Alice in Borderland season 3 ending explained: Who is the Watchman?

At the start of season 3, time has passed and Arisu and Usagi are finally together. Arisu works at a counselling centre helping people deal with trauma while Usagi does consulting work.

Arisu only has vague memories of what happened to him, but Borderland, and its mysterious Citizens, aren’t done with him yet.

Alice in Borderland season 3 ending explained: Who is the Watchman?

Alice in Borderland has always been a show which messes with your head, from the laser beam fire and the Find the Witch gamer of season 1, to Mira’s tall stories of VR games and aliens in season 2.

It’s in this weird landscape that we find out another layer to the world Arisu keeps finding himself in.

As with previous series, the first few episodes of season 3 are all about the spectacle of the games and light on lore. But as the series comes to its end, things get wacky really fast.

At this point, Arisu just wants answers and, honestly, so do we!

That’s also when Ken Watanabe (Inception, The Last Samurai, Batman Begins) appears in the most unexpected cameo ever, and proceeds to offer up more questions than answers. Dressed in a black bowler hat and smart Western clothing, he adds another layer to the mythology of the series.

Playing a character identified as 'the Watchman’, Watanabe’s character is neither the god of Borderland nor the Joker. As he tells Alice while they play one final game, the Joker is just a card.

Rather, he’s a psychopomp, a figure who guides souls into the afterlife, offering Arisu a simple choice between life and death.

Why does he do this? Well it turns out he doesn’t want to die, to find out what comes after either, and so the games are a way to keep him almost entertained. He just wanted to talk to someone like Arisu who had survived many brushes with death.

But, he warns, not only does everyone have to stand where Arisu is, at the crossroads between two worlds, but something bigger is coming, something even Arisu won’t be able to fight against. And it’s going to kill a lot of people.

Of course, Arisu says he wants to be with Usagi, even if it means having only a short time in the world of the living. So he jumps into the water to rescue her from the death vortex.

In the scuffle, he manages to save her while Ryuji is trying to drag her to the world of death with him. Unfortunately, Arisu doesn't make it, and ends up dying in the bed next to a comatose Usagi.

She does get a sweet moment with her dad, Shiganori, that feels richly deserved, even if this series is the first time we’ve ever gone near her trauma, as seasons 1 and 2 focused almost completely on Arisu.

And, from that moment, dying doesn’t feel so dark and terrifying, merely a natural part of existence.

Oh and Arisu finally calls her Yuzuha, Usagi’s first name, which is just so sweet.

Who is Ryuji?

Arisu meets Ryuji Matsuyama, a wheelchair-bound researcher, at a university. Ryuji is researching the shared experiences of people like Arisu, people who have played the games.

Except Arisu can’t remember much, only that he went on a journey to a far-off land. But Ryuji grows obsessed, and eventually finds a way to reach Borderland and become a citizen.

We eventually learn the root of his obsession; a student he helped with an experiment that lead to her death. Ryuji was unable to bring her back when things went wrong, and became obsessed with the world of the dead. His obsession eventually led to a car accident which rendered him unable to walk and forced into a wheelchair.

When Ryuji finds Borderland, via a game of Old Maid with some mysterious men who electrocute anyone who loses, he becomes the ‘winner’ of their game. We never truly learn who these figures are, outside of the ‘citizens’ from season 2 who decided to leave the real world and become permanent residents in the abandoned city where they can play games with the visitors.

They’re not gods, they’re not even demons; they just like games and Arisu has been the best person they’ve had playing in ages, so they use Ryuji to get him back to Borderland.

Collective Delusion or NDE?

Ryuji’s obsession is what fuels this series. He kidnaps Usagi to drag Arisu back to Borderland. Ann, the forensic scientist from The Beach in season 1, helps him with an overdose of medication. Now back in Borderland, Arisu finds himself drawn into the deadly games anew.

The first game is set at Hikawa Shrine. Hikawa means ‘fire river’, and the game involves players drawing fortunes whilst arrows rain down over them.

Meanwhile, Usagi is having trouble with the death of her father. After Ryuji drags her to Borderland, she joins his group in the games. This includes avoiding colourful lasers which slice people in two and a poison-filled subway car game.

She later discovers Arisu and his group are playing the same game in the opposite direction.

The final game forces the remaining players, including Arisu, Ryuji and Usagi (revealed to be pregnant), to play a game where they get to see all the possible futures that could be in store for them.

When each player runs out of points, they get a moment – a brief, beautiful and almost cruel moment – of perfect happiness before being taken out by an exploding collar, a move reminiscent of both Battle Royale and season 1's third episode, when Arisu loses Chōta and Kanabe.

Arisu eventually becomes the winner when he volunteers to stay in Borderland while pushing Usagi and the others through a door which leads ‘back’ to the real Shibuya.

Except this is a fake out and the city implodes, becoming a ruined flooded mess. He tries to rescue the others, only to be presented with a unique choice by a new figure: The Watchman.

What could happen next?

It feels like Arisu and Usagi’s story is done; we see the sakura blossoms of spring and the pair picking names for the new member of their family.

We even get some cameos from our favourite other cast members, both from this season but also from earlier ones, including Kuina and, of course, Chishiya! It’s especially sweet when he asks Arisu what makes his life worth living, and it’s clear all of them have learned and grown from their experience in Borderland.

Everything seems great for them but there’s still the promise that this won’t be our last trip to the weird world of Borderland.

This is echoed in the final moments of the final episode, when earthquakes rock Tokyo, along with the rest of the world. It’s something which feels just a touch too close to real life, as there have been several big earthquakes and tsunami warnings around the world recently.

This is when the series shifts again. We leave Tokyo and, instead, focus on a US diner which looks to be in Los Angeles, with a waitress whose face we never see. Only her nametag, which identifies her simply as ‘Alice’.

But, as two patrons ask for a table by the window, it’s hard not to wait for a truck to smash into it. Nothing happens but it’s clear we’re not done yet and a new crop of visitors are about to get visas for a new variant of Borderland.

Alice in Borderland did have a sequel manga, Alice in Borderland: Retry, which inspired elements in this series, though it's mostly an original story. However, the manga also had a spin-off; Alice on Border Road, which follows a girl named Arisu/Alice Kojima and sees her playing games in another version of Borderland based on Kyoto.

The idea that the games are an event shared by multiple people is revisited after an accident at Nihonbashi Intersection in central Tokyo, which drags 12 people into Borderland.

Season 3 borrows from this, including how time works in the real world versus how it works in Borderland. Ann even gives Arisu an idea of how long he has to find Usagi before he dies for real.

It’s also clear memory doesn’t transfer well between the two places, with the characters of Border Road needing physical items they can’t possibly own on their person to trigger their memories. Similarly, within the series, Ryuji is the only one who seems to have some of his memories even if he doesn’t always seem fully there either. But sometimes it's hard to tell whether he’s lost or just acting.

Either way, the continuation of the series will no doubt be down to ratings, leaving the series closed enough that fans will be happy with the outcome, but with just enough room to offer up a new protagonist and a new version of Borderland.

Alice in Borderland season 3 is available to stream on Netflix. Sign up for Netflix from £5.99 a month. Netflix is also available on Sky Glass and Virgin Media Stream.

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