Soyeon Kim[1] (Korean: 김소연; born 1996 or 1997), known professionally as Vivinos (Korean: 비비노스, stylized in uppercase), is a South Korean YouTuber and animator. She is the creator of the web series Pink Bitch Club and Alien Stage and animated the ending sequence for My Dress-Up Darling's second season, featuring the PiKi song "Kawaii Kaiwai". Her work draws inspiration from Japanese media aimed at girls, as well as retro art.
Vivinos | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1996 or 1997 (age 29–30) |
| Occupation | Animator |
| Notable work | Alien Stage |
| YouTube information | |
| Channel | |
| Genre | Animation |
| Subscribers | 2.85 million |
| Views | 418 million |
| Last updated: 26 March 2026 | |
Early life and career
editVivinos was born in 1996 or 1997 and her career as an illustrator began in 2012.[2] Her animation career began with several fan videos related to genres like K-dramas, before shifting towards darker fare.[3] One fan-made video for Jun Togawa's song "Suki Suki Daisuki", depicting a yandere girl's obsession with her senpai, reached 13 million views.[3] She also created a web video series called Pink Bitch Club, which she called one of her first team efforts.[3][2] She also creates standalone short videos such as "My September" and "Tili Tili Bom".[3]
On 7 September 2022,[4] Vivinos premiered her short-form web animation series Alien Stage, where eight contestants are forced to participate in an intergalactic music competition with a death game format.[3] By June 2025, the series had been viewed millions of times on YouTube, with the then-latest episode receiving ten million alone.[5] In October 2025, Animate ran a tie-in pop-up store for Alien Stage - titled "The First Anomaly Party" - at their Ikebukuro Flagship Store, as well as a nationwide "Alien Stage Animate Fair 2025".[6] In March 2026, Tokyopop released an English-language art book for the series, titled Alien Stage: The Art Book.[7]
Vivinos was one of six artists featured in the book Artists in Korea and Artists in Taiwan, a collaboration between Pixiv, Clover Press, and Media Do.[8] She was a panelist at Anime Expo 2025, where she hosted a live drawing session.[9] She and Qmeng animated the ending sequence for My Dress-Up Darling's second season, featuring the PiKi song "Kawaii Kaiwai".[10]
Vivinos is based in Seoul.[2] She is self-taught as an animator.[2]
Themes
editVivinos draws inspiration from retro art styles. Masaki Morita of Kai-You remarked that her music videos she made by 2022 possess "a retro and cute style reminiscent of 1990s–2000s shōjo manga and jojimuke anime ."[2] Lauren Orsini of Anime News Network noted that Alien Stage was "creepy-cute [and] color-saturated", and that Vivinos's "Kawaii Kaiwai" sequence's illustrations of Marin Kitagawa, the main character of My Dress-Up Darling, were "profoundly pink".[10] Kevin Cirugeda of Sakuga Blog compared the "Kawaii Kaiwai" sequence to Pink Bitch Club, saying that it "[took] Marin's crush and her interest in fashion as an excuse to turn her into a bit of a menhera menace".[11]
Kara Dennison of Otaku USA remarked that some of her videos have a nostalgic vibe, with her "Suki Suki Daisuki" video displaying "a weirdly cute 80s vibe".[3] The "Kawaii Kaiwai" sequence takes inspiration from vaporwave, with one of the animatics being a looping GIF-like depiction of Marin's heart pose on an retro-styled computer window.[10] Other videos with similar themes include the Pink Bitch Club series, as well as "My September" and "Tili Tili Bom".[3]
Some of Vivinos's videos take inspiration from the yuri genre, a personal creative choice on her part.[2]
References
edit- ↑ "soyeon KIM - Graphic Designer in Korea, Republic of". Behance. Retrieved 23 March 2026.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 Morita, Masaki (5 March 2022). "ゾクっとする百合アニメ？ 韓国の異才イラストレーターVIVINOSインタビュー". Kai-You (in Japanese). Retrieved 23 March 2026.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Dennison, Kara (27 February 2023). "Alien Stage: An Indie Idol Anime That Will Break Your Heart". Otaku USA Magazine. Retrieved 23 March 2026.
- ↑ "R O U N D 1 ｜ Alien Stage". YouTube. Retrieved 23 March 2026.
Premiered Sep 7, 2022
- ↑ Leung, Hilary (2 June 2025). "AX '25: ALIEN STAGE touches down at Anime Expo 2025 with live drawing panel". K-Comics Beat. Retrieved 23 March 2026.
- ↑ ""ALIEN STAGE" POP-UP STORE Opens at animate Ikebukuro Flagship Store with Exclusive Rabbit Series!". Japan Wire by Kyodo News. 19 September 2025. Retrieved 23 March 2026.
- ↑ Tantimedh, Adi (28 February 2026). "Alien Stage: The Art Book Gets English Edition from TOKYOPOP". bleedingcool.com. Retrieved 23 March 2026.
- ↑ Schedeen, Jesse (10 January 2023). "Artists in Korea and Artists in Taiwan Art Books Showcase 150 Amazing Comic Book Artists". IGN. Retrieved 23 March 2026.
- ↑ "Anime Expo Reveals Full 2025 Program of Guests, Panels, Premieres & More". Animation Magazine. 19 June 2025. Retrieved 23 March 2026.
- 1 2 3 "The Best Anime Songs of 2025". Anime News Network. 29 December 2025. Retrieved 23 March 2026.
- ↑ Cirugeda, Kevin (8 October 2025). "The Exceptional Growth Of My Dress-Up Darling / Kisekoi Season 2 - Sakuga Blog". Sakuga Blog. Archived from the original on 8 October 2025. Retrieved 23 March 2026.