May 22, 2022 #blog series #featured kigurumi #vtuber

Vtuber Hoodie Designs We Would Love as Kigurumi Onesies

Featured image credit by 氷川 翔 (Hikawa Shou) via Twitter

In the astral digital plane of entities known as Vtubers, a kigurumi is a concept that is somewhat of a missed opportunity. Vtubers aren't strangers to their designs, of course. But, I've witnessed just one too many good alternative costumes that are "wasted" as mere hoodies and jackets.

Like, why can't it be a complete onesie package for once?

animal kigurumi

Image credit by BOW99 and yaman via Plurk and Twitter

Of course, we do have perfect examples of the familiar onesie kigurumi for other Vtubers. The most dedicated and probably widely shown prior was the now-graduated(?) Kiryu Coco's dinosaur (monster?) kigurumi, which can definitely be seen in its full purple glory in illustrations and concept artwork.

And so, as I ponder about these overlooked chances, let me present some of the base hoodie designs from various vtubers that we would have absolutely been a banger as a full onesie kigurumi.

Korone's (Summertime) Jacket Hoodie

Specimen number one is Inugami Korone's new costume that was unveiled last July 2021. This particular design immediately piqued my interest because the absurdly simple dog design of the hoodie actually made itself ironically unique enough that it could work as a kigurumi on its own.

Except, of course... it was not meant to be a onesie in the first place. Like all of the entries listed here and in the near future, most of the submissions were in the form of hoodie jackets. At the very least, when the vtuber model is "sitting down" at the side of the screen, we can only see the upper half of the body. This allows us to easily imagine the rest of the unseen part as a continuous design that resembles that kigurumi that we are all familiar with.

A full onesie kigurumi using this design wouldn't even have to change the colors of the lower half at all. It can keep the uncanny transition to pink at the bottom without looking like it was meant to be a clothed anthropomorphic animal mascot (in my opinion at least).

Petra's Sailor Jacket Hoodie

On the surface, Petra Gurin's basic costume doesn't seem like it would make for an interesting kigurumi design. It's... just a basic penguin motif. I mean, sure, it's a black one instead of the strangely universal blue designs. But otherwise, I don't really see it as making an impact when put beside other penguin kigurumi designs already available in the real world.

That is, until we utilize the open jacket section. Part of Petra's default costume design also requires making the jacket half open, exposing the sailor uniform inside. This is the unique design that we are looking for.

So, the ideal onesie kigurumi inspired by Petra's hoodie would then be one that keeps the sailor uniform design on the same spot, perhaps along with the small belt tighteners on the sides. In this way, her penguin kigurumi motif would be unique enough that it would instantly be recognized as different, but subtle enough that anybody not familiar with her would not be bothered of not knowing the original reference.

Botan's Very Peculiar (Specific?) Hood Accessory

This particular "new costume" version of Shishiro Botan first appeared on February 2022 as part of Hololive 5th Gen's hoodie specials (so Lamy, Nene and Polka have their own as well). The hood's debut stream has the cryptic thumbnail censoring out the accessory, and a word that only says "unleashed". A few hours before the stream, theories about the censored part raged on, from mushroom caps, vegetable helmets, with some even speculating that it might be a hamburger headdress.

Of course, more chaos in the chats ensued as all of the 5th Gen members finally confirmed each of their "headdresses". And for Botan, it turned out to be an otherwise pretty normal, but peculiarly colored sheep hood accessory. Why sheep you ask? Well... I think you'd better as ask Watame for that.

In any case, the design brings out the same mundane but mascot-like elements that Korone's hoodie jacket bring out. In fact, I would argue that the green lining of the cape makes it signature enough that it will be instantly recognizable to fans even if we turn it into a full onesie kigurumi. Heck, people might even meme the hell out of it, if it means collecting all four of hoodies physically.

Pikamee's Shrunken Monster Hoodie Version

And lastly, for this initial list at least, we head on over to VOMs to celebrate the second costume of Pikamee, the undoubtedly signature green monster hoodie unveiled last March 2021. It wasn't exactly just a simple costume change though. This alternate version actually depicts a smaller version of Pikamee, like, officially listed as 90cm, which is significantly smaller than her canon height (135 cm).

As for its potential as onesie kigurumi... just look at the base features. The simple jagged lines and color scheme alone is already signature enough, and should be instantly recognizable by Pikamee's frequent viewers. Even further, you can also put the "Monster" logo on the main body of the onesie itself and you've got yourself a potential idea for official merch.

Of course, judging by her physically reduced lore size, getting into an appropriately measured onesie would presumably make that normal-size-looking jacket look considerably smaller. But hey, that's not for her. It's for us her fans!

shark kigurumi

Image credit by 日高 (nin_h) via Twitter

 To be continued!

Written by Christian Crisostomo