They Reached the Beach, Where Rules Decide Who Lives and Who Dies
The events of the series take place in Japan. Our main character, Arisu, is a typical gamer who spends hours in front of his computer playing games and has no job. He lives with his younger brother and father. Their mother left the family. Unlike Arisu, his younger brother doesn’t spend all his time gaming. He works. He even offered to help Arisu find a job, but Arisu refuses to go to interviews. The younger brother tells him that apart from games, there is real life and Arisu won’t have another chance at it. He declares that he will no longer give him money and calls him a parasite. Their father supports the younger brother, urging him to stop financially supporting Arisu. Since Arisu is tired of constantly being told that he is a freeloader, he decides to leave home and messages his friend Kurubi. At that moment, Kurubi is in a bar, but he isn’t working. He’s flirting with his boss’s girlfriend. Suddenly, his boss enters the bar. A conflict arises between them, resulting in Kuru winning the fight, but losing his job. Not getting a response from Kurub. Arisu messages his other friend, Chota. However, Chota also doesn’t notice the message because he is reluctantly handing his mother a bundle of money since she has no job. After receiving no replies, Arisu starts playing with a dice app on his phone. And it becomes clear that he is not just a gaming addict, but also a genius who quickly solves complex puzzles. A little later in their group chat, Karub tells his friends that he got fired. But judging by his tone, he doesn’t seem too worried about it. The friends agree to meet at Shibuya Station to drink sake at a local cafe. When they meet, they realize it’s still too early and all the bars that serve sake are closed. Watching the noisy crowd, Chota jokes that it would be cool if a zombie apocalypse started. Arisu responds that in that case, the only one who would survive would be Kurubi since he’s an experienced fighter. However, Kurubi says that Arisu would survive because he’s a genius and would outsmart everyone. Kurubi urges Arisu to start living properly and find a job, but Arisu refuses. So, Kurubi lifts Arisu onto his shoulders and walks with him to the middle of the pedestrian crossing. Chota starts filming them on his phone. Their wild antics attract a lot of attention, but then the sound of a car horn brings them back to reality. They have unknowingly ended up in the middle of the road. Their actions cause a traffic accident. Seeing the police, the three friends run and hide in a subway restroom. They continue laughing there, but suddenly the lights go out and even their phones stop working. After some time, they hear someone desperately banging on a stall door. Not daring to make a sound, they wait for everything to go silent. When the noise stops, they step out of the restroom and are shocked to see that the subway station, which had been bustling just minutes ago, is now completely empty, as if the city had simply vanished. The shopping mall also turns out to be deserted. Karubi returns to the bar where he was fired, and Chota rushes to the IT company where he works, but the office is completely abandoned. Looking out the window, he realizes that all the people in the city have disappeared. Arisu walks through the streets searching for anyone, but he finds no one. As night falls, they sit on the sidewalk and ponder, “Could this be a drill for a nuclear war?” Arisu and Chota joke that if everyone is gone, it’s not so bad. There’s no need to work and they can eat and drink whatever they want. However, Karubi doesn’t share their excitement because his beloved Seiya, whom he was planning to propose to, has disappeared. She is the same girlfriend of his boss from the bar. Suddenly, a liquid crystal screen on the building behind them lights up with the message, “Welcome. The game will begin soon.” Then, a voice instructs the players to follow the arrows. The group notices a red glow above an old building. All three run toward the light, following the arrows, and reach an elevator. Near the elevator, several phones are lying on the ground. When they pick them up, facial recognition automatically activates. The phone announces that registration for the game will be completed in 2 minutes. At that moment, a woman named Shabuki appears at the end of the corridor. She pulls Chota’s name tag from his shirt pocket and throws it away. Within seconds, the tag is burned to ashes by a laser. Shibuki explains that they can no longer leave. Once they step onto the game arena, there is no way back. Arisu moves closer to inspect the laser, which suddenly shoots into the ceiling. He realizes that escaping from here is truly impossible. Just then, a high school girl rushes toward them. The three men try to stop her before she crosses the laser line, but it’s too late. She steps over the boundary and becomes the fifth player in the game. Suddenly, their phones play an audio message. Registration complete. The game life or sleep is beginning. The difficulty level is three clubs. However, no one understands what that means. Unexpectedly, the elevator doors open. Shabuki enters first, followed by the other players. When the doors open again, a new message appears on their phones. You have two minutes to pass this room. Task: Choose the correct door. The countdown begins. In front of them are two doors. One features an anime style girl symbolizing life. The other has a skull representing sleep. Cha thinks it’s some kind of prank and starts recording everything on his phone. Suddenly, thick smoke begins rising from the floor. Their phones worn. 30 seconds remaining. Wanting to finish the game quickly, the high school girl opens the life door. The moment she steps inside, a laser instantly strikes her down. Shibuki quickly opens the sleep door and enters. Kurubi and Arisu follow her. Seeing that Chota is still frozen in shock, Arisu grabs his hand and pulls him inside. Just as they manage to close the door, flames burst from the floor. In the next room, their phones announce, “Time limit 1 minute 50 seconds.” Once again, they are faced with two doors. the same choice, life or sleep. Shibuki explains, “In this game, regardless of which door you choose, someone must become a sacrifice within the given time. No one wants to sacrifice themselves, but time is running out.” While everyone argues and refuses to open the doors, smoke begins rising from the floor again. Arisu decides to take a risk and open the sleep door. But at the last moment, he changes his mind and chooses the life door on the condition that Shibuki will be the one to choose next time. The door turns out to be safe, proving Shabuki’s assumption wrong. In the next room, they are given 1 minute and 40 seconds. With each passing room, the time limit shortens by 10 seconds. This time, Karub yells at Shibuki, demanding that she open the door, but she is too afraid. He then turns to