Netflix's 22-Episode Sci-Fi Series Deserves Kudos For Making Live-Action Anime Look Easy

Published Oct 12, 2026, 5:15 PM EDT

However, director Zach Cregger’s 2026 hit Resident Evil, which was both a box office smash and a critical darling, disproved this theory once and for all. In much the same way, while Netflix’s attempts to adapt the beloved manga Death Wish and Cowboy Bebop led some fans of the format to sincerely call for a ban on live-action manga adaptations, 2023’s triumphant One Piece proved that live-action manga adaptations could be not only good, but truly great.

However, One Piece wasn’t the first great live-action manga show to come from the streaming service. For that piece of Netflix history, viewers would need to go back a few years to 2020’s Alice in Borderland. Based on Japanese artist Haro Aso’s manga series of the same name, this Lynchian nightmare was a tonally complex blend of thriller, sci-fi, fantasy, mystery, horror, character drama, and surrealism that proved live-action manga shows could be just as stylish, chilling, and thrilling as their source material.

Netflix’s Alice in Borderland Nailed The Difficult Art of Adapting A Manga

Set in Tokyo, Alice in Borderland focuses on Kento Yamazaki’s aimless gamer Ryōhei Arisu. Suddenly and inexplicably finding himself in a dystopian post-apocalyptic version of his home city, Ryōhei becomes embroiled in a series of life-or-death ‘Games’ where players are forced to ‘Extend their visa’ by winning in high-stakes versions of children’s games. While this setup sounds a lot like Netflix’s later hit Squid Game, the show’s tone is less satirical and more heightened and surreal.

If Squid Game is an all too believable condemnation of capitalism, Alice in Borderland is a trippier, more bizarre story. Gradually, viewers come to realize that Ryōhei’s predicament is modeled on Lewis Carrol’s classic children’s novel Alice in Wonderland, with the protagonist navigating darker, more lethal versions of the book’s childish scenes. Alice in Borderland started life as a manga and received a very short anime OVA before its live-action series, a rare adaptation that is just as good as the manga, if not better in some aspects.

With a mix of discomfiting tones and locations but also unexpectedly believable, lovable characters who viewers get invested in, Alice in Borderland calls to mind classics like Twin Peaks and MGM+’s From. Like both of those iconic shows, viewers end up caring deeply about Alice in Borderland’s characters, but are also left horribly aware that these protagonists exist in a bizarre reality where existential threats are ever-present.

Alice in Borderland’s Success Predicted Netflix’s Greatest Live-Action Manga Adaptation Yet

Fans of Alice in Borderland should never get too attached to their favorite characters, as the show is as pitiless as its manga inspiration when it comes to dispatching supporting stars. However, this harsh edge shouldn’t put viewers off. Like the aforementioned From and Squid Game, Alice in Borderland’s high stakes only make the show’s central mystery more intriguing and immersive.

The show’s critical success allowed Alice in Borderland to last three seasons between 2020 and 2025, with the series ending on a cliffhanger that nonetheless gave some of the show’s most important characters a satisfying conclusion to their individual narrative arcs. It’s not yet clear whether an Alice in Borderland spinoff will continue its story, but it is clear that the series started a winning trend.

Three years after Alice in Borderland season 1 premiered, Netflix stunned critics and shocked trepidatious fans with One Piece, a live-action adaptation of the iconic long-running manga that turned out to be an unambiguous hit. While that later Netflix series is more famous, Alice in Borderland proved that this adaptation achievement was possible a few years earlier.