Alice in Borderland - Kuina Hearts

Director: Shinsuke Sato

Writers: Yasuko Kuramitsu, Shinsuke Sato, Yoshiki Watabe, Haro Aso

Network: Netflix

Cast: Kento Yamazaki, Keita Machida, Yûki Morinaga, Tao Tsuchiya, Nijirô Murakami, Aya Asahina

 Breakdown and Analysis

• The first episode was self contained and has so much intrigue.
• KT does not like clever stories with smart protagonist. Usually fanfare gets in the way of a good story and the smart character has to be dumb for a second.
• There was an emotional through line that was very effective throughout the season and was wholly satisfying from an audience point of view.
• Visually felt very game like. KT loved the contrast of crowded city goers to becoming desolate. It felt immersive and the scale and intensity of it.
• With each game, scene and tonal shift everything looked completely it's own.
• Sometimes when things don't get addressed it can get distracting but this show was so insular and effective.
• Arisu is seen to have a lot of potential and be clever, his friends get used to him coasting but want the best for him.
• Karube is the best kind of friend. He knew the limitations to his skill but he knew Arisu was destined for so much more.
• Regardless of genre, there is needs to be emotional attachment. We need to care about what the characters are about to go through.
• The strength of the friendship was well established and became the foundation of emotional attachment. It set the tone of how different all three of them were. Unanimous agreement that Chota is the weakest link.
• It'll be disappointing if the Game Master is the Corporation. We hope it is better than that.
• Shibuki presented a conflict within the For Your Reference household. She did what she needed to do in order to survive but that becomes a problem when her surviving means death for characters we love.
• Arisu continuing in the story was sad and unfortunate but the foundation had been laid for us to move with him. Usagi was the perfect character to continue the story.
• KT felt Usagi could have survived on her own but needed hope to know that things will get better. Arisu presented the hope that this could be a reality. They would be a great partnership, without obligation of it being romantic.
• The goal game was the least interesting.
• Chishiya is super intelligent and doesn't care about anyone. Oti believes he cared about Kuina however KT doesn't agree as he would have sacrificed her if he needed to.
• Can we have more Trans characters across everything? Thank you.
• Kuina has the best character arc and wholly satisfying crescendo. We saw her be abused by her father and made to feel less so our cheering her on was well earned.
• Niragi was too much and unnecessarily. Toxic masculinity personified.
• Hatter fed into his own indulgence and was never kept in check.
• Aguni was pathetic in the final acts and will earn no sympathies from our household.
• The last episode ties in everything we learned and felt along the way.

Unrelated but vital points

• Oti shouts out Lakeith for playing L in Death Note. KT makes everyone cringe with Ryuken.
• Oti has never watched any iteration of Alice in Wonderland. So this is his first introduction.
• KT cheekily mentions she hasn't watched Star Wars but continues to make references.
• Merch: Going down the rabbit hole of self wankery
• Shout out to Lupin. We will be covering on the podcast.
• Check out Canvas, short on Netflix.
• Oti makes a community reference.
• Gangster wives are the forbidden fruit, as per Oti.
• Methics = Oti and his Movie Ethics.
• We make a Bleach reference.