Arisu, insisting that since he’s a genius, he should be able to solve the puzzle easily, unlike the rest of them. However, Arisu argues that this is not a game. But Karubi pressures him. Earlier in the series, we saw that besides video games, Arisu owns many books on fractal geometry, proving that he’s not just a gamer, but also a highly intellectual person. Despite Karuba’s urging, Arisu begins to panic. He screams that he can’t do it. As only 10 seconds remain, he suddenly solves the puzzle, confidently opens the sleep door, and finds that it is safe. Everyone rushes into the fourth room where the countdown begins again. This time, they have only 1 minute and 30 seconds to choose the next door. Arisu explains to his friends that he noticed a car parked between the buildings that was 4.94 m long. The length of the building is approximately four times that, around 20 m. He quickly draws a map and determines that the correct choice is the sleep door. With just 10 seconds left, they all run towards the sleep door and escape once again. A sense of hope fills them. They’ve managed to survive multiple rooms thanks to Arisu. But suddenly, he freezes, staring at a wall with no doors. Arisu realizes that the final door should have been right in front of them, leading outside. But instead, the only exits are on the sides. Something is wrong. He missed something. As gas starts filling the room, they now have only 30 seconds left. That’s when Arisu remembers that Chota recorded a video. Quickly reviewing the footage, Arisu notices that the room the high school girl opened had no doors. This means that the building is not a perfect square, but is split into two sections. They now need to enter the other half of that room. With just 5 seconds left, Arisu and his friends sprint toward the life door. Chota running last burns his leg from the flames. As soon as they enter the new room, a final 10-second countdown begins. Arisu opens the last sleep door and successfully leads everyone outside. The room instantly bursts into flames. Arisu and his friends run down a narrow hallway and then descend the stairs, escaping the building. Their phones receive a congratulatory message for completing the level. Shibuki notices a playing card suit on the table and picks it up. A moment later, a new message arrives. They have earned a 3-day visa, meaning they don’t have to participate in any games during that time. Just then, a man approaches them. He tells them that the game never ends. Before he can finish speaking, a laser beam suddenly strikes him, killing him instantly. Shabuki immediately realizes the truth. Any player whose visa expires is eliminated by the laser. To survive, they are forced to keep playing. Suddenly, countless laser beams light up the sky, signaling that many players have been eliminated. On top of a high-rise building, a short-haired girl watches the scene unfold. She holds a playing card in her hand. Her name is Usagi. A new day begins. Arisu finds an open car, but no matter how hard he tries, he can’t start it. Chota notices that all electronic devices with microchips, such as cameras and digital watches, are not working. He assumes this happened due to an electromagnetic pulse, EMP. He once read online that such a weapon could instantly disable all electronics in a city if launched into the stratosphere. Arisu starts to wonder, “If that’s the case, then why are the mobile phones they use in the game still working?” As soon as he voices his doubts, his phone suddenly shuts off. While Arisu and Chota try to find at least one working electronic device, Kurub and Shabuki head to a shopping mall, Kurubi picks up a dagger from the supermarket for self-defense while Shabuki finds a portable batterypowered stove. They discover that batterypowered devices still work. They prepare a hot meal and eat. Shabuki reveals that she entered the game 3 days ago and had already participated in one game in the subway where gas was used. She was the only survivor. Arisu finds this strange since people disappeared only yesterday. The only thing he’s sure of is that there is a game master who controls and observes everything. Chota suggests a theory that they might have microchips implanted in their bodies with a tracking system. Shibuki recalls that a Scandinavian tech company once ordered a project from her employer to create a virtual reality identical to the real world. Chota insists that he would never mistake virtual reality for real life as his burns feel completely real. In the evening, Kurubi suggests to Arisu that they should enter the next game alone without others to learn how to adapt and win. He says that Chota is currently a burden due to his burns and if they don’t learn to win on their own, they won’t be able to protect their friend. Moreover, they might find a doctor through the games to help treat Chota’s wounds. When night falls, lights suddenly turn on in a seven-story residential building. The game is joined by Usagi, the same girl seen earlier on the rooftop of a Tokyo skyscraper. A newcomer wearing a cap approaches the players and asks where all the city’s residents have gone. As he speaks, a muscular man named Auni appears. Shortly after, Arisu and Kurube join the group. At that moment, all participants receive a message on their phones. Registration complete. Number of participants 13. The game is about to begin. Difficulty level five of spades. A real estate broker approaches Arisu and explains that the suit of the card determines the type of game. Spades, games of strength and endurance. Clubs, team-based games, diamonds, intelligence games, hearts, the most unpleasant suit involving betrayal. The number on the card represents the difficulty level. The higher the number, the harder the game. Tonight’s game is a simple strength-based game. All players receive the rules for the game called tag. The goal is to find a safe zone in the residential complex within 20 minutes. If they fail, they will lose and the building will be destroyed. 2 minutes remain until the game begins. The broker tries to befriend Arisu and Kurubi. Once everyone spreads out across the floors, the game starts. Phones notify the players. The tagger has arrived. Arisu Karube and the broker are on the fifth floor when they hear a gunshot. Moving forward cautiously, they see that one of the players has been eliminated. As Arisu and Karub peek around the corner, they spot a man wearing a horse mask. The trio immediately runs downstairs. The broker heads to the second floor while Arisu pulls Kurub into a hiding spot on the third floor. The horse masked man moves down to the first floor and eliminates the broker from the game. One of the participants, panicked after seeing the tagger, tries to exit the building, but the moment he touches the laser at the exit, he is instantly eliminated. 