Alice In Borderland is a Japanese series based on the manga of the same name by Haro Aso. The story follows Arisu, a young man who somehow entered another world where he and others had to play deadly games to survive. The series is directed by Shinsuke Sato and stars Kento Yamazaki and Tao Tsuchiya as the main leads.
Alice In Borderland - Season 2 Episode 8 Summary & Recap
Queen of Hearts: Croquet
The rule of the Queen of Hearts game is simple. A player has to complete a game of croquet with the Queen of Hearts (aka Mira) for 3 rounds. Winning or losing the game of croquet does not matter. As Usagi is injured, we have Arisu up against Mira. The first two rounds went by smoothly although Usagi sensed the Queen was purposely delaying the game.
Before they begin the third round, Mira insisted that they sit down for a cup of tea. Arisu then took the opportunity to ask her about this world, the Borderland and if they would be able to get back to the real world. Again delaying, Mira kept giving different odd answers, like them playing a VR game in the future, and will end up telling the two that she’s just kidding. Frustrated by Mira’s many excuses, Arisu demanded the truth and pointed his gun at her.
Final game clear
That’s when Mira somehow brought Arisu into a hypnotic state. She claimed that Arisu lost Chota and Karube in a car accident at the Shibuya crossing the other day and Mira had been his psychiatrist. All this while, Arisu had been imagining the games in the Borderland because he had been questioning the purpose of life. Usagi soon realized that this wasn’t true because her thighs were still bleeding from her combat with the King of Spades.
Usagi tried to remind Arisu that believing Mira would mean denying her very own existence. As Arisu was in a mentally vegetative state by then, Usagi had to go a step further and slit her own wrist as she knew that she is important to him. Soon, Arisu came to his senses and demanded to continue the game. Mira was also touched by the bond between the two and happily completed the game of croquet until nighttime. The Queen was then unceremoniously killed by the laser and fireworks blasted all around as all games had been completed.
Remaining players were offered to be a permanent residence at Borderland. Several players like Banda accepted the offer, but all our key characters denied this offer.
What actually happened
On the day everyone disappeared from the Shibuya crossing, Arisu, Chota and Karube were not the only ones there. Most of the characters we know like Usagi, Kuina, Niragi and Boshi (Mad Hatter) were there too. But what looked like fireworks in broad daylight was actually meteorite that fell on Tokyo, causing an explosion in several areas like the Shibuya crossing they were all at.
Most of the victims had their heart stopped for 1 whole minute. Some eventually survived after that. Essentially, the players’ whole experience in Borderland actually only took place in 1 minute in real life. If a player dies in Borderland, he/ she dies in real life too from the meteorite explosion. However, surviving players did not have any recollection of Borderland and the other people they met there.
The aftermath
Heiya’s leg was actually amputated from the meteorite explosion. In the hospital, she could see Aguni still in a coma state. Chishiya and Niragi were roommates in a hospital and both believed that they would approach life differently after this accident. Meanwhile, we also saw Kuina making amends with her parents who previously did not accept her for turning trans. Although we saw Ann dying in Borderland, she managed to narrowly escape death and survived in real life too.
As for our main characters, Arisu bumped into Usagi at a vending machine in the hospital. Just like Heiya, Usagi had her leg injured from the whole ordeal. The both of them felt like they have met each other before, but they could not pinpoint the other nor remember when they had previously met. Arisu managed to ask Usagi for a walk outside and Usagi was happy to oblige.
The series ends with playing cards scattered on a table of the hospital garden. The wind blew the cards away to reveal the final joker card.
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