Anime Reviews (2010-2019): Alice in Borderland (2015)

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Personally, it’s hard for me to recommend an anime OVA series with no more episodes being made, nor any announcements that it will continue. But if you can find this Blu-ray at a cheap price, then go for it! Because the anime series is well-animated and it’s very good. But if you seek closure, you may find yourself better off just watching the live-action series on Netflix.

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TITLE: Alice in Borderland

ANIME SERIES RELEASE DATE: 2015

DURATION: EPISODE 1-3 (75 Minutes)

BLU-RAY INFORMATION: 1080p High Definition (16×9), Japanese and English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0, English Subtitles

COMPANY: Sentai Filmworks

RATING: TV MA VSD

Release Date: December 21, 2021

Originally Created by Aso Haro

Director: Tachibana Hideki

Script by Nakamura Ryosuke

Character Design by Sudo Tomoko

Music by Tsutsumi Hiroaki

Anime Production by CONNECT, SILVER LINK

Featuring the following voice talent:

Tsubasa Yonaga/Greg Ayres as Segawa Chota

Hosoya Yoshimasa/Jeremy Gee as Arisu Ryohei

Suzuki Tatsuhisa/Joe Daniels as Karube Daikichi

Sakurai Takahiro/Blake Jackson as Chishiya Shuntarou

Kotobuki Minako/Olivia Swasey as Usagi Yuzuha

Sakamoto Maaya/Rachael Messer as Shibuki Saori

Ryohei Arisu is bored with life. Nothing is new or exciting, and playing games is the only relief from the endless monotony of a seemingly pointless existence. If only, he wishes, he could be someplace else… a different world… where things were more exciting.

Then Ryohei and his friends, Daikichi and Chota, see what seems to be an incredibly powerful firework in the sky, brighter than any shooting star, and when they can see again, they discover that they’re in an entirely new reality. Unfortunately, as they quickly learn, while this new world is, indeed, far more exciting, it’s also incredibly dangerous. Trapped in a post-apocalyptic environment where the only way to survive is to compete in a series of increasingly deadly games, Ryohei and his friends have no choice except to adapt or perish!

Before the Netflix live-action series of “Alice in Borderland”, there was the manga and anime series.

Written and illustrated by Aso Haro and serialized on “Shonen Sunday S”, from November 2010- March 2015 and then to “Weekly Shonen Shunday” from April 2015 to March 2016, the manga series received a three episode OVA adaptation.

While it’s not known if the anime OVA series will ever receive completion, considering the manga was completed in 2015 and there is a popular live-action Netflix series.

The first episode begins with three young adults, Arisu Ryohei, is hanging out with his buddies, Karube and Chota. Arisu was joking around how it would be cool to be in a world like a nameless NPC in a video game and not having to deal with family or society pressures.

As the three watch a firework celebration, they are transported to a parallel world, with no human inhabitants, as it appears.

They noticed that a festival with a glowing light is happening and when they go, they meet another human, Shibuki Saori. She tells them that they have been transported to a game and if you lose, you die.

Of course, the guys don’t believe it until they start the game and flaming arrows are launched at Chota. With the four needing to work together, Arisu regrets being in this land and desperately wants to return home.

But they can’t. They are stuck in this parallel world and chances of surviving are small.

How far can the four of them go?

As mentioned, there are only three episodes for this OVA series and it ends in possibly the saddest way possible and you hope that it continues.

But since this anime was released in 2015, if you really want to know how the story continues, you will have to watch the first two seasons of the live-action series on Netflix for now.

It’s a very good anime series, well-animated and had tremendous potential. So, It’s rather unfortunate there are only just three OVA episodes. There is nothing else you can do but enjoy the short anime series (with three episodes) as is.

Click here to purchase this Blu-ray on Amazon

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