The rabbit hole just became deadlier. note
List of characters in Alice in Borderland. open/close all folders
Main Characters
Arisu Ryohei
Specialty: ♥ (Psychological) (Manga) / ♦ (Intellect) (Netflix)
Portrayed by: Kento Yamazaki
The protagonist of the story. He enters the Borderland along with Karube and Chouta when he hangs out with them one night. He is very skilled at deduction and usually is the one to figure out the design behind each of the games.
- Alice Allusion: 'Arisu' is the Japanese approximation of "Alice".
- Awesomeness by Analysis: Displays this trait quite frequently in most of the games he finds himself in.
- Classical Anti-Hero: Not in the way that he's intent on unscrupulous things and bad actions so much as he's a raw pragmatist that wants to save everyone he can while simultaneously loathing himself down to the very core. As intelligent and capable as he is, Arisu is very much a flawed individual, which causes no small amount of problems for him.
- Character Development: Gradually develops from an unambitious, self-interested slacker to a determined young man hoping to put a stop to the games.
- Despair Event Horizon: After Episode 3, leaving him a broken down mess just waiting for his visa to expire so he can die. A chance reunion with Usagi restores his resolve to clear the games and instills an unflappable refusal to let his friends' sacrifice be in vain.
- Establishing Character Moment: In the Netflix series, despite having every appearance of a NEET for the most part, he casually solves 5x5 Rubik's cubes on his phone, showing he's much more intelligent than he appears.
- Empty Shell: The next time Usagi sees Arisu, he is lying in a street even as it's raining, following the loss of his friends in 7♥ Hide and Seek.
- Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: The foolish sibling, his younger brother being the responsible one in the following way:
- In the manga, he's an unmotivated slacker, while his brother is an achiever who recently joined the school council.
- On Netflix, he's a NEET, while his brother works in IT and is even trying to find a job for him.
- Heroic BSoD:
- After his three friends sacrifice themselves in the game of Seven of Hearts, Arisu suffers a severe breakdown that he can't fully recover from, even though he gradually gets over it.
- The result of K♣ Osmosis breaks Arisu further, as the death of a team mate is required in defeating the King, an amiable man who Arisu wishes to be friends with. This makes him quit the game along with Usagi for a week until a confrontation between Niragi and Chishiya prompts them to join for one last game.
- In the Hood: Covers his identity with a hooded jacket during 4♥ Survey.
- My Greatest Failure: He views the deaths of Chouta, Karube, and Saori as his worst failure and vows from then on to stop the games without any more needless sacrifices.
- NEET: In the Netflix series, Arisu is a college dropout who spends his time at home playing video games, to the chagrin of his father and successful brother. At the beginning, he avoids another job interview to focus on his game.
- Trauma Button: The 7♥ game leaves a permanent emotional scar on him for the rest of the series, something the Queen of Hearts is all too eager to make use of, confessing that she not only designed the game, but deliberately targeted him and his friends after seeing how close they were.
Karube Daikichi
Specialty: ♠ (Physical) (Netflix only)
Portrayed by: Keita Machida
One of Arisu’s best friends from the "real world". He worked as a bartender before entering the Borderland.
- Adaptational Angst Upgrade: The live-action series adds a personal reason for him to survive the Seven of Hearts game: he was planning to propose to the wife of his bar owner boss.
- Adaptational Backstory Change: In the manga, Karube managed to own his own bar despite only graduating primary school; in the live-action, he was caught making out with the wife of his bar owner boss and was fired.
- The Bartender: Works in a pub which Arisu and Chouta frequently visit.
- The Big Guy: Karube is the primary fighter of his group of friends, being the most muscular and aggressive.
- Dies Differently in Adaptation: In the manga, he dies offscreen after hiding from Arisu, with the sound of his bomb collar going off; in the live-action, Arisu finds him having his One Last Smoke and witnesses his death by bomb collar firsthand.
- Get A Hold Of Yourself Man: When Arisu is paralyzed in fear upon seeing a rain of flaming arrows in 3♣ Good Fortune, Bad Fortune, Karube literally kicks him in the bottom to get him moving towards a safe spot.
- One Last Smoke: In the live-action, he has one just before he dies by his bomb collar.
Chouta Segawa
Specialty: ♣ (Balanced) (Netflix only)
Portrayed by: Yuki Morinaga
Arisu’s other best friend who was also brought into the Borderland.
- Adaptational Attractiveness: He has a slightly odd design in the manga, although it isn’t uncommon for a character with his personality. In the live-action, he is played by a normal-looking and reasonably attractive actor.
