Netflix is announcing an all-new original series with Alice In Borderland, based on Haro Aso’s popular manga reteaming Kingdom star and director, actor Kento Yamazaki and celebrated director Shinsuke Sato. Also starring is actress Tao Tsuchiya who last paired with Sato for 2015’s Library Wars: The Last Mission.
Yamazaki will play Alice, an aimless, jobless videogame addict who finds himself swept into a desolate version of Tokyo with his two best friends when a strange light appears. They soon discover they must fight for their lives, competing in one dangerous game after another in order to survive with the help of extraordinary climber, Usagi, played by Tsuchiya.
Aso’s thrilling life-or-death game manga originally published in 2010 and onward from Shonen Sunday Super/Weekly Shonen Sunday. Sato is best known for hits like The Princess Blade, The Library Wars trilogy, Gantz, Bleach and Inuyashiki and now takes to a limited U.S. theatrical release from Funimation Films for his latest manga adaptation, Kingdom, which, in no uncertain terms, is a film I highly recommend.
Yamazaki, whose credits partly include Psychic Kusuo and JoJo’s Bizzare Adventure: Diamond Is Unbreakable, is also lending his voice-over talents to upcoming animation, Ninokuni. Tsuchiya, who appeared in Keishi Otomo’s Rurouni Kenshin installments – Kyoto Inferno and The Legend Ends, also dubbed the role of Charlie in Travis Knight’s Bumblebee.
Alice In Borderland adds to the growing raft of Japanese titles to its roster including upcoming dramedy, The Naked Director, as well as The Forest Of Love and Followers.