Right now animation projects are extremely divisive. On one hand you have work like Arcane or The Spider-Verse that have received really good reviews for not only being visually appealing but also having good writers. On the other side you have things like Elio or Kung Fu Panda 4, which are both considered “animation holes,” and writing ranging from predictable to bad.
K-pop Demon Hunters is a newer film on Netflix made by the Sony Company. There are a lot of things K-pop Demon Hunters did right.
A huge part of the film that really made it successful is the characters. Right now there has been a huge trend for the “Girl Boss” characters starting around 2021, predominantly by Disney. There are numerous problems with this trend for the media. If you watch a movie during the really big boom of the “Girl Boss” characters, there are a lot of patterns with the characters. Most being that these movies tend to paint love as a bad thing stopping you from being your full boss potential, inherently removing any characters that may have a love interest. A huge example of this is Wish, where the original story went in a completely different direction, making Asha have a love interest while still being able to stand up on her own. In making K-pop Demon Hunters, they gave an opportunity to make women characters who are strong and can stand on their own. But also experimented with love, each in their own way.
The characters are humble for being idols with interesting backgrounds and their own stories. Each has their own way of talking, their own humor—something that can make the audience really relate to them. The movie has a good pace, with such lovable characters. There is a reason that characters like Bobby or Mystery are loved despite their screen time.
The writing all together was just lovely. Something most companies are doing right now is sticking to what they know makes money. Why are companies all making unnecessary sequels to movies that ended over a decade later? Because the movie is popular and is almost a guaranteed money success. That’s what really makes the movie stand out. It’s a whole new concept, new characters, and something refreshing from the endless remakes and boring movies. It’s a movie; you can tell the animators had fun making. There are new animation styles, so the movie isn’t always so serious. Most animated series with action have jokes, but there’s not really much experimentation with animation styles. Which is a huge part of the movie. As well as the use of colors to show the point and emotional growth in the movie.
An amazing part of the film is just the culture. Usually when animation companies have movies targeted at America but taking place in a different country, it’s more common to see westernized versions of the country or an absence of certain things. Or they usually just make the culture a lot more watered down or stereotypical. K-pop Demon Hunters, however, completely strays away from that. They include food, traditions, outfits, and a realist place on the cultural aspect of the place they are in. A good example of this would be the use of talking and showing bathhouses. While in America bathhouses can be considered saunas, they’re a lot more common in different countries as literal buildings full of baths. This can also be seen in the usage of Hanbok during your idol performance or during the Joseon Dynasty in Jinu’s flashbacks. But there is endless use of Korean culture in the movie, from traditional weapons, the Cat, instruments, norigae, and the usage of maedeup. This goes hand in hand with the good representation of the idol industry. Fansign events, game show events, and the idol awards are all real events that idols experience in their average career.
The casting is just lovely. Everyone who was casted was fit for their roles with popular celebrities. Gwi-ma is played by Lee Byung-hun, who you may know as the Front Man from Squid Games, being a really interesting and good fit for the character. As well as Bobby, played by Ken Jeong, who is practically everywhere, from ads to TV shows like The Masked Singer.
The internet’s impact was almost immediate, as even though it came out today, it is already growing a huge fandom. Jokes, fanart, easter eggs, and edits are just the beginning of what has been coming out. As of now there’s no intent for it to stop anytime soon. The soundtrack is released on Spotify and Apple Music, both already have a huge head start going on the charts. I suspect dance challenges and cosplays are definitely expected to reach the fyp.
I had watched it when it first came out for animation studies and was definitely pleasantly surprised. It’s a refreshing concept with new characters and frankly good music. It is definitely something everyone should at least try to watch once.
The film really understood what an audience wants and how to make the movie understandable for an audience even if they don’t get every reference in it. The animation, jokes, and dialog. It is still funny without having to add any unnecessary and gross jokes in, unlike most movies made for children. And though the movie is technically a kids movie, the team really understands their audience and what they want.
