Thoughts and Analysis - Going through the ALNST iceberg in chronological order :3. Part 1
1. Round 1
My clematis, hope bloomed from the abyss,
The first thing that stood out to me is how they were trying to synchronize they're singing. I am assuming that they were both trying to beat the system by getting the exact same number of points and both living to survive the competition.
After Mizzi's death, the guard put the collar on Mizzi, and it immediately turned red. (I also noticed how the guards are human-shaped, their movements are also very human. This caught my attention from my first watch-through, which was later confirmed in the most recent comic; these are indeed humans who decided to turn their backs on their own kind and watch their kin die mercilessly like animals on stage ... I'll get into this later)
Mizzi's face is covered in Sua's splattered blood that, and in this moment we see no tears in her eyes, they almost seem hollow, as Mizzi blanks out, staring into nothingness. It contrasts the lyrics at the beginnning:
"And the starlight in your eyes"
Mizzi's eyes seem as hollow as the darkness of abyssal space.
"When the darkness blinds my sight ... I will find you by your scent "
This part was very tragic, as the last scent Mizzi experienced before Sua's death, before she "slumber[ed] forevermore" was the scent of her blood.
I also wanna talk about the lyric distribution at the beginning. For Sua, Mizzi was the hope that bloomed from the abyss, from the abyss of despair, from the abyss of a hollow ruthless universe. She almost represents something sacred.
Then we switch to Mizzi, Mizzi mentions that she always wants Sua by her side. She wants her unwavering presence in her life, through good and bad. And while yes, that does signifies a deep connection of love and attachment to Sua, wanting her to be a constant presence in her life, it also shows some selfishness, possessiveness even on Mizzi's end. I think it's very interesting that Mizzi displays a possessive attachment style to Sua because possessive people usually have a need for control, a need that stems from once losing or fearing losing the object of their affection, losing something, or someone very dear (this gets more interesting with one of the newer Mizzi comics with her and her mom)
Sua deified Mizzi, while Mizzi cages with her fear and control, she wants Sua to always be by her side. The result? A very toxic codependency.
Unfortunately, we don't get to see more of this love story; as the points were being rounded up and we almost get a glimmer of hope that our favorite lesbos are gonna make it out of this:
"Hope withered in the abyss"
I found it really interesting that it was Mizzi that said this, contrasting how Sua sang the antonym at the beginning. I think at this point, Mizzi realized that Sua was more than just an object for her affection, and the tables turned ... in a sense. I believe Mizzi did love Sua, but I think she took for granted how much Sua gave meaning to her wretched existence. Yes, Mizzi was Sua's lifeline, but I think it took Sua dying, to realize that she was not merely the object of her affection, or a love that she can control in a world where she has no control over, Sua was Mizzi's lifeline as well.
I think this is why she did not have any tears in her eyes when Sua died; when faced with tragedy of losing her lifeline, the sheer weight of emotions, numbness is the only way her body could react, because it could not react; all her 5 senses were experiencing Sua's death: the scent and taste of her blood on her face, the vision of Sua's corpse right in front of her, and most importantly the deafening absence of Sua's voice...
