KPop Demon Hunters is the silent gem Netflix dropped about a week ago. The animated film has a gorgeous art style, great character arcs and a smashing soundtrack that I’ll be bopping to all summer long.
Huntrix are a world-renowned KPop girl group. They have thousands of fans, write songs together, oh and they’re demon hunters. Their voices and the devotion of their fans have kept the world safe from demons, and once there’s enough energy to turn the Honmoon gold, the demons won’t ever be able to breach the barrier again. However, just as the group gets close to their goal, their lead vocalist Rumi (Arden Cho) suddenly finds herself unable to sing at her usual standard. Is it just signs of vocal strain, or something else?
Unknown to Mira (May Hong) and Zoey (Ji-young Yoo), Rumi has been keeping a huge secret from them; she’s actually half demon. Her mother was a demon hunter, but her father was a demon. She has these swirling patterns on her arms that mark her as a demon, patterns she’s kept from the girls as long as they’ve been together. Celine (Yunjin Kim), her aunt who raised her, warned her about revealing her true nature to Mira and Zoey as they wouldn’t understand nor accept her. So Rumi holds this secret tightly to herself, even when she desperately wants to confide in them.
The metaphor here is fairly on the nose, about how young women feel the need to hide our vulnerabilities and flaws because we’re afraid those we love won’t accept us once they see all the broken parts. As a demon hunter, Rumi is supposed to be brave and strong, not have demons of her own. To complicate things, there’s now a demon boy band in the mix, competing with Huntrix for their fans. But their leader Jinu seems a little different from the rest, and against her better judgement, Rumi finds herself connecting with him in a way she didn’t expect.
There’s all the wonderful K-drama tropes at play here; the enemies to lovers type of meet-cute, the male lead dramatically twirling the female lead, and rooftop meetups filled with hopeful promise. It also helps that Jinu is voiced by K-Drama heartthrob Ahn Hyo-seop, who endows Jinu with the intensity and sensitivity needed for the character. His character arc is well-executed – immense kudos to the screenwriters for not taking the easy way out and respecting the need for certain narrative choices.
The music for both Huntrix and the Saja Boys are fantastic. There’s so much effort to properly capture the trends and nuances of KPop, with the groups debuting different music styles and looks depending on their respective eras. As a former boy band fangirl, I have to say I was practically feral during the Saja Boys’ performance of ‘Your Idol’. Villainy has never looked this good.
The art style of KPop Demon Hunters is great; we get all the dynamic animation reminiscent of Into the Spider-Verse, combined with designs that clearly draw inspiration from webtoons and Korean graphic novels. The facial features and looks of Rumi, Mira and Zoey somehow creatively reflect their characterisation; Zoey’s all wide-eyed to highlight her eager to please nature, while Mira conveys a rebellious, more rough around the edges vibe. The drawback is that because the story is focused on Rumi’s narrative arc, we don’t get much about the other girls. The same goes for Rumi’s history – what’s the story with her mom and dad? Celine’s role isn’t a sizeable one as well, which does hamper the resolution a bit since quite a few narrative threads feel unresolved by the end. This could be a way for co-directors Maggie Kang and Chris Appelhans to pave the way for maybe even a prequel of sorts.
I’ll be waiting and hoping if so, with popcorn in my eyes and a hot bowl of ramyeon in tow.
REVIEW SCORE: 4/5
