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my favorite cover is mizi's for unknown till the end, partly because it's a duet with till/akugetsu instead of a solo performance. mizi sings the first lines while till sings the second set, before they converge to sing "i wanna know all about you." till's lyrics reveal that his feelings for mizi are largely a means to cope with the violence of his environment—he doesn't care if his "world turns upside down," nothing can destabilize him as long as mizi's there to cling to. his sense of self retains its form so long as he has her as his muse. he ostensibly wants to learn about her, a curiosity he failed to clearly express until he was on stage in a deathgame. in their duet, mizi returns the sentiment; she wants to know about him, too. this is a sincere desire reflected across their time in the garden together. she regrets the way till's feelings for her eclipse her and inhibits their ability to develop real understanding between them.

mizi sings from "no more takin' it slow" to "for me, alright?", but interestingly, till finishes the chorus off with "don't leave me" after mizi's been singing for about six lines.

mizi's curiosity about till and her wish to deepen their friendship goes unexplored and unfulfilled. as their time before alien stage dwindles, till's fear of intimacy & abandonment prevents him from responding meaningfully to mizi's attempts to connect.

i really like that mizi's next lines embody till's desperation during his performance of utte, though it strikes a different tone from her perspective.

while the original song is dedicated to mizi, till doesn't sound like he's addressing her with "how dare you think this time's enough?". it's too indignant and accusatory. if you do read till that way here, he could be speaking to himself, regretting his own inaction while hoping to atone for it on stage the only way he knows how: through music. he could also be speaking to the segyein, who exert total control over their lives and stunt the development of human relationships (or put it in stasis altogether).

sung by mizi, though, the line sound like something she might say to till if she had the opportunity. their time in the garden wasn't enough for them to truly connect like she wanted to, and embedded into her regret for their unrealized platonic love are anger and grief. but she doesn't resign herself to these emotions. in my favorite part of their duet, she exhorts him not to be afraid—of love, connection, or her.

it's worth noting that edelweiss, a flower referenced by till in utte, symbolizes purity, courage, and resilience.

now here's some of my favorite art by the alien stage team.

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happy-go-lucky

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what people are missing when talking about sua's 1% affection rating for ivantill is that it's not 0%. the whole point of leaving that single percent is to show that even though she tries not to, she still can't help but to care for the people around her.

look. does sua look like she hates till in this scene? is she happy to see him in danger?

sua represses her emotions and stays distant in fear of being hurt, and in fear of being treated like a burden and being hurt further by ostracization. she fears that if she gets close to someone, and grows dependent, that they'd eventually hurt her as deeply as her oldest sister did. sua only allows mizi in because her relationship with mizi was initiated before her sister hurt her, and because she knows that mizi is dependent on her as well.

but her sensitive heart leaks through, no matter how much she tries to hide it. she still cares for ivan and till, even when all ivan does is hurt her, and even when till could possibly threaten her relationship with mizi.

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But I wonder all they know

'Cause they don't die and they don't grow

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Honestly the funniest thing about Ivan comparing himself to a parasite is that the bugs on his song cover are centipedes. That's not even a type of parasite man

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i wanted to entrust my emotions and feel relieved

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She doesn't survive in any universe, doesn't she?

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my favorite side characters are sua's sister, dewey, and phan.

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first post here augh

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Why do you think Ivan wonders if his relationship to Sua is similar to that of sibling in the artbook? Is it just because he feels that she's the most similar to him?

ok i wrote a whole long post but tldr (@ myself), ivan has no documented frame of reference for what siblingship looks like, nor is he describing the conditions of his relationship with sua; he's merely reporting what he thinks (hopes?) they might be. if a sibling was simply someone who suffered in the same way as you because they were raised the same (with the same methods, for the same purpose, and resulting in similar dysfunctions), then ivan might be on the money, but that's not what a sibling is. there is no inherent care or obligation between ivansua. that's a large part of their relationship in the garden; any intimacy they could've built was ruined by ivan's criticism and condescension, or cut off at the neck by sua, because she saw ivan's initiation attempts as invasions and challenges to her values. honestly, ivan comparing sua to a sister illustrates just how poor of an understanding he has of sua, how desperate he is to connect with her, and how ill-equipped he is to articulate that desire.

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i like these two

[ID 1: Ivan from Alien Stage in the style of the Alien Stage album covers. He is looking down at the screen with his chin in his hand and is smiling smugly.]

[ID 2: Sua from Alien Stage in the style of the Alien Stage album covers. She is holding herself and is smiling gently with her eyes closed.]

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when i write about ivansua it's with the lens that they are not romantic and they are not platonic and they are not familial and they do not mutually like nor trust each other and they are—and this is critical—not nothing. they are in fact worse than nothing. they're like a place where nothing tries very hard to be but can't quite manage it. a secret seventh thing. and they're like the most interesting non-ship pair to me.

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#alnst#ivansua#I LOVE IVANSUA#the parallel in the sense in what they represent and what they are#their subsequence rejection of the other's ideals#you're cooking#in my most deranged dreams shallow emotions could also have been about sua

one of the reasons ivan is so condescending and cruel in this ivansua comic is that he feels fucking betrayed. he takes solace in his and sua's commonalities, and feels a strong sense of connection to her because of them (all without fully realizing how he's projecting his insecurities onto her and criticizing himself in a cutting, condescending way by using her as a proxy) (not a great way to get closer to a potential friend).

in nowhere, he talks about how his memories are so painful he'd rather forget and become numb to them. here, he pulls a similar move: he can't describe how badly this betrayal made him feel, and pushes it to the recesses of his mind. imo this speaks to just how much he valued sua and how deeply the perceived severance of their "bond" affected him.

i also think the parallels between sua recalling her sister in her final moments in the heavenly garden comic, and ivan recalling sua ("i should have been kinder") in his last moments alive.

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one of the reasons ivan is so condescending and cruel in this ivansua comic is that he feels fucking betrayed. he takes solace in his and sua's commonalities, and feels a strong sense of connection to her because of them (all without fully realizing how he's projecting his insecurities onto her and criticizing himself in a cutting, condescending way by using her as a proxy) (not a great way to get closer to a potential friend).

in nowhere, he talks about how his memories are so painful he'd rather forget and become numb to them. here, he pulls a similar move: he can't describe how badly this betrayal made him feel, and pushes it to the recesses of his mind. imo this speaks to just how much he valued sua and how deeply the perceived severance of their "bond" affected him.

i also think the parallels between sua recalling her sister in her final moments in the heavenly garden comic, and ivan recalling sua ("i should have been kinder") in his last moments alive.

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i do sincerely think the recorder is an adorable and fitting choice for mizi to gift to till. it's not typically considered to be a sophisticated instrument (in spite of its long history); today it's an amateur musciain's tool meant almost as a plaything, or as a stepping stone to developing serious musical skill. till being taken with a child's instrument because it was a gift from mizi reflects his sweet but ultimately shallow affection for her. the recorder is an instrument with which someone refines their ability, and has fun. till's crush on mizi is a tool that helps him channel his feelings through music and enables his creative expression, but it's also a stunting force that, if lingered with for too long, limits him as a person.

did she know she was about to make him the most annoying child in the whole garden

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did she know she was about to make him the most annoying child in the whole garden