Overall, this was a pretty entertaining watch. I thought it would be just another Squid Game or Battle Royal knock off, but it wasn't. What I found interesting was that even if there were many similarities between these shows, Alice in Borderland was definitely its own thing.

I loved the puzzle games and the variety of challenges; I am not a gamer and I don’t play cards but they explained the rules in a way that could be understood by anyone. The show also used different areas of an abandoned cityscape very effectively for its background. It was refreshing how the game backgrounds would switch from an abandoned building to a hotel to even a beach resort.

The male lead was pretty smart and capable; it was a lot of fun watching him come up with last minute solutions when it seemed that he would lose. Despite being a very good and pure character, he also knew how to trick people, which came as a surprise but very handy for survival. At first, I didn’t like how he seemed to be the only smart character but it turned out that there were other characters (like the mysterious Chisaya) who were just as intelligent and could come up with their own ways to win.

I heard somewhere that the female characters were shallow in comparison but I didn’t think so. All FLs here were very strong, likable and had different capabilities. The parallels between the main FL Usagi and the rabbit from Alice in Wonderland was represented well, in that they made her a mountain climber who was very good at parkour; she also provided a very good motivation for the ML. Kuina, who gave the initial impression of being a beach bum, turned out to be a very capable fighter while Ann was not just the Mad Hatter's henchman but an intelligent forensic researcher.

One of the things I didn’t like is how the characters would sometimes have these overly long, philosophical discussions which really didn’t serve any purpose, It made some of the episodes (and the game that was ongoing) boring. I liked the challenge with the King of Clubs for example, but it could have been more exciting if they trimmed down these overly long conversations between ML Arisu and the king. I am not sure why they did it, it was as if they were trying to make the plot deeper than it had to be and I felt it was unnecessary.

Another thing is that, while I don’t mind the violence, the level of injuries the characters got (particularly in the last episode) was too much that I really could not understand how they survived. While I am happy that they did make it, it seemed impossible, given how brutal the fight scene was.

I am also not sure about the final challenge with the Queen of Hearts and how she was able to make the ML lose hope at first. Even at the very end, I wasn’t sure what the whole point of Borderland was…was it created to punish people who did wrong things in the real world? Two seasons have already passed but many important points weren't cleared yet. I heard there was going to be a third season but to be honest, I kind of worry that they will stretch the plot out too much and ruin it. It was exciting to see the joker card at the very end but there is a danger of ruining a good thing when it takes too long to come up with a proper conclusion.