- Adaptational Backstory Change: In the manga, Chouta is Arisu's classmate in high school; in the live-action, he's an office worker whose mom donates his paycheck to the cult they've been part of since he was a child.
- Adaptational Heroism: In the manga version of the Seven of Hearts game, after Arisu tries to give away his chance to survive, Chouta refuses and hides himself until the game ends; in the live-action, he restrains Shibuki to keep her from chasing Arisu.
- Cool Kid-and-Loser Friendship: He seems to consider himself a loser next to the well-off/Brilliant, but Lazy Arisu and the tough ladies man Karube. His friends disagree.
- Cult: In the live-action, he and his mother are part of one. It's also implied to be a sex cult, as not only does his mother donate her (and eventually his) money to the cult, she also appears to sleep with one of the cult leaders.
- Dies Differently in Adaptation: In the manga, he dies offscreen after hiding from Arisu, with the sound of his bomb collar going off; in the live-action, Chouta restrains Shibuki until the final seconds of the game when she stops struggling and instead hugs him, and he hugs her back while apologizing to her.
- The Heart: He's the kindest member of the group and, unlike Arisu and Karube, never even considers dooming his friends in the 7♥ Hide and Seek challenge.
- The Load: Played with. He considers himself this, especially after being seriously injured in the first challenge. However, Arisu and Karube never blame him, even when things become tense.
- Stress Vomit: In 3♣ Dead or Alive in Netflix's Episode 1, he vomits upon witnessing a death first-hand.
Saori Shibuki
Portrayed by: Ayame Misaki
A determined woman and the first person Arisu and his friends meet within the Borderland. She worked at a company and was recently given a promotion. She ultimately dies from losing in 7♥ Hide and Seek.
- Adaptational Villainy: Though it's hard to call her a villain given the circumstances, she does not give in as gracefully as she does in the manga during the 7 of Hearts game. Logically, she has only known the other guys for a few days at this point and has little reason to want to sacrifice her own life for them, so Chouta forces her into hiding for the rest of the game's duration after he's decided he wants Arisu to live. She does at least stop struggling and gives up with grace when she realizes there's no more time for her to find him and live, but she certainly didn't deliberately let Arisu win like she did in the manga.
- Dies Differently in Adaptation: In the manga, she dies offscreen after hiding from Arisu, with the sound of her bomb collar going off; in the live-action, Shibuki stops struggling in Chouta's grasp and instead hugs him in the final seconds of the game.
- Unreliable Narrator: In the live-action, given how she lied about her situation before being sent to the Borderland, it's hard to take her at her word regarding everything else she says.
- The Vamp: Due to her semi-warped view of sexuality, she often uses her body to get what she wants. Most notably with her boss at her job and with Chouta in the live-action.
Usagi Yuzuha
Specialty: ♠ (Physical)
Portrayed by: Tao Tsuchiya
An athletic girl who is good at feats of agility, strength, and endurance. Arisu first meets her in his second game, 5♠ Tag. He briefly bonds with her as they are close to clearing the game. The next time she sees him, Arisu despairs over the loss of his friends. She takes care of him and accompanies him on his subsequent quests.
- Action Girl: An adept climber and survivalist, which makes her well-suited to handle the Physical games.
- Adaptation Dye-Job: Bright red hair in the manga and OVA, dark brown in the live-action.
- Alice Allusion: Her name is a reference to the White Rabbit.
- Deuteragonist: Usagi gets the second most focus after Arisu after his friends are killed.
- Disappeared Dad: Her father was involved in a scandal after a supposed "no-oxygen" mountain climb was alleged to have been staged and that he actually had used an oxygen tank secretly. In the manga, he was Driven to Suicide in his home and Usagi found his hanging corpse; in the live-action, he instead left their home telling her he was going on another climb, and went missing afterwards.
- Love Interest: For Arisu, after significant Ship Tease in the first season leading to a Relationship Upgrade in late Season 2.
- Second Episode Introduction: She first appears in 5♠ Tag in Netflix's second episode.
- Meaningful Name: 'Usagi' is the Japanese word for "rabbit". Aside from the Alice Allusion by extension, it also befits her agility, endurance, and companionship with Arisu (Alice).
- Pintsized Powerhouse: Downplayed, since she can get easily bested as much as everyone else, but Usagi is still no woman to trifle with despite her small size.
- Sci-Fi Bob Haircut: In the live-action series, Usagi sports this hairstyle, appropriate for her out-of-this-reality circumstance.
