An Ode to Alien Stage

Alien Stage (sometimes styled ALIEN STAGE) is a South Korean music project and animated YouTube series told through consecutive music videos featuring original characters and songs. Led by VIVINOS, a South Korean artist and animator, in collaboration with QMENG and STUDIO LICO, Alien Stage follows the story of humans born into a futuristic society in which aliens have taken over the world, giving rise to the advent of “human pets” forced to compete in the titular game show. It’s often described by fans as “a cross between The Hunger Games and The Masked Singer,” in which pairs of contestants compete against each other through duets. The winner advances to the next round, and the loser is publicly executed in front of a live audience at the end of the song.

While such a violent premise may sound dubious, the real magic of Alien Stage is expressed through the dynamics between the seven main characters, all told without a single line of dialogue (bar a brief monologue in the song “My Clematis”). As the show progresses, character storylines overlap and increase in complexity, often with gut-wrenching results, such as the sacrifice of the character Ivan in Round 6, following a kiss between one of the show’s two queer couples.

I got into Alien Stage from recommendations by my friends, expecting it to be a casual watch before I moved on with my life. Instead, I was immersed in a world that I’m finding difficult to escape; it’s been over two months since I watched each round in succession and I’m still just as engaged with the fandom and the lore of the story as I was in the first week of discovery. The writing really shines through the beautiful animation and original songs performed by a coalition of skilled artists. I would give Alien Stage five out of five stars. You can watch Alien Stage on YouTube and view a variety of bonus content from the authors’ social media accounts and on VIVINOS’s Patreon.