Review by Ian Keogh

There’s now a pattern to the Alice in Borderland volumes, with each taking a diversion from the main story to focus on a shorter two or three chapter game featuring different characters. However, by now focusing on five people in the main cast, as of the end to Volume 4, the current events are also returning to the series strengths by having games for survival as key. The problem for Arisu and Usagi is one of the three accompanying them is a loose cannon as likely to go his own way as help the group.

Haro Aso devises a direct competition, but a game with such complexity concerning points won and lost it requires several pages to explain the finer elements. Even then the likelihood is readers are going to find it difficult to follow the transfer of points and that’s despite multiple more pages of tactical possibilities as per the sample art. The constant updating of possibilities is tiring, and ultimately futile as the ground shifts so often. There’s also the emotional turmoil of the fracture between Arisu and Usagi, which doesn’t convince at all. Be warned going in that this game doesn’t finish until Volume 6, which may be frustrating as Aso includes two side stories.

Being essentially a game of cards, ‘Six of Diamonds’ doesn’t require the extensive planning of the main story, but Aro comes up with a killer condition from the start. Every participant at the card table has a noose around their neck, which makes for an uncomfortable situation and a bizarre visual representation. However, while not as complicated as the main event, this too descends into constant updates as to each player’s situation. Aso connecting the series with Alice in Wonderland is strained, but this is definite down the rabbit hole stuff, despite featuring a manipulative character earlier seen in the main story. Some tension is removed by knowing they’ll survive, but once Aso moves away from constant possibilities and into more human based drama the story improves.

The three chapters forming ‘Seven of Spades’ are the book’s highlight. It’s a near impossible problem of immense proportions, and that we haven’t seen any of the characters previously indicates a low survival rate. It was probably somewhat a quick task for Aso, as the circumstances call for multiple effects and minimal backgrounds, yet the background shading is extremely effective in bringing out the foreground. Also good is the contrast between a remembered incident and the current peril in what’s a terrifying set of events featuring a character with an emotional problem to overcome.

An overly complex main story with overwrought emotions doesn’t really hit the spot, but ‘Seven of Spades’ is great.