The Beach
Executives
No. 1 Takeru Danma "The Hatter"
Faction: Cult
Specialty: ♠ (Physical)
Portrayed by: Nobuaki Kaneko
The founder of the Beach. He wanted to create a paradise in hell, though putting up with people's indulgence took a toll on him...
- Adaptational Heroism: In the Netflix series. Because he only has a few episodes before he's murdered by Aguni, his more extreme negative traits are downplayed or left out.
- Alice Allusion: 'Boshiya' is the Japanese word for "hat shop", in turn being a reference to the Hatter.
- The Caligula: After spending a long time in the Borderland, Takeru Danma slowly becomes this as the leader of the Beach. He doesn't hesitate to kill the residents who don't offer their cards to him and kills any person who betrays him.
- Despair Event Horizon: In the live-action series, he reaches this when Aguni begs him to put an end to the Beach and he realizes his attempt to create a paradise has failed. He’s so distraught that he points his unloaded gun at Aguni and mimics pulling the trigger, knowing Aguni will reflexively shoot him down.
- Posthumous Character: In Season 2, appearing as a hallucination several times to Aguni, eventually getting the point across that it was him that wanted forgiveness from Aguni, not the other way around.
No. 2 Morizono Aguni
Faction: Military
Specialty: ♠ (Physical)
Portrayed by: Sho Aoyagi
The leading opposition of the Beach. His side attracts people favoring violence and fear.
- Adaptational Job Change: In the Netflix show, he's the No. 3 behind Kuzuryū, leading to a mutiny where the former takes power by force after Hatter dies.
- Anti-Hero: In Season 2, after surviving the destruction of the Beach, he firmly stands on the side of the protagonists, making himself the chief threat to the King of Spades while the rest of the face card games carry on. That said, he doesn't see himself deserving of any forgiveness for the Beach massacre and is even more of a Death Seeker than before, seeing the King of Spades as the Worthy Opponent worth sacrificing his life against.
- Awesomeness by Analysis: In episode two, he’s able to determine the tagger’s height, weight, dominant hand, and probable source of firearms training, as well as the model, ammo capacity, and firing time of their gun even before he’s taken the tagger on up close in person himself, seemingly analyzing their encounters with other players from afar. This analytical ability is likely a learned skill, as Aguni has been both a member of the Yakuza and an officer in the Japanese Self Defense Forces.
- Charles Atlas Superpower: After shooting it to no effect, he kills a tiger by punching it.
- Death Seeker: Following the destruction of the beach, he seeks K♠ to kill or be killed by him.
- Despair Event Horizon: Reaches this upon realizing that he fell for Takeru’s Suicide by Cop gambit and gunned down his last remaining friend.
- Good All Along: Downplayed, as his Despair Event Horizon still makes him a prime mover during the Beach massacre, but he spent his time at the Beach trying to rein in the military faction.
- Heel–Face Turn: In the second round of games.
- My Greatest Failure: Views failing to save Takeru from his madness as this, made worse by the fact that Aguni was the one to shoot him down.
- Self-Destructive Charge: In the live-action series, launches one on a trigger happy Niragi. He weathers several rounds of gunfire to take the both of them deeper into the burning resort and away from the few surviving participants of the game.
- Sixth Ranger: After the Beach's downfall, he joins the core group and plays a pivotal role in defeating the King of Spades.
- Taking You with Me: His ultimate motivation for the Witch Hunt massacre, resigned to his own death and taking the Beach down with him in retribution for its corrupting influence that led to him killing his best friend. He later attempts this in the penultimate episode against the King of Spades but is narrowly rescued by Arisu at the last second.
No. 4 Suguru Niragi
Faction: Military
Specialty: ♦ (Intellect)
Portrayed by: Dori Sakurada
- Ax-Crazy: After Hatter dies, he loses all reason to hide his psychopathy. During Ten of Hearts, he experiences even more Sanity Slippage, eventually just shooting anyone in sight.
- Bandage Mummy: During season 2, his attire is mostly bandages mixed with burnt clothing (also used as bandages).
- Blood from the Mouth: Is shown coughing up blood during most of his appearances in season 2, but he manages to last until the end of the game and survive until it develops into an Incurable Cough of Death.
- Card-Carrying Villain: After being bullied in the past, Niragi has one purpose: to become the most hated person in the world, then proudly fall into Hell. He also doesn't regret the deplorable actions that he has committed.
- Evil Makeover: Related to the trope above, it's revealed that Niragi once wore glasses in middle school, and was severely bullied by his peers. At some point, he got rid of his glasses, grew his hair out and got multiple piercings in his attempt to toughen up.
