Breaking down the new Mizisua comic because hoo boy this is the clearest backstory for Mizisua we’re probably ever going to get considering Vivimengs writing
Honestly, the situation presented is pretty basic and should have a predictable path to go down. Mizi needs to escape from home and asks Sua to help her until Mizi is ready to be independent, which Sua accepts.
But already we see a very clear weak spot considering the people we’re talking about. It’s the fact that Mizi wants to be independent. In response to that, Sua repeatedly reassures that it’s okay for Mizi to keep relying on her and that she likes Mizi for her kind character.
Sua has never been the kind of person to state what she wants, and more or less states it through her actions and implications. It seems like a fawn response, where she thinks if she can get Mizi to believe Sua is a good person and that Mizi herself is a good person as well, then there is no need to part when they both love each other in a stable relationship. Because the reason Mizi wants to eventually leave is because well…it’s just a little too codependent and a bit of a burden on Sua. Sua knows this, so we can see everything after this conversation as an attempt on both parties to make their love work so they don’t have to part.
By Sua rejecting Mizi’s offer to pay her back, as noble as it initially seems, it has a sinister undertone in their relationship that almost all the time, one party is being taken advantage of by the other. Mizi does want to be on equal grounds with Sua, despite her main reason to come to Sua is because she needs help and has no one else to get it from. Mizi still loves Sua and wishes she could help her as much as Sua helps her, but when Sua rejects this, she worsens the stability of their relationship by coming across as incredibly one-sided in efforts. It’s like Sua wants to be the one in an everlasting debt towards Mizi rather than paying it off by letting Mizi pay her back, grow on her own and inevitably still choose to love her regardless.
Of course, Mizi does have doubts and hesitation about this because she can clock that Sua is being incredibly passive about this, to another degree that is unhealthy.
Initially, Mizi ‘pities’ Sua and almost shocked Sua actually agreed, like she doesn’t process the fact Sua loves her. She really does believe Sua is the rat she killed and allowing herself to be fully taken advantage of. She feels guilty over it, because even though it was Mizi who asked, shes always been self-loathing and denies herself of getting what she wants from other people despite how much she wants their love and understanding of her twisted character. She doesn’t think she deserves it.
To give Sua some credit, I think this panel is probably the most genuine and kindest thing Sua says. Both Sua and Mizi have the wrong view of Mizi, but no matter what the other thinks, it’s still absurd to believe Mizi is one specific idea of herself. I know she immediately clarified she means that Mizi is actually wholly innocent and understanding, but from a general perspective, it’s very comforting. To know from someone else that your perspective isn’t the whole truth feels accepting, like they’re admitting they know you better because even they don’t have the full idea of you. Sua looks so wounded at the idea of Mizi being evil, and would definitely not appreciate the treatment ALNST Mizi recieves after living as a witch.
The problem comes from the fact that Sua immediately then states that her very flat and ironically 2D idea is correct.
But then, she’s angry. Angry at Sua and maybe at herself too for letting Sua get so close, so close that Sua is really the only person she can depend on out of anyone else. She doesn’t want to be seen as fragile and innocent, and while Sua is partially right because it’s out of self-loathing, it’s also just because Mizi really is twisted. It’s demeaning and dismissive of her whole character to view her as fully innocent, because it plays into the facade Mizi must uphold. To fully love Mizi is to acknowledge her good and bad and to support her throughout it. If you only acknowledge her good, she’s like a ‘pet’, the pet was under Shine’s control, the pet under the K-pop Industry, and the pet she feels like when Sua is there. If you only acknowledge her bad, she becomes the witch everyone despises.
Even through her anger though, Mizi loves Sua so much that out of everyone who has hurt her and oppressed her, she gives Sua ‘verbal consent’ to see her as said pet. To demean her and degrade her into something Sua wants her to be. Everyone else has physically harmed her in order to view her as a pathetic weak girl, so if she really is doomed to be viewed that way, then she may as well feel like she has some control in ‘allowing’ Sua to hit her compared to everyone else who ‘hits’ her without caring for what she thinks.
Oddly enough, Mizi is both correct and incorrect, as she mostly has the means and intentions of how Sua wants her to act wrong. It’s not Sua wanting to hurt Mizi to establish control, it’s Sua wanting Mizi to hurt her to establish mutual love, unintentionally taking control of Mizi in the process. It’s why Sua lets Mizi to hit her, acting as a sort of ‘longlasting consent’ when Mizi slaps at her years later. After all, it’s not ‘You can hit me now,’ but rather ’You can hit anytime you feel like it.’
She believes through this process of degradation, she could understand what Mizi feels.
If Mizi hits her, she too feels the sting in her cheeks numbing the pain. If Mizi views her as a ‘pet,’ then Sua can understand how Mizi has felt her whole life. If Mizi temporarily abandons her, she too understands how lonely it feels to be by herself. It may be partially why she lets Mizi become an idol without her— she’s very happy for, of course, but she knows that the dream was always Mizi’s and even if Sua did enjoy some aspects of it, everything is for Mizi in the end. Even if Mizi becomes a little busy, it’ll be okay, because that loneliness is passed on to her on a way. It’s a mix of both wanting to be there for Mizi because of Mizi’s mental health but also because she could be someone Mizi could entirely need and depend on, which she highlights the most when comforting her. If she can wholly understand Mizi’s pain, then that too is an indicator that they don’t need to ever truly part. It’s less of a genuine attempt from a loved one to comfort another through a long tedious journey of healing and understanding, but more of a task or duty Sua believes she must uphold for Mizi to just suddenly ‘feel better.’
The problem comes when Mizi goes away for too long and entirely leaves her alone, which is not what Sua wants. She knows Mizi doesn’t want it either, but rather than properly communicating, she lets the zombie go after Mizi and find a way to regain the unintentional control she has over their relationship.
I believe the almost-kiss at the very end is meant to represent Mizisua being, on a surface level, truly close to a perfect ideal romance. They loved each other deeply and did support each other throughout most of their lives. However, because of their enabling behaviors, miscommunication, Mizi’s violence and submissiveness, and Sua’s control and dehumanizing view of Mizi, they never fully reach it.
After all, the closest they get in the kiss is when they’re both infected. And despite Sua’s wants, it’s still not a true happy ending. It’s ’the closest they could ever get.’
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