KPop Demon Hunter

One of the longest-lasting tropes in fiction has been team-up stories, where characters combine their unique attributes and personalities to create a collage of relationship dynamics and storytelling possibilities, with several books, comics and movies being responsible for some truly iconic groups, whether they be super heroes trying to stop an intergalactic threat or a group of kids trying to survive everyday life. Another popular area to see individuals team up is in the music space, with bands, girl groups/boy groups, and collaborations being all the range regardless of culture or genre, so it stands to reason that combining these two fields should be a match made in heaven, and considering the commotion for KPop Demon Hunters, looks like another popular combo has been born.

The K-pop girl group, HUNTR/X, are the hottest group in all of South Korea, but what the world doesn’t know is that the group’s three members; Rumi, Mira and Zoey (voiced by Arden Cho, May Hong and Ji-young Yoo) are actually demon hunters who, like several generations of women before them, use their music to uphold a barrier separating the demon and living world. With the girl’s newest single set to permanently seal the demon world off, they face some surprise competition in the form of Saja Boys, a K-pop boy group who quickly start to eclipse HUNTR/X’s popularity. With the girl’s noticing right away that the boys are demons sent by the king of the demons, Gwi-Ma (voiced by Lee Byung-hun) to stop the spell’s completion, this battle-of-the-bands has severe global consequences, but Rumi forms a connection with the band’s lead member, Jinu (voiced by Ahn Hyo-seop) after learning of his troubled past, which causes her to open up about her own secret demon heritage (which even Mira and Zoey don’t know about). With the upcoming Idol Awards being the deciding factor on whether the barrier stays sealed on not, Rumi will be forced to confront her demon half and band together with her friends to stop Gwi-Ma from claiming the souls of a stadium worth of fans.

Holding the #1 spot on Netflix’s global charts for a full week after its release, KPop Demon Hunters saw extremely strong viewership all across the globe, turning what looked like just a quirky experiment into the next big thing that audiences and critics gushed over in a similar way to how fans would fawn over their favorite idol. While some minor pacing, narrative and character issues prevent it from reaching true golden status, the engrossing visual style, exhilarating musical numbers, likeable cast, and a fun well-executed premise explain why it’s been able to take over the world so quickly.

With a story conceived by director Maggie Kang as she wanted to see a film inspired by her Korean heritage brought to life, you can quickly see the strengths of this idea, as not only does it provide for a lot of interesting iconography that draws upon several components of Korean culture like its demonology, its mythology, and the K-pop sensation, but the idea of pop idols acting as demon hunters is just a fun premise that calls back to several popular media franchises in the past like Charlie’s Angels, The Powerful Girls and Totally Spies. Even with the trailers emphasizing its hyper quirkier personality, frantic animation and chibi-styled expressions, you could feel the widespread appeal and potential of this concept, but even with this in mind, it’s hard to imagine anyone predicting how well it would do. With Kang and fellow director, Chris Appelhans, both having experience animating movies that have mainstream yet still distinct styles like Coraline, Fantastic Mr. Fox and Rise of the Guardians, it allows this movie the benefit of feeling recognizable but also delightfully unfamiliar at the same time. The script by Kang, Appelhans, Hannah McMechan and Danya Jimenez doesn’t take itself too seriously and enjoys the wackiness that comes from minimizing what should be a chaotic world-ending threat into singers fighting for the top spot on a music chart, but when it does get dramatic, it works pretty nicely thanks to steady animation, impactful visuals, and good voice work.

The third act is when the film is at its best, as all of its pre-established components come together in a satisfying, theatrical and grand fashion, concluding in a way that while a tad convenient, feels pretty fulfilling and leaves the door open for continuations in the future. That final point raises one of its key issues, however, as while the idea is really fun, the tone is more effectively balanced than expected, and it closes on a strong note, the road to that destination is a bit bumpy. The opening is nice and energized and there are fun instances throughout, but because the movie is only 100 mins and the exaggerated animation style and zany sense of comedy is so in-your-face, it never feels as emotionally engaging as it should because the story doesn’t build up the stakes or character relationships enough to feel wholly satisfied. There’s still enough investment for things to still flow, and the ending somehow still feels very rewarding despite missing a few essential pieces, but the film would’ve benefited from more of an intro or even just an extra 15 – 20 mins to really establish the groundworks rather than just jumping in headfirst.