- After surviving the Ten of Hearts game he gets even worse. With severe burns all over his body he's wrapped himself head to toe in bandages and tattered clothing, pair that with his regularly blood stained teeth and he looks far more like a zombie than a human.
- Eyepatch of Power: After receiving horrific burns from Chishiya he wrapped half his head with the tattered remains of his shirt. When it's revealed he actually survived the Ten of Hearts game he keeps the look despite not needing to anymore.
- For the Evulz: Often engages in pointless cruelty. Although he objects to being labelled as "evil".
- Hidden Depths: Despite everything, he chooses to return to the real world rather than continue his depraved tear across Borderland.
- Man on Fire: Chishiya sets Niragi on fire using a homemade flamethrower in their faceoff.
- Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil: Niragi nearly rapes Usagi before the Ten of Hearts game just to drive home that he's a complete bastard.
- When it seems all hope is lost in the King of Clubs game, he attempts to rape Usagi yet again. Making sure to bludgeon her into unconsciousness first.
- Sixth Ranger Traitor: Well, fifth. Circumstance forces him to support a team comprised of Arisu, Usagi, Kuina, and Tatta; but when their defeat appears sealed, he abandons hope and resumes his aforementioned rape attempt.
- Villain Respect: As unhinged as Niragi is, even he can't downplay Tatta's Heroic Sacrifice, and posthumously thanks him from afar for saving his life in the King of Clubs game.
No. 5 Yūji Mahiru
Faction: Cult
Specialty: ♣ (Balanced)
- Adapted Out: Originally appearing as an executive who later uncovers the truth about the Dealers, he does not appear in the Netflix version.
No. 6 Rizuna An
Faction: Cult
Specialty: ♦ (Intellect)
Portrayed by: Ayaka Miyoshi
- The Lab Rat: She was a forensic scientist in the real world and applies her knowledge to find the real murderer in the Ten of Hearts game.
- Sinister Shades: Subverted, she's definitely aloof, but turns out to be one of the only Execs that doesn't have some ulterior motive.
- The Smart Guy: Rizuna's specialty is in games of intellect and she is the most Book Smart of the Executives, as shown in the Four of Diamonds game.
No. 8 "Last Boss"
Faction: Military
Specialty: ♠ (Physical)
Portrayed by: Shuntaro Yanagi
A violent and enigmatic man covered with tattoos.- Characterization Marches On: While later shown to be an unskilled swordsman Taught by Experience, in his first appearance, Last Boss kills a tiger with a single sword strike. Admittedly Aguni kills another by punching it, so clearly Artistic License – Biology was in play.
- Charles Atlas Superpower: He kills a tiger in a Single-Stroke Battle during one of the games.
- I Die Free: Dies satisfied as he has been living as a free man.
- Important Haircut: After his first near-death experience in a game, he shaves his head and facial hair to reinvent himself in the Borderland.
- In-Series Nickname: People on the Beach start calling him Last Boss for having the appearance of the final boss of a video game.
- Katanas Are Just Better: He always carries a katana with him. He uses it to kill a panthera beast in 6♠ Everyone's a Zebra.
- Non-Indicative Name: He is not, in fact, the last boss. He perishes in the fire that destroys the Beach after being defeated by Kuina.
- Only Knownby Their Nickname: In the series, his real name was never revealed.
Members
Hikari Kuina
Specialty: ♣ (Balanced) → ♠ (Physical)
Portrayed by: Aya Asahina (Female, present), Rihito Itagaki (Male, past)
A tall, tanned woman in dreadlocks who is usually seen alongside Chishiya. She seeks to return to her world so that she can care for her supportive mother.
- Abusive Parents: Her father was a brutally traditional martial arts instructor, who didn't show his child any special treatment. Furthermore, he clearly wanted a strong son to inherit his dojo, and held Hikari in low regard even before she came out as transgender.
- Action Girl: One of the main examples in the series. She fights Last Boss during the season one finale, wearing nothing but a bikini, through a lot of dodging and her martial arts training and ends up winning.
- Agony of the Feet: During her fight with Last Boss, he breaks a number of glasses on the floor around her to stop her from moving. She steps on them anyway since the only other option is to let Last Boss kill her.
- Alice Allusion: She's a reference to the Caterpillar character: in her first few appearances she's shown with a fake cigarette (referencing the Caterpillar's hookah) and after her past is revealed she displays a theme of growth and transformation, as she goes from a sad and abused "boy" into a strong and confident trans woman, akin to a caterpillar becoming a butterfly.
