KPop Demon Hunters Review
A rare Original Hit
WARNING: THIS ARTICLE MAY CONTAIN Spoilers from KPop Demon Hunters. There may be discussions of violence, as well as cultural identity. CONSIDER WHEN AND WHERE IT WOULD BE APPROPRIATE TO READ THIS PIECE.
I just finished watching the brand new Netflix animated musical, KPop Demon Hunters, and not only are the songs stuck in my head, but I’m genuinely moved by the story told from this ridiculous premise. I’m not going to lie, when I first saw the trailer for this Sony Pictures Animation feature a few months back, I thought it was a joke and likely to be a movie without much substance that’s just capitalizing on the popularity of hallyu. I was shocked to find myself so enamored with this movie within 30 minutes of the runtime. KPop Demon Hunters is a fantastic love letter to not only K-pop music, but Korean culture in general. It’s a movie that outshines the premise and the soundtrack will also be running on loop in my car for a long time after.
Singing AND Slaying
Like the title suggests, KPop Demon Hunters tells a story about three K-pop stars that moonlight as demon hunters to protect a barrier between the human world and demon world called the Honmoon. For some crazy reason, the task of combating the demon world ruler, Gwi-Ma, has been passed on to a trio of singing ladies throughout history. The current protectors of the realm are a trio consisting of the cool and collected lead singer Rumi, the energetic and bubbly rapper Zoey, and the easily frustrated enforcer Mira. Together they’re known as the girl group Huntrix. Beloved by their fandom, the group is riding high atop the music charts.
Anyone else get Totally Spies vibes?
If that doesn’t sound like a ludicrous plot you’d only find straight out of a Webtoon or manwha, well, that’s exactly what I thought too at first. Kpop Demon Hunters will win you over quickly with its self-deprecating humor, but also with its surprisingly deep message about not hiding who you really are inside. Watching this in 2025, I can’t help but be reminded of another older cartoon that featured three best friends saving the world together in Totally Spies. Early seasons of that show made the three leading ladies so likable and fun to watch that is hard to replicate. I do see a lot of Totally Spies here, but just with a lot more emotional depth sprinkled on top.
Yes, it won’t be an action adventure without some huge twist that pushes a major conflict between lifelong friends. It turns out that our lead heroine, Rumi has placed enormous pressure on herself to defeat Gwi-Ma once and for all and to banish all demons because she herself is a half-demon.
Born out of a forbidden love between her deceased human mother and a demon, Rumi has lived her whole life hiding her demon marks from not only the world, but her group mates at the behest of her foster mother Celine.
Her singular-minded mission is further challenged when a demon named Jinu is sent to the human world with his boy band group called Saja Boys to combat Huntrix on the music charts. The successful debut of the Saja Boys and their ability to win over K-pop fans contributes to the absorption of souls that build up the power of the demon king as they prepare for an invasion. While enemies at first, Rumi finds herself drawn to Jinu as the two bond over her hidden secret that she struggles to conceal from Mira and Zoey.
There’s a romantic overture subplot here that feels natural and quite sweet to see play out. I’m a sucker for the enemies to lovers genre and while this isn’t fully there and ultimately a bit tragic, you can’t have a good Korean piece without some sort of romance in it. Thanks to Jinu’s probing, little by little, Rumi finds herself less ashamed of her true self. It’s genuinely a touching thing to see at times that I was definitely not expecting to see out of a premise that involves demon hunters and K-pop.
Zoey, Rumi, and Mira form the group Huntrix
Real Cultured
You see, KPop Demon Hunters originated from the mind of director Maggie Kang, who set out to craft a story that was intrinsically Korean. When you have someone with the mentality to craft a story they really want to tell, it usually turns out amazing. That’s exactly what we get here. This isn’t set in Korea and features Korean culture for the sake of diversification. Instead, it’s a love letter and in some ways social commentary by a person who lives and sees how that culture affects her people.
The entire theme about Rumi fighting with her self-perceived imperfections and hiding who she really was because she was worried she wouldn’t be accepted by others is a direct reflection on Korean culture. That’s how I saw it at least. It’s no secret that South Korea has one of, if not the highest rate of cosmetic plastic surgery in the world according to Aesthetic Medical Practitioner. For much of the movie, Rumi forces herself to work almost religiously to be able to obtain her goal of sealing the Honmoon.
The one person who truly knew who she was on the inside was also the same person who told her she needed to never let anyone know. The character of Rumi’s guardian, Celine, is a complex one that didn’t really get the screen time she needed to fully resolve her prenotions and beliefs. All of her life, Celine has fed Rumi this idea that only by killing all of the demons and sealing off the Honmoon would she finally be rid of her demon side. She never once considered that Rumi could be comfortable living in her own skin. Even until the very end, Celine was dead set on changing Rumi.
