Rarely do I read or watch the same piece of media twice. Usually a single watch through is enough for me to be satisfied, even when it’s something I really love. But every so often something comes along that completely breaks that, and I can’t help but be drawn to consume that piece of media again and again. KPop Demon Hunters is one of those films.
Released on Netflix in June, KPop Demon Hunters has steadily become a smash hit, becoming Netflix’s most watched title of all time, and keeps breaking records on the music charts. It really feels like Sony Pictures Animation is on a hot streak, with both Spider-Verse films and The Mitchells vs. the Machines being great films to come out of the studio in recent years, with Goat on the way.
But what makes KPop Demon Hunters so great? From the title alone you wouldn’t expect much from the movie. Perhaps it’s the outright inclusion of “K-Pop” in the title that may turn some people who aren’t fans of the genre away from it, or it could be the title almost feeling like a temp name for the movie itself. That’s certainly what I thought going into it on my first watch—I wasn’t expecting much from it. Honestly, I was prepared to laugh at how bad it could possibly be. Yet my friends who recommended the film assured me that it was unironically good, so I sat down to watch it.
There’s something special that happens with the opening sequence of the movie. It starts off with necessary exposition about the setting, with there being hunters fighting demons to stave off the demon king and keep the seal between the human and demon realms intact through song and dance, tying tradition into the fabric of K-Pop itself. Then the main characters—the girls of the K-Pop group HUNTR/X—are briefly discussed from the perspective of their fans. It stresses how they’re perceived by the public, and how important that image is to the fans that adore them.
It’s in the next moment that the movie begins to subvert the audience’s expectations by having the HUNTR/X girls subvert those perceptions of them lauded by their fans. Unlike what the public thinks of them, the girls are imperfect, cartoonishly expressive, gorging themselves on food in sometimes grotesque manners. By the time the food sequence was over my expectations were broken in a good way, and I was interested in what the movie had to offer next.
It was then when the demons were uncovered, and the first music sequence began. For as “How It’s Done” was performed, the girls showcased their demon-hunting abilities, beating the demons senseless to the beat. By the time they had dived out of the airplane and into the stadium to perform their concert, my attention was grabbed, fully on board for whatever the movie would throw at me next. It had exceeded my expectations again, only this time proving that the girls were not only the cartoonish goofballs of the eating scene, but multifaceted demon-hunting badasses and the K-Pop personas they performed as.
I wholeheartedly give KPop Demon Hunters Two Thumbs Up. Even if you’re not a huge fan of K-Pop or animated films, I highly recommend this movie to anyone remotely interested in watching it. The beginning sequence is great, and even if it doesn’t hook you at first as it did me, the movie only keeps getting better from there as the demon boy band antagonists, the Saja Boys, are introduced and face off against HUNTR/X. The music and animation is incredible, and the characters are fun and interesting. While there are some parts of the plot that need more explaining, that isn’t in a bad way. The fact that this movie left me wanting more from its universe and characters is in itself a testament to how good the characters are, and I can’t wait for its eventual sequel down the line.
Verdict: 👍👍
