Alice in Borderland Season 3 Episode 1 Recap: A Return to the Unknown

Where to watch: All 6 episodes stream on Netflix worldwide on Thu, Sep 25, 2025; India at 12:30 PM IST; full season drops at once (no weekly wait). Note the season’s original storyline pivot beyond the manga to set expectations for returning viewers.

In Alice in Borderland Season 3 Episode 1, it opens with fireworks in the sky. Arisu and Usagi have just cleared the final game. The survivors are free. But not everyone chose freedom. Two players decided to remain in Borderland.

Back in the present, Arisu is alive and seated across from a doctor. He is being interviewed about his coma and cardiac arrest. The doctor, Matsuyama, asks him what he saw during that time.

Arisu struggles to explain. He remembers a strange journey. But he cannot recall the deadly games with cards.

Matsuyama presses harder. He mentions stories of other patients who spoke of games and fireworks. He himself lost a student during the meteorite strike years ago. That disaster left many scarred. It has now been five years since then. Survivors are still being studied.

Arisu and Usagi are married. They are trying to live normal lives. But Matsuyama continues to probe. He also asks Usagi for an interview. His work in psychopathology pushes him to search for answers that blur the line between science and the afterlife.

He follows a lead from a woman who points him toward a seminar. That seminar is rumored to unlock strange experiences. A week later, Matsuyama receives an invitation. He arrives to find eight people sitting at a table. A game awaits them.

The Cruel Rules of Old Maid

The game is Old Maid. Each player holds cards. Pairs are discarded. The last person holding the Joker will lose. The twist is cruel. Whoever ends with the Joker dies. The punishment is not symbolic. Wires hidden beneath their chairs send fatal shocks.

The game begins. A man draws the Joker and dies instantly. A woman panics, stands up, and also dies. The tension rises. Another woman empties her cards, only to collapse lifeless. When Matsuyama pulls the Joker from someone else, that player dies too.

Soon, only two remain. Matsuyama faces one final opponent. He tricks the man by keeping the Joker card close. The opponent is fooled, picks another card, and loses. Matsuyama becomes the winner.

At that moment, the host changes form. The face revealed is Banda Sunato, one of the players who had chosen to remain in Borderland. He welcomes Matsuyama back to the deadly world.

Also Read: Your Guide to Watching Alice in Borderland Season 3: The Joker Game Awaits 

A Past That Will Not Fade

Meanwhile, Arisu and Usagi’s normal life is shaken. Usagi works at a climbing club. Arisu helps patients at a counseling center. There, he meets Ann Rizuna.

She remembers him from Borderland. He does not remember her. She insists their time in the other world was real. She even claims they could go back.

Things collapse further when Usagi disappears. Arisu panics and seeks help from the police. CCTV footage shows her at a hotel. The same hotel where their journey once continued. In the footage, she is speaking with Matsuyama.

Arisu begins searching. He learns Matsuyama has also gone missing. He was last seen chasing research on near-death experiences. Arisu then discovers Usagi’s old interview video. In it, she admits haunting memories of her father’s suicide. She even confesses a wish to see him again.

Back at home, Arisu hears a voice. Banda Sunato appears before him, accusing Arisu of creating another citizen. Sunato hands him a Joker card. He says Usagi will also play the games.

Then the police call. They have found Usagi. She is in a coma. She is also pregnant. Matsuyama is discovered in the same condition. Among her belongings is a Joker card.

Arisu is crushed. He visits Ann again. He begs her for help to save Usagi. Ann tells him of a narrow chance. If someone’s heart stops, their consciousness can enter the zone for two minutes. That window may be enough to rescue her.

Arisu accepts the risk. Ann injects him with a drug to stop his heart. Darkness surrounds him. He awakens in an empty city. The streets are silent. A sign reads: “15 km south, game starts at sundown.”

He follows the path to Hikawa Shrine. Other players are waiting. A new game is about to begin. The nightmare returns.

Review

The story in Alice in Borderland Season 3 Episode 1 mixes science, memory, and death once more. The game of Old Maid showed the series still thrives on cruel twists. But this time, the plot adds another layer. It questions whether survival is only about games or if it is tied to grief, trauma, and desire.

This first episode feels like a bridge. It ties the past with a new cycle of games. It sets up Matsuyama as a dangerous figure, willing to sacrifice others for his research, & it drags Arisu and Usagi back into the darkness they thought they left behind.

Skeptics may wonder if the show risks repeating itself. After all, another round of games could feel familiar. But the details of comas, lost memories, and unborn life raise the stakes. The series does not just ask who survives. It asks why anyone would keep choosing to return.

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