Alice in Borderland is finally back with its third season after being away for a long time. Season 2 ended with Arisu and Usagi beating all the face card games in the Borderlands, which resulted in them and the other surviving players getting the choice to return to the real world. Most of the players decided to leave, while the psychopathic Banda and his new friend Yaba chose to stay. However, those who returned came back with no memories of their time in the Borderlands.
After returning to the real world, the surviving players woke up in a hospital. They had been in a coma the entire time. We find out how Arisu, Usagi, and the others ended up in the Borderlands in the first place. A meteor had struck Tokyo, and anyone who was close to death but not yet dead because of it was sent to the Borderlands, a kind of purgatory between life and death.
In this brand-new installment on Netflix, Arisu and Usagi find themselves back in the Borderlands they once escaped, where they must face a new set of deadly games. The catch? They won't be taking on the games together this time. Instead, they're separated and must team up with different groups of players to survive the new games and find a way back home.
With all six episodes of Alice in Borderland season 3 now streaming on Netflix, we've decided to give a full recap down below of everything that happens in the first episode.
Major spoilers are ahead from Alice in Borderland season 3 episode 1.
Arisu and Usagi meet the mysterious Ryuji Matsuyama
The first episode opens with Arisu being interviewed by three men about his experience after the meteorite hit Tokyo. One of those men is a man named Ryuji. He asks Arisu questions about whether he experienced any weird dreams while he was in a coma. Specifically, he asks him if he remembers dreaming about games. Arisu, however, is clueless about what he's talking about. He explains that he doesn’t recall any dreams about games, but instead remembers dreaming of being on a journey to a far-off place. Seeing that Arisu is struggling, the men stop the interview.
Apparently, the men are conducting some kind of study on the survivors of the Shibuya meteorite incident, and Ryuji believes there's something deeper at play. He tells the other men that with every survivor they talk to, they all mention seeing fireworks before the meteorite hit and dreaming of games. He then rolls away in his wheelchair. We find out from one of the other men that Ryuji is an intelligent man who, for some odd reason, is obsessed with the afterlife. He also lost a student of his five years ago in an accident. Maybe that has something to do with his fascination with life after death.
Later, Ryuji meets up with Arisu at the university where the interviews are being conducted. He tells him that he'd like to hear more about the dreams he mentioned earlier in the interview. He even goes on to tell Arisu that he'd listen to anything he'd be willing to share, even if it seems silly. Arisu looks at him funny, but brushes it off. As they walk to the front of the university, Arisu introduces Ryuji to his wife Usagi. Yes, they are married now! Usagi was also at the university for an interview.
While Arisu is talking to Usagi, Ryuji has a flashback to a moment where he is standing over a woman lying on a lab table, connected to various machines. Hmm. That's interesting. The episode then returns to the present time. During the scene with Arisu, Usagi, and Ryuji, we learn that Ryuji is an assistant professor in the department of psychopathology at the university. He asks Usagi if she'd be open to an interview with him next time, and she agrees.
Ryuji plays his first game and meets Banda
It turns out that the reason Ryuji is involved in the study is that he wants to find a way to the Borderlands himself. He doesn't quite have all the details about what the Borderlands is, but after interviewing all the survivors and hearing their accounts of strange dreams involving games, he's become convinced that it exists. His opportunity finally comes when he receives an anonymous email from a person asking to meet up.
They meet up at a local restaurant, and the person turns out to be a woman who previously participated in the games. She shares her own personal experience before she informs him that he'll receive an invitation by email in a week to attend a "seminar." Ryuji receives the email like the woman said, and it leaves an address to an office building. This is when we find out that the "seminar" isn't actually a "seminar." It's more like a prelude or initiation to the deadly games that await in the Borderlands.
Ryuji arrives at the location and finds several other people there as well. A man in a suit instructs everyone to sit at a nearby table that is covered with playing cards. After they're all seated, the man tells the others that it's best not to move from the seat they've chosen. Then, he announces that they're about to play a game. He explains to them that they must win the game in order to "participate in the journey." In other words, succeeding in this challenge is their only way to gain entry into the Borderlands.
The game is called "Old Maid." Each player has a bunch of cards. If a person has pairs in their hand, then they must discard them. Whoever holds the Joker card at the end of the game is the winner. But there are consequences as well. Each player will be drawing from another player's hand. When the Joker card is drawn from a player's hand, that player is eliminated. And by eliminated, we mean fatally electrocuted. Oh, and if you stand up from your seat, you'll meet the same fate as well. As the game goes on, the players are eliminated one by one. The winner ends up being Ryuji, and the man in the suit transforms into Banda. Banda then welcomes him to the Borderlands.
