I Did Not Like K-Pop Demon Hunters

I love animated films. The medium of animation is unlike any other, since it’s essentially a blank canvas where the creative possibilities are endless. You don’t have to worry about obeying the laws of physics and you can outfit your characters in outlandishly bizarre (and oftentimes highly impractical) wardrobe. And since there have been so many good animated films in the past few years from both the East and West, I was eagerly waiting for the day K-Pop Demon Hunters would drop on Netflix. But unfortunately, reality is often disappointing.

Our story begins with an exposition dump detailing the origins of the demon hunters: a trio of female singers whose voices unite the world whilst fighting demons and protecting a magical barrier that keeps out the demon realm. Every generation has its own demon hunters, with their own music style. And our current generation happens to be a global K-Pop sensation known as “Huntrix” (stylized as HUNTR/X), consisting of Rumi, Mira and Zoey. The three are so close to completing their mission for good to strengthen the barrier to its fullest. However, things go awry when Rumi begins losing her voice due to her secret demon heritage. Things only get worse when a new (demonic) K-Pop boyband known as “Saja Boys” arrive and begin toppling Huntrix on the global charts.

The film tries to tackle the K-Pop subculture and the dark side of the K-Pop industry. We see that the members of Huntrix are supposed to conceal their feelings and darkest secrets to the public and even each other. Hence why Rumi refuses to tell both Mira and Zoey about her demon heritage, fearing that they would turn against her. This is not just a sad reality of K-Pop, but also in East Asian culture in large. Mental health is not heavily discussed and it’s even scorned upon as weakness. However, the film only addresses this aspect at a surface level. It doesn’t ever mention how often K-Pop groups are overworked, peer pressured to lose weight leading to them to go on unsustainable diets (and collapsing on stage). Or that many members have their personal lives heavily scrutinized by the public and face extreme bullying for stuff that’s out of their control (such as their upbringing). But here, Huntrix seems to have no worries about any of this. They can choose to go on a three year hiatus after releasing their newest single. And eat whatever they want without worrying about the public perception. I know this is a movie, but you can’t claim to represent the K-Pop fandom without addressing the full mistreatment most if not all K-Pop groups face. And I’m not even a fan of K-Pop to know that much!

Going off the tangent of “conceal don’t feel, don’t let them know”, what other animated movie deals with its main character struggling to hide her darkest secret from her family in fear of judgement which culminates in a climactic battle where they must learn to conquer and accept this dark part of themselves? Pixar’s Turning Red! (What movie were you thinking about?) But unlike K-Pop Demon Hunters, Turning Red worked as a story. Why was that the case? Because in Turning Red, Mei Lee’s mother is a central figure in her strict upbringing and serves as a personification of the older generation’s way of thinking towards mental health and public perception. Meanwhile, Rumi’s parental figure, Celine, is hardly relevant to the plot. She solely exists to tell Rumi to hide her markings and continuously lies to her that they’ll go away when the hunters complete their task. I think she only gets a mere minute of screen time at best! She’s so irrelevant that I couldn’t even remember her name until I saw the credits.

Now let’s talk about the Saja Boys. Or rather, let’s talk about their lead singer, Jinu. He’s your typical bland K-Drama love interest. Complete with the curtain bangs, black jacket worn over his white hoodie, stoic persona and knowing just the right thing to say at the right time. Actually, I take back what I said. He’s worse than your typical K-Drama love interest since there’s nothing separating him from your generic K-Drama male lead from 2013. He and Rumi have these little meet cutes sprinkled throughout the film and share their views on demons and hunters. But this romantic subplot never goes anywhere. And you’re left asking yourself if you accidentally turned on When I Fly Towards You (I know it’s a Chinese drama, but still). If I want a good K-Drama romance, I’ll just re-watch Crash Landing on You. At least the story is consistent and the romantic chemistry between its leads is palpable. The only good thing that came out of these scenes? We were introduced to the best characters of the film: the tiger and bird.

So the story and characters are unoriginal at best and cringe worthy at worst. But at least the music is good right? Right? Well…actually yes! From the infectiously catchy “Soda Pop” by Saja Boys, to the ruthless beat of “Takedown”, to even the powerful and emotional belts in “Golden”, every song is used strategically to capture the characters’ feelings. “Golden” shows us Huntrix at their absolute best. It sends goosebumps down your back, especially when Ejae (Rumi’s singing voice) belts her heart out while the heart-swooning “Soda Pop” sung by the demonic boy band is a pleasant threat to the all-girl group. But my favorite song has to be “Takedown” sung by the real life K-Pop girl group TWICE. The cutting vocals and aggressive rap/hip-hop beat is such a powerful combination. Originally planned by Huntrix to be sung at the Idol Awards to expose the identities of Saja Boys, it’s used as their anthem whenever fighting demons which only serves to alienate Rumi from her teammates.

Before the “K-Pop stans” try to crucify me, let me say that I think K-Pop Demon Hunters has a lot of cool concepts and ideas. It could’ve been a clever satire and commentary on the darker sides of the K-Pop industry while still being a musically action-packed feature film. However, an unoriginal story and a shallow approach to the subculture and industry leave the movie feeling like a flashy corporate sellout to appeal to K-Pop fans. Despite a grotesquely unique animation style and some really good songs, this is not a movie that I will be endlessly revisiting. But hey, at least I’ll add the songs to my personal playlist. Now excuse me as I go listen to “Golden” and “Takedown” on repeat.

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