Creating a new series with KPop stars in a similar way to the previously listed trio-based female franchises is a smart way of following a recognizable trend but still being able to bring something new to the table and given how enthused viewers already are for a sequel, it seems they succeeded with creating a new franchise. Singers leading a double life is a pretty common trope and adding a supernatural element to the world of music allows for a lot of flashy costumes, songs and set pieces, but getting the three lead heroines correct is crucial if they plan for this series to last. With very nice designs that have the benefit of looking extra memorable thanks to the unique wardrobes and hair stylings of Korean pop, these girls are played as very eccentric thanks to their extreme facial expressions and rowdy natures, but their genuine care for each other is felt during the quieter scenes and it results in a sweet sentimental friend group. It’s a solid starting point, but their identities need a little work. Rumi is a decent lead, with her demon heritage providing a good hook for her character to deal with and it leads to some nice drama in the third act, but Mira and Zoey feel more like comic relief rather than deuteragonists. While they have personalities, it’s more based around a single trait rather than a wholly defined person, and because they don’t have much mileage in the story until the third act, they never feel that relevant which is a shame as they have the workings for a good trio.

Jinu is an enjoyably tragic character who feels ripped right out of a harrowing supernatural romance novel, and even though his arc also feels a little rushed, the nuggets of his past are good, he and Rumi do share a nice bond, and he and his extremely colorful boy band are wonderfully overdesigned and the passive sparing between both groups does make for some good comedy. None of the other character really contribute much to the plot even when it feels like they should, with characters like the Rumi’s mentor, Celine (voiced by Yunjin Kim) and even the main villain feeling more like plot devices rather than central characters, it’s another strange decision that whether due to time constraints or scripting complications, probably needed another rewrite to make what is overall, a very solid story, perfect.

When people learned that Sony Animations were making this film and that it would have an art style that looked similar to the Into the Spider-Verse films, the excitement rose even further as it promised fast-paced action and gorgeous vibrant imagery, but what the most exciting aspect was seeing how the songs would turn out. Being a musical where the songs that the girls create contextually narrate the goings-ons of the story while also sounding like general pop songs, these songs (which were created with the help of actual K-Pop stars) are nothing short of excellent. This entire movie seems to perfectly capture the feel and all-around sparkle of K-pop music, whether it’s the varying style it can display like sugary-sweet feel-good disco pop, hard-edge crowd-thrilling hip-hop, and heart-tugging romance ballads, or the amazingly intricate choreography and heart-pounding spectacle of the concert environment, it provides all flavours, offers a nice spread, and due to the fantastic singing and beautifully worded lyrics, leads to some incredible numbers that, considering how well the film’s album sold on iTunes (reaching #1 on the U.S top albums chart), connected with a lot of people whether they were K-pop fans or not.

The action is very well done, the colors are so prominent and atmospheric, the camera work still gets some great hectic shots in the combat and some beautiful scenic imagery during the dramatic moments, and the choice of lighting and staging during certain scenes adds a music video quality even to non-singing moments that only elevates its overall personality and just makes things look cooler. While paying tribute to Spider-Verse, the movie still has its own identity, removing the 2D cartoony angle and replacing it with more of an anime-inspired touch, which while debatable which is better, does work for this story. The range of expressions can rotate between an uncannily real style that feels almost barbie-esque thanks to the narrower mouths and less spongey features, an extremely over-the-top style that feels very anime-inspired down to extreme reactions, chibi-fied eyes and prominent tear streaks, and one that feels more like traditional Western animation, with it being the most effective. While the other two aren’t bad, the extreme style (while not as bothersome as expected) is still an acquired taste that doesn’t always work, and the more realistic style have limited emotional range which can lead to some distracting under-reactions, whilst the traditional style can still get some big expressions and movements, but in a way that isn’t off-putting and can still work in the more serious moments.

Whether planned or not, the popularity of KPop Demon Hunters has risen so rapidly and sparked so much discussion and online attention, that it genuinely feels like seeing a new pop artist suddenly blow up, so that’s a nice correlation. It’s almost a shame that it was streaming exclusive, as it could’ve had a solid theatrical run and formed an even wider audience, but it should be more than happy with the one that it got, and will no doubt gain more as time goes on. This movie has so chinks to work out, but these issue like more development with the characters and a firmer narrative, could be fixed with future instalments, and since everybody has really clicked with its strongest qualities like its great animation, likeable cast, fun premise, and absolutely incredible songs, it’s safe to say that KPop Demon Hunter knows how to get things done.