Alice in Borderland Vol. 9

Title: Alice in Borderland Vol. 9

Author: Haro Aso

Publisher: VIZ Media LLC 2024

Genre: Comics

Pages: 400

Rating: 4/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Finishing the Series; Books (Manga) to Movies (Television Shows)

Where I Got It: Library

Eighteen-year-old Ryohei Arisu is sick of his life. School sucks, his love life is a joke, and his future weighs on him like impending doom. As he struggles to exist in a world that can’t be bothered with him, Ryohei feels like everything would be better if he were anywhere else. When a strange fireworks show transports him and his friends to a parallel world, Ryohei thinks all his wishes have come true. But this new world isn’t an empty paradise, it’s a vicious game. And the only way to survive is to play.

After stumbling on a dealer’s bunker, Arisu is even more determined to uncover the terrible truth behind Borderland. But that means he and Usagi will have to abandon their plans to sit out the games and instead seek out the last person who might have the answers—the Queen of Hearts. Will taking on the queen find them a way home, or will it be their final game?

And we come to the end of the story. We get a wrap-up of the previous games and a reconnection of characters. We slowly start to wind down, but not without one last game to play. This time we get the Queen of Hearts, who we’ve already met. But in this game, the focus comes back to Arisu and his experience. I appreciate how the story started focused on Arisu and ended focused on Arisu. We get a nice bookend to series. But then, the big reveal at the end of the games. I’m not quite certain how I feel about the twist, but I did enjoy the wrapping up pages. Overall, I truly enjoyed this series and am so excited to now go and watch the television series.

Next up on the TBR pile:

Alice in Borderland Vol. 8

Title: Alice in Borderland Vol. 8

Author: Haro Aso

Publisher: VIZ Media LLC 2023

Genre: Comics

Pages: 360

Rating: 4/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Finishing the Series

Where I Got It: Library

Eighteen-year-old Ryohei Arisu is sick of his life. School sucks, his love life is a joke, and his future weighs on him like impending doom. As he struggles to exist in a world that can’t be bothered with him, Ryohei feels like everything would be better if he were anywhere else. When a strange fireworks show transports him and his friends to a parallel world, Ryohei thinks all his wishes have come true. But this new world isn’t an empty paradise, it’s a vicious game. And the only way to survive is to play.

Not every visitor to Borderland spends their time struggling to survive. Much like Arisu, some are hunting for the truth behind the strange and deadly world they’ve landed in. But whether that means searching for the boundaries of their strange prison or finding ways to expose Borderland to the media back home, does the truth even matter if everyone dies before they can share it?

Oh goodness, we are nearing the end of the story. We get an interesting interlude featuring a player attempting to record the experience for the future. Seemingly it’s not related to the main story, but then we get some clues as to other going-ons. I have really enjoyed seeing how disparate stories come together into the main story or at least give us clues to the mysteries. Plus we get an excellent story featuring the King of Diamonds. The reveal was absolutely perfect. Plus, we get to check in with another player we’ve met before. I was fascinated to see it all go down. And now I am ready for the conclusion.

Next up on the TBR pile:

Alice in Borderland Vol. 7

Title: Alice in Borderland Vol. 7

Author: Haro Aso

Publisher: VIZ Media LLC 2022

Genre: Comics

Pages: 352

Rating: 4/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Finishing the Series

Where I Got It: Library

Eighteen-year-old Ryohei Arisu is sick of his life. School sucks, his love life is a joke, and his future weighs on him like impending doom. As he struggles to exist in a world that can’t be bothered with him, Ryohei feels like everything would be better if he were anywhere else. When a strange fireworks show transports him and his friends to a parallel world, Ryohei thinks all his wishes have come true. But this new world isn’t an empty paradise, it’s a vicious game. And the only way to survive is to play.

Most of the Face Card games continue to be a deadly challenge to Borderland’s visitors, their often complicated or confusing rules meant to trick players into dooming themselves. In contrast, the King of Spades’ game is refreshingly direct—kill or be killed! Can an uneasy coalition of visitors band together to take down the sniper King before his bullets declare game over for everyone?