5 minutes pass and the horsemasked man eliminates two more girls. Arisu and Kurub observe his movements. Arisu realizes that the mask significantly limits the enemy’s field of vision. This is their chance to win. He rushes out of hiding and shouts that the horse-masked man is on the second floor. Arisu urges the others to work together to find the right room and win the game. Hearing this, Usagi relays the tagger’s location to the other players. However, the horse masked man tracks her by sound, forcing her to run. Using her mountaineering skills, Usagi climbs up a pipe to the fifth floor, moving swiftly between levels. With 8 minutes left, the newcomer approaches a door, but suddenly, gunshots ring out. Terrified, he curls up in a corner. Too afraid to move, Arisu quickly pulls him to safety. With 6 minutes left, Karub tells Arisu and the newcomer to continue without him, deciding to stay behind to delay the tagger. At that moment, a Gooni appears. Carefully observing the enemy, he notices that the tagger is unskilled with firearms and declares that he can be defeated. Then, a man with a headband brings a fire extinguisher. Arisu notices that Auni and the man with the headband wear identical bracelets. Auni hands the fire extinguisher to Kurubi so they can defend themselves. Suddenly, Usagi arrives. Five out of the seven remaining players gather and share information about the rooms they’ve already checked. Usagi skillfully leaps to the second floor to search the remaining unchecked areas, leaving Arisu and Kurub stunned. Meanwhile, Auni, the man with the headband, and Kurubi try to eliminate the tagger while Arisu and Usagi continue searching for the room. The man with the headband distracts the tagger, but when the tagger closes in, he panics, realizing Aon has no intention of helping him. The horse-masked man eliminates him from the game. When the tagger tries to take out Karub, Auni lifts the fire extinguisher and sprays it in his face. Blinded, the tagger starts shooting randomly, but misses every time. At the moment when the tagger reloads his weapon, Kurub seizes the opportunity and attacks him with the fire extinguisher, but fails. The tagger kicks Karub to the ground. Aooni rushes in to help, but the tagger is a skilled fighter and defeats him in hand-to-hand combat. Then Karub tries to eliminate the tagger using his dagger, but the tagger once again overpowers him. The tagger draws a machete to finish off Karub, even managing to wound him. But at the last second, Aon intervenes again and kicks the tagger. Meanwhile, Arisu searches for a safe apartment, but one by one, the doors turn out to be locked. He recalls a crucial moment, the only time the tagger fired at a player on another floor. Arisu deduces that the player must have been standing near the correct room at that moment. He also notices an apartment door riddled with bullet holes, the same spot where the tagger attacked the newcomer from a distance. If the tagger was so interested in this room, it might be the safe zone. Arisu quickly heads to the apartment and sees a silver-haired boy approaching the same destination. Their thoughts align. As Arisu grabs the doororknob, he hesitates. Why did the tagger chase them around the building instead of simply guarding this room? But time is running out. Only two minutes remain. They enter the apartment only to be ambushed by a second tagger wearing a horse mask. Arisu shoves the silver-haired boy aside, saving him. The boy seizes the moment and stuns the tagger with a taser, but the tagger quickly recovers and opens fire again. The silver-haired boy dashes out of the room while Arisu hides in another part of the apartment. Inside, he spots two buttons on opposite walls. He realizes, “This is the safe room. To clear the game, both buttons must be pressed simultaneously.” Arisu opens a window and shouts for the others, calling them to apartment 406 to help end the game. However, the second tagger isn’t waiting around. He charges into the room. Orisu engages in combat with him. This tagger is smaller than the first one, giving Arisu a chance to fight back. Usagi bursts into the apartment. The silver-haired boy hands her the taser, and at the last second, she stuns the tagger, incapacitating him. Arisu and Usagi press the buttons together, stopping the timer. A notification pops up on the player’s phones. The game is successfully completed. The players remove the mask from one of the taggers and discover that underneath is an ordinary woman. Seconds later, her collar starts blinking and she is eliminated from the game. Arisu comes to a horrifying realization. The taggers are former participants who lost and were forced into this role. The second tagger is also eliminated. In the pocket of the man with the headband, Kurubi finds a functioning radio. A mysterious voice speaks from it, stating that an answer has been received and that it is time to return to the beach. This message was meant for Auni. But when Karubi turns around, Auni is already gone. Meanwhile, Shabuki notices Chota praying and asks if he believes in God. Chota responds, “No, but my mother was deeply religious, which led to a lot of bullying at school.” He explains that he was saved by Arisu and Kurub. Kurubi was strong, knew how to fight, and protected him, while Arisu was smart, and came from an influential family. Arisu feels guilty because the woman in the horse mask was eliminated from the game. Usagi tells him that they are participating in the game against their will, so he is not to blame. After this, Usagi leaves. Shentaro finds a strange drawing with numerous lines in the woman’s jacket, the meaning of which will become clear later. Shibuki’s visa expires today. At this moment, Arisu and Kurubi return from a game. In the next scene, Kurubi tells the other players about a voice he heard on the radio mentioning the word beach. Kurubi believes that if they reach the beach, they might find other people. The team decides to head to the nearest beach, but Shabuki points out that the journey is long, and Chota is unlikely to make it due to a serious leg injury. Additionally, both Chota and Shabuki’s visas are expiring today. Arisu continues to feel guilty about the woman in the horse mask. In his confusion, he briefly mistakes Shabuki for her. He confesses to Shabuki that the previous night someone was eliminated from the game because of him. Shabuki responds that when she first entered the game, she felt the same way. Kurubi returns to the bar where he used to work, and finds a hidden engagement ring that he bought for Se, the woman he loves. Karub is convinced that all the people have been evacuated and are at the beach. He plans to give Se. As night falls, the screen in the square lights up, notifying the players about the location of a new game. The four head to the botanical garden. On the table, there are tools, hammers, axes, chisels, as well as safety glasses, and mobile phones. The players must take any tool and put on the glasses with collars. They pick up their phones, which instruct them to wear the protective glasses. As soon as they put them on, the glasses