Some of the best news that arose this year was the development of a sequel to Shinsuke Sato’s festive manga adaptation, Kingdom, though I can’t speak for whether or not we’ll get more Bleach, which is what I was also hoping for. That doesn’t undercut Sato’s efforts by any measure, and by all means, his latest push with Netflix original series, Alice In Borderland, is entirely welcome, as are the new cast led by Sato cohorts, Kento Yamazaki (Kingdom, The Disastrous Life of Saiki K) Tao Tsuchiya (Library Wars: Book Of Memories, Mare).
Based on Haro Aso’s Shogakukan publication, Sato is directing the eight-episode series he’s written with Yoshiki Watabe and Yasuko Kuramitsu, in which Yamazaki plays Ryohei Arisu, a listless, jobless video gamer who suddenly finds himself in a strange, emptied-out version of Tokyo in which he and his friends must compete in dangerous games in order to survive. Tsuchiya plays Yuzuha Usagi, a lone gamer with whom Arisu meets; Together, they set out to unravel one mystery after another as they risk their lives and confront what it means to live.
Netflix has also announced a roster of fourteen cast additions to the series listed with their respective roles as follows: Nijiro Murakami (Destruction Babies, Inugashima) who plays Chishiya, Yuki Morinaga (Chihayafuru Part I, The Liar and His Lover) as Chota, Keita Machida (HiGH&LOW: THE MOVIE, L-DK: Two Loves, Under One Roof) as Karube, Ayaka Miyoshi (Inunaki Mura, Dance with Me) as Ann, Dori Sakurada (I Want to Eat at Your Pancreas, orange) as Niragi, Aya Asahina (Grand Blue, We Are Rockets) as Kuina, Shuntaro Yanagi (Yowamushi Pedal, Tokyo Ghoul) as Lasubosu/Last Boss, Yutaro Watanabe (Kaiji Final Game, Stare) as Tatta, Ayame Misaki (Radiance, Attack on Titan) as Shibuki, Mizuki Yoshida (Almost a Miracle, Oni Girl!!) as Asahi, Tsuyoshi Abe (Initial D, Boys Over Flowers) as Kuzuryu, Nobuaki Kaneko (Diner, Shinjuku Swan) as Boshiya/Hatter, Sho Aoyagi (Tatara Samurai, HiGH & LOW: THE MOVIE 3) as Aguni, and Riisa Naka (Time Traveller, The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, Love At Least) as Mira.
Releasing globally in 2020, Alice In Borderland is produced by Akira Morii and exec produced by Kaata Sakamoto, with music by Yutaka Yamada, Taro Kawazu serving as cinematographer, Iwao Saito as production designer, Yuji Shimomura as action director, and Makoto Kamiya and Atsushi Doi as VFX Supervisors.