Not Your Typical Card Game

Well, hello my fellow misfits, and Happy New Year! It seems as if it's been ages since I last posted but, truthfully, it's only been two months. Still, that can feel like a long time, right? Regardless, I hope the past year wasn't too strenuous for you and that this year will be full of wonderful surprises!

Speaking of surprises, there was quite a bit of action in the entertainment field last year. Movies and television shows kept releasing one after another as if from a vending machine. To be honest, I haven't caught up to everything that came out, there's still a queue in my Netflix watch list. I am, however, extremely satisfied with the films and shows I did watch!

One of the shows I was pleased with was the second season of Alice in Borderland. Just to give a bit of context to those who haven't heard of it, this is a Japanese-based show featuring characters who were suddenly hurled into a twisted game world. What made the world twisted was that the nature of the games was literally that of life and death.

To make matters worse, the players had no choice but to participate. Each of them was given a visa that allowed them residence in this dystopian world. The problem? The length of time on the visa was completely dependent on winning games. Basically, it was deciding between dying in the game or having a laser shot through your head when your visa expired. I know, not very appealing choices to choose from.

This type of show isn't usually within the scope of themes I enjoy, but I'm actually glad I checked this one out. Though the circumstances were terrible for all of the characters, the plot was incredibly interesting. I especially admired the system created for the games. The games followed the suits of a card deck, and the higher the number, the higher the difficulty of the game. The suits themselves represent different types of games as well. For example, the heart suit categorized games dealing with matters of the heart, specifically betrayal. The club suit identified games that required teams. Needless to say, I was very impressed with this idea!

In the first season of the show, the characters strived to beat the games leveled up to ten. This second season dealt out the games from level Jack to King. As a whole, I believe the focus of the series was diving deep into human nature. The show displayed both the ugly and the beautiful sides of people as they truly are. There were even some characters who discovered they were not as cruel and heartless as they let others believe. Of course, there were just as many who were downright foul throughout the episodes, but that's how it is. In life, the good and bad often go hand-in-hand.

What really stuck with me was the ending, the part where we finally got answers. I'm sure like many others, I had my own theory for why these characters were thrown into a world playing gruesome games for survival. By the way, I have to give major props to the creators for tossing out different "truths" to confuse us. The one where the main protagonist Arisu was frankly in a psychiatric ward and he made the game up in his head was the one that almost got me. I thought that was the real deal!

The actual reason behind the games and this alternate world was that there was an explosion in Tokyo as a result of a meteor crash. Arisu and many others who were "players" in the game were in reality on the brink of death. The disaster caused their hearts to stop for one minute, so technically, they were teetering the line between life in this world and the afterlife.

Something that really fascinates me is that at the end of the game, the players were given a choice. They could choose to return to the real world or stay in the "game world". It means that those who chose to stay in that world in fact passed away after a long internal battle. This is another aspect I give the creators major kudos for. Overall, this is a show most definitely worth the watch!