This volume didn’t quite hit for me like the others. We continue the game with the King of Spades (and end up finishing it), but the action and the characters meander a lot in these parts. I wanted more Arisu and a check back in with some of the other characters. Instead, we get an extended section focused on Aguni. Not my favorite character, but it was nice to see him as more than just a thug. The bright spot was really the game involving the Jack. I really enjoyed that one.

Next up on the TBR pile:

Alice in Borderland Vol. 5-6

Title: Alice in Borderland Vol. 5

Author: Haro Aso

Publisher: VIZ Media LLC 2022

Genre: Comics

Pages: 400

Rating: 4/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Finishing the Series

Where I Got It: Library

Eighteen-year-old Ryohei Arisu is sick of his life. School sucks, his love life is a joke, and his future weighs on him like impending doom. As he struggles to exist in a world that can’t be bothered with him, Ryohei feels like everything would be better if he were anywhere else. When a strange fireworks show transports him and his friends to a parallel world, Ryohei thinks all his wishes have come true. But this new world isn’t an empty paradise, it’s a vicious game. And the only way to survive is to play.

Arisu and his companions have managed to defeat the Dealers, but the battle isn’t over yet. Now they must take on the Face Cards—12 players who have the dubious honor of being Borderland “royalty.” Arisu hopes they are close to going home, but the games the Face Cards play might be worse than any of the cruelties the Dealers came up with.

And we dive into another game, this time with one of the Kings. The game is not all is seems and the players have to understand just how to manipulate the rules to win. We don’t get to the see the conclusion in this volume, but we get a lot of game play and discussions about the future in Borderland. Plus, we get two more side stories, one featuring a player that we have already met. One of those players that seemed so mysterious a few volumes back. We don’t necessarily get a bunch of backstory, but we do see how the player fared in their first game.

Title: Alice in Borderland Vol. 6

Author: Haro Aso

Publisher: VIZ Media LLC 2022

Genre: Comics

Pages: 400

Rating: 4/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Finishing the Series

Where I Got It: Library

Eighteen-year-old Ryohei Arisu is sick of his life. School sucks, his love life is a joke, and his future weighs on him like impending doom. As he struggles to exist in a world that can’t be bothered with him, Ryohei feels like everything would be better if he were anywhere else. When a strange fireworks show transports him and his friends to a parallel world, Ryohei thinks all his wishes have come true. But this new world isn’t an empty paradise, it’s a vicious game. And the only way to survive is to play.

The battle against the King of Clubs continues as Arisu and his team struggle to make up for their shocking point deficit. But no matter what strategy they try, the king and his compatriots maintain the upper hand. When each move is a matter of life or death and no victory comes without sacrifice, can Arisu and his team bear another loss to secure the win?

We get to see the end of the King of Clubs’s game and some big changes for our players. I’m constantly surprised by how this story can absolutely gut me. I truly get hit in the feels so many times. And we start another side game involving some very interesting characters. I love following the breadcrumbs of the larger mystery as we navigate Borderland. I don’t think that I can hold off on reading the rest of the volumes.

Next up on the TBR pile:

Alice in Borderland Vol. 4

Title: Alice in Borderland Vol. 4

Author: Haro Aso

Publisher: VIZ Media 2022

Genre: Comics

Pages: 344

Rating: 4/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Finishing the Series

Where I Got It: Library

Eighteen-year-old Ryohei Arisu is sick of his life. School sucks, his love life is a joke, and his future weighs on him like impending doom. As he struggles to exist in a world that can’t be bothered with him, Ryohei feels like everything would be better if he were anywhere else. When a strange fireworks show transports him and his friends to a parallel world, Ryohei thinks all his wishes have come true. But this new world isn’t an empty paradise, it’s a vicious game. And the only way to survive is to play.

The Beach has turned into a killing ground as Aguni and his men use the witch-hunt game as an excuse to take out everyone in sight. Arisu and his friends must race to understand the logic behind the game and identify the real witch before they join the growing pile of Aguni’s victims!