lock and cannot be removed until the game is over. The registration is complete and our heroes become the only participants in the game, which has a difficulty level of the seven of hearts, indicating high difficulty and a game of betrayal. According to a broker, the game turns out to be hideand seek. The phone announces that one person will be the wolf, while the other three will be sheep. Whoever the wolf finds becomes the next wolf. The winner is the player who remains the wolf at the end of the game. The game lasts 15 minutes. Chota becomes the first wolf. In a panic, he tries to remove his collar, but Arisu stops him, warning that attempting to forcefully remove the device could result in an explosion. Chota looks at Arisu, making him the new wolf. Arisu then turns to Kurubi, who immediately gains the status of the wolf. Shabuki quickly understands the rules and tricks the others into looking at her, making her the wolf before running away. Kurubi chases after Shabuki. During the chase, she stumbles and Kurubi catches up to her. He tries to force her to look at him, but Shabuki refuses, unwilling to pass on the status of the wolf. However, during the struggle, she accidentally meets Kurub’s gaze, making him the wolf. At that moment, Arisu appears, and upon meeting Karubi’s eyes, he becomes the next wolf. Arisu tries to calm Karub and Shabuki, suggesting that they work together to complete the game. However, seeing that they are not listening, he turns and runs away. Arisu hides, causing Kurubi to believe that he has betrayed them. Hearing the conflict between his friends, Chota begins praying with tears in his eyes, begging the gods for help. Meanwhile, Kurubi and Shabuki corner Arisu. Shibuki begs him to give her a chance to win. When she lunges at him with a knife, Chota suddenly appears and knocks her down. He shouts at Arisu to run. Arisu runs away and then tries to remove the protective glasses, but he fails. He grabs pliers to cut the collar, but remembers the woman with the collar and loses hope. Arisu begins to cry, recalling his father’s words that the key difference between him and his brother is that his brother had a goal he was willing to do anything for, while Arisu had none. Then he remembers the happy times spent with his best friends, and how Chto once said that his dream was to buy a big ranch in Australia and invite Arisu and Karub to drink sake until morning. There were only 3 minutes left until the end of the game. Arisu decides to leave the game voluntarily. He tells his friends through the built-in collar radio that they are everything he has and that he is ready to sacrifice himself for them. He calls out to his friends to pass them the status of the wolf, but they have already made the same decision and remains silent. Chota covers Shibuki’s mouth and hides with her in the bushes. When one minute remains, Kurubi says that being with them made him forget all his problems. Chota laughing asks Arisu to complete the game and win no matter what. Touched by the friendship of the three, Shibuki also accepts her fate. With only 30 seconds left, Shibuki and Chota embrace. Arisu finds Kurubi to pass him the status of the wolf, but Kurubi lowers his head and smiling says goodbye to him. A few seconds later, Kurubi is eliminated from the game, followed by Chota and Shabuki. As stated in the rules, all players except the wolf leave the game. During the day, Usagi goes out to get food and finds Arisu lying on the ground. She asks him what’s wrong and he replies that he wants to leave the game. Usagi silently walks away. The next day, she sees Arisu in the same spot again, soaked from the rain. Since Usagi now becomes the second main character, we are shown a brief flashback. We learn that her father was a mountaineer. He even climbed Everest without an oxygen tank, which is considered a remarkable achievement. Usagi once asked him what he would wish for if God existed. Her father replied that he would want God to create more mountains that no one had ever climbed before. When he asked her the same question, Usagi said she would wish for time to stop because only her father and the mountains accepted her for who she was. Later, rumors spread that Usagi’s father had faked his Everest descent without an oxygen tank. Usagi became the target of reporters accusations. Her father insisted that he had never lied and set off to climb Everest again, but this time he never returned. After that, Usagi suffered from severe depression for several years. Back in the present, Arisu regains consciousness and realizes that Usagi has saved him. She stands up, places the food she prepared next to him, and offers it to him. He asks why she decided to save him. Usagi replies that even in despair. His body still showed the will to live. Arisu confesses that his best friends were eliminated from the game because of him. Usagi tells him he should eat. Then she goes for her morning run. When she returns, she notices that Arisu has eaten all the food. Usagi asks why he chose to help everyone during the game of tag. Arisu replies that he simply didn’t want anyone to be eliminated because if it hadn’t been for him, Usagi would have been the one to lose. That’s why she decided to help him. After a short conversation, Arisu finally regains his composure. As nightfalls, they head to the location of the next game, a long tunnel with a graffiti covered bus inside. Inside the bus, three young men are already present, Sain, Takuma, and Yammen. They explain that they met during one of the games and have now survived four together even though they weren’t acquainted before. Usagi notices that Tkuma has an injured leg. At that moment, their phones receive a notification that registration is complete. The game titled distance is about to begin. The difficulty level is four clubs, meaning it requires teamwork. The objective reach the finish line, but its location is unknown. Takuma asks his friends to leave him behind as his injury will prevent him from running. Yammen goes to the front of the bus to try and start it but finds that the gas tank is empty. Frustrated, Takuma insists that the others continue without him, reminding Yaman that his wife is waiting for him at home. With pain in his eyes, he watches as his friends leave and then sits in the last row accepting his fate. Watching him, Arisu remembers his two friends. Usagi tells Arisu that Tkuma made the right choice, otherwise they all would have lost. Arisu and the others begin running through the tunnel. After running 5 km, they spot a table with drinks and a sign that says supply station. Exhausted from thirst, Sey reaches for a bottle of water, but Yowmen stops him. At that moment, Arisu also tries to take a bottle, but Usagi notices Yammen’s gaze and immediately understands. He wants them to drink first to test for poison. So, Usagi takes out her small bottle of water and hands it to Arisu. After taking a few sips, Arisu notices the envious looks from Sein