- Animal Motifs: Caterpillars and butterflies, as per her allusion. She's already completed her transformation, from an unhappy and meek child abused by a traditional father to a beautiful and strong-willed transgender woman.
- Dark and Troubled Past: Kuina is a transgender woman. Her father, wanting "him" to be a strong fighter by the time "he" takes over the dojo, subjects her to harsh training. This ends when she decides to leave on her own accord.
- Dreadlock Warrior: Kuina wears her hair in a dreadlocked style and is one of the more capable fighters in the cast.
- Ms. Fanservice: She's in a bikini top for almost the entire series. There's even a couple scenes where she goes without pants.
- Oral Fixation: In the live-action, she's almost always shown with a fake cigarette between her lips. She says that after entering the Borderland she's resolved to quit smoking as it diminishes her ability to survive the games.
- Punny Name: Kuina sounds pretty close to "queen".
- Suddenly Always Knew That: Starts using her karate mastery to defeat Last Boss even though she has long left her dojo.
- Trans Tribulations: Her father didn't accept that she was transgender and kicked her out.
- The end of Netflix's Season 2 implies that their relationship will improve after she sees her parents at the hospital.
Kodai Tatta
Specialty: ♣ (Balanced)
Portrayed by: Yutaro Watanabe
A Beach member in charge of keeping cars fueled.- Alice Allusion: Possibly to the Mock Turtle, as 'Tatta' can be read as a Japanese approximation of "turtle" and he sheds tears for all the casualties of the Ten of Diamonds game.
- An Arm and a Leg: Near the end of K♣ Osmosis, he has his hand severed so that Arisu can use his bracelet to win against Ginji and net the final points for the team. Unfortunately, he dies from excess blood loss afterwards.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Mutilates his hand to remove his bracelet so Arisu can use it to score 500 points to close the gap against the King of Clubs and save their team from inevitable death, bleeding out shortly after the game ends.
- I Owe You My Life: Tatta helps Usagi search for a captive Arisu out of gratitude for saving him in Five of Spades.
- Would Hit a Girl: In the Netflix version, he pummels a female military member unconscious for shooting his friend down.
Face Cards and Citizens
K♠ Isao Shīrabi
Specialty: ♠ (Physical)
Portrayed by: Ayumi Tanida
A Mercenary veteran who oversees all the Spade Games, his event is a simple manhunt: You MUST kill him to win, and he is allowed to roam ANYWHERE in the Borderlands (except other active game venues).
- Anti-Villain: In his final moments, he confesses to Aguni that his actions were the only way he could think of to save the players from the misery of the Borderlands.
- Apologetic Attacker: In his final moments, he apologizes to Aguni for all the deaths he caused, admitting that his only motivation to do so was his desperate attempt to save the players from the Borderlands in the only way he could.
- Death Seeker: Due to his past, where he was forced to kill one of his almost-fataly injured friends, the ENTIRE reason his game is kill-to-be-killed is this.
- The Dreaded: Once his presence is revealed, he becomes this to every living survivor in the Borderlands, as he hunts and mercilessly kills people with almost supernatural efficiency. It's telling that he's so feared that practically everyone save Aguni puts off facing him until the very end.
- Face Death with Dignity: After being incapacitated by Arisu and Aguni, he calmly hands Aguni his pistol to finish him off and becomes visibly relieved when Aguni tells him that despite everything he did, he never truly hated him for what he did.
- The Heavy: While the Queen of Hearts ultimately becomes the Final Boss, the King of Spades becomes unquestionably the most dangerous and feared challenge in the Borderlands, with his game racking up by far the largest kill count of the entire series.
- Hero Killer: When confronted by the protagonists in the penultimate episode, he casually makes quick work of everyone in the fight, leaving An, Kuina and Akane mortally wounded while severely wounding Usagi and Aguni in the melee. Were it not for Arisu defeating the Queen of Hearts and ending the games, it would have only been a matter of time until they all bled out.
- Made of Iron: The King of Spades takes a lot of punishment. Overall, he's shot, beaten, run over by a car, stabbed, impaled with arrows and blown out of a window. However, while very durable, he's still a human being, and when he's finally defeated a simple headshot easily kills him.
- One-Man Army: Befitting the one who stands at the top of the physical challenges, the sheer efficiency with which he mows down players wherever he goes makes it seem at first like there's a whole squad of shooters.
- Rasputinian Death: After being beaten and shot multiple times, he survives being caught in a fiery explosion that blows him out of a window. It takes a final headshot when he's lying helpless to put him down for good.
