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Arisu makes one final choice with the Watchman and chooses to return to his real world with Usagi in Alice in Borderland Season 3.
Netflix's critically acclaimed Japanese dystopian series returned with its third season, where Arisu was tricked into believing he was sacrificing himself for other players in the finale. However, he was announced as the sole winner, and the remaining players were flooded by a tsunami of water. Just as Arisu stepped into the roaring water to save Usagi, he was lured into a final card game with the Watchman.
After Arisu chose two Joker cards from a standard deck of cards in the Alice in Borderland Season 3 finale, the Watchman allowed him to choose his final fate.
Read further to learn how Kento Yamazaki justified his character’s choice and the way it reflects the overarching message of Alice in Borderland.
Kento Yamazaki breaks down Arisu's final choice in Alice in Borderland Season 3
Like the previous season, much of Alice in Borderland Season 3's climax was boiled down to one final question made to Arisu: Will he choose life or death? After the Watchman lets Arisu choose his own fate in the finale, our protagonist announces that he will return to the real world with Usagi and wait for their newborn child.
In an interview with Marie Claire, Kento Yamazaki, who plays Arisu, breaks down this choice as:
"I think that Arisu didn’t have any doubts at all. He was very clear about living.''
He added:
''...In Borderland, we had experienced heartbreaking things. He lost loved ones, including his friends Karube and Shota. But he also met Usagi there, and through their relationship is how he found the meaning of life. He comes to the conclusion that even if there are hard times, it’s worth living."
A difficult choice in Alice in Borderland Season 3
While the choice given by the Watchman, between life and death, may seem absurd at first, it holds a symbolic meaning in Alice in Borderland Season 3. Right before Arisu was about to make his choice, the Watchman made him realize the suffering in the real world, even warning him about an impending natural disaster.
He made him realize that the Borderland is brimming with opportunities, and choosing a citizenship of that liminal space means escaping the suffering and pain of the real world. As the Watchman said in the Alice in Borderland Season 3 finale:
"Life is painful, filled with many trials to endure.''
But, in death:
"There's no more pain. No more suffering.''
Interestingly, this distinction came after the final game of fortunes, where each player was shown different possibilities about their future life in the real world. While many potential futures were positive, some also held suffering and pain, just as the Watchman had declared.
However, this proves that the decision to choose between life and death is a gamble. While living is hard and the real world is filled with troubles, the Borderland holds no happiness. This is the place where countless souls lost their chances to live, and Arisu lost Chota, Karube, and many new friends he met there.
Our protagonist rejected the 'happiness' offered by Borderland and chose to return to his real world with Usagi in Alice in Borderland Season 3.
Arisu's final choice to return to the real world, even when it's rife with suffering, is also justified in the closing moments of Alice in Borderland Season 3, where we catch up with the Borderland survivors in the real world. While Usagi had finally made peace with her father's death, she was ready to welcome her first child with Arisu, and the couple were finalizing a baby name when we left them in the show.
Elsewhere, Nobu had graduated from college and was taking care of his mother, Yuna was taking her boyfriend to 'meet' her brother at his grave, and finally, Rei had reconnected with her mother and had also found a job at an anime movie.
These happy details about all the new characters prove that Arisu's choice was right. Life may be full of pain and suffering, but it’s those very hardships that make moments of happiness all the more precious and worth cherishing.
Alice in Borderland Season 3 is streaming on Netflix.
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