and Yammen. Kind-hearted as always, he offers them his water, leaving Usagi without any. The four of them continue forward. At the sixth kilometer, the players come across numerous parked cars. Usagi, staying alert, notices something ahead. Suddenly, a black panther emerges from between the vehicles. The players scatter in different directions. Yammen hides under a car. The panther, too large to crawl underneath, jumps onto the roof and then spots Arisu and Usagi, shifting its focus to hunt them. Usagi finds a signal flare inside one of the cars and uses it to scare the panther away. She, Arisu, and Yowmen escape together, but unfortunately, Sain is left behind. Yowmen is so devastated that he no longer wants to run. He says that even though he only knew Seain and Takuma for a week, it felt like they had been lifelong friends, Arisu motivates Yammen to keep going, reminding him that his wife is still waiting for him at home. At the 8th km, Arisu spots an old non-working motorcycle on a truck. Despite the missing battery, its fuel tank is full. The group remembers that the bus they started the game in ran on diesel. This gives them a chance to save Tkuma, who had stayed behind due to his injured leg. Arisu insists on going back alone to avoid putting the others in danger. He is confident that he will make it in time as there is still an hour left before the game ends. He begins pushing the heavy motorcycle back along the path. On his way, he even catches sight of Sain. Meanwhile, Usagi and Yammen continue moving forward. They find a large iron gate and assume it is the finish line. Deciding to wait there for Arisu and Tkuma. They notice that only 15 minutes remain on the game timer. At the same time, Tkuma, having accepted his fate, is shocked to see Arisu arriving with the motorcycle, he wipes away his tears, unable to believe his eyes. With 5 minutes left, Usagi and Yammen hear strange noises. Suddenly, nails from the iron gate start flying out and water bursts through the opening. Usagi and Yammen turn and start running back. Exhausted, Yammen falls. He picks up a photograph of himself and his wife. In his final moments, the rushing water engulfves him and he is eliminated from the game. Usagi runs as fast as she can when suddenly Tkuma and Arisu appear in the bus. Arisu reaches out, pulls Usagi inside, and slams the door shut just as the massive flood engulfves them all. Sometime later, Usagi opens her eyes and realizes that all three of them have survived. They step out of the bus and notice graffiti on its side that reads goal. It turns out that the bus itself was the finish line, and the distance shown on their phones represented the space between them and the bus. If they had just stayed where they were, the game would have ended immediately. Their phones receive a congratulatory message for successfully completing the game. Takuma begins walking away, but Arisu calls out to him and asks where he is going. Takuma replies that he doesn’t know, but adds that if he stays in the game, they will meet again. It is likely that he didn’t want to burden the group because of his injury. Arisu tells Usagi that he plans to head to the beach to find the game organizers and restore the world to normal. They get on a bicycle and set off. Arisu has been in the game for 16 days and is frustrated that he still hasn’t found any clues about the beach. He and Usagi have only 3 days left before their visas expire. That night, for the first time, they sleep in the same tent. From the look in Arisu’s eyes, it’s clear that he is not used to being so close to a girl. In the morning, Usagi teaches him how to hunt. And in the evening, they observe groups of people preparing for games. Arisu notices that some men are wearing the same bracelets as A Gooni and the man with the bandage. The group gets into a car that operates without electricity and drives away. Arisu and Usagi follow them. While standing on a bridge, Arisu spots the word beach on a building across the river through his binoculars. Suddenly, someone appears behind them and knocks them out. They are taken to the building marked beach and interrogated about why they were spying. Arisu explains that they were looking for the beach, hoping that once they got there, they could understand where all the people had disappeared to. Upon hearing this, the leader, known as the Hatter, enters and welcomes them. The Hatter opens a wooden door revealing a collection of game cards. Most of them have already been crossed out. He explains that the only way to escape the borderlands and return to the real world is to collect all the cards by participating in games. According to him, one complete deck equals one person saved. This means that the cards must be collected repeatedly until each of them can return home. He then explains the concept of the beach, which was created for the purpose of gathering cards. The place has fuel to provide light at night, weapons, water, and food. Overall, it’s a place where people can enjoy life despite the deadly games. A strict hierarchy is enforced at the beach. The more cards you bring in, the higher your rank. The higher your rank, the earlier you get a chance to return home. Currently, the Hatter holds the top rank. Life on the beach follows three rules. One, everyone must wear swimsuits. This prevents the hiding of weapons and ensures safety. Two, all earned cards belong to the beach. Three, traders are eliminated from the game. The Hatter takes Arisu’s seven of hearts and is thrilled as it was the missing card they needed. Because of this, Arisu and Usagi are immediately promoted in the rankings. The scene shifts to a wild party at the hotel. The people here live each day as if it were their last. All players are assigned to different games. Arisu and Usagi are sent to separate challenges, but promise each other to win no matter what. That night’s games are revealed. Usagi participates in a matchstick game. Each player has nine matches and must use them to find hidden numbers in 20 dark rooms. A Gooni takes part in a tiger fight and successfully defeats it. Arisu and player Anne are sent to the basement for a puzzle game. Their team includes a girl named Hikari and a newcomer who had previously played hide-and-seek with Arisu. It turns out that this newcomer is also a member of the beach. Three more participants join them, making it seven players in total. At that moment, they receive a text message confirming the registration is closed. The game is called light bulb and has a difficulty level of four diamonds. Game conditions. Determine which of the three switches turns on the light bulb. Rules. The switches can be flipped as many times as needed while the door to the room with the light bulb remains closed. Once the door is opened, only one switch can be flipped once. If anyone enters the light bulb room, the door can no longer be closed. Four pipes continuously pump water into the room and exposed high voltage wires hang from