- Shell-Shocked Veteran: As he explains to one person before he shoots them, he KNOWS how terrible it is to live in constant fear and agony, just waiting for death in the Borderlands... which is why all his events involve shooting people - a quick death IS his way of mercy.
- Shoot Everything That Moves: The King of Spades's prefered tactic, since he's one man vs many - the King also has the best kind of military equipment available for hunting other players, including his own blimp just in case you try hiding and fortifying in some high-altitude space.
Team K♣
A team of five citizens opposing the players. To clear K♣ Osmosis, five players must team up to outscore them within a time limit.
K♣ Ginji Kyūma
Portrayed by: Tomohisa Yamashita
The leader of the opposing side who is the main citizen representing K♣. He hosts the most difficult game involving teamwork.- Affably Evil: He sees Arisu as a competitor playing a game and he tries his hardest to make the game fair for both teams, while he doesn't make it easy for Arisu's team to win, he truly respects Arisu's team and them as individuals.
- Even Evil Has Standards: His reaction to Arisu amputating Yutaro so they could win implies he wouldn't go as far as to harm severely anyone of his team or Arisu team to win.
- Foil: To Arisu, as The Leader of their respective groups of True Companions, walking a path of confident reasoning in contrast to Arisu's emotional perserverence. The end of the games indicates his team chose to remain as citizens of the Borderlands while Arisu's group all chose to return to the real world.
- Full-Frontal Assault: He plays the entire game in the nude.
- Graceful Loser: When he loses his game, he takes it extremely well. He accepts his death without regrets, and spends his last few moments exchanging friendly words and advice with Arisu. His team, who clearly view each other as True Companions in their last few moments, similarly accept their losses with smiles and little fear, spending their last few moments thanking him for leading them through several victorious games up until this point.
Sōgo Shitara
- Specialty: ♦ (Intellect)
- The Smart Guy: He's the brains of the team, being the one who designed the K♣ game they play.
Uta Kisaragi
- Specialty: ♣ (Balanced)
- The Smurfette Principle: The only female member of the team.
Gōken Kanzaki
- Specialty: ♠ (Physical)
- Le Parkour: He's a parkour specialist, which allows him to quickly traverse the game field from above without bothering to navigate the maze.
Jack of Hearts
Portrayed by: Kai Inowaki
The mystery citizen who is among the participants of J♥ Solitary Confinement. Surviving players get the game clear when this character is eliminated.Eventually, the few survivors identify the J♥ as Enji Matsushita, a hypnotherapist who initially partnered with serial killer Banda. Through subtle suggestions, he influenced other players into being more aggressive and rash.
- Despair Event Horizon: When he realizes that he'll be spending subsequent rounds being subjected to Banda's torture, Enji intentionally gets a game over for himself.
- Hiding Behind Your Bangs: Has a long streak of hair that covers his right eye, which is replaced with a device that shows which suit is on his collar. This reflects his manipulative nature.
- Loophole Abuse: Gets away with breaking a rule in secret because the rule states what the players must not do, and he is a citizen.
- My Rules Are Not Your Rules: In the manga, he clearly breaks a rule of the game he hosts, justifying that he's technically not a player.
Q♠ Lisa
Portrayed by: Chihiro Yamamoto
The citizen hosting Q♠ Checkmate. To beat her game, the players' side must tag more members than hers by the end of the round.- Canon Foreigner: The Queen of Spades game is not shown in the manga meaning she is a character created exclusively for the adaptation.
- Would Hurt a Child: Of all the players, she chose a little boy as their king so that even though he cannot be tagged into the opposing side, he would be too physically weak to tag his opponents, dooming him to a Game Over.
- Yandere: Finds Arisu very attractive and is perfectly willing to kill Usagi to keep him for herself.
King of Diamonds
Portrayed by: Tsuyoshi Abe
A conflicted, intelligent man who hosts the most difficult game of wits.
He is first seen in the Beach. Named Keiichi Kuzuryū, he is an executive ranked Number 3. He sides with the Cult Faction, serving directly under the Hatter.
- Face Death with Dignity: Even when he is about to be dissolved by sulfuric acid, his composure never falters.
- Finger-Tenting: It's pretty much his default pose during season 2.
- The Mole: He was part of the Beach's leadership, acting as a spy for the people running the games and coordinated the Witch Hunt game.
- Worthy Opponent: After revealing himself as the King of Diamonds, he finds himself as this to Chishiya, both from career backgrounds that wore down their idealism after becoming disillusioned with society's hypocritical view of the value of individual human life. This Commonality Connection revelation and interaction eventually convinces Kuzuryu to sacrifice himself to award the win to Chishiya.
