Alien: Monday Is A Must-Watch For Fans After 6 Years Of Amazing Work

By Jason Collins | Updated 1 month ago

Prometheus revived the Alien franchise, whose crucial reception, following the massively successful original and its sequel, went into a decline. Now, the upcoming and highly-anticipated Alien: Romulus seeks to do the same and restore the franchise to its former glory. While we wait patiently for the movie to drop, we can sink our teeth into Alien: MONDAY, a recently released fan animation made by OtaKing Animation.

Thanks to its brutal violence, first-person perspectives, and a rather slow and chilling buildup, Alien: MONDAY is a beautifully made tribute to some of the best releases in the franchise—those directed by Ridley Scott himself.

Paul “OtaKing” Johnson of OtaKing Animations has released a nearly 20-minute-long animation that took six years to develop. Alien: MONDAY, which takes on a stylized, heavily cell-shaded 80’s anime aesthetic, follows Aislin, a technician aboard Thanatos, a mining hauler on the isolated edge of the galaxy.

Aislin is also “accompanied” by Conrad, the vessel’s AI, who aids Aislin in taking on a deadly Xenomorph stowaway.

Thanks to its brutal violence, first-person perspectives, and a rather slow and chilling buildup, Alien: MONDAY is a beautifully made tribute to some of the best releases in the franchise—those directed by Ridley Scott himself. This release couldn’t have come at a better time, to be completely honest.

The Alien franchise has struggled to maintain its former glory ever since Alien 3, with Prometheus expanding the franchise universe and restoring some of its former glory. It spanned several different media, including novels, comic books, and video games. Everything but anime.

Thus, Alien: MONDAY basically swats two flies with one swatter: it satiates the fandom’s thirst for additional content in the wake of Alien: Romulus’s highly-anticipated release and fills that empty slot by providing a release on a medium the franchise hasn’t tapped into before.

Alien: MONDAY… certainly attests to the fact that fandom thirsts for more, and animated content could be a method of easy delivery.

But if OtaKing’s video gathers plenty of views on social media and YouTube, Disney might just decide to make or commission the release of animated Alien release. As proven by OtaKing, the market for animated Alien certainly exists.

Now, if things go down that road, Disney should really offer OtaKing a job, similar to how Games Workshop, who are insanely protective of their IPs, offered a position to Syama Pedersen.

For context, Pedersen released a fantastic fan-made animated Astartes Project and proved that fans can also make high-quality content while staying faithful to the source material. In fact, many believe that GW could never match the greatness of Pedersen’s masterpiece, and it’s entirely possible for Alien: MONDAY to receive a similar treatment.

Whatever the case may be, passing an opportunity to make an animated Alien should be a cardinal sin for Disney, considering the company’s history and the fact that fans really like animated content.

More and more companies from all layers and segments of entertainment history already work with animation companies to expand their franchises into anime, so why doesn’t Disney do anything with Alien? Alien: MONDAY, besides being an absolute masterpiece, certainly attests to the fact that fandom thirsts for more, and animated content could be a method of easy delivery.

Alien: Romulus releases in theaters August 16.

Whatever the case may be, Alien: MONDAY is great; it took six years to produce, and it feels borderline illegal to watch the anime entirely for free on YouTube. Just imagine the storytelling and animation possibilities OtaKing could have if he had Disney’s funding—Disney, give this man a job; he’s clearly doing a better job than you do.  

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