the ceiling. If the water reaches the wires, all players will be eliminated. The game begins immediately after the rules are explained. One of the participants decided to check if the wires were really live. She grabbed one with her bare hand and was instantly electrocuted. Player Anne suggested opening the door and testing each of the three switches one by one to determine which one turned on the light bulb. However, Arisu refused and ordered the door to be closed. Then he flipped switch A, waited for a while, returned it to its original position, and asked to open the door. Once the door was open, Arisu pressed switch B, using up the only allowed attempt with the door open. The light bulb did not turn on, which meant that switch B was incorrect. Arisu then suggested touching the light bulb. Hikari did so and burned her hand, proving that switch A had sent power to the bulb. If the light bulb had been cold, the correct switch would have been switch C. A message appeared on the player’s phones. The game was cleared. Arisu returned to the hotel and found Usagi. She had also successfully completed her matchstick game. Ikari approached them. She revealed that her mother was in the hospital and she had to survive at all costs. Suddenly, Auni and his enforcers, the ones responsible for maintaining order at the beach, burst into the pool area. It turns out that the beach’s residents are divided into two factions. The idealists, led by the Hatter, the military faction, led by Auni. For now, the Hatter and Auni share control of the beach, but a conflict between them could erupt at any moment. As they talk, Auni and his men approach Arisu. Upon noticing the attractive Usagi, Auni orders his men to take her. Arisu stands in her defense. Hikari warns him not to provoke the military, but he ignores her. Auni threatens to break Arisu’s legs. At that moment, the Hatter appears and asks Auni to let Arisu go. Auni decides to back down. The Hatter calls for a meeting with all the leaders and invites Arisu to join. At the meeting, Arisu is surprised to see the silver-haired man, who is also among the leaders. One of the leaders reports that the joker card has not yet been found, and it might not even exist. The only card still missing is the 10 of hearts, which means that soon the Hatter, as the number one player, will be able to return home. The Hatter orders N to continue searching the game arenas in Tokyo and wait for the appearance of the 10 of Hearts. He also announces that tomorrow he will personally participate in a game because he urgently needs to extend his visa. After the meeting, the Hatter invites Arisu to his room and reveals that he once managed a men’s club in Tokyo called Beach. That’s where the hotel got its name. He was nicknamed the Hatter due to his obsession with extravagant hats. It becomes clear that he is a narcissist, believing himself to be almost a god. Arisu drinks whiskey with the Hatter. The next morning, Arisu wakes up with a hangover and sets out to gather information about this world. He learns that game arenas appear only in Tokyo and that those who try to escape the city are eliminated by a laser. He attempts to talk to the girls, Mamoki and Asahi, but they immediately run away. Suddenly, Arisu hears several gunshots and sees soldiers walking away from a dumpster. Approaching it, he is shocked to find the bodies of eliminated players inside. At that moment, a silver-haired guy and his friend Hikari appear. They tell him about the third rule of the club. Anyone who refuses to collect cards is considered a traitor and removed from the game. Climbing to the rooftop, the silver-haired guy introduces himself as Shunaro, he asks Arisu what he plans to do with the information he has gathered, Arisu replies that he wants to find out who organized the game. He hopes to return to his world or at least send Usagi back. Shentaro laughs at his naive idea, but says he has a plan. Shentaro explains that by following the local rules, Arisu is unlikely to return to the real world because his number is 315 and he is as far from first place as the moon is from Earth. Moreover, sooner or later, Auni will stop tolerating the Hatter and attempt to overthrow him, which will lead to chaos. Therefore, Shentaro suggests that Arisu and Hikari team up to steal the cards. That evening, Arisu tells Usagi everything. Meanwhile, on the beach, the players joyfully send off the Hatter as he heads to a game, knowing that his visa expires the next day. However, soon after, news arrives. The Hatter has been eliminated from the game. His body was found near one of the game arenas and returned to the beach. One of the executives, a man with glasses, declares that according to the rules, as the second in rank, he should take over leadership. However, Suguru, one of Auni’s followers, objects. He insists that power should go to Auni and calls for a vote. Seeing that no one is raising their hand, Suguru signals a tattooed guard to intimidate the executives. In the end, everyone is forced to raise their hands, acknowledging Auni as the new king of the beach. Suguru insists on immediately opening the black envelope. It turns out that all the cards won in the games were kept in the Hatter’s safe. The password for the safe was written on a piece of paper sealed inside the black envelope which could only be opened when leadership changed. As the new king, Auni opens the envelope, learns the password, and then receals it in front of the executives. Shentaro informs Arisu about this and suggests that he break into the royal suite to steal all the cards from the safe. Usagi warns him that if they are caught, they could be eliminated as traitors. However, Arisu is convinced that with the change of leadership, the unity of the beach will collapse anyway, making it the perfect time to carry out their plan. Meanwhile, Sugaru gathers everyone in the hall and announces that the Hatter lost yesterday’s game and never returned. A Gooni is now officially the new king of the beach. At the same time, Arisu secretly sneaks into the royal suite and finds the safe inside a wardrobe. Over the radio, he asks Shantaro for the password. Shentaro gives him the number 80022. However, when Arisu enters the password, the safe does not open. Instead, an alarm is triggered. Auni enters the room with his men, followed by a smirking Shuntaro. Usagi is also captured. It turns out that Shantaro has betrayed Arisu and Usagi to gain Auni’s trust. After several blows, Arisu loses consciousness. Auni thanked Shantaro for his help, but his gaze involuntarily stopped on a painting of a deer hanging on the wall. When Arisu regained consciousness, he found himself tied up with his mouth and eyes taped shut. He was left to wait until his visa expired. Before leaving, Siguru told Arisu that he was going to throw a party for Usagi. Arisu was in despair, but there was nothing he could do. Meanwhile, Anne extracted the bullet from the Hatter’s body and pondered over