honestly, i really found s3 to be excessive because it should’ve ended on s2. as much as like aib, s3 just doesn’t make any sense to me. we still don’t have proper answers, just theories and a sort of a “open ending” that the directors probably wanted to make in the first place. the thing is, if they followed aib manga to the TEA, the whole story + the ending would make SO much sense. rn, it was basically confirmed by the “fake joker” dude that you’ll go back to the borderlands regardless if you choose to stay or return to the real world, because in the borderlands, you fight to survive. it kinda beats the entire point of a meteor hitting shibuya and the characters playing death games to survive so they can survive in the real world too, no? with this logic, EVERYONE who experiences a near death experience has to play the games? what if someone is dying of old age, are they going to play death games too? it’s just so dumb imo. the whole storyline was so weird and unnatural to me, as a day1 hardcore aib stan, who rewatched the whole show over 60 times (and even watched the actors’ other dramas multiple times bcs i was soooo obsessed with everything aib). i gotta give it to them for the cinematography tho; it was absolutely insane in this season. the games were nothing special, s1 games were still superior to me, even with the lower budget and lower viewership, the scenes in which kento yamazaki (arisu) is acting his ASS off and portraying a situation that SERIOUSLY feels like REAL life or death, was such a monumental moment for me. how he is trying his absolute hardest to survive, save everyone and still find answers. that arisu wasn’t here in s3, there was almost zero struggle on his end, and he still manages to save 50+ people with him in each game (man’s leading a whole team w him, but in s1, he couldn’t save his best friends bcs of how RUTHLESS the borderlands actually are…).
the new characters were so unnecessary to me, none of them served any purpose for the show or the storyline. the only guy who basically had a “purpose” was the guy in the wheelchair who baited usagi so that arisu could go back and save her ass. but even him, with his very impressive screentime (im being SO sarcastic and dismissive rn), didn’t really do anything significant, nor did he achieve his weird ass goal. he chose to die to PLOT. honestly i won’t waste much time talking about the new faces, all of them sucked. the only one who kinda stood out was rei, but not due to her character, but due to her aesthetic. does anyone else think that aib owners have a weird pattern to simply “throw in” a random, conventionally attractive, slightly more memorable character who visually differs than the rest in each season? let’s see… we had that girl who had sex with chota in s1, we had that girl with the lollipop in s2, and now we have rei. coincidence?
the bright side of this ENTIRE season (to me) was the very ending of the 6th episode. if my moots are still active, they’ll know why 🤠 i did kinda spoil myself on tiktok a few weeks ago; someone shared the niragi & chishiya scene (idk how) so i knew they were gonna show themselves, but to think that both of them had 60 seconds of screentime respectively was so embarrassing of the directors & producers & whoever was in charge. like? did we forget who carried your show? did we forget who brought you fans to begin with? did he forget who made your show trending MULTIPLE times per year, even during off-seasons? i understand that chishiya’s actor had depression issues, and i completely respect that. but niragi?? they robbed my mans of his respected manga scenes, and they STILL robbed him in s3 too? BUT GUYS, I’M SURE NOT A LOT OF PEOPLE CLOCKED THIS, I DIDNT ON MY FIRST WATCH BUT when arisu is doing therapy sessions with all of them, and when he asks niragi what’s his purpose in life now/reason to live, HE BASICALLY SAID THAT HIS CHILD IS THE REASON WHY HE IS A GOOD GUY NOW???
i double checked this, even used 2 diff transitions to be absolutely sure, because at first i thought he is now working with problematic kids (would also make A LOT OF SENSE) but when i rewatched and saw he actually said he has a kid… WHEN DID HE KNOCK ME UP I DONT RECALL 🤕
i was suuuuper emotional when aguni showed up, i love that man with my whole heart. and the fact that he took over hatter’s hat store? hatter being his will to live? it’s just… SO PURE AND PERFECT 😭
i’m also happy to see that kuina managed to get back to her karate home, even though she was disowned by her father. i wish we could’ve seen that scene at least, they truly robbed the OG cast on a whole new level this time.
as much as i hated chishiya, i was so glad to see him on screen again. and in that moment, as he was the last guy of the OG group, i realized that i truly did miss him in the show. he was something entirely different. a nonchalant king who didn’t care abt anything ever. i’m sure that if he was in s3, the episodes would be much easier and fun to watch. not just because of his massive popularity, but because his character is genuinely so fucking cold. and of course, at the end of his conversation with arisu, he flipped a uno reverse on his own psychiatrist and started asking HIM questions instead. that made me smile. that manipulative piece of shit. some things truly never change:)
at the very end, we see a possible US adaptation of the show (God please no) or more likely, a spinoff to the manga “alice on border road”. this spinoff manga follows a girl named alice (same tag name that the girl at the end of s3 wore on her uniform) who also plays death games to survive. arisu is not related to the spinoff manga, there is a completely new set of characters. but, the ending could also be seen as “the borderlands are everything, and they are everywhere. not just to the people of japan, but to the whole world. everyone comes to the borderlands.”
i didn’t like the finale, but i am happy that shinsuke sato will finally stop milking the aib content and will either move on to something else, or create this spinoff thingy, or we’ll unfortunately get the US adaptation. to me, aib ended in s1 for many different reasons, and absolutely nothing tops the S-TIER season 1 plot, story, games, manipulation, characters, arcs, mystery and overall lore. i’ll miss this show a lot, but i know that i can always go back and rewatch s1.
nevertheless, let’s all support aib s3 and make it viral as we did in the previous two seasons! GAME - COMMENCE ♥️♠️♦️♣️🃏🫶🏼