♡ Yukii ♡

I've talked about similar stuff before, but I'm always happy to reasonably fart on the webtoon and the fandom, so.

The webtoon does unfortunately cut out A LOT of moments, smooth out many KDJ's rougher edges and make him an overly emoting clown, and yeah, it made him wayyy more likeable and marketable. But in doing so, it pretty much loses the core of who he actually is—someone who's genuinely selfish in ways he won't admit, but also genuinely trying, and that exact tension is what makes him so compelling imo. Novel KDJ is...idfk. KDJ. He's a jerk in ways that aren't cute, he's manipulative af, he lies to others constantly (tho he'd say "it's not lying, it's just not telling the whole truth" or some bs like that), and he makes choices that aren't just "heroic necessity" or whatever the fyck. But the webtoon's narration style can't really show all of that because it doesn't have access to his internal monologue the way the novel does, so it ends up framing his actions as more "greater good" than they actually are. Also KDJ doesn't have to go after those who wronged YJH in his regressions, but mf goes out of his way to fuck over people who hurt YJH when it's not necessary to do it this way for his plan, he just does it out of spite and his protectiveness over his protagonist.

But if I'll be real, allat is not just a webtoon issue. Even without this shit, I think a lot of people would still flatten him, because that's what fandoms do. People's brains are so rotted by cliche yaoi tropes and consumable templates that they can't process characters as anything other than what they've already decided they are. It's easier to shove KDJ into the "adorable soft blorbo who needs to be protected and saved uwu" mold (and YJH into the "big strong alpha daddy wolf boyfriend who growls at anyone who looks at his baby wrong" mold) than to sit with the discomfort of him being a genuinely messy, a bit cruel and complicated person who sometimes does bad things for reasons that aren't selfless.

It's kind of sad, honestly. They're missing the whole point of his character because they're too busy trying to make him fit into something they already understand just to claim they understand him. And it's not even that they can't understand the characters—they just don't want to, because understanding them would mean letting go of the easy, comfortable templates they've built their whole enjoyment around.

❛❛ Mizi X Sua (ZOMST) matching themepacks ❜❜

︶︶♱︶ F2U with written credit only. Renders by @hauntingmizi !

If it's any consolation, there exists a world, somewhere out there, far away, where you could have been happy.

“It keeps spinning around in circles, coming back to the exact same path.”

Everything is gathered from online threads and reports of panel attendees, so take this post with a grain of salt, they can be debunked or changed later!!

Those who attended the live panel event say that anime will have a different director (Alien Stage's main director is Vivinos and co-director is Q-meng), and they hope that the fans will be supportive when they reveal new director's identity. Vivinos will still be involved but mainly focus on Zombst.

Rumors online also say the anime will be produced by Xenotoons, the same studio that produced "Make A Girl". That one is a bit uncertain as the official account didn't reveal the studio yet

【 Hyuna Tumblr Themepack !! 】        ┃Self - indulgent , F2U with credits accordingly (preferably @) ! Id/me/kin/f/o tags okay ! Reblogs appreciated !! PSD

— i am so hyped for the upcoming mv holy smokes ... and lets not forget the isaac cameo ... we need more content of him and dewey 🥹

Taglist (ask/dm to be removed/added ! +free to ignore) : @pyonakaa , @fleurhyus , @nyx1a-rose , @d-veiled , @glassmitu , @graveszn , @corruptionz , @luxipe , @vieledaffection , @kirokumiku , @lose-the-princess/@nyancvtt , @vxmpmaki , @agepoyolo , @abudasima , @flowercaskett , @rinabub , @stelleaeron

and I am enjoying it in the worst way possible.

It starts of by showing us immediately that Mizi has violent tendencies. It is unclear where they originate from, but we can guess that her mom was connected in some way.

Sua goes on to hug Mizi while Mizi doesn't really hug back. She just sits there, blank. It's here that we get a peak into their dynamic. Mizi suffered through something and Sua tries to stop her spiralling. But it doesn't work.

The universe us set in modern times, and we find out that Mizi and Sua have been aiming to be Kpop Idols since their school days. They have gone to audition after audition, but they got rejected. But they were happy and very much implied to be reciprocating feelings, though not entirely together at this point.

They graduate and try out for one more audtion. And it goes well!...But only Mizi manages to actually pass. Mizi is upset but Sua supports her wholeheartedly and pushes her to follow the dream, even without her. Mizi takes this 'blessing' and goes onto become a very popular idol.

It came at a cost though. She was subject to sexualisation and objectification. The passion she once held seems to actively die from her eyes, and she becomes more and more uncaring and numb. She's drifting away from everything, including Sua.

All this that was boiling comes to the surface when Sua scolds Mizi for smoking, taking away the cigarette. Mizi doesn't have a reaction at all. Not on her face. Not in her body language. She just looks at Sua with a blank face, and slaps her.

This escalates as Mizi turns to leave. Sua grabs her and hugs her tight. She's saying something while crying into her chest. Likely something about what the idol life is doing to her and how she's changed. Mizi is still angry. She snaps and shouts and cries. She finally shows somereaction, some part of who she used to be. Then she runs away. And we can see a zombie follow her.

Sua breaks into the area where infected Mizi seems to be kept and brings her to her apartment. She is exhausted and dissociating, smiling as she stares at Mizi tied in her room. She leans in to kiss her, and we can assume that she got infected this way.

It's not exactly clear how they ended up in Zombie Stage, but it perpetuates the horrific cyclic life of an idol. Even as they are rotting away, and losing their identity, they have to perform for an audience.

In the OG series, she saw a hierarchy in the world and was scared that she was at the bottom of it with no comfort whatsoever, thats a part of why she went to Anakt Garden in the first place.... Whatever happened with Mizi and her mother in this AU still parallels the way she leaves Mizi with this fear of being helpless and weak and being "crushed" by something stronger than her and a need for control, an emotional outlet for her anger in some way with something/someone as weak and helpless as herself (when in the og alnst, that outlet was Sua willingly submitting to her in their similarly helpless situation), very interesting stuff

I keep seeing people say how crazy Mizi is and how innocent Sua was in comparison, but that’s just not true. I adore both Mizi and Sua, by the way. This isn’t criticism of either of them. But you can’t ignore what Sua does here if you want an accurate portrayal of their relationship in this world.

When Mizi becomes an idol, she’s manufactured into a sex symbol, crafted into something that can appeal to the male gaze despite how we KNOW she’s a lesbian. Specifically, we can see how Mizi’s breasts are often framed promiscuously to further her objectification:

So this shot where Sua finds Mizi, tied up and helpless, incoherent, and the first thing she does is frame an unaware Mizi’s breasts as if in a photoshoot—bitterly, ironically, before relief takes over—it goes to show something major about Mizisua’s relationship in both the ALNST and ZOMST verse.

In ALNST, Sua enables Mizi’s infantilization (something often levied against women in a misogynistic context) of herself by keeping Mizi “in the dark” (although Mizi is more aware than either of them want to acknowledge). People rightfully criticize Till for his innocent vision of Mizi to comfort himself with, but Sua has a version of Mizi in her head that she uses to comfort herself, too. She and Till aren’t incredibly different in this regard.

In ZOMST, this translates not to infantilization, but to objectification. Sua is bitter over Mizi’s decision to let the industry use her in this way, she’s disgusted by it, but then she wields it herself when Mizi is finally helpless and incapable of pushing Sua away again by miming taking a photo of Mizi’s breasts.