Kiro Yuji

Kiro Yuji (유지 키로; born July 28, 1984) is a Sandian hwaman artist based in Nokkaji, Kyotang. He is best known for creating the series Earth Buddies (2007–2019), its sequel series Earth Buddies: World Series (2019–2020), and Cutie Kill (2014–2022).

Early life
Yuji was born on July 28, 1975 in Seonyuchi, Kyotang, Sandia. He identifies as male and claims he was born in Seonyuchi, Kyotang and raised in Nokkaji, the author never reveals his identity in public. However, he frequently posts photos of himself online wearing sunglasses and a face mask.

Career
Yuji's first illustrated works were online comic strips that featured national personifications as their main characters. He began posting them on his Picsub account in 2004, and later began posting on Drawspot.

His first hwaman series was Seongchi the Teenager, which was published by Sunpoint via Green Ace Comics. The series debuted in February 2005, almost instantly receiving mixed reception. After its twentieth chapter was published in December 2005, the series was canceled due to a steep decline in sales after the series' first few months, as well as a lack of popularity in general.

Following the cancellation, Yuji's then-editor, Sangki Hyeon, suggested a series with a "uncomplicated theme" and "easy-to-follow volume-by-volume story". Sometime in 2006, while cleaning out his desk in his apartment, Yuji found untitled comic strips he drew in high school where he depicted countries as people, leading him to create Earth Buddies, which began publication January 2007.

In December 2013, Yuji announced that he had begun working on Cutie Kill, an "epic sci-fi action comedy", which debuted in March 2014 to positive reception from critics, getting it nominated for several hwaman awards, including Best Hwaman at the Kyoban Art Grand Prix Awards.