Queen of Hearts
Portrayed by: Riisa Naka
An elegant young woman in black who handles the most difficult game not for the faint of heart.
She, named Mira Kanō, is first seen as an executive of the Beach. She is ranked Number 7 and is under the Cult Faction.
- Big Bad: The closest thing that this series has, because her games are responsible for Arisu's depressed state and she is also the last enemy to be dealt with. Fittingly, the Queen of Hearts usually overshadows her husband the King in Alice in Wonderland stories.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: One could argue that her game is less bloody than the other games and the fact that you still win if you lose the game of croquet may make it relatively easy (at least compared to others), but make no mistake SHE wants you to feel that sense of security so she could manipulate you into giving up and she does everything she can do to make the game of croquet as painful psychologically as it can be.
- Cute But Psycho: A charming and attractive woman, who does everything she can to coax Arisu into quitting the game.
- Final Boss: Of the Borderlands games, outlasting the rest of the game masters, including the Kings.
- Gaslighting: Was able to gaslight Arisu into thinking that the reason the games exist was all in his head as a coping mechanism for his dead friends, all for shits and giggles.
- Mid-Battle Tea Break: The most literal example in all of fiction, bar none. She stops the game after the second round to pour tea and explain the rationale behind the games.
- More Deadly Than the Male: In comparison to the Kings faced in the games, Mira seems like a much less deadly threat. In reality, she's a cunning opponent that exploits the weaknesses of the human psyche and claims that she designed some of the most horrifying games of the previous round.
- Pet the Dog: When Usagi intervenes to save Arisu from Mira's manipulations, giving him a heartfelt speech on why he shouldn't give up and even cutting her own arm with a shard of glass to prove her point, Mira's genuinely touched by the display and calls it a truly beautiful act. She even sheds a tear at the sight, demonstrating that she's now being genuine in her words. From that point forward, she finishes the last croquet game with Arisu and drops any further manipulations, even saying that she's doing it for Usagi's behalf.
- Sugary Malice: Seems like an absolute sweetheart compared to the rest of the Face Cards, until she serves Arisu drugged tea. That said, she takes her loss no less gracefully than the other Face Cards.
- Troll: Gives an absurdly long winded explanation for the reason the games exist; only to laugh at the look on Arisu's face before telling him she was only joking.
- The Wonka: it's difficult to draw a line on where her Obfuscating Insanity mind games end and the actual Mood Swinging Psychopathic Womanchild tendencies begin, but the result is a manipulative sadist gleefully toying with the lives of everyone around her.
Other Players
Shuntarō Chishiya
Specialty: ♦ (Intellect) → ♥ (Psychological)
Portrayed by: Nijiro Murakami
An enigmatic man Arisu meets in the latter's second game, 5♠ Tag. Resourceful and creative, but he works only for himself, so he sometimes ends up going against the greater good.
- Adaptational Backstory Change: His previous job as a doctor is revised in the Netflix version such that instead of starting out sociopathic, his heart grew cold after complying with his corrupted director.
- Alice Allusion: 'Chishiya' is a Japanese approximation of "Cheshire", referencing the Cheshire Cat. Fittingly, he's initially introduced as a smiling figure who prefers to stay in the background at a higher vantage point than anyone else.
- Anti-Hero: Chishiya will never pull punches in clearing a game even it means sacrificing other players to reach that goal. Despite this, he ultimately finds himself become an ally and friend to the rest of the main protagonists and, apart from using Arisu as a patsy in an attempt to steal the deck of cards from Hatter, never does anything outright antagonistic to the other players.
- Deuteragonist: Shares the role with Usagi in the second season. Save for the main duo, Chishiya is the only player whose games are given their own focus episodes and he independently defeats two Faces.
- Glad He's On Our Side: He's incredibly intelligent, and equally manipulative. Kuina tells him she's glad she's on his side.
- MacGyvering: In the live-action, he wields a Walkman converted into a Taser, and later turns a water gun into a flamethrower.
- Parental Neglect: In his manga backstory, his parents never paid any attention to him.
- Second Episode Introduction: He first appears in 5♠ Tag in Netflix's second episode.
