My lord, what an utterly incredible experience this was. I've always thought that Sato Shinsuke was a director capable of making live-action adaptations that are not only watchable but actually entertaining (let's just ignore Bleach). His combination of dark humour, uncompromising ruthlessness, kinetic action sequences and high budgets allow his works to succeed where others have been derided. Alice in Borderland is probably his most popular work to date (breaking into the Western mainstream), and in my opinion, his best as well, in its blending of intense, hair-raising thrills with probing questions about morality and survival.

Alice in Borderland is a series that examines how 'human' qualities- compassion, rationality, camaraderie- are stripped away by death's cold stare, leaving behind the singular impulse to fend for yourself and throw your brethren under the bus without a second thought. In the process, the capacity for high reasoning is often left behind, and the tragedy of many of the games is that participants will impulsively launch themselves to their deaths without realising that the solution could have been easily discovered with just a bit of thought and teamwork. In the second half of the series, The Beach sets up an interesting Lord-of-the-Flies-esque scenario that demonstrates the impossibility of establishing order amongst humans in the absence of societal restraints, resulting in (especially amongst the executives and militants) the emergence of violent and hedonistic impulses that only have a chance to creep forth in parallel Tokyo. As suggested by some of the characters' names (rabbit, cheshire) and the recurring zoomorphic elements in the games (tigers, jaguars, horse-headed killers), Alice in Borderland reminds us that we were born as animals, and, if we were to be placed in a world where we are both hunted and allowed to roam free- we will become animals once more. And those who value their humanity? Though anyone can die, they stand the highest chance of survival.

But depth of themes alone don't make a series memorable- there has to be fun and games! And how darkly hilarious these games are, blending an off-kilter playfulness with horrific violence and ironic twists that are often so obvious that participants will trip over them and fall to their deaths. Eschewing the grandiose, sweeping setpieces so often seen in Western dystopian works like The Hunger Games and Maze Runner, Sato opts for ordinary apartment complexes and subway tunnels, plainly decorated and illuminated with sterile white light that contrasts with the red of spilt blood. Marrying the fast-paced hand-to-hand combat of 'Kingdom' with the wanton firearms slaughter of 'I am a Hero' and 'Inuyashiki', the series DELIVERS on the action sequences (my favourite would have to be a certain strobe-lit fight scene in the penultimate episode), though these are sadly somewhat absent from the middle of the series, which suffers slightly by trading off thrills for a slightly fanservicey mystery element. And as shown in the infamous third episode, this is is a series which isn't afraid to pull its punches, driving home the hard premise that anyone can die-and that ultimately, survival is as much a product of pure luck as it is of intellect and stamina.

With the backing of Netflix and his usual high-level polish, Sato's budget and camerawork far exceed the tacky, cheaply-filmed quality of most Jdramas. As usual, he brings in a cast of A-listers, all of whom perform at least admirably. Yamaken was dashing as usual, but the standouts were Tsuchiya Tao and Asahina Aya, who demonstrate a capacity to be excellent action heroines, and Murakami Nijiro, who delivers an enigmatic, smirking performance as the Cheshire Cat of this violent, bizarre Wonderland. Overall, Alice in Borderland is a must-see, and I just hope that the second season keeps the same level of quality.