It’s taken a couple of weeks for the full extent of KPop Demon Hunters to enter my field of view. For a while, all I’d seen of the Netflix animated phenomenon was the extremely…uh, exuberant early scene of its main cast of KPop idols getting real excited about their dinner, and the gifs from it being used in some out-of-pocket ways by gay and stan Twitter. Then, I saw some movie critics saying it would likely be in the conversation come awards season, and my interest was actually piqued. What finally put me over the edge was hearing one of the soundtrack’s standout songs: “Free.”
The hopeful ballad is a duet between Rumi, the lead singer of a demon-hunting trio group called Huntr/x, and Jinu, an up-and-coming boy band frontman who is secretly a demon seeking to weaken Huntr/x’s influence by stealing their fanbase out from under them. However, by this point in the film, the two opposing rivals have shifted into a star-crossed lovers era, and the result is a song that could easily stand alongside some of Disney’s classic love songs. After hearing just a few brief seconds of the soaring vocals, I knew I had to see what all the fuss was about. And y’all, if you were put off by the memery, I urge you to give KPop Demon Hunters a chance.
Huntr/x is the latest group in a long line of demon hunters who use music to win the hearts and minds of the public, whose adoration in turn powers them in their demon-hunting efforts. Rumi, however, has an even more personal stake in seeing the demon and human world separated than her predecessors did, as she is part demon herself. For her entire life, Rumi has been told that if she and her bandmates can power the “Honmoon,” a barrier between both worlds, the demon markings on her skin will disappear, and she won’t have to hide who she is from her friends and fans. It’s very much giving Elsa’s story in Frozen, but the demon-hunting girl group framing gives it an edge that production studio Sony Pictures Animation bolsters with a vibrant visual style that makes you want to press a non-existent Screenshot button in your head every other shot.
KPop Demon Hunters’ character arcs are a little tropey, but it pulls off its sentimentality and paranormal action with such confidence that I was still caught up in all of it. Its main trio’s story of superficial friendships being tested when shit gets real is poignant and punctuated by explosive, visually stunning fights with Jinu’s demon hordes. Whether its leads are dueling or dancing, KPop Demon Hunters is a pretty thrilling animated spectacle.
But a KPop movie is nothing without its songs, and KPop Demon Hunters’ soundtrack is full of bops. “Free” is still probably my standout favorite, but the assortment of Huntr/x songs and a few tracks by the rival demon group Saja Boys run the gamut of spunky power pop, flirtatious earworms, and anthemic stadium songs. The music is sung by some major KPop talent including Ejae, who provides Rumi’s singing voice and has worked with huge names in the space like Le Sserafim and Twice. So if you’re a KPop enthusiast and wondered if the film would have the talent to back up such a storied genre and industry, worry not.
All the gorgeous animation, music, and choreography in the world are great, but without an interesting storyline, KPop Demon Hunters would have still fallen flat. What surprised me the most about the movie is how it depicts stan culture and musicians’ impossible task of maintaining an audience in a world in which a viral hit can come and go. Though the film does approach this with a tongue-in-cheek, rapid-fire comedic attitude, the concept of a pop group having to maintain their fanbase lest they face the literal end of the world makes for a surprisingly layered setup. If you’ve ever been online and adjacent to pop fandoms (KPop and elsewhere), you know that the industry and fans love to pit two bad bitches against one another. Having what is essentially a stan battle between Huntr/x and Saja Boys serve as a potentially world-ending war is a clever foundation that could have allowed for deeper interrogation of real-world issues of unhinged fandom than the film cares to explore. I also wish KPop Demon Hunters would get a bit more pointed about some of the systemic problems in the music industry like overwork, which the film mostly chalks up to its girls being “workaholics,” but most of the industry talk in the movie is set dressing for it to deal with other, more universal topics. Can’t win them all, I suppose.
That being said, if your sole exposure to KPop Demon Hunters is a gif of Rumi passionately sniffing and eating kimbap, I do think you’ll find something to like in the movie. It’s beautifully animated with a killer soundtrack, and it’s just angsty enough that it can feed a fandom for ages. Since the movie’s already been a pretty big hit, it’s very likely Netflix and Sony will greenlight the sequel the team’s been pondering.