The basic flaw of Alien Stage, from an artistic perspective, is it fails to adequately establish its setting. This is not important because it means ppl can't nerd out over Lore, it's important because it makes it far more difficult to understand how the characters relate to the
world around them and, therefore, to each other. That there's so much argument about what kisses mean to the characters is just one symptom of this. This is why Alien Stage is great at individual compelling moments but fails to really form a coherent overall narrative. It's why
the critiques of colonialism and the idol industry ultimately fall flat. It's even why Hyuna ended up screwed over, since she was by far the most closely tied to the overall plot/setting.
Wow hit tweet read the Baru Cormorant series and/or Exordia by Seth Dickinson