Ryuji kidnaps Usagi and brings her to the Borderlands
Although Usagi is living a happy married life with Arisu, she still struggles with the death of her father to the point that she has constant nightmares about the day he died. But she chooses not to tell Arisu about them. In the morning, she heads to work. The news reports the deaths of seven people who were found in an office building the day before. Yes, this is the same "seminar" that Ryuji had attended. The police think it was mass suicides, but their investigation is still ongoing.
Meanwhile, Arisu goes to his internship at the local counseling center. While there, he runs into Ann. She's a new patient. If you recall from season 2, Ann was one of the players who participated in the games with Arisu. When given the choice to leave the Borderlands, she decided to return to the real world. She's taken aback when Arisu walks into the room of the counseling center because, unlike him, she remembers who he is.
She explains to him that they've met before in another world. Although Ann doesn't have all her memories back, she knows that there's another world that she and the other survivors of the Shibuya meteorite incident once visited while they were in a comatose state. She explains all of this to a confused Arisu before stating that she wants to go back to that world to learn about what happened to them. Just as she finishes sharing that she knows a way to go back, a staff member interrupts their conversation.
Elsewhere, Usagi leaves work and walks into a resort hotel. Although she has no business being there, something is inexplicably pulling her inside. As she wanders through the hotel lobby, she feels a strange sense of familiarity. Suddenly, she starts having disturbing flashbacks of her time in the Borderlands during the Ten of Hearts game (Witch Hunt). That exact game took place in this hotel, but the hotel was called "The Beach" in the Borderlands. Usagi starts seeing flashes of dead bodies, and immediately freaks out. After sitting down, Ryuji rolls up to her in his wheelchair.
Later, Arisu finally returns home. He receives a call from Usagi, who sounds distressed. She apologizes before hanging up. Now, Arisu is in panic mode. He goes to the police and reports that Usagi has gone missing. They then show him surveillance footage of Usagi speaking with Ryuji at the resort hotel. While Arisu thinks she's been kidnapped, the police believe that she might have been having an affair with Ryuji. Arisu then leaves the police station to visit Ryuji's job.
He finds out from one of the employees at the university that Ryuji is also missing. After looking through Ryuji's things in his office, Arisu discovers an SD card containing an interview that Usagi did with him. In the video, Usagi talks about her struggles with the nightmares of her dad. She explains that even though it hurts to see her dad in her nightmares, she is willing to endure the pain if it means she gets to see him again. She also mentions how she's been keeping her nightmares away from Arisu.
After listening to the video, Arisu heads home and runs into Banda. It's like the real world stops for that moment while they're talking. This is the first time they've ever met. Although they were both in the Borderlands together, they never played the same game at the same time. Banda basically invites Arisu to join him in the Borderlands again to play new games. He gives Arisu a Joker card and tells him that Usagi will also be playing in the games before leaving. Oh no!
Suddenly, Arisu's phone starts ringing. It's the police station informing him that Usagi has been found. Arisu then heads to their location. The police tell him that Usagi is currently in a coma after the man she was with made her take a drug. As the doctor's about to show him Usagi, he informs Arisu that his wife is pregnant. The police then show Arisu the man she was with. It turns out to be Ryuji. Now, the cops believe that he kidnapped her.
Arisu returns to the Borderlands to save Usagi
After taking Arisu into another room, the police ask him to look over Usagi's things to see if anything looks unfamiliar. Arisu finds a Joker card within Usagi's belongings. The same type of Joker card that Banda had given him earlier. The police then tell Arisu that they found a Joker card in Ryuji's possession as well. Arisu starts piecing things together, like his discussions with Banda and Ann. He believes that Ryuji has taken Usagi to the "other world" that Ann told him about, and now he must find a way to get there so he can save her.
What does Arisu do next? He heads to the sanatorium where Ann resides to ask for her assistance. Of course, Ann is willing to help and gives him a shot that makes his heart stop beating. This puts Arisu in an unconscious state, allowing him to return to the Borderlands. As he walks through the now-empty sanatorium, he eventually comes across a sign that states that a game will start at sundown. He finds the location of the game arena, which is at a shrine. Several other people are already waiting there.
Suddenly, the shrine doors slam shut, and an automated voice echoes through the intercom, announcing that registration for the game has now closed and that a new team has been created at Hikawa Shrine. Let the games begin!
You can stream Alice in Borderland season 3 right now on Netflix.