KPop Demon Hunters

“The world will know you as pop stars but you will be much more than that. You will be hunters.” So says the narrator at the start of this Netflix hit, which has garnered a slew of awards nominations. One can’t help but wonder if it wouldn’t be easier to hunt demons whilst living a little more discreetly; one might also wonder if voters in those awards have seen any other films. Animation is always a category with comparatively few contenders, but there are much better ones out there this year than this piece of fluff.

If the choice has emerged out of a desire to be popular, it’s a fair one: the film might be understood as a distillation of its particular subgenre, in that every element of it can be found in multiple predecessors, most of which use it in precisely the same way. Unlike fellow awards contender Elio, it has no magic of its own with which to give these elements new life, despite the supernatural being at the core of the story.

Every generation, we are told, a new trio of heroes emerges to fight demons and defend humankind, using the power of music to keep darkness at bay. This time around they are Mira (voiced by May Hong), Zoey (Yoo Ji-young) and Rumi (Arden Cho), distinguished by their different coloured hair, signature weapons and slightly different onstage functions (though none of them actually plays an instrument). Their personalities are much of a muchness, though in Rumi’s case that may be because she’s faking it to fit in. Rumi has a secret: her father was a demon. As a result, she has tell-tale patterns on her arms, which the woman who raised her advised her to hide at all costs.

Struggling to defeat these powerful young women by simply throwing monsters at them, the big bad guy, who appears as a sort of purple flaming blob, is persuaded to start a demon boy band. The idea is that it could reduce their strength by stealing away the fans from whose adoration they draw their power. Inevitably, a secret romance develops between Rumi and boy band ‘leader’ Jinu (Ahn Hyo-seop), who claims that he wants to break free from the blob’s control. She finds herself questioning the philosophy with which she has been raised, creation friction within her band – but whose side is Jinu really on?

The film was conceived by Korean American Maggie Kang and it benefits from a knowing humour, playing affectionately with its stereotypes. The young women swoon over the disguised demons despite knowing what they are. As Rumi strives to resist Jinu, it becomes difficult tell whether the issue is his sinister origin or cooties. There is also some swooning over snacks, which likewise hold a strong appeal for our heroines, who would rather crash out on their couch if they didn’t feel obliged to try to save the world by performing at a special awards event (a sort of battle of the bands with only two bands). “Every snowflake is special but one snowflake is probably the best,” says its presenter.

The film’s soundtrack is what one might call marmite music. it went platinum in the US but this critic found it frankly tedious, its compressed vocals and overproduced style flattening any kind of character expression. It’s the sort of thing you will want to sample before committing yourself. The animation, meanwhile, is reasonably polished and dynamic where it needs to be, but nothing special. It has been described as ‘anime-like’, and therein lies the problem, because there’s plenty of anime – even in this year alone – which looks better.

Whilst there’s nothing particularly offensive about KPop Demon hunters, there’s nothing particularly interesting about it either. It exists in a sort of filler space, easy access K-animation lite for those unable to get to grips with the real thing.

Reviewed on: 13 Dec 2025