Substantial amount of people including me thought that it could be Japanese version of Squid Game, but this whole tv series came from one typical manga. From the beginning there was no thriller in this show. When I watched Korean Squid Game, I could see thriller from beginning because the protagonist knew that he will lose his daughter and his mother will die if he doesn't earn lots of money. Therefore, he wrote his own disclaimer of physical rights. Then he decided to participate into the game because he doesn't want to lose his daughter and mother. However, when I watched Alice in Borderland, there was only one poor guy who is staying in his younger brother's house. Then he left the house, met his friends, and the game started. He didn't have purpose to participate into the game from the beginning.
Japanese manga is too typical now. It was really fun when I was a kid reading a Dragon ball, but It is AI gerneration now.
Looks like any Japanese entertainment company can't make really nice and tight script at all.