This is the second Jdrama that I have ever watched, so I really don't have a solid opinion about their storytelling technique as of now. But based on my "background knowledge" on animes, I have come to conclude that Jdramas, especially for this genre, know how to portray gore and violence well. This show was not an exception.

Fundamentally, it shares the same root as Squid Game in that it is a survival show where morality is often questioned and often times, it's grey. They both focus on how the main lead would push through several challenges/games, and ethical dilemmas along the way, then ultimately survive in the end. However, the best distinctive characteristic for this particular show is that it focuses more on the narrative and its story, rather than the people around said narrative and story (which is not the case for SG). My opinion for SG is that it focused too much on the characters rather than the story, and that is what I loved on its Japanese counterpart.

The best episode for this show has got to be the 3rd episode. I won't be sharing how the events happened for this specific episode, but it was just messed up, to say the least. And it being messed up and its unexpected outcome was just brilliant in the storytelling perspective. I utterly gasped as the credits rolled, and just couldn't properly function for some time.

Moving forward though, there were some illogical events and inconsistencies on its story. The screenwriter was not able to properly grasped the game's complexities, therefore some plot holes appeared here and there. I want to make this review spoiler-free, and to be honest, said inconsistencies are not that obvious on its first watch. But then again, when it is becoming quite prevalent, one would question whether it is really just a coincidence or already an inconsistency.

Furthermore, I was just impressed on the male lead's character development. Arisu (Yamazaki Kento) came a long way from being a wimpy loser into a strategic and mature person. But at the same time, was quite disappointed with the female lead's character development. Usagi (Tsuchiya Tao) fell prey on the "strong FL at first, but became dependent on the ML later on" syndrome, and I was quite disappointed on that. I hope it changes on the 2nd season since the dynamic between them is already great. By the way, I am already predicting a romantic subplot later on.

But, the most obvious letdown here is the plot twist as to who the game master is. I was appalled when the person's identity was revealed at the end. Yes, it was surprising and shocking. But unlike its Korean counterpart, the show did not invested some story and emotions on said person, yet I am hoping that this would be tackled more on the next episodes.

Despite all that, Alice in Borderland (今際の国のアリス) is still better than SG in that it was consistent on the story that it wanted to tell. The gore and violence was much extreme and bloody, which in my opinion, made this series more thrilling and gripping. Each episode was just different, and the level on shock increases as more that I watch this. Still, I just can't visibly omit my criticisms for this series and also can't say that it's miles better than SG. Overall, this Jdrama messes the viewer's psyche, but also messes its story's logic.