Main

• Kento Yamazaki as Ryōhei Arisu:
  A video game-obsessed man who "doesn't fit in with his family". He teams up with Usagi while in the Borderlands and later develops romantic feelings for her.^[4][5]
• Tao Tsuchiya as Yuzuha Usagi:
  A mountain climber who was transported into the empty city of Tokyo shortly after the death of her father, whom she deeply respected. She teams up with Arisu while in the Borderlands and later develops romantic feelings for him.^[4][5]
• Nijirō Murakami as Shuntarō Chishiya:
  A mysterious, quiet, and sly player who teams up with Kuina to steal Hatter's deck of cards, believing that a full deck would transport them out of the empty city. He later becomes interested in Arisu and Usagi after helping them escape a game of "tag". Before arriving in the Borderlands, he was a medical student.^[5][6]
• Ayaka Miyoshi as Ann Rizuna:
  An executive member of "the Beach" who wins difficult games through rational thinking, later becoming an important ally and friend to Arisu and his group. Before arriving in the Borderlands, she was a forensic scientist for the police.^[4][5]
• Aya Asahina as Hikari Kuina:
  A close friend of Chishiya, whom she helps steal Hatter's deck of cards. A former clothing shop clerk, Kuina is revealed to be transgender in a flashback in episode 7, in which she was disowned by her father.^[4][5]
• Dori Sakurada as Suguru Niragi:^[7]
  A young yet dangerous member of "the Beach". He is described as being "aggressive due to his complicated past" and is part of "the Militants". Before arriving in the Borderlands, he was often bullied by other students at his high school.^[4][5]

Recurring

• Yūki Morinaga as Chōta Segawa:
  A highly religious IT technician and friend of Arisu and Karube. Chōta severely burns his leg while participating in a game titled "Dead or Alive", and as a result, slows down his friends while recovering. In season 2, he makes many appearances in flashbacks, and in the last episode, he and Karube encourage Arisu to enjoy his life and live it to the fullest.^[4][5][8]
• Keita Machida as Daikichi Karube:
  A bartender and close friend to Arisu and Chōta. Before being transported into the empty city, Karube was preparing to propose to a woman he worked with at a bar, who happened to be his boss's lover. In season 2, he makes many appearances in flashbacks, and in the last episode, he and Chota encourage Arisu to enjoy his life and live it to the fullest.^[4][5][8]
• Sho Aoyagi as Morizono Aguni:
  A strong fighter and Hatter's best friend, Aguni is first introduced as an important member of "the Beach". He is in charge of a violent group named "the Militants". After leaving the Beach, he becomes an important ally to Arisu towards the end of the face-card games.^[4][5]
• Nobuaki Kaneko as Takeru Danma / Hatter:
  The leader and founder of "the Beach", a hotel inhabited by dozens of players. His main goal is to collect all the playing cards given to players for winning games. After his death in season 1, he often appears as a ghost to Aguni during the events of season 2.^[4][5]
• Riisa Naka as Mira Kanō:
  A mysterious woman with an "elegant presence", and an executive member of "the Beach". She is revealed to be the Queen of Hearts in the second season and the last enemy of Arisu and Usagi in the Borderlands.^[4][5][8]
• Yūtarō Watanabe as Kōdai Tatta:
  A former car mechanic who is saved by Arisu during a game and later becomes a member of "the Beach"; in season 2, he joins Arisu's group. Before arriving in the Borderlands, his mistake caused his co-worker to lose a hand.^[4]
• Kina Yazaki as Momoka Inoue:
  A member of "the Beach", a 'game dealer', and Asahi's best friend.^[9]
• Tsuyoshi Abe as Keiichi Kuzuryū:
  An executive member of "the Beach". In the second season, he is revealed to be the King of Diamonds, and Chishiya participates in his game. Before arriving in the Borderlands, he was a lawyer who was dissatisfied with the outlook of human life and the morality of others, particularly those in positions of power.^[4]
• Yūhei Ōuchida as Takuma:
  An injured player in the Four of Clubs game: Distance. In a flashback, he was revealed to have helped Kuzuryū in a game.

Development

On July 16, 2019, Netflix announced that they were creating a live-action adaptation of the manga Alice in Borderland, with Yoshiki Watabe, Yasuko Kuramitsu, and Shinsuke Sato writing the scripts for each episode, and Sato directing in an attempt to make the show appear as "one very, very long film".^[2][10][11] A few months later, on August 4, Kento Yamazaki and Tao Tsuchiya were cast as the main characters of the series, with the pair appearing as Ryōhei Arisu and Yuzuha Usagi, respectively.^[12]

Filming

Filming for the series began as early as August 2019, when Yamazaki was spotted during filming in Dōgenzaka, a district of Shibuya on August 8.^[13] The following day, crew members were spotted near a store in Fukutomi-cho, located in the city of Yokohama.^[13] From September 17 to 20, Yamazaki and Tsuchiya were seen filming in an apartment complex in front of Kita-Suzurandai Station, on the Shintetsu Arima Line, in the city of Kobe.^[13] According to the production company Robot Communications, the show's script was revised to "match the building layout".^[5] A scene from the first episode featuring Yamazaki's character, Arisu, meeting his friends Chōta and Karube near Tokyo's busy Shibuya Crossing, was originally supposed to be filmed inside a Starbucks. However, due to the complexity of a glass-covered set, the scene took place in front of a sign outside Shibuya Station.^[14] Furthermore, a scene taking place inside Shibuya Station, in which the main characters enter a bathroom and reemerge to an empty Tokyo, was shot in a four-minute continuous take.^[14][15] Extras were recruited for the series from August 9 to December 11, in various cities.^[13][16][17] The creator of the manga the series is based on, Haro Aso, was allowed to visit various sets.^[18] Filming took place in several cities and concluded in December 2019.^[13]

Filming for the second season wrapped in March 2022.^[19][20]

Visual effects

During filming, scenes focusing on the empty city of Tokyo were primarily shot using special effects and green screens, with Sato explaining that with the help of his assistant director, he would run into the middle of the intersection of Shibuya Crossing with a small camera "to figure out which parts to actually build and which parts to CGI".^[11][21] Using the Ashikaga Scramble City Studio,^[21] a large set 100 kilometers from Tokyo constructed for the series and the film Detective Chinatown 3 (which was filmed during the same period),^[22][23] scenes featuring Shibuya Crossing were filmed using mainly green screens, with "everything but the road and the ticket gate at the east entrance [being] produced with computer graphics".^[5][24] To keep the scenes "authentic", visual effects director Atsushi Doi recreated the shadows of the Tokyu Building where they would normally fall.^[15] A scene in episode 4, which showed an underpass being flooded with water, was created with the help of previsualizations, allowing the crew to "experiment with different elements before the actual shoot".^[5] The panther that appears in that same episode was created using visual effects developed after the crew visited multiple zoos.^[21] Additionally, Academy Award winner Erik-Jan de Boer supervised the production of the tiger featured in episode 5, which was created by Anibrain, an animation studio in India.^[14] Post-credit visual effects were added in with the help of Japan's Digital Frontier, who worked alongside teams from Singapore, the United States, and India in an international collaboration.^[25]

Music

The score for Alice in Borderland was composed entirely by Yutaka Yamada, who had previously worked with Sato on Bleach (2018) and Kingdom (2019). Produced by Kohei Chida, the music was performed by the FILMharmonic Orchestra of Prague. The song "Good Times", by Jan Erik Nilsson, was featured various times throughout the show.^[5]