While I'm not Korean, I am of Asian descent myself and I totally related to this idea of an elder commenting on how I should appear and how I should act to fit into their society. Not only did that theory turn out to be false, but she never did allow herself to accept Rumi for who she was. This was the one awkward loose end that wasn’t addressed during the 100 minute run time.
While Rumi’s groupmates initially shunned her away upon discovering her secret, it was more due to the pain of learning that such a big secret was kept from them for so many years. They were hurt that they couldn’t be trusted to burden that truth with her as they saw each other as sisters. That’s what makes the finale even more epic when they reunite on stage for the final performance.
Celine (left) being confronted by Rumi
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Man, we haven’t even talked about the actual K-pop featured in here at all yet. The soundtrack consists of 12 songs, and all of them are bangers. There’s so much perception and soulful meaning behind the songs and how they’re incorporated into the story. I can’t stress just how well executed many of these original songs like “Golden” and “Takedown” were to enhancing the emotions in critical moments of the plot. The good musicals seamlessly transition to their musical numbers without it taking you out of the moment. Kpop Demon Hunters knows exactly what it’s doing and you can definitely tell early on. I think that’s how I started taking it seriously too. You just can sense it by how well it executes these transitions.
I’m not ashamed to say that I know a bit about K-pop girl groups. Back in the day I was a big follower of groups like Kara, 2NE1, 4Minute, and Girl’s Day to name a few. If you’ve watched our reviews over the years, you’ll likely notice music videos from my all-time favorite group, AOA, being used as display test material. K-pop music videos really know how to showcase the beauty of a display with colors popping left and right and visuals you can’t imagine out of your wildest dreams.
Flashforward many years later and now my 10-year old niece and her middle-aged aunts are completely obsessed with Stray Kids and BTS. KPop Demon Hunters just gets fandom. I can’t even say it's parodying fandom, because it’s portrayed so accurately in the film. From scenes of the fans describing their biases, the different age groups of fans, and the rapid release live stages of K-pop groups; all of these things in the K-pop business are so accurately illustrated.
You can’t have a movie about K-pop without a legitimate K-pop group representing the industry either. Kpop Demon Hunters turned to Jeongyeon, Jihyo, and Chaeyoung from the popular group Twice to legitimize the film with the “Takedown” track. Like I said earlier, all the songs are great, but I personally found “Soda Pop” and “Golden” to be the runaway tracks that you’ll be humming along for weeks after watching.
Original Ideas
There’s just so many positives to talk about with this film. I haven’t even discussed the animation yet. Sony Pictures Animation is quickly developing a solid reputation for artistic creations that are displays of art. The Spider-Verse Spider-Man films are one thing, but to have a film like this also run along those same creative lines? I don’t see any other studio pushing the artform and taking risks like this. This isn’t a movie that is easily pitched or animated, yet they produced it beautifully. Scenes are sharp and vibrant with music video quality…well music videos being incorporated cleverly. Sony’s found a formula that absolutely works and they should stick with it going forward.
I also wanted to applaud Netflix for distributing this. In an age literally littered with sequels that reach double digits, or refreshes of dead franchises, a wacky original concept like this is a breath of fresh air. Netflix has greenlit some projects that most certainly would not have seen the light of day in traditional cinema or cable television over the years. Credit must be given where credit is due and for Sony to sell this to Netflix is a huge deal for creativity and originality in general.
Comeback Stage?
With that said however, I don’t believe we’ve seen the last of KPop Demon Hunters. The creative team behind this project is just too talented and passionate not to continue with these characters that they’ve created. There’s not a lot of world building in terms of details, but that’s not really the point of this story. I never once thought of what the scientific explanation of their lightsaber weapons was, or why the two human girls somewhat have superhuman superpowers. How does the Honmoon actually work and what really causes it to be a barrier? They don’t really explain a lot of these things that normally would drive me mad, but because I was so distracted by the music and the surprisingly emotional story, I didn’t find myself asking these questions until after the credits rolled.
Whether it being picked up as a Netflix show, or a sequel film, I’m not ready for the Huntrix to go on hiatus. If anything, I’m highly anticipating their comeback stage and I really didn’t expect to be a stan of Huntrix, but here I am. Bravo Netflix.
Alex
Caught in between the conundrum of his fascination with retro and the future, Alex has a very unique taste in technology. Never one to follow trends like his millennial peers yet constantly desiring to get ahead of the curve, he sees technology like he does his other love: comic books. Always looking for the best value or a hidden gem, his collector mindset reflects on some of his favorite gadgets: the Moto X (2015), HTC U11 and the Google Pixelbook. If there’s a good tech deal out there, Alex is on the hunt!