I don't know about you but I'm kind of sick of the oversaturation of interchangeable isekai anime series these days. Surely there are more interesting stories to tell than "guy gets sucked into generic fantasy world, is greatly overpowered and gets all the waifus"? "But Yung," I hear you say, "what's an example of a good isekai series?" Well, I'm glad you asked...
Haro Aso's 2011 manga Alice in Borderland stars Arisu, a high school student who's bored with his unsatisfying life. After going on a walk at night with his friends and fellow burnouts Chouta and Karube, they find a massive firework display unlike anything they have ever seen, and when it passes they find themselves in an unfamiliar place. They don't end up in some fantasy RPG with elf bitches lining up to suck their dicks this time; things aren't easy in the Borderlands. The trio have to take part in depraved, Saw-esque death games in order to stay alive that will push them to their mental, physical and emotional limits, while encountering survivors who can't even remember how long they've been there and trying to uncover the truth behind the mysterious games.
The manga is seriously gripping and had me at the edge of my seat during a lot of its tense moments, and the momentum doesn't stop even when it decides to focus on a random group of new characters for the purpose of fleshing out the world and showing different perspectives, as opposed to never straying from the protagonists. If you want to check out a series with strong character development, an engrossing yet tragic world, plenty of suspense and great artwork, I'd heartily recommend.
Oh yeah, and Netflix have the rights to this series and will be producing a live-action series based on it. Shinsuke Sato (Live-action Bleach & Gantz) will be directing, as well as writing the script alongside Yasuko Kuramitsu and Yoshiki Watabe. As a fan of the manga I'll definitely be keeping an eye on this. The fact that it's a Japanese-made live-action as opposed to an American one does give me hope, although Netflix's live-action Mob Psycho 100 was hardly a masterpiece, even when compared to Death Note. There was a short, three episode OVA based on the manga that covered the first few games but it'll be cool to see if Netflix will go all the way and cover the later and more intense chapters.
Alice in Borderland will hit Netflix in 2020. Will you be checking it out? Are you planning on reading the manga or watching the OVAs? Do you think there are too many similar isekais these days? Drop your thoughts below!