what had happened. Shunaro ordered Hikari to stand guard near Auni’s room. Over the radio, he informed her that when Arisu was captured, Auni, who was usually calm, kept glancing at the painting of a deer. Shunaro deduced that the black envelope did not contain a note with the password, but rather an image of the deer. His assumption turned out to be correct. Behind the painting, a hidden safe was concealed. Entering the code 822, he successfully opened it. Sugaru took Usagi to one of his rooms. But when he tried to approach her, she bit him on the tongue. At that moment, the television in the room automatically turned on. Shunaro, who was about to escape from the beach, suddenly felt something was wrong. He stopped Hikari, who was about to step off the premises, and removed his bracelet. As soon as the bracelet touched the ground, it instantly burned up. It turned out that the beach had been completely taken over by the game’s organizers. The entire area was surrounded by a laser grid, making any escape impossible. Suddenly, the voice of the game’s host echoed through the loudspeakers, announcing the start of a new game for all the players. Difficulty level 10 of hearts. Taking advantage of the fact that Suguru and his men were distracted, Usagi managed to escape from the room. All the players gathered in the lobby where the body of Mamoki was already lying. She had been eliminated from the game. The host announced the name of the game. Witch Hunt. The objective of the game was to find the witch, the player who had eliminated Mamoki, who was among them. To win, they needed to find the witch and burn them at the stake. The witch could be anyone, regardless of gender. The players were given only 2 hours to complete the task. The organizers lit the fire and the game began. Some players began to suspect Asahi, a close friend. Sugaru ordered his men to seize her and throw her into the fire. However, Usagi and Meera, one of the leaders of the beach, intervened. Usagi insisted that no one had an alibi, so it was wrong to accuse anyone without evidence. All the players began to take turns explaining what they had been doing for the past hour. A blood stained napkin was noticed in Anne’s hands, which raised suspicions. However, Anne explained that the blood was from examining the Hatter’s body. She had performed an autopsy and discovered that the Hatter had been deliberately eliminated, but the leaders had decided to cover it up and showed a bullet extracted from his body, stating that the rifling marks matched a weapon controlled by the beach. This meant that the Hatter had been eliminated by one of the beach members. One of the girls suggested that the witch was hiding among the military faction, but at that moment she was eliminated by the tattooed man. Just then, Auni entered the hall. He declared that they had to win the game first and demanded that the witch confess voluntarily, otherwise everyone who wasn’t part of the military would be thrown into the fire. Sugaru, in a playful mood, fired a shot into the ceiling. Panic spread among the crowd and people began to scatter. Usagi and Asahi ran out of the hall to look for Arisu. A newcomer and another man also volunteered to help. They started searching the rooms one by one. In one of the rooms, Usagi found a soldier sitting in a bathtub with a gun. Trembling in fear. He couldn’t bring himself to eliminate his friends. Usagi learned from him that Arisu was in the building. Meanwhile, the newcomer received information from a girl that Arisu was being held on the fourth floor. Amidst the chaos, Shintaro and Hikari hid in the surveillance room. They noticed Anne searching for something in an office. Hikari approached her to find out what she was looking for. Anne revealed that in the real world, she had been a forensic expert for the Tokyo police. She explained that by using superlue fumes, powder, and tape, she could lift a fingerprint and find out who had eliminated the Hatter. Hikari decided to help her, but their path was blocked by the tattooed man, an expert swordsman. Hikari ordered Anne to continue while she faced him alone. Meanwhile, the military set fires outside in an attempt to find the witch, filling the building with smoke. Arisu tried to free himself, but lost consciousness. During the battle between the tattooed man and Hikari, he was surprised by her skill. In a flashback, we learned that Hikari was once a boy. In her youth, she practiced martial arts, but her father was disappointed that his son always hesitated before delivering the final blow. He kicked him out of the house, calling him too soft. After that, Hikari decided to transition and change her gender. Next, we learned the backstory of the tattooed man. He was once a writer who had lost his passion for life. However, after participating in his first game, he felt truly alive for the first time. This changed both his appearance and his worldview. While both of them despised their past, unlike the tattooed man, Hikari wanted to return to the real world where her sick mother was waiting for her. The battle continued, and in the end, Hikari defeated the tattooed man. Meanwhile, Sugaru, looking through the scope of his sniper rifle, noticed a confused young man and recalled his school years when his classmates bullied him. Suddenly, Shintaro appeared on the rooftop and began mocking Suguru, accusing him of enjoying tormenting the weak. Shintaro suggested that the witch was one of the military. He declared that he was going to eliminate all of Auni’s followers, including Auni himself. Since Siguru also disliked Shintaro, they decided to settle their differences. Siguru took aim at Shintaro, but Shintaro unexpectedly threw a pack of playing cards as a distraction and eliminated Siguru with a lighter gun. Meanwhile, while unconscious, Arisu had a dream where he was sitting in a bar with his two best friends, Kurube and Chota. They told him that he had to survive at any cost. Suddenly, Arisu woke up, gathered all his strength, and ripped the tape off his mouth. He shouted for help, and Usagi, who was nearby, heard him, and saved him. After catching his breath, the protagonist was finally explained the rules of the game witch hunt. There were only 30 minutes left until the end of the game. Having already experienced similar trials, Arisu realized that the organizers were trying to make all the beach players lose. The newcomer assumed that the witch was one of the military, but Arisu disagreed. As Auni watched the bodies of the eliminated players being thrown into the fire one by one, he once again thought of the Hatter. In a flashback, we learned that the Hatter was his old friend. When he found out that Auni had become a military officer, he made him swear to live a long life because Auni was his only true friend. At that moment, Anne managed to lift fingerprints from the dagger and was shocked by the results. She ran out of the room to tell everyone, but she was intercepted by the military, who were still searching for the witch. 