On June 20, “K-Pop Demon Hunters” was released on Netflix, but it has been in the making for nine years. This movie was created by the same artists who made “Into The Spider-Verse” and “Across the Spider-Verse.”
I’d seen a trailer for it on Instagram months before its release and thought the animation was charming with unique character designs. What I didn’t expect was to fall in love with it.
“K-Pop Demon Hunters” is about three girls who ward off demons. These hunters have always been around and every decade they have a new group to create the Honmoon, which is a shield preventing Gwi-Ma’s (Lee Byung-hun) demons from harming humans.
I’ll keep this a spoiler-free review and only discuss what you’d see in the trailers, keeping things brief so you can go watch it yourself.
In response to Huntrix creating a Golden Honmoon, a demon named Jinu proposes a plan to Gwi-Ma to level the playing field. The Saja Boys were designed to give him more souls to consume and gain power from.
Throughout the movie, we’re introduced to songs that I argue are better than most K-pop songs produced now. There is honestly no reason for the songs on the OST to be this good. I don’t know what crack they put into them, but I love them.
On top of the musical aspect of the movie, the ways that the characters interact with each other and the implications of what it means for K-pop later are interesting.
The industry has become more difficult over the last few decades. BTS, in particular, made waves in the US and popularized the K-pop genre along with other bands. While bringing more eyes to the genre is good, it also comes with a lot of toxicity from fans and the people they work with. The movie highlights this while also breaking away from the stereotypes.
For those who aren’t aware, K-pop groups have experienced many things as a result of their growing popularity in Western culture. One of those being, but not limited to, glorification!
These idols have been looked up to so much that it’s creating an oversaturated market. Idols want sponsors from the West, one of the recent ones being Ralph Lauren, in addition to album sales. As a result, they barely sing in Korean, opting for more English, if not songs that are entirely in English.
This glorification of idols is shown throughout the movie, especially with the Saja Boys.
Abby (Sungwoo Cho) is literally named that by fans because he constantly shows off his abs. Mystery (Alan Lee) is called that because he has bangs covering his face. Baby (Danny Chung) is called that because he’s the most “baby” looking out of the whole group. Romance (Joel Kim Booster) gets his name because he tends to flirt the most. The only one that has an actual name is Jinu (Ahn Hyo-seop). Jinu is a complex character throughout the movie, which is the most explored. This brings me to the issue I have with the movie.
The movie is short, running an hour and 30 minutes. While that’s a perfectly okay time frame for a movie meant for children, this movie explores themes that a lot of adults and teenagers resonate with, some being self-acceptance, anxiety or the need to be the perfect child.
I believe that we didn’t have enough time to explore the other Saja Boys as actual characters. While I understand they are there for a jab at many K-pop fans and how people often treat idols (glorification, sexualization, parasocial behavior, etc.), I just wish that we had a little more time with these characters to see, not only how they interact with each other but their backstories like we got with Jinu.
As I stated previously, there are stereotypes that “K-Pop Demon Hunters” breaks. One example that I’ve seen many people point to is a character named Bobby (Ken Jeong), who is Huntrix’s manager. There have been numerous accounts of K-pop groups’ managers treating them horribly. Bobby, on the other hand, plays a role of support for the girls. That’s what I believe partially helps redeem this movie.
Even with the lack of personalities from the other Saja Boys, besides Jinu, the artists and writers were very careful with depicting people as people. For example, Baby sarcastically says “goo goo ga ga” during an interview scene, knowing that their fans would be into it. This infantile behavior has been seen a lot throughout the years with idols.
Another example is Zoey (Ji-young Yoo) and Mira (May Hong). Zoey is this bubbly character, but as we go further into her story, we see she struggles trying to be both American and Korean. Meanwhile, Mira comes from a rich family and because of that, she has a hard time trusting people. She’s scared that those closest to her will leave.
The way that these girls are written is a big reason why I had an interest in watching it. It wasn’t just Rumi and Jinu. It was about the girls finding themselves and trusting each other.
It is a must-watch for anyone who appreciates animation, music and a good story with a very comedic theme.
Overall, I don’t think I can wait another nine years for a second movie or a series.