‘Alice In Borderland’ season three ending explained: do Arisu and Usagi survive? 

**Warning: spoilers ahead**

The third season of Alice In Borderland has come to Netflix, but do Arisu and Usagi survive? Read on to find out. 

The Japanese sci-fi thriller is based in a parallel version of Tokyo and revolves around a group of people who are forced to play and win dangerous, sadistic games to remain alive. 

As revealed by the teaser for season three, which arrived back in June, Arisu and Usagi’s lives are falling apart since their return to the real world at the end of season two, with the characters being haunted by nightmares about Borderland. Usagi is abducted and brought back to the Borderland, while Arisu’s handed a mysterious Joker card as chaos ensues. 

All six episodes of the new season landed on Netflix on September 25. Check out the trailer here: 

The official synopsis for season three read: “After Usagi is abducted and left unconscious by a mysterious scholar obsessed with the afterlife, Arisu returns to the perilous Borderland to save her. Teaming up with new players, they must face the yet-unseen Joker stage in a desperate bid to find a way back to their original world.” 

Just four days after season two was released in 2022, Alice In Borderland became the most-watched Japanese title of all time in the platform’s history, overtaking anime and charting the Top 10 in over 10 countries. 

Alice In Borderland season three ending explained: do Arisu and Usagi survive? 

The dramatic finale of the third season of Alice In Borderland revolves around a confrontation between Arisu and Usagi and the Joker, a final game designed to trap them through impossible choices. 

Arisu risks himself in what appears to be an act of sacrifice, but in fact outsmarts the game and opens up a path back. Usagi, pregnant and vulnerable, is taken through the opening with Arisu, while Ryuji chooses to stay behind and die, compounding the show’s overall theme of choice and consequence. 

The finale closes with Arisu and Usagi safe in Tokyo, suggesting their ordeal might be over, until a tease in the epilogue hints that Borderland’s reach may extend beyond Japan, leaving the story teetering on the edge of a much broader next chapter.