- The Sociopath: A non-serial killer example in the manga. He is genuinely unable to empathize with the plights of other people. In the real world during his work as a med student, a terminally ill patient gives him a letter to deliver to his family, as he wants to see them again one final time before he dies. Chishiya agrees, but then throws the letter away as he doesn't want to deal with the trouble of it. However, we see that he is somewhat disturbed by his sociopathy and wishes to understand why others care so much. It's what draws him to the King of Diamonds towards the end of the series. As Chishiya notes, the King of Diamonds is basically the exact opposite of him, he cares too much about the value of a life and is paralyzed by his inability to conclude whose life is inherently more valuable. When the King of Diamonds concludes the game with an action that had a fifty percent chance of killing him (and does kill him) due to deciding that he can't choose which of their lives is more valuable, Chishiya finds he is jealous of him, as even though he died, he died due to empathy, something Chishiya lacks.
- White Hair, Black Heart: He's as intelligent as Arisu (and possibly more so), although he uses his smarts to manipulate as much as to survive.
Hayato Dōdō
Specialty: ♥ (Psychological)
A high schooler who lives with his grandmother. Things did not go well for him — his family had a fallout and his crush ended up dating his best friend. His wish to escape from reality brings him to Borderlands.- Adapted Out: Does not appear in Netflix edition.
- Alice Allusion: He's a reference to the Dodo character.
Akane Heiya
Specialty: ♠ (Physical)
Portrayed by: Yuri Tsunematsu
Another high schooler who attends the frankly downright unfair 7♠ event.- Alice Allusion: Her name references the March Hare.
- An Arm and a Leg: Her leg was badly injured during her first game, requiring amputation after it became infected. A shady doctor took care of her and provided a prosthetic, in exchange for certain....favors.
- Animal Motifs: Hares. She's a sexually aggressive young woman, with a prosthetic leg that resembles a rabbit's foot. Like Usagi, she's a skilled and agile player, but far more untamed and aggressive in her interactions with Arisu.
- Gut Feeling: The ONLY reason she doesn't die right at the beginning alongside everyone else in 7♠ Boiling Death? She just didn't feel like going near the instructions. It's explored of course, but she shows a VERY strong intuition for situations going forward: she avoids a vent that leads into superheated water with no way out, and even successfully avoids/detects the K♠ ambushes for a while during his event.
- Guys Smash, Girls Shoot: Her role in the unlikely trio that forms during the K♠ Event seems to be as a hunter/archer - although to be fair, she DOES understand her disadavantages as an archer against a guy with a machine gun, so while she DOES try to nail the K♠ with an arrow a few times, her only successful shot is the one that is called out beforehand AND has her covered with a flashbang.
- Handicapped Badass: Heiya lost her leg early on, but she's managed to not only survive throughout numerous games but thrive as a player. She joins forces with Aguni to hunt the K♠, one of the most dangerous opponents in the borderland.
Ōki Yaba
Specialty: ♥ (Psychological)
Portrayed by: Katsuya Maiguma
- Alice Allusion: 'Yaba Oki' can be read as a Japanese approximation for "Jabberwocky".
- Even Evil Has Standards: Yaba is a scumbag who manipulates the weak willed woman Shiga into being his partner by convincing her that he's the only one she can trust while secretly working with the psychopath Banda to win the game. While Shiga is hypnotized into turning on Yaba, Yaba keeps giving her the correct information she needs to live, even when the hypnotism leads her to lie to him about what he needs to live. When Banda says he would have given her the wrong info, Yaba says that he knew he didn't like him. Also Yaba disapproves of Banda's sadism, even though he makes no attempt to stop him from indulging in his proclivities.
- I Choose to Stay: Chooses to become a Borderlands citizen when given the option to go back to the real world.
Sunato Banda
Specialty: ♥ (Psychological)
Portrayed by: Hayato Isomura
- Alice Allusion: 'Banda Sunato' can be read as a Japanese approximation for "Bandersnatch", a creature mentioned in Jabberwocky.
- I Choose to Stay: Chooses to become a Borderlands citizen when given the choice to go back to the real world.
- Serial Killer: A convicted inmate who murdered around four women.
Urumi Akamaki
Specialty: ♥ (Psychological)
Portrayed by: Aina Yamada
A player in the J ♥ game.- Adaptation Name Change: In the Netflix series, her last name is "Akamaki", but in the manga it was "Aramaki".
- Girly Girl: She dresses in a blue, frilly dress with neatly done hair.
- Manipulative Bitch: She forms a group with most of the players and starts using the actions of individual members to turn the others against them, picking off the players one by one.
- Out-Gambitted: Her scheme only keeps her alive for so long until she too gets tricked by one or more of the other players and dies.
- Red Herring: She is transparantly manipulative and shady to the point of being too ill-concealed to be the Jack.
- Sugary Malice: She acts sweet and friendly at first, but it doesn't take long for her true colors to show, as at least one player on her team dies each round.