15 minutes before the game’s end, Auni ordered his men to eliminate everyone who was not part of the military faction. At that moment, Arisu and his friends entered the hall. Arisu proposed that everyone unite to find the witch. Unexpectedly, after these words, Auni approached Arisu and started beating him. Usagi speculated that Auni was the witch. She reasoned that if he weren’t, he would have no reason to attack a player who was clearly not the witch and had been tied up the entire time. Other players also began to suspect Auni. In response to the accusations, Auni did not defend himself and instead declared that he was the witch. The military pointed their weapons at him, but Auni stepped closer to one of them and demanded that he shoot. Arisu stopped the soldiers and said that Auni was not the witch. He then added that the person Auni had eliminated was not Mamoka, but the Hatter. Arisu saw it in Auni’s eyes. They were the same as his own when he lost his friends and couldn’t forgive himself. Arisu also pointed out that the military had enough weapons to take control of the beach long ago, but Auni never did. From this he concluded that Auni and the Hatter were not enemies but remained close friends. Together they restrained people like Sugaru to prevent them from getting out of control. This turned out to be true. In a flashback it is shown that the Hatter and Aoni originally created the beach as a utopia to save people who had fallen into despair after arriving in this world. However, over time the Hatter became obsessed with collecting cards. When he discovered that some players were hiding them, he began calling them traitors and eliminating them from the game. Auni realized he could no longer watch his friend turn into a tyrant. That night, after another successfully completed game, the Hatter arranged to meet with Auni. Auni admitted to his friend that he was struggling to keep Suguru and the other military members under control as they wanted to overthrow him. He urged the Hatter to disband the beach, stating that the idea of returning to the real world by collecting cards was just a beautiful lie he had invented. The Hatter turned away and with pain in his voice, said that sometimes a king must make difficult decisions. He pointed a gun at Auni. Just as he was about to pull the trigger, Auni was forced to eliminate his friend first. Back in the present, Arisu stated that Auni not only eliminated his friend, but now wanted to eliminate all the residents of the beach. The game organizers were exploiting his despair. This was the true essence of the game. Auni called himself the witch because he wanted to follow his friend into the afterlife. Usagi then asked who the real witch was. Arisu suggested that the witch was Mamoka, who had eliminated herself. Auni dismissed Arisu’s words as nonsense and once again claimed that he was the witch. In another flashback, it is revealed that after Auni eliminated the Hatter, he discovered that his gun had no bullets. The Hatter had never intended to eliminate his friend. He only wanted to scare him. Realizing this devastated Auni, but by then it was too late, Asahi asked Arisu to throw Mamoka’s body into the fire to end the game. Then she stepped into the center of the hall and announced to everyone that she was a game mediator. As soon as she said this, a laser beam descended from the sky and Asahi was eliminated from the game. At that moment, Anne entered the hall and revealed that the fingerprints on the dagger confirmed that Mamoka had eliminated herself because she no longer wanted to help the organizers. The game masters took advantage of this and turned her act into an entire game. Arisu addressed Auni, telling him that he understood him better than anyone else and urged him to calm down so that the sacrifices of this day would not be in vain. As time was running out, the players prepared to throw Mamoka’s body into the fire to complete the game. But suddenly, gunshots rang out in the distance. It turned out that Sugaro, though barely able to move, was still in the game. In a fit of madness, he threw a torch into the hall and started shooting chaotically. Usagi skillfully jumped onto his back and Arisu rushed to help her, but Suguro threw them both off. Just as Suguro aimed his gun at Arisu, Auni suddenly appeared. He grabbed Suguro and jumped into the fire with him. With only three minutes left until the game’s end, the players threw the witch’s body into the bonfire. Arisu noticed that Asahi’s phone had been recording the entire time and took it with him. Soon, everyone received a message announcing the game’s completion. It turned out that Hikari had spared the tattooed man and did not eliminate him from the game. The players watched as the beach building was engulfed in flames. Shintaro picked up the 10 of hearts from the table. He now had all the cards except for the joker. The next day, Arisu watched the video on Asahi’s phone. In it, she confessed to being a mediator. If mediators revealed their identity to the players, they would be permanently eliminated from the game. The organizers monitored every action of the players. The video revealed that their base was located beneath a subway station. Arisu and Usagi immediately set out to find the organizers. Upon entering the subway, they saw open doors and discovered that all the staff had been eliminated from the game. Suddenly, Shintaro and Hikari appeared. Arisu asked Shintaro how he found this place. Shintaro replied that he did so thanks to a drawing he had found in the pocket of a masked man wearing a horse mask. It was a subway map. He had studied it for a long time until he realized it was a diagram of the underground system. Shintaro stated that the only thing they could confirm was that the staff who worked here were not the real organizers. There was someone above them. When Usagi asked who it could be, Shintaro speculated that it was either aliens or a programmer who had created this world. At that moment, the lights in the room suddenly turned on and a message appeared on the screen. Emergency broadcast. A woman named Meera, one of the beach executives, greeted the players and announced that all games with numbered cards were now complete. It was now time for the face card games. She declared that the second stage would begin tomorrow at noon. As the heroes left the subway station, they saw airships with face cards appearing over Tokyo.
Three friends suddenly find themselves in a deserted Tokyo, where survival depends on winning deadly games. Each challenge pushes them closer to the edge, testing their wits, alliances, and the true meaning of life and sacrifice.
📌 Genre: Thriller, Survival, Mystery, Sci-Fi
📌 Language: English (Series Recap & Explanation)
📌 Video Type: Series Recap & Survival Thriller Breakdown
Main Cast:
Kento Yamazaki
Tao Tsuchiya
Nijiro Murakami
Aya Asahina
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