turns out to be a large luxury hotel playing host to a group of players who have banded together. Arisu and Usagi miscalculate and are captured and taken to the group’s leader - “Hatter”. He is quite an interesting character because he’s so bizarre. He walks around in a silk bathroom and swim trunks, wearing sunglasses (inside!). He tells them that his ultimate plan is to collect all the playing cards, thinking that if someone has them all then everyone can escape the game. It seems farfetched but given the oddity of the game it maybe plausible.

Arisu also plays a game where he has to escape from a room with other players before they all drown. This game is run by a new character called Ann and it’s meant to test his skill. For the rest of the episode the main characters are partying at the pool and plotting how to get their hands on all the playing cards.

Words/phrases that I recognized: “ABC 3つのスイッチの中で” – Heard this over the speaker system as the players were trying to escape the kill room. I also recognized the word for door. The characters while arguing with each other used the following words a lot: “what” 何, the conjunction for “but” でも

Alice in Borderland - Episode 4

 

The beginning of episode 4 is profoundly depressing. Arisu is literally immobilized with guilt over the death of his childhood friends Chota and Karube. For days, rain or shine he just lies in the street. However, Usagi finds him and convinces him to eat and to go on living. We also learn that Usagi’s beloved father died tragically and that she also had to do the hard work of moving pass grief, because for a time even she didn’t want to go on anymore. They decide to join forces and compete in another game with three other players in an underpass tunnel. From the clues they’ve been given they assume that they need to race to the end of the tunnel to reach “a goal”. However, one of the players has to be left behind because he has a sprained ankle. He remains on a bus that is operational by has no fuel.

Meanwhile, in a shocking turn of events a large, scary-looking black panther appears out of nowhere and kills one of the runners. Usagi eventually makes an amazing discovery that ends up saving the rest of the group. He once again shows himself to be a kind-hearted and thoughtful person who cares about other players.

Words/phrases that I recognized: きれいだね- Usagi says this when she and her father are taking in the beauty of the mountains. あした　ゲーマで – Usagi begins her sentence with this phrase when she explains to Arisu what they need to do in tomorrow’s game.

Alice in Borderland - Episode 3

 

Episode 3 is the most shocking and heartbreaking episode so far. In the previous episode we saw Arisu and Karube survive their games and get more time to live. However, because Shibuki and Chota stayed behind (owing to Chota’s injury) they missed that opportunity. Now they have to play in the next game and Arisu and Karube decide to join them. 

The group gathers at a botanical garden and learn that they will be the only players. No other people will be joining them. That’s because they will be playing a “Seven of Hearts”-style game, meaning that this game is supposed to involve betrayal. The rules were quite complicated, and I did not understand all of the intricacies, but the upshot was that only one player could be the “Wolf” and the others would automatically be the “Sheep” and they had to play the game of hide-and-seek. The player who was the wolf would be the one who got to live in the end. 

Arisu’s friend wanted him to live so they hid from him so that he could not give them the designation of “Wolf”. They preferred to sacrifice themselves so that he could live. While I appreciated that, I hated that Chota prevented Shibuki from running to Arisu to potentially become the Wolf herself. I understand that he wanted to save his friend, but it was not his right to sacrifice Shibuki so that Arisu could live. He should have allowed her to make her own choice. The episode was tense and exciting, but also sad and frustrating.

Words I recognized: Karube says ありがとう when Shibuki patches up his injury. He also talks about a mystery “beach” mentioned in the prior episode by using the demonstrative pronoun sayingそのビーチ. The mysterious voice that counts down how much time is left in the game used time counters e.g., 時間10分