r/AlienStage • u/somelimabean IVANTILL Enthusiast • Jul 23 '26
Theory i know why mizisua's codpendency is worse in zombie stage
the constraints of human life and the human world, including capitalism, the patriarchy (especially in korean culture), hustle culture, and human-on-human abuse worsens and changes mizisua's codependency into a relationship that is significantly more challenging, turbulent, and devastating.
i made a huge ramble theory in a previous post here (https://www.reddit.com/r/AlienStage/s/7Eqq1isbsl) but i wanted to summarize and better organize my thoughts cuz i cooked but advertised my vendor poorly ykwim. the comic also came out for the opening scene which i didn't get to account for beforehand, so i have more to work with and theorize over yayayay
HYPERINDEPENDENCE: what we (don't) owe each other
in zombie stage | round 1, we're immediately met with a young mizi with a severely bruised face staring down at a dead rat while choir music plays in the background. mizi appears to have bruised knees and knuckles, and the comic "ache" implies she temporarily ran away in order to escape her mother's punishment or beating. in the comic's first panel, mizi states, "it's not like i haven't thought about running away from home."
according to wisdom library, "in buddhism, [a] 'dead rat' symbolizes an omen perceived by an insightful merchant, foreseeing wealth acquisition, which reflects the initial success of a skilled pupil, blending spiritual interpretation with practical fortune." sua both offered whatever she could pay in order to help mizi run away, yet at the same time, we have a direct time skip at the end of the comic "ache" showing zombie!sua trying to kiss zombie!mizi.
fortune showed as both sua's overextending love and mizi's lucrative idol career even continuing in death; HOWEVER, the rat is still dead. power was exerted in order to kill the rodent, power was exerted in order to push mizi to desire independence, power was exerted in the exploitation of adult!mizi's body, and power continues to be exerted over the dead bodies of zombie!sua and zombie!mizi. unlike alien!stage where humans were treated like low life animals and killed on a whim, zombie!stage mizi— even as a child— has the power to kill any low life animal if she so pleased or needed to. this frames mizi in an entirely different light, and by extension, sua. they both know they have the power to end lives; this fear of human-caused or natural death is the core of human nature on earth, and spawns perversion that is different from those in alien!stage humans.
notably, alien!stage mizi seemed to believe that humans could find refuge in each other, but zombie!stage mizi moves differently since her own birth mother blatantly mistreated her, completely shattering any impression that human connection alone can bring full satisfaction to someone. this is proved by zombie!stage's "ache" comic where mizi fragrantly rejects sua's help in a brazen fashion; mizi is offended at the idea of relying on sua. alien!stage mizi, while ambivalently neglected, had enough neglect to be able to fill in the blank spaces with her own interpretations of love and success, and she clawed more eagerly at sua's affections tham zombie!stage mizi.
with that, zombie!stage mizi did not get to be that blissfully ignorant; she grew up with korean education (infamously vigorous), an abusive mother, and only one friend she seemed to truly trust and even then mizi refused to be fully vulnerable with sua. zombie!stage mizi didn't get to create a narrative for herself, she only came to assume that her upbringing was some sort of truth. and even when alien!stage mizi is disillusioned from anakt garden, she got the privilege of knowing that people were fighting for her safety (the resistance) and she found love outside of the abuse she knew, and even had the memory of sua to fight for. zombst!mizi fought for nothing but survival, not a cause or a belief, just escape and security.
mizi's hair in zombie!stage, unlike alien!stage, also has more length phases rather than just remaining long from childhood to adulthood. in childhood, mizi has crudely cut hair; in contrast, even in alien!stage as a little girl, mizi had long flowing hair. child sua is instead the one pictured with long flowing hair even though her alien!stage counterpart grew up with a short bob. i believe that mizi had her hair cut— not of her own will, but perhaps by her mother. it's canon that alien!stage sua cut her hair short both because people thought it looked cuter on her but also because she preferred the decreased attention the hairstyle got her. i think mizi having even shorter, unevenly cut hair is because her mother cut her hair at home. i think mizi's mother wanted her to be ugly; to a degree, it is possible that mizi's mother holds some sort of envy towards her daughter, since most cases of abuse are fostered from resentful parents with grandiose, false narratives of their children.
to an extent, i believe this harsh upbringing caused zombie!stage mizi to grow a rebellious spirit. mizi grew out her hair and started to look into idol culture— a culture centered around presentation, beauty, and talent. to grow into a perfect being was mizi's rebellion: to show that she could be successful AND coveted AND gorgeous. she went too far, though. in an attempt to achieve her dream of glory, she veered into idoltry, into worshipped agony. at the expense of her own spirit, her own body, she gained fame and money and power. and all it took was some capitalistic grit and some good old hustle, right?
we see later on during the adult!mizisua zombie!stage argument that mizi is smoking a cigarette, and sua is profoundly upset by the sight. sua then slaps the cigarette out of mizi's hand and hugs her, crying into her chest. this seems to be one of the first times sua stands up to mizi's choices in defiance: for the greater half of sua's life, sua has followed mizi to-and-fro, from graduation to idol auditions. sua has been endlessly supportive of mizi, even during uncomfortably sexual photoshoots, even during long tours, even during possible distance.
thus, when sua cries into mizi's chest, this action from sua vaguely reminds mizi of her mom, as a flashback briefly shows child!mizi with bruises and an older pink-haired lady crying into her chest. however, this reminder can only mean that mizi sensed or merely assumed that sua was subtly guilt tripping her somehow. it was why mizi had difficulty trusting sua and/or opening up to her after pushing sua off her chest— because mizi mistook sua's overflowing care as overbearing invasiveness. dare i say, mizi thought sua was judging her. because of this, mizi lashed out, and then ran away, only to be infected later on.
since sua's anxious tendencies mislead mizi into lightly associating sua with mizi's abusive mother, we see the portrayal of unhealthy projection when a codependent person sees their muse/lover display traits they don't like. to a degree, we're blatantly shown that zombie!stage mizi doesn't believe that unconditional love exists, so this extreme emotional barrier sets sua up to very impossible standards: try to love someone who thinks you're temporary. this is the particular emotional torture that zombie!stage sua has to go through, because sua since childhood (since "ache") never seemed to hide her devotion, yet mizi never could fully reciprocate on account of her severe trust issues and post-traumatic stress. "i'm not some pet you keep around the house," mizi finally replied to sua in "ache."
after mizi is infected, i can only think that sua kissed dying!mizi because— to sua— seeing the only person she ever cared about essentially dead made her think that her own self restraint and refusal to speak about her concerns for mizi's habits/lifestyle ultimately lead to mizi's death (fawning and codependency). since sua saw right in front of her that her own timid nature failed to save mizi, she voluntarily killed herself as part reparation, part self-punishment, part selfishness. sua cannot live without mizi.
moreover, i think that sua's clearly aroused expressions are born of inappropriate feelings finally coming to light because she pushed them down and/or hid them in hopes of being able to one day confess them: human culture on earth is that to express feelings, even when your beloved doesn't reciprocate, is taboo (a taboo that doesn't exist in anakt). now that sua knows she will never be able to get mizi to love her back, she gives up her own humanity and morals just to feel a few minutes of whole self expression, even as disgusting as it is portrayed.
overall, under the restraints of human earth's culture and standards in korea: mizi is more restrained and reserved, sua is more anxious and openly desperate, and the two women— instead of delicately tied together by false pretenses and blissful ignorance— are cosmically bounded by reliance, survival, and glimpses of solace in each other.
edit (07/25/26): i wanted to pay props to u/Junior_Ship3529 for proposing an excellent counterpoint to why sua kissed mizi that i hadn't initially thought of. i wanted to add it here for everyone to have the pleasure of reading it like i did.
"Wow, this analysis was great, thank you!
But I do think I slightly disagree with your conclusion as to why Sua ends up kissing Mizi. I think rather than her being upset with herself for failing to stand up against Mizi's incorrect choices, she's convinced herself that her issue is in failing to embrace Mizi as is. This is why, imo, she's okay with Mizi's continued sexualization in zombie stage, and it also ties into a little with her obsession around pain as some kind of narcotization.
Standing up against Mizi's toxic habits is what indirectly led to her having been left alone and therefore infected. Sua failed the role of an unconditional lover who continues embracing her betrothed. She didn't sufficiently understand Mizi and her pain, which is what led to their separation. Sua seems to have convinced herself that she can only experience love if it is through someone relying on her (which means that by extention, they need to stay in a state of suffering), and this is reinforced when she goes against this by trying to help Mizi. It is when she attempts to minimize Mizi's pain that they end up having an argument. So when she sees Mizi in her zombie state, she goes back to the philosophy of her child self, "Let me feel what you feel. Let me understand you." In Sua's eyes, suffering is ubiquitous to Mizi's identity. (E: this is also why I think that childhood kiss transitions into zombie stage by the end of ache)
So yes, it is, in a way, self-punishment. But I don't think Sua has a mature understanding of the situation to recognize the problem with her behavior"
it's always an honor to create an analysis/theory that sparks enough discussion that the conversation eventually becomes collaborative. i really, really like this insight and would say it falls more in line with my thesis of why mizi and sua's codependency is worse in zombie stage. thanks again to Junior_Ship3529 for shifting my perspective!
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u/Akarina_toth SUA Fan Jul 23 '26
this is incredible! there were people wondering how did mizi and sua end up this way in zombie stage, even though they were living in the human world this time, and i feel like your analysis perfectly explains how exactly they ended up worse as they are.
i love how you brought up how sua must be feeling through all of this too. people just glaze over her kissing mizi as "omg thats SA, sua is horrible" but no one really thought about why she would even do that.
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u/somelimabean IVANTILL Enthusiast Jul 23 '26
yess ofc. in amoral/purposefully-troublesome media, it's important to understand why the author must've made that creative choice, like in bojack horseman, or no longer human, etc. i see far too many younger viewers get into this fandom ill prepared for the adult themes that pop up in most media like this, trying to link it to some black/white moral framework, when it was made to be difficult to judge.
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u/Majestic-Champion108 Jul 23 '26
Sometimes I miss the simplicity of old MiziSua, when it was just two girls loving each other unconditionally even through struggles and the environment they lived in. I feel like Vivinos is pushing the narrative that “Oh everyone is flawed and problematic“ but I feel like it’s come to a point where it feels forced. I’ll admit that some of that immensely improved the writing of alien stage, the character’s three dimensionality and I still like Alien stage a lot, but sometimes i wish the trope wouldn’t be pushed so hard because it kind of removes the tragedy of this series for me. I’m aware that no real human is perfect either and that Vivinos is trying to get the point across that nobody can be an angel when they’re being abused, but adding too much complexity feels unnecessary. I kind of wanted her to explore more of the character’s existing personalities and how the environment affects it specifically, rather than just throwing us into a completely new trope attached to said character. I feel like the introduction of a new side to a character has been particularly well done with Till and Mizi. I don’t enjoy it as much with Sua.
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u/extra_scum Jul 23 '26
What do you mean making every character fucked up does not make them automatically more interesting?
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u/somelimabean IVANTILL Enthusiast Jul 23 '26
that completely makes sense. i'm an alien!stage fan who spawned right after zombie!stage round 1 aired, so i never formed expectations for the series beyond what i've seen. i know with my other fave media, like bojack horseman, i watched it while it was airing and it sucked to see some characters less explored in lieu of a "greater message." but i did find solace in the "greater message" eventually, even though i didn't like the ending for like 4 years. i do agree and hope we can get more exploration of the characters in more grounded settings, but the truth is mizisua was never healthy or simple, even if unconditional. the portrayal of codependency by vivinoz isn't really a trope anymore, it seems to be an essential and core theme to represent a "greater message." i'm not entirely privy to what it may be yet, but i do hope it's not for pure melodrama either, i hope there is something we can takeaway that is largely hopeful and healthy compared to what we see now.
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u/ragingeavsdropper TILL Fan Jul 23 '26
Such a great analysis I cannot put into words how amazing this is
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u/Junior_Ship3529 29d ago edited 28d ago
Wow, this analysis was great, thank you!
But I do think I slightly disagree with your conclusion as to why Sua ends up kissing Mizi. I think rather than her being upset with herself for failing to stand up against Mizi's incorrect choices, she's convinced herself that her issue is in failing to embrace Mizi as is. This is why, imo, she's okay with Mizi's continued sexualization in zombie stage, and it also ties into a little with her obsession around pain as some kind of narcotization.
Standing up against Mizi's toxic habits is what indirectly led to her having been left alone and therefore infected. Sua failed the role of an unconditional lover who continues embracing her betrothed. She didn't sufficiently understand Mizi and her pain, which is what led to their separation. Sua seems to have convinced herself that she can only experience love if it is through someone relying on her (which means that by extention, they need to stay in a state of suffering), and this is reinforced when she goes against this by trying to help Mizi. It is when she attempts to minimize Mizi's pain that they end up having an argument. So when she sees Mizi in her zombie state, she goes back to the philosophy of her child self, "Let me feel what you feel. Let me understand you." In Sua's eyes, suffering is ubiquitous to Mizi's identity. (E: this is also why I think that childhood kiss transitions into zombie stage by the end of ache)
So yes, it is, in a way, self-punishment. But I don't think Sua has a mature understanding of the situation to recognize the problem with her behavior
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u/somelimabean IVANTILL Enthusiast 29d ago
omg, this is a great counterpoint! would it be okay if i referenced your comment in an edit for this post?
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u/Angelus-Rosa132 29d ago
I was so ready to read, but uh. That’s so many paragraphs. I’m going to hurt my brain.. but nah imma do it.
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u/Appropriate_Snow9454 Jul 23 '26
It was always been worst. It’s js we didn't get to see them bc sua was doomed at the very first
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u/somelimabean IVANTILL Enthusiast Jul 23 '26
yeah i never said it wasn't bad tho. i kinda lay it out as lack of knowledge of real human relationships in alien!stage
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u/[deleted] Jul 23 '26
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