Another great volume of this horror show. My favorite part of this one was the Runaway game. I did not see any of that coming at all. (I think I saw this with every volume now, but it’s still true.) I’m interested in seeing how the revelations in this one affect the games in the next volume and the relationships between the characters.

Next up on the TBR pile:

Alice in Borderland Vol. 2-3

Title: Alice in Borderland Vol. 2

Author: Haro Aso

Publisher: VIZ Media LLC 2021

Genre: Comics

Pages: 344

Rating: 5/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Finishing the Series

Where I Got It: Library

Eighteen-year-old Ryohei Arisu is sick of his life. School sucks, his love life is a joke, and his future weighs on him like impending doom. As he struggles to exist in a world that can’t be bothered with him, Ryohei feels like everything would be better if he were anywhere else. When a strange fireworks show transports him and his friends to a parallel world, Ryohei thinks all his wishes have come true. But this new world isn’t an empty paradise, it’s a vicious game. And the only way to survive is to play.

Life in Borderland can be grim, but after completing two games Arisu feels like he might be getting a handle on how his new world works. Chota’s and Shibuki’s visas are expiring soon, however, so the group doesn’t have time to be picky about their next match. And the arena they stumble upon is a lesson in just how treacherous the rules in Borderland can be.

Diving back into this series and it just doesn’t let up. This particular volume really hit me in the feels. I did not see the events coming at all. The game depicted was absolutely brutal. I was completely slack jawed by the end. I am obsessed with this series.

Title: Alice in Borderland Vol. 3

Author: Haro Aso

Publisher: VIZ Media LLC 2022

Genre: Comics

Pages: 344

Rating: 4/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Finishing the Series

Where I Got It: Library

Eighteen-year-old Ryohei Arisu is sick of his life. School sucks, his love life is a joke, and his future weighs on him like impending doom. As he struggles to exist in a world that can’t be bothered with him, Ryohei feels like everything would be better if he were anywhere else. When a strange fireworks show transports him and his friends to a parallel world, Ryohei thinks all his wishes have come true. But this new world isn’t an empty paradise, it’s a vicious game. And the only way to survive is to play.

Aguni now has control of the Beach, and one of his first actions as king is to lock Ryohei in a room on one of the empty floors of the hotel to die of an expired visa. But Ryohei gets an unexpected stay of execution when the Beach becomes the arena for a brutal game of Hearts! Can he survive a witch hunt and get his visa extended, or has he just traded one terrible death for another?

And on to the next volume… with a change of venue and new characters. I wasn’t sold on the beach resort plot line, but it grew on me. The volume got even better when a game began at the beach. I cannot wait to see what happens next and how this particular game concludes.

Next up on the TBR pile:

Alice in Borderland Vol. 1

Title: Alice in Borderland Vol. 1

Author: Haro Aso

Publisher: VIZ Media LLC 2021

Genre: Comics

Pages: 344

Rating: 4/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Fairytale Retellings (replacing Rumplestitlskin)

Where I Got It: Library

Eighteen-year-old Ryohei Arisu is sick of his life. School sucks, his love life is a joke, and his future feels like impending doom. As he struggles to exist in a world that can’t be bothered with him, Ryohei feels like everything would be better if he were anywhere else. When a strange fireworks show transports him and his friends to a parallel world, Ryohei thinks all his wishes have come true. But this new world isn’t an empty paradise, it’s a vicious game. And the only way to survive is to play.

The first game starts with a bang, but Ryohei manages to beat the clock and save his friends. It’s a short-lived victory, however, as they discover that winning only earns them a few days’ grace period. If they want to get home, they’re going to have to start playing a lot harder.

I’ve had this series on my TBR for years now. Funnily enough, it was watching Katee Robert’s instagram stories that brought it back to the top of the pile. Very quickly, we are dumped into Borderland and attempt to start understanding the rules of the game. I was concerned that Ryohei was going to be super annoying throughout, but very quickly attempts to focus on his new reality and the games. Volume 1 includes the introduction plus two games. We get to see some of Borderland’s other players and begin to understand the implications of the games. Plus there are some tantalizing clues as to the ultimate strategies. Cannot wait to read Volume 2.

Next up on the TBR pile: