Introduction
Alien Stage is a popular Korean animated series that presents a dystopian thriller with multiple complex characters and relationships. The series cleverly explores deep, prevalent themes, and what makes the show so unique is that it is told entirely through song, with each episode featuring a new, original song sung by the voice actors. Made by VIVINOS and QMENG by Studio Lico, the episodes are all featured on YouTube and are free to watch.
The show takes place in a separate world from our own, in which aliens abduct humans and force them into a containment called “ANAKT Garden,” and are periodically selected to compete in deadly singing battles amongst their friends and foes for the pure purpose of entertainment. Every episode has a new battle between characters, and with little to no dialogue, the stunning visuals compensate and allow for character development and stories to be illustrated so beautifully.
Character Descriptions
Alien Stage introduces a variety of personalities through its main cast. The main human characters in the series are Mizi, Sua, Till, Ivan, Luka, and Hyuna. They come from the 49th generation and the 50th generation within the Alien Stage seasons.
Mizi, a young woman with long pink hair with dyed blue tips paired with golden-hazel eyes, is one of the main characters first shown in round 1 in the song “My Clematis.” Mizi is a favored character within the ANAKT Garden, especially admired by men, she only has eyes for her lover, Sua. She’s seen as having a cheerful personality, yet is neglectful towards darker aspects of her surroundings, such as the deaths that come along during the rounds.
Sua, a young woman with short black hair paired with violet eyes, is Mizi’s lover. She is first seen with Mizi in round 1 in the song “My Clematis.” Sua is seen with a kind and pure heart, yet has some possessive tendencies, especially towards Mizi. She’s seen with irritation towards the men who admire Mizi, often getting annoyed with characters such as Ivan and Till because of their closeness to her.
Till, a young man with grey hair and teal eyes, is first introduced in the ALIEN STAGE: Prologue, but had his main debut with his song, “Unknown (Till the End…)”. Till is described as sensitive compared to his fellow participants. However, he’s also a vicious opponent, with evidence from the second round where he overtook the time to sing over his opponent to win. He’s very fond of hanging out with Mizi and seems to be quite docile in her presence.
Ivan, another young man who is seen with jet black hair and dark black eyes with a red speck in the middle of them. Seen along with Till in the ALIEN STAGE: Prologue, he debuted in round 3 with his song, “Black Sorrow”. Ivan has a cheerful personality and is friendly with others, almost seemingly perfect. However, this cheerful personality is a front for his belief that he will get nothing but unhappiness, as analyzed from his songs. Ivan’s interactions with Till are seen as obsessive throughout the series because of his fondness for him.
Luka, the oldest participant in the series, is a male participant with blonde hair and yellow eyes. First appearing in ALIEN STAGE: Prologue, he’s most notably seen in his song against Mizi in “Ruler of my heart” performed as round 5. Luka is a charismatic performer, yet manipulative against his opponents, as seen through his exploitation of Mizi’s grief for Sua’s death in round 1. Not only does he do this manipulative behavior towards Mizi, but towards Till as well, within the final round. However, off-stage, he’s kept to himself and only displays bright emotions when in the presence of Hyuna.
Hyuna, the second-oldest participant within the series, is a female past participant turned rebel with long brown hair and gray eyes. Hyuna is first introduced in ALIEN STAGE: Prologue, with her debut being in her own song, “All-in.” This was after round 5, after saving Mizi from her loss against Luka. Hyuna’s a confident woman, dealing with missions to help the human rebellion against the aliens. Deep down, Hyuna still has a vulnerable side, especially with her past and a soft spot for Luka. She’s still disturbed from her past within the ANAKT garden and her time in Alien Stage, and drinks or smokes to cover up her guilt.
Character Relationships
The relationships between the characters are complex, with love, desire, and sacrifice in many of these relationships.
Mizi is the lover of Sua, their relationship is one of the central parts of the Alien Stage series. Notably seen from its codependency and can even be analyzed as toxic. Mizi has an idolization when it comes to Sua, describing her as a god and Mizi’s universe. However, this idolization caused strain on Mizi’s other connections with other people in the ANAKT garden. Sua was similar to Mizi, creating an inability to imagine life without Mizi. The tragedy is amongst layers of their relationship, with Mizi in later episodes describing her love for Sua in almost a perspective of desire rather than innocent love. Mizi’s monologue within the episode, “Karma,” gained discussion amongst the fans as a conflict over whether Mizi was lying to herself or whether worship and desire can co-exist with each other. Sua’s sacrifice for Mizi caused an emotional impact on her, regardless, with it being a significant moment within the series. These heartbroken, tragic lovers have a complex dynamic between love and desire.
Till has a conflict of feelings throughout the series. At the beginning of the series, Till is known for having a romantic attraction towards Mizi since they grew up in the ANAKT garden. His crush for Mizi was seen as idolization from her appearance and personality, even though Mizi didn’t seem to feel him back in a romantic way. Another extremely complicated relationship Till has is with Ivan. Their misunderstandings are what their relationship is heavily impacted by. Their attachment to each other wasn’t fully equal to each other, but that doesn’t mean that Till wasn’t still deeply attached to Ivan. Till’s attachment is seen as prioritizing the safety of Ivan, while Ivab’s attachment can be seen as obsessive and even violent, as seen in round 6, where Ivan sacrifices himself for Till to let him win, showing his selfless love even if seen through violent, desperate actions.
Hyuna and Luka’s relationship is rooted in shared childhood trauma and even betrayal. Luka and Hyuna were close friends within the ANAKT garden, yet their friendship was deeply severed when Luka murdered Hyuna’s brother in a moment of rage. This event caused tragedy for both Luka and Hyuna in their own way. Hyuna took this as resentment towards Luka, having him responsible for her brother’s death, while Hyuna has to deal with the burden of guilt, while Luka killed his only friend and sparked his self-loathing. We see a deeper connection with Hyuna and Luka with this in her sacrifice in the episode “Weige” when she puts herself in Luka’s way to make sure he doesn’t get shot by her fellow rebellion member. This sacrifice reveals her love for Luka in protecting him despite her resentment towards him. Hyuna goes on to even tell Luka that he was her only weakness.
Song Analyzation
In Alien Stage, every episode showcases a new original song sung by the cast. Every song is incredibly different from one another, ranging from sweet and melodic to loud and rebellious to eerie and dramatic. Each song helps represent the singer’s intentions and thoughts.
For example, in Round 1, the song, My Clematis, is sung by Sua and Mizi, and symbolises their love for one another. The song often repeats the lyric that, when translated, says, “Hope bloomed from the abyss,” alluding to how, despite the dystopian world, they bring each other hope. Through the visuals accompanying this sad, yet sweet song, the audience first begins to realise what Alien Stage is about. After the shocking death of Sua, the lyric changes to “Hope withered in the abyss,” displaying how Mizi’s hope for the world died when “her universe” died. Additionally, the song has a deliberate reason for sounding so melodic and calming. Despite there being two voices, it never sounds overlapping or as if there’s competition between the two. In the context of the show, the audience learns that Mizi and Sua were aiming to get the same score to beat the system; however, by listening closely, audiences can hear that Sua stops singing each phrase earlier than Mizi, which she does to devote her love to her, resulting in Mizi’s higher score.
Another amazing song from the series is All-In, which isn’t associated with a Round in the competition, but as an introduction to another vital character in the series, Hyuna. She is much older than the rest of the main characters and was a participant in one of their earlier games. Her character is the embodiment of rebellion from the corrupted system, and her song showcases the complexities of that. The song includes many lyrics like, “We only get one life, so I’m living mine for me,” and “Change the game with a single action,” displaying her wishes to break the dystopian system she was once forced within and help others break out as well. Her song, in general, is also very loud and raspy, which is a nod to how the aliens conducting the games prefer softer, melodic voices as opposed to the “rowdier” ones. However, the song takes a slightly different approach as Hyuna begins to spiral while remembering her past. Her voice shakes a bit while singing, yet retains that “toughness”. The instrumental even pauses only for a pulsing heartbeat when she recalls the murder of her brother. In the song, the lyrics switch sentimentally to say, “Step all over me, but I’ll rise again, It’s you who’s in the wrong, bet you had no idea.” to emphasize her complicated feelings towards Luka, the one who murdered her brother.
Lastly, one of the last songs in the series, Blink Gone, is a song sung between characters Till and Luka. It is the final song sung during the final round. The entire song revolves around relishing in a moment since it can easily be over in the blink of an eye. The song is primarily sung by Luka, who is an incredibly manipulative and cunning character, and relays his ability to lose himself within the competition to achieve his goals. Till, on the other hand, is suffering from the guilt and trauma from watching his friend and lover die in front of his eyes. He has significantly fewer lines, and his lines are sung with a tone of regret and worry, whilst Luka sings freely and mockingly towards him.
Although this is not nearly even a small dive into the beautiful songs Alien Stage has to offer, it goes to show the insane dedication that the creators went through to create the show. Alien Stage has so many beautiful, intricate, and meaningful songs throughout every single episode, and every single one of them has deep meanings and value to each character.
Themes
Alien Stage is some brutal, yet real themes conveyed through these characters and songs. For example, the dark side of celebrity culture. The characters in the show are essentially, “pets” for the aliens who have taken them, and they perform and compete solely for their entertainment. This leads the characters to show the worst sides of themselves in a desperate act of survival and. It illustrates the limits of the human mind and body and the ends to which humans will go to remain on top. The exploitation of humans displayed by the show runs deep as also shown by the human characters themselves.
Living in a world without structure, morals, or even a god, every character in the show react with one another as they fit best, often resorting to harmful tendencies. This leads some develop toxic dependency on one another, god-like obsession, or just violent, destructive relationships in general. Mizi, in the final episode, delivers a show-stopping monologue in which she describes, “And even if we’d been granted freedom, we’d have still felt alone because humans are the root of all this pain. We are creatures who can’t seem to love without exploiting.”
The show also dives into different ways those who go through traumatic events process and deal with grief like drinking, survivor’s guilt, sacrifice, etc. It shows to how people desperately try to retain their humanity amidst terrible events. Similarly, the show dives into themes of oppression and individualism, and breaking out of an organized system that pushes conformity. Characters like Till and Hyuna are often depicted as the personification of this.
Final Review
Overall, Alien Stage is an incredibly well thought out show that is like no other especially for it’s easy accessibility. For free, it offers an insane collection of original songs, complex characters, and comments on relevant themes of society today. It is a hundred percent worth anybody’s time and is a definite recommended watch!
