What to expect in Alice in Borderland Season 2?

Netflix’s new Japanese series, Alice in Borderland, has made its way to the top of the streaming charts internationally just as it was released last September 2020. Many enjoyed the show with its psychologically challenging plot that amazes you and makes you want to know what will happen next. The Netflix series is an adaptation of the Japanese manga with the same title, written and illustrated by Haro Aso. As soon as the series was released, it became a hit immediately, and fans now cannot wait for season 2. But what can we expect to happen in Alice in Borderland Season 2?

If you have read the manga, the series follows it and doesn’t make significant changes like most other adaptations. The character designs are identical, and the plot has the same themes. So it is expected that season 2 of the series will follow the same in the manga. Before discussing season 2, let us summarize what we know so far based on season 1. 

What do we know so far from season 1?

In season 1, we were introduced to the main character, Arisu, a man who loves playing video games, being thrown into a parallel world with his friends where the city of Tokyo is deserted. They soon discovered that it is a survival world, and you are forced to play games to survive there. 

Each game was designed to kill people. Once you have entered the game, there is no way of turning back since the perimeter of the game venue will be locked with a laser. Surviving each game will grant you a visa, which signifies the days you can rest and explore in the parallel world. Once your visa expires, you have to play another game to extend your visa, but not following your visa and not entering another game will also result in death. Playing a game will give you cards you can acquire at the end. Collecting all of the cards will allow one person to leave the world. The number on the cards signifies the level of difficulty, while the symbol tells what type of challenge the game will be. 

• Club Cards– Team games
• Diamond Cards– Intellect/Mind games
• Heart Cards– Games that involve trust
• Spade Cards– Physical challenges

Later on, as Arisu survived more days, he discovered an organization of players with the girl he teamed up with, Usagi, called the beach. With the person called “Hatter” leading it, a beach is a group of people who are bound to play games, and once they survive, the cards they acquire are collected. They have water, electricity, food, weapons, and fuel, everything you need to survive. The organization has strong, intelligent executives who contribute the most. Soon, the executives were called in for a meeting, saying the Hatter was dead and a new leader was to be appointed. Aguni, a leader of a militant group and best friend of the Hatter, was appointed. Arisu took this chance to steal all the cards just like he agreed with Chishiya, one of the executives, but he was caught.

In the middle of all the chaos and mess, electronics start to light up, saying a new game is starting, and the game difficulty is 10 hearts, the very last of the cards aside from the face cards. The objective was simple, find out who the witch was that killed one of the players and burn their body. Players later found out it was a suicide and the witch was the victim. Everyone turned silent when the victim’s friend confessed she was a game dealer and was shot with a laser to death. They soon found out about game dealers and masters.

Arisu and Usagi found a video on the dead girl’s body about them exploring the place and saying they were game masters. Game masters are people in an underground place where they set up the game and watch as the players suffer. Game dealers are the ones who set up the game. Game masters and dealers can act as players, as their lives are also at stake. No one can know they are game masters or dealers, of course, or they will also lose their life just like the players. 

Everyone thought they were the bosses and the ones who created the game, only to find out they weren’t. When Arisu and friends went to the said hideout, they found the dead bodies of these game masters. Soon enough, the screens in the hideout started to light up, showing the face of one of the beach’s executives, stating new games would begin. 

What to look forward to in Season 2?

Season 1 left us with so much excitement. Let’s see the possible things we might see in season 2.

More Challenging Games

As seen at the end of season 1, new games will begin as players will now start to aim for the face cards. We still don’t know what each face signifies for their difficulty level, but the card symbols might still have the same meaning for their type of game. But seeing as there are no numbers now, it is expected for the games to double the challenge. 

If we were to base it on the manga, the mentioned games included a tactical battle royale against a nudist, a mahjong game, a number guessing game, a potentially infinite game of trust with a traitor, and a never-ending, boundless game against a deadly sniper. These challenges are what we could possibly expect to see for season 2. 

A Tragic Love Story

Arisu and Usagi have been together for some time now, and both have faced challenges to survive in the borderland. It is possible that both of them could be love interests for each other. But with more challenges, will they maintain their good relationship by helping each other through the games, or will they experience a tragic loss involving them? 

Season 2 is said to define their relationship and how it affects the game at large, but with what season 1 showed us, it is better to prepare our tears and tissues for the worst scenario.

Heartbreaking Loss

Speaking of tears and tissues, this season 2 might serve us more saddening deaths and heartbreaking sacrifices. Another character close to Arisu might sacrifice himself again just so Arisu can succeed and leave Arisu in a guilt spiral. 

Final Encounter

At the end of season 1, one of the executives from the beach was shown. Is she the final boss? In the manga, it turns out that she’s actually the Queen of Hearts, which is the final obstacle Arisu and her friends must overcome. If the series sticks to this plot, we might witness what will happen to them.

But is this really it? Is the Queen of Hearts really the final challenge they will face? How about the game and the place where they are playing? Will we get to know more about it? There are still a lot of unanswered questions.

Fans are coming up with theories and ideas about what could happen next. The release date for season 2 was announced to be December 2022, and its trailer has already been published. It will hit Netflix’s top 10 internationally when this new season comes out. Everyone is hooked up and looking forward to the events that will happen next. Well, bear with it for now since the long wait is almost over!