Zombie Stage Round 1 is nothing but a big dissapointement

Since a lot of people asked me how I felt after Round 1 finally dropped, I thought I'd make a separate post instead of replying to everyone individually.

After watching it... I honestly feel the exact same way I did before (previous post titled, "Zombie Stage is a lazy, cash-grabbing joke and the new comic proves it."), except now I have actual material to point to.

The biggest issue isn't that it's an AU.

It's that, in my opinion, it barely acts like one.

People keep saying, "It's just an alternate universe."

Okay... but an AU doesn't mean you have to recreate the exact same story with slightly different aesthetics. The whole appeal of an AU is exploring how the same characters would behave under fundamentally different circumstances. Instead, this feels like Alien Stage with a K-pop filter placed on top (which changes nothing since Alien Stage allegedly was a "metaphor" for the ruthless K-pop industry. So at its core it's nothing at all).

The character dynamics are almost identical.

Mizi and Sua are still trapped in the same unhealthy cycle.

Sua is still emotionally consumed by Mizi (her whole world revolves around her, she checks on Mizi). Mizi still ends up hurting Sua (even in the original she slaps Sua and let's her sacrifice herself for her, despite always calling her "her god") while simultaneously being traumatized by Sua's actions (people found it romantic but to me Sua kissing Mizi in zombie stage is heavily implied SA, since we don't know whether she's conscious or not. It's disgusting). Their codependency remains the emotional core of the story.

I've seen a lot of people say, "But the relationship is completely reversed now!"

I honestly don't think it is.

What changed is that they finally adapted characterization that had already existed in the official artbooks and comics into the main episodes.

For people who only watched Alien Stage, this feels like a brand-new interpretation of Sua (since she had 0 personality in round 1, alien stage given to us, then yeah it feels like a big improvement).

For people who actually read the supplementary material... it's not new at all. They're simply using characterization that already existed outside the main series. That's not expanding the characters. That's moving existing information into the show, AKA super writing low effort writing.

Even Mizi's role barely changed.

People argue that Sua is "the more exploited one because she's considered prettier and that's why Zombie Stage is so creative to choose Mizi as an idol, despite Sua being prettier".

But the actual story still centers Mizi as the victim of exploitation. JUST like the original. I don't remember once Sua's strongest side (visuals) playing out in advantage for her :/

While Mizi, just like in the original is constantly forced to weaponize her appearance to gain approval. We literally see her posing with men despite looking visibly uncomfortable, presenting herself in an overtly sexualized way because that's what's expected of her.

This reinforces the exact same feelings Alien Stage already established.

In the official comic, Mizi is harassed by a boy and is visibly uncomfortable. In the Karma illustrations, she's surrounded by men who supposedly "love" her, but the imagery feels disgusting rather than affectionate. She even asks Till why he likes her, only for him to reduce her value to her beauty.

So when people say Zombie Stage gives us a completely different perspective on Mizi...

Does it?

To me, it's reinforcing the exact same narrative: Mizi desperately wants genuine love while being valued primarily for her appearance, while lashing out on Sua as her emotional trashcan for negativity.

It's the same emotional conflict in a different environment (not really since environment is the exact same too).

The setting isn't actually that different either.

Yes, technically it's no longer Alien Stage.

But the narrative function is almost identical.

Instead of a televised death competition, it's the K-pop industry with STILL death and STILL a competition. Someone said creativity? Nope it f*cking died.

My biggest disappointment is Sua.

This was the opportunity to finally make her the protagonist.

We barely knew anything about her in Alien Stage because she died so early. And it made sense her high visuals didn't play apart, since she gave lines to Mizi, and aliens cared more for performance than visual appearance. But here in AU with humans and K-pop she could've finally had her time to shine...

I genuinely thought this AU would finally let us spend time with her, understand her motivations, her fears, her personality beyond how she relates to Mizi (yes, I hoped to see her outside of being addicted to Mizi, thanks).

Even if they wanted to keep her characterization exactly the same...

At least let her survive long enough to become a fully realized character.

Instead they seem determined to repeat the exact same tragedy again.

It's honestly frustrating because this AU could have answered so many questions.

This AU seemed made for Sua.

If we're going by Korean beauty standards, Sua arguably fits them better than Mizi does: black hair, elegant styling, reserved demeanor, the kind of image that idol companies traditionally market. So I genuinely expected the story to lean into that and ask, "What happens when Sua is the industry's favorite?"

How would fame affect her?

Would her possessiveness become worse?

Would she sacrifice herself differently?

Would she finally have an identity outside of being "Mizi's girlfriend"?

And, more importantly, how would Mizi react if the roles were actually reversed?

That would've been a genuinely interesting AU.

Instead, Mizi is still the central figure being exploited.

They did ANYTHING to just not change A THING and make this show mildly entertaining. Well, great it just shows the creators are all about being money obsessed like these big companies who post endless sequels just for the hype.

Mizi is still the emotional center. She's still the primary victim of exploitation.

Sua is still defined largely through Mizi. She has almost no personality outside of Mizi.

To me, that's the biggest missed opportunity. They had the chance to take the character we knew the least about and finally make her feel like a fully realized person instead of someone whose story ends before it truly begins.

That's the kind of creativity I was hoping an AU would bring.

Now let me disect this round 1 fully...

Ivan's appearance at the end didn't make me excited. It made me think, "Okay, so we're repeating this too." (Millions time already)

Again, he is introduced through abuse, control, and trauma. Again, the story immediately connects him to suffering and dehumanization. Again, it feels like the creators are relying on the same emotional shortcut they used in Alien Stage: show Ivan being damaged, isolated, and shaped by a cruel system so the audience immediately feels bad for him.

But oh hey, he appeared just for 1 millisecond, so I won't go in detail.

I won't say this was HORRIBLE. Visually? It's gorgeous.

Qmeng's art is beautiful as always. The animation has improved. The music is meh, super generic and I didn't connect emotionally at all (since it's just a copy paste but now without feelings that original had), but again not a big deal. None of that is my issue.

My issue is that the writing feels incredibly safe (aka lazy).

To me, Zombie Stage is not this cool project it tries to be.

Maybe future rounds will surprise me.

I honestly hope they do (but I'm going in having 0 to no exectations). Because right now, I don't feel angry anymore. Just... disappointed.

Anyways would love to hear objective/respectful opinions regarding this!