Does Alice in Borderland have an anime?
The dystopian thriller was initially only three episodes long.
Alice in Borderland is less about its namesake and more about a modern, dystopian nightmare.
Many of us will be familiar with the smash-hit Netflix series. It launched around the time Squid Game gained popularity and platformed more of Korean television to wider, Western audiences.
The show pulls from the manga, created by writer and illustrator Haro Aso in 2014. As the manga grew in popularity, it was only natural it got the anime treatment which soon presented itself in the shape of an OVA instead of the typical one-cour package we see today.
Most interesting about the release is that it only ever received three episodes and no further expansions despite its ongoing manga. Even though the Alice in Borderland series has captured quite a lot of attention from anime communities around the world, people are still surprised at how they pulled it off with just three episodes.
What was the original Alice in Borderland OVA about?
The anime follows Ryouhei Arisu, a typical student who wants to ignore school and form her own ideal sense of reality. He and his companions, Daikichi Karube and Chouta Segawa, are sent spiralling into a new world known as Borderland after witnessing a large explosion in the sky.
The Borderland comprises participants who are a part of a deadly game. In order to survive in the Borderland, the participants and Arisu and his friends have to survive those deadly games in order to get back home.
How is the television series different from the OVA?
The source material is more or less the same apart from aspects including the game being based in an abandoned Tokyo instead of an entirely new world.
The type and difficulty of each game are represented by playing cards, to extend their visas. If these visas expire in any case this will lead to the player's execution by lasers being shot from the sky.
Without any spoilers, the characters and their outcomes in the television adaptation match those of the OVAs.
Silver LinkConnect Studio had to compress all the manga volumes released up until the point of the OVAs creation. This means only the story to this point is portrayed and anyone only watching the OVAs will not have witnessed the actual ending of the manga.
Why does Alice in Borderland only have three episodes?
Silver LinkConnect Studio decided to create an anime after the manga started to pick up in popularity. It was always planned to be a mini-series but this meant the studio had to pack several volumes worth of material into single episodes.
The studio bundled the manga chapters released at the point in time the OVAs were being tossed around, so once they decided what needed chopped and what should be included, three episodes was the perfect amount.
The episodes were titled:
- Game 1: Three of Clubs
- Game 2: Five of Spades
- Game 3: Seven of Hearts
Releases were more than a month's grace between each other, with the first instalment arriving on 17th October, 2014, and running until 18th February, 2015.
Where to watch the Alice in Borderland OVA in the UK
The OVA is currently only available on streaming site HIDIVE with a subscription.
Alice in Borderland is streaming now on Netflix – sign up for Netflix from £6.99 a month. Netflix is also available on Sky Glass and Virgin Media Stream.
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