Arisu Ryohei tự nhận mình là một thành phần “ăn hại xã hội”, học hành lẹt đẹt nên đang cực kỳ chán đời. Trong một lần tụ tập than vãn cùng hai thằng bạn thân Karube và Chota, cả ba bất chợt nhìn thấy pháo hoa, và sau đó là một vụ nổ long trời lở đất. Khi bụi đất lắng xuống, họ nhận ra mình đang ở trong một thế giới hoàn toàn khác. Ở nơi này, Arisu, Karube và Chota bị buộc phải tham gia liên tiếp vào những trò chơi chết người do một thế lực nào đó áp đặt, nếu không muốn bị trừng phạt bằng cái chết. Liệu 3 người bạn của chúng ta có thể vượt qua và sống sót trong một thế giới đầy nguy hiểm như thế?
Why is there so much pressure with the first book of the year to be good? Why does it feel like it sets the tone for the rest of the year?
Anyway, before Christmas, I was blown away by the Alice in Borderland adaptation. I knew that I had to read the manga as well.
And I have to say that I loved this one as well. It is similar enough that I can see the characters I know from the series. But at the same time, there are differences between the two, so, I was really curious to see what will happen.
However, I have to say that I felt like without the knowledge of the adaptation I could potentially find the first chapters somewhat confusing.
But the best part so far is Karube whom I like way more than in the adaptation. Here he is just the best.
Anyway, I can totally recommend both, the manga and the adaptation as well. I cannot wait to read the rest.
Let's appreciate the idea and characterization first. The plot of the book centers around games and survival, as well as the strategies used to overcome them. At the moment, I'm watching the drama and reading the manga. I can't compare the two because they are both good and horrible in their own right. I was tensed and nervous during the first game because I was on the edge of my seat. And if this is the case for the remainder of the games as well. What am I going to do, oh boy??
Not a bad start. This is a retrospective review. The manga definitely got better as it progressed, and so did the art style. The characters are initially flat but improve significantly every chapter.
Maybe I'm too smooth-brained to get the rules of some of the games, but they tended to go over my head.
Me ha gustado bastante para ser un primer volumen, lo mejor las pruebas. Valoración: 7/10 Sinopsis: Ryuhei Alisu (que en japonés es también la transliteración de Alice) es un estudiante de secundaria apático y apático. Le va mal en la escuela, falla las pruebas de ingreso para una universidad decente y sufre de un complejo de inferioridad hacia su hermano menor, primero en la clase y perfecto. Junto con su amigo Chota, pasa sus días merodeando y emborrachándose en el pub donde trabaja su ex compañero de escuela, Karube. Después de una noche de copas, los tres caminan por las vías del tren para llegar a un barrio donde hay muchas chicas. Pero en el camino se detienen para ver algunos extraños fuegos artificiales. Poco después se encuentran en un mundo igual al nuestro, pero donde todo está en ruinas y polvoriento. Desorientados, los tres piensan que están en un sueño. Es decir, al menos hasta que conocen a una chica que les dice que acaban de entrar en un juego, en el que ya no pueden evitar participar. La incredulidad de los tres amigos desaparece cuando sus vidas están seriamente en peligro y tendrán que decidir reaccionar si no quieren morir.
La serie es bastante fiel al manga por lo que veo, asi que hasta que llegue al mismo nivel, pocas sorpresas me llevaré.
(*review for the whole series, finished in volume 18.)
Honestly, most survival manga aren't very good. A lot of these tend to degenerate into a ridiculous pile of cliches and plot holes despite having interesting premise, either due to fanservice overload (*this kind of work is usually aimed at horny male teens, hence the gratuitous amount of gore and boobs) and/or simply because the author couldn't write well.
Well, Alice in Borderland is a delightful outlier: an action survival work that prides itself on having great plot progression, world-building, and character development.
The set-up isn't particularly unique: three teens suddenly find themselves in a mysteriously desolate world, as they're forced to play a series of games just to stay alive. Sounds familiar innit, and the manga doesn't really have an intriguing gimmick that can immediately grab your attention, but it makes up for that simply through great execution. Haro Aso established and paced the narrative very well, as more of the world gradually opens up and a host of interesting characters eventually show up. We start with our typical Japanese high school teens, but the cast soon expands to include a bunch of people with a wide range of background and personality , a surprisingly high number of them end up being very memorable for various reasons.
The games are varied, easy to understand, and drawn very well. Whether it's action, puzzle-solving, or debating scenes, the art always properly conveys the atmosphere and intensity of the situation. An interesting thing about the drawing is how non-graphic it is, especially considering the standard of the genre; the visual approach to violent scenes and character deaths is relatively mild, so yeah, you may be disappointed if you're a gorehound.
Make no mistake, though: just because you're not bombarded with shower of blood or flying body parts in every page, doesn't mean that it's not a brutal and ruthless manga. Characters suffer throughout as they undergo serious mental ordeal, and they die easily and frequently, often subverting the readers' expectation on which ones of them are going to survive. This contributes to the perpetually high stakes and tension, especially since Borderland refuses to indulge in the kind of bullshit that other survival series often does. Games can't just be won by last second miracle, characters don't magically develop supernatural powers, and dead people stay dead.
And yet, it's not all doom and gloom. Borderland surprised me with its brutal and heart-wrenching twists, and then it surprised me again for how genuinely uplifting it could be. There's a sizable amount of philosophical contemplation and discussion, not as a pretension to make the story looks deeper than it really is, but as an effective platform for the characters' growth and understanding of their circumstances. The manga always play the situation straight—meaning that there's no comedy of either the intentional or unintentional kind, but I really enjoy the occasional light-hearted moments where the characters can relax in-between games, banter with each other, and develop genuine connection. There are very few caricatures among the cast, and even the bad guys and psychopaths don't feel too over the top. A lot of them feel like the kind of people that you can encounter in real life, identify with, and root for.
The second half of the story is more predictable than the first half, but the overall quality remains consistently high. It also ends on a satisfactory note;
I've actually read the sequel series (*similar set-up with completely different cast) first, eventually deciding to track and read this manga after being impressed by Haro Aso's dynamic art work and extremely balanced narrative approach. Obviously, that worked out very well! I'll gladly read everything he writes in the future, and I have to thank him as well for raising a very poignant theme at the end, which genuinely affected me on a personal level.
P.S. A tip for anyone trying out this manga: if you just started and felt like it's not much to your liking, try to at least read until Volume 3—that's where things get really interesting.
The First Volum of Imawa no Kumi no Alice starts strong, with a short but clever, introduction of the characters, while keeping the whole gaming world a mystery for now. In fact, I'm getting the feeling that the reader is going to discover what is going on at the same time as Arisu.
While the art is pretty much classic shounen, it has a dark twist to it and it manages to create action sequences on paper masterfully. As for the characters, probably only the main one has the best anthology of emotions, but it is still early to tell.
স্কুইড গেমের মাধ্যমে জীবন বাজি রেখে খেলাসংক্রান্ত থ্রিলার নিয়ে প্রথম জানতে পারি। পরে স্কুইড গেমের পাঠ চুকিয়ে একই জনরার এলিস ইন বর্ডারল্যাণ্ড ধরি। নেটফ্লিক এডাপশন ভালো লাগলেও কীসের যেন কমতি অনুভব করছিলাম। পরে মাংগা ধরায় বুঝলাম, নেটফ্লিক্সের চেয়ে শতগুণ ভালোভাবে কাহিনী ফুটে উঠেছে মাংগায়! কী অসাধারণ আর ভিন্নধর্মী প্লট! হুট করে পৃথিবীর সবাই কর্পূরের ন্যায় গায়েব হয়ে যায়, যারা বেঁচে থাকে তাদের বাঁচার মেয়াদ বাড়ানোর তাগিদে খেলতে হয় বিভিন্ন গেমস। স্কুইড গেমের চেয়ে বেশ উপভোগ্য আর জটিল ঠেকেছে। রেকমেন্ড করব।
Arisu will leave high school soon, but he's trying to avoid thinking about his future. Late one night, when he's hanging out with his tough friend Karube and his silly girl-crazy friend Chouta, they see fireworks. After one blindingly bright explosion, they find themselves waking up in a different world. In this place called the Borderland, people are forced to either participate in potentially deadly games or simply die. Will Chouta, Karube, and Arisu be able to survive this dangerous new world? Is there a way they can get back to their original lives?
Thought a manga couldn't be mindnumbing and thought provoking at the same time? Think again.
For a pilot volume, Alice in Borderland Vol. 1 was able to deliver a delightful combination of suspense and mystery that will keep you on the edge of your seat. Questions seem to pop up every time you get an answer, it was like being stuck in a neverending loop of questions. Thankfully, despite being in that loop, the pacing was enough for me to catch up with the plot.
With this promising introduction, I am looking forward to seeing more of the upcoming volumes of this series in the upcoming days!
This review is for the whole series. The synopsis and the first chapter had me hooked. There is something intensely thrilling about betting lives on the games. Simple games that can be mind-numbingly complex and horrifying. Games that tear you apart. Games that can break your heart. Each chapter progresses in a way that makes the mystery & tension more palpable. You do not want to stop because you want to know what is going to happen next. The scenario is heady, intoxicating, dark, and alluring. The psychological tension made my heart thump. The sheer adrenaline rush of reading these comics can give you hyperactivity very similar to the feeling of downing 5 cups of coffee in a go.
Highly recommended for people who enjoys reading the dark psyche of humans.
Una realidad con un juego macabro donde la vida y la muerte está latente. 😱😱😱. Grandes gráficos. Trama fluida. Y gran énfasis en el razonamiento y la amistad.
Alice in Borderland follows a group of high school friends as they get dragged into a weird dimension where someone is forcing them to participate in games in order to survive.
The characters i found to be a bit shallow and simplistic but it's early to tell.
The pacing is good and the art is good enough to understand what's going on which sometimes is difficult in manga.
I haven't watched any adaptation of this so i can't compare it but it was a solid start.
yes, i watched the netflix show. yes, it was mindblowingly good. yes, it made me immediately start the manga because i want to LIVE through the spoilers instead of stumbling upon them by accident.
my first time reading a manga, so it took a bit of getting used to - even more so as i'm using my kindle. slow but solid start, i'm excited to see how it builds up.
I wanted to read this series after seeing the Netflix show based on these books, to see what the manga was about but also to know what comes next.
The scene for the story is set in this first part and the first game is played. On to the next one to see how it continues and how they'll try and deal with this new reality.
2 firsts: 1. Me reading a manga. Took me half a chapter before I figured out that I was reading from the wrong direction lol. 2. Reading the source material after watching the excellent adaptation. The game in volume 1 is different from the series. Both are good.
the characters are smartly presented, little details reveal important features about each of them. they're a bit different from how they were portrayed in the live action but now i see they've addapted it pretty well. i love this trio so much 😭😭
Review for the entire series: Just finished this manga and WOW. It was a master piece. It made me question so many thing. The theme remained consistent throughout the series. I am quite moved by the psychological journey mangaka-san took us on (which I only realized after finishing it).
The ending was certainly unexpected but I'm not disappointed at all. At times I felt like the ending could put me in an existential crisis but gotta say I rather feel happy(?) upon reaching the end. Idk how to properly describe this feeling.
Highly recommended if you're into survival games trope. The live action adaptation was pretty good too. Really excited for S2, I hope they do the manga justice. Now, I'm gonna go and recommend this to everyone I know.
I don’t normally read manga but I enjoyed watching the Netflix adaption and I was too impatient to wait for the second season to find out what happens. It was a really addictive read, I ended up binge reading it. The characters and plot are interesting and kept me invested, wondering how the players will win the games, who will survive, what is Borderland?, etc.
The Netflix adaption is pretty faithful to the first half of the manga. Perhaps for this reason I enjoyed the second half more (as I didn’t already know what was coming). Some people might not like the ending and it’s final twist but I was really satisfied with it.
I think it will be a lot harder to adapt the second half of the manga to the screen, but crossing my fingers that Netflix doesn’t change too much. There are a lot of things that would be easy to change but if kept and done right could make for some really interesting hours of television.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
So the Netflix series got me to read a manga all the way through for the very first time. The first third of the manga is adapted in the first season of the Netflix show, and the rest is a wild ride. I could barely put it down, hence the 5 stars.
I went into this knowing that I really enjoy (if that's the right word) "games of death" as a genre because of how the exploration of humanity, altruism, purpose, etc... This hit all the right notes for me and exceeded my expectations. The plot was incredibly engaging and the ever-present darkness served an actual purpose.
Recommended if youre into exploring big questions, such as "who has the right to live and at what price", and don't mind a lot of violence/death. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have some spinoffs/sequels to get my hands on...
Una historia fantástica que mezcla acción y juegos psicológicos. Aunque al principio no entendía muy bien que había sucedido, al final resulta ser lo de menos y las vivencias de estos tres amigos me pusieron los pelos de punta. Merece muchísimo la pena este manga
Al parecer somos muchos los que amamos la serie y decidimos leer el manga... Me gustó mucho, sin duda alguna es un buen inicio, aunque he de admitir que me gustó un poquito más el inicio de la serie, sorry not sorry...
Because I am not patient enough to wait for the season 2 on Netflix so I ended up finishing the whole manga series. I didn't expect how the writer end it, brilliant yet annoying lol!
This blew up on Netflix. Decided to jump on the bandwagon and watch the show. Sucked me right in. I binged the series in two days, and was so adamant on finding out the answers for myself that I just had to read the manga (lol kinda like Arisu, if you know, you know).
The world building is amazing. The intrigue was there from the start. Along the way, there were challenges and games that kept me interested because of the creative yet sick way they were crafted.
This book doesn’t shy off from heavy topics like abuse, abandonment, morality etc. There were extensive backstories to the many different characters introduced, which was kind of a damper on the reading experience because they just had to be slotted in at the most critical moments. However, I guess it brings more depth to the characters, allowing us to be attached to them as human beings rather than participants in the games.
I thought the last challenge of the series was the best. XX (censored bc spoiler) basically listed down disproved all the possible theories I had, something like a tribute to all the curious fans out there. The ending was just completely unexpected. It kept me thinking and reflecting even after finishing the series, trying to piece everything together. That, in my opinion, is the mark of a successful story.
I look forward to seeing how the Netflix adaptation will live up to the manga. I think they might be trying to keep things interesting for the people familiar with the story because they have already made a few tweaks to the plot in season 1.
Makasih Pus, atas pass netpliknya, tante eh kakak jd bisa nonton seri ini... :")
Sama seperti "Sweet Home", adaptasi yg ini jg nggak plek-plekan sama kayak komiknya. Pertama dr usia. Di dramanya, mereka udah dewasa di atas 20-an sedangkan di komiknya masih anak SMA kelas 3. Lebih suka mereka yg udah dewasa daripada masih piyik-piyik sih...
Terus, karakter Chouta di manganya ngeselin bats. Lebih suka dia yg di dramanya. Game pertama mereka jg beda.
Kicking my feet as I read this (again but I don’t remember it the first time). I love the show so much and with season 3 coming out this year I said why not reread it for fun! Since I don’t have any type of goal with manga this year I can read anywhere and everywhere :)) it is really different tho than the show I can tell you that. The show def adds more context and stories. Esp when they first got into borderland. It allows you to really develop a connection to the characters. Right now you don’t.