Kpop Demon Hunters was a combination of words I’d never thought would go together, but I was incredibly wrong and this film was a welcome breath of fresh air from Netflix.
Netflix have recently released a new animated movie that embodies a vibrant fusion of K-pop musical spectacle, striking visuals, heartfelt storylines, top-tier singing and demon hunting… yes, you read that right. I will preface this with the fact that I knew of this movies existence for a few weeks after release, and despite younger family members watching it on repeat I hadn’t listened or watched any of it until recently, and now I’ve recommended it to all my friends.
As someone in their thirties who has never listened to or been interested in K-pop (Korean pop music) I can honestly say I was blown away by the audio and musical numbers in this movie. The movie revolves around HuntrX, a global K-pop girl group made up of Rumi (Arden Cho), Mira (May Hong), and Zoey (Ji-young Yoo), who secretly serve as demon hunters. Their mission: protect the barrier between humans and demons (referred to as the Honmoon) from collapsing, all while navigating the pressures of being superstars.
Their main rivals are a boy band called the Saja Boys, led by a character named Jinu, who himself is a demon trying to steal their powers in service of an ancient demon overlord called Gwi-Ma. Beyond the action of hunting demons, the film is loaded with themes of identity, shame, perfectionism, and authenticity. The internal struggles of the characters, especially Rumi around hiding parts of themselves, feeling shame, trying to be perfect for public expectation, fear of rejection are emotionally compelling and don’t feel tacked on. The main story focusing heavily on people battling their shame and insecurities, but the story gradually reveals that trying to erase or hide parts of oneself may come at the cost of truth, connection, and freedom.
Its an incredibly mature overtone to a PG movie that will resonate with children, teens and adults. If you watch Kpop Demon Hunters expecting the songs just to punctuate the story, you’ll be pleasantly surprised: the music is intertwined with the story. Big tracks like “Golden” and “Take-down” aren’t merely background; they carry the story and are woven into the arcs of the characters. The production value on the musical numbers is amazing and needs to be heard on a great sound system to really appreciate the effort that has gone into this movie. Looking online the songs are being well received outside of the movie with “Golden” having over 580 million streams and their track list having almost a combined 2 billion plays on Spotify.
The animation leans heavily into Korean mythology, architecture, costuming and scene design. From what I have seen since the movie it does echo real K-pop aesthetics (costume changes, visual spectacle), but with fantasy flourishes. This gives it wide appeal to K-pop fans who want authenticity, and to fantasy fans who want magic and fighting. It has great moments of humour and, K-drama clichés and of over the top showmanship.
These moments keep the movie from being overwhelmed by its own seriousness. It can poke fun at the idea of celebrity, on-stage personas, and the way pop music can demand perfection and unreal expectations while also being deeply human underneath. Bottom line is, if you enjoy animated movies, musicals, K-pop, or even just fantasy stories with strong emotional stakes, Kpop Demon Hunters is well worth watching. If by yourself, with friend or even with children in the room It’s fun, visually and musically exciting and also thoughtful. It may not win any Oscars or be the movie of the century but it was an incredibly welcome surprise and I must admit I have been part of the hundreds of millions of song plays on Spotify myself.
Author: Matt, Web Aftersales
