The Romance Dawn Trio According To Me. Critiques Welcome

been having a great time drawing the sleep deprived legend

escapism vs reality in alien stage

in this post (elaborated greatly by geo's tags as well) i mentioned a big sua/till parallel i noticed (but didn't go into much detail because i didn't want to derail the post lol), and i wanted to go into more detail on that and the overall reality vs fantasy theme alnst has going.

sua & till both use their love for mizi as a form of escapism. sua's love for mizi and the weight of her knowledge of their universe causes her to create a safe (fake) bubble for her and mizi to exist in & makes it as perfect as it can be before they're out of time. till uses his love & admiration for mizi as a beacon of hope, as motivation to go on despite how horribly he's treated in day to day life. mizi is the brightness in both of their dull lives.

this view of mizi as a hopeful, optimistic sort-of deity sheds light onto an entire theme of alien stage, escapism vs reality. it also shows that mizi & ivan, in this specific instance, are antitheses of each other.

mizi, as a character, symbolizes hope and escapism. she is the only character out of the main four that didn't understand the exact conditions of their world due to how she was raised. she does not fully grasp how horrifying the alnst universe is until she watches sua die, which is the inciting incident for the entire series. escapism isn't possible anymore, but hope is still there when she gets rescued by hyuna and joins the rebellion.

ivan, on the other hand, literally symbolizes truth and the reality of their world. since he was born he understood the cruelty the segyein are capable of and knows exactly where he stands in the world. he is seen to be fatalistic and even nihilistic. his death, which he sees as an inevitability, is the second inciting incident (the one where everything goes to shit chaos afterward). it is a brutal reminder of the truth of alien stage to both the characters and the audience.

sua & till actively seek out mizi as solace in their pain, and they both actively avoid ivan (in their own ways) and the connections he has to reality.

sua avoids ivan because, well, he's mean to her, but mostly because he's not even trying to be mean, he's just objectively right and she doesn't want to hear it. he is a reminder not only of the cruel world they live in but her own 'twistedness'. he reminds her that she is not solely the fantasy she's created with mizi, but someone with unavoidable knowledge of the inevitable (as well as someone who is willfully keeping this information from an unknowing mizi).

till avoids confronting his feelings for ivan and confronting ivan in general because ivan confuses him. his feelings for ivan aren't cut and dry in the way his feelings for mizi are, because ivan is and always will be tied to pain and suffering for till (their first meeting in the auction shop, their miscommunication/strange relationship, the fact that ivan is the only one who sees him at his most vulnerable, etc). ivan's death forces him to confront these feelings (for ivan & about their world in general) but even then he's repressing them until he physically can't anymore.

mizi is escapism & hope, literally realized because she escapes. ivan is reality & a representation of the fate of alnst contestants, literally realized through his death.

it doesn't end there, though. sua & till are escapists running from reality (with diverging paths that are both narratively important in their own ways), while mizi represents escapism & ivan represents reality. along similar lines, but going a step further, hyuna & luka showcase these exact themes.

hyuna is the legitimate showcase of hope, of freedom. she is a free human (as free as you can get in the alnst universe) and the leader of a human rebellion focused on uprising as a race against the segyein.

luka is the perfect example of compliance within reality. he is now a two time alien stage champion and the definition of a pet, no matter how he actually feels.

hyuna & luka are similar to, but a step beyond, mizi & ivan. mizi symbolizes escapism, but she is faced with reality and must grapple it, while hyuna is freedom personified (albeit with demons of her own). ivan symbolizes reality, but he still yearns for something he thinks he'll never have, while luka completely shuts off those emotions because he knows they will only jeopardize his chances of survival.

the characters of alien stage perfectly embody one of the core themes of alien stage, the discrepancy between fantasy and truth, and the way those can coincide in a world.

luka, live with love.

embrace the pain, the frailty,

and the moments so unbearably shameful.

forgive yourself. again and again, endlessly.

because everything... begins from there.

rediscovered some texture stuff i had in csp :DDD a fun time!

I’m so new and lost on here but first post !!

Breakdown of Hyun Woo's Incident

That day, Luka was clinging to a troubled Hyuna while Hyun Woo tried to make him let go. Luka is either sweating heavily or crying here (unusually expressive and emotive for him) as he adamantly refuses to release her.

Hyun Woo is deeply upset and loses his patience. He resorts to violence.

In the ensuing scuffle between the two, Hyun Woo's head made lethal impact with a rock.

His death wasn't intentional — the rock was embedded in the ground.

(If the point was that Luka purposefully killed him, the rock would've been loose to imply it's a weapon he used to bash Hyun Woo's head with.)

Luka doesn't even seem to register or care about Hyun Woo's state. He's singlehandedly focused on the joy of being able to return to Hyuna now that no one is stopping him.

This is the main reason Hyuna resents him — he doesn't even acknowledge Hyun Woo's death and what happened.

Can she blame someone who doesn't know? Can she forgive someone who doesn't understand? She can only resent him.

"It's you who's in the wrong."

"Bet you had no idea."

— All-In

Now the question is why was Hyun Woo so upset? That's not the expression of an ordinary day-to-day conflict.

The answer:

Luka changed his behavior at some point. Specifically, this point.

Before this, Luka was aloof and unemotive. He cared about the two of course ("Your life is mine" (/matter of fact)) in his own way, but it's a drastic difference from the tunnel vision he gets later on where just the sight of Hyuna brings him an overjoyed smile regardless of circumstances.

This moment with Hyuna is the changing point for him. His controlling friendship (likely towards both Hyuna and Hyun Woo) and his entire world, is consumed by an unhealthily anxious love for Hyuna.

This abrupt development catches her off guard and she isn't sure how to react. She's certainly not okay with it.

Hyun Woo was worked up that day because ever since then, Luka has started to become obsessively clingy towards his sister and this is likely just the most recent in a series of incidents where he refused to let Hyuna go despite her wishes (Hyuna is looking at Luka as she raises her hand with a troubled face).

It's possible there's jealousy here feeling like Luka's trying to monopolize his sister, but I think it's more likely he was angry on Hyuna's behalf due to Vivimeng's repeated emphasis on how he has a strong sense of justice.

He also may have heard about Luka attempting to force himself on Hyuna and was agitated by the need to protect his sister and get him away from her.

Lastly, Wiege makes it clear that Hyun Woo and Luka both considered each other friends.

Luka's pov — The camera is low because he's looking up at them as the smallest one.

Luka's drawing — He's standing between the siblings and holding both of their hands.

positivity post 😁😁!!!!

On my never-ending mission to project Izuku onto Epic Odysseus