Kpop Demon Hunters (2025) – Perfection

Released: 20th June
Seen: 10th December

We are officially at the point where the K-pop genre has hit critical mass, probably been there for a while thanks to supergroups like Blackpink or BTS showing how dominant they can be on the pop charts. This is part of an era that, according to my research, is known as the Korean Wave and hopefully when we talk about the absolutely insane rise of K-pop and the Korean wave in general in the future, we need to take the time to mention Kpop Demon Hunters, which feels like the kind of movie that can only exist now that K-pop has become such a massive element of pop culture that it has the incredible mass appeal that this work of art has.

Kpop Demon Hunters follows the band Huntrix which is made up of Rumi (Arden Cho), Mira (May Hong) and Zoey (Ji-young Yoo). Huntrix is currently one of the biggest bands in the world, their album releases becoming global events… They also hunt demons (the title kind of gives that away) through the power of music, using their magical voices to create a barrier known as the Honmoon, which will keep demons out forever if they can turn it into the Golden Honmoon. Of course, there are a couple of problems, the big one being that the demons have a plan to beat Huntrix by making a demonic K-pop act of their own called Saja Boys, led by the charismatic Jinu (Ahn Hyo-seop) and the second… Rumi is secretly a half-demon and has been hiding that from everyone, but might not be able to hide it for very much longer.

Now I’m going to cop to the fact that I’m coming to this film incredibly late, it came out in June so it’s been a big deal for about 6 months now but things get popular for no reason all the time (Hi Minecraft the Movie) so surely this film was going to be in that camp right? It’s such a wild silly idea that there’s no way it’s one of the best movies of the year, surely it’s collective psychosis by a fanbase who have no taste, right?

…so Kpop Demon Hunters is one of my favourite films of the year, one of the best animated films in the last decade and the kind of original musical that should be inspiring Hollywood to take bigger chances on diverse stories and strange new ideas. This film is about as close to perfect as you can get.

Within about five minutes of the film starting, it’s already clear how great Kpop Demon Hunters can be, the animation style is truly out of this world. Sony Pictures Animation has a pretty spectacular record when it comes to making top-tier animated films, having brought us the Spider-Verse series, The Mitchells vs The Machines and perhaps most importantly, The Emoji Movie. The animation for Kpop Demon Hunters is one of their greatest achievements. Utilising animation concepts largely associated with Anime, Kpop Demon Hunters embraces both the musical nature of the film and its status as a weird animated superhero movie to push everything to the absolute limit. Expressions are over the top and hilarious, dance moves are precise and silly enough that they work for animation but are realistic enough that a regular human could pull them off if they wanted to dance along, and the colours are so bright and glorious that you feel like you’re seeing every hue for the first time. It’s the kind of animation you just stare at with your mouth hanging open in actual shock because no one should be able to make something look this cool and fun, but goddamn it they do.

The incredible visual style helps sell every element, from the story which plays with ideas of stardom, mental illness and found family, to the musical numbers that have absolutely dominated mainstream pop culture for the last half a year. Every single moment where Kpop Demon Hunters tries to touch on something heavy is helped by just how well they’ve planned every shot. Moments where Rumi is doubting that she’s really able to help anyone because of her half-demon side are so much more powerful thanks to how the visuals enhance everything, the design of the markings that all demons have is so specific and fascinating that it does so much work for you. There wasn’t a single moment when the story wasn’t working because they trusted the audience, they used their stylistic visuals well to make sure that every little moment is presented in the best way possible… which is sadly not as common for animated films as it should be, especially ones made for Netflix who literally tell film makers to dumb down their movies so people can be on their phones while watching the movie, it’s worthy of praise when a film acts like people are actually watching the damn thing.

What’s also worthy of praise is the music, which has absolutely dominated the charts thanks to some absolute bangers like Golden and Soda Pop which really feel like they could be performed by any real-world K-pop band. It’s absolutely no wonder why the music has caught on, it’s catchy as all hell and so well performed by the singers (Shoutout to Ejae, Audrey Nuna and Rei Ami who provide the singing voices for the three lead characters, they deserve to be superstars for their work) that it doesn’t shock me that the soundtrack has not only lived on the Billboard charts for 24 weeks now but will undoubtedly be one of the main sources of awards that Kpop Demon Hunters is going to rake in. Not only are these songs genuinely great on their own, they’re also perfect at enhancing the story and pushing the plot along. It’s a much-needed reminder that you can have an original musical with songs that aren’t knockoff Broadway anthems, you can embrace a genre like K-pop and create something magical.

It’s also just lovely to see a film with an all Asian cast getting not only high praise but high viewership. Representation absolutely matters and Kpop Demon Hunters creates some glorious and fun representation that feels, at least to an outsider, like it’s showing off the best sides of Korean culture. There’s something about Kpop Demon Hunters that is so truly special and part of that is how it is clearly made by people who know and understand the culture it’s talking about, at no point did it feel watered down to appeal to a mass audience (maybe it was, I don’t know, but it didn’t FEEL like it was and usually you can tell when these films hold back for mass appeal). It stuck to its guns and is one of the biggest films of the year, that’s something Hollywood should really lean into instead of pretending things like this are flukes.

KPop Demon Hunters is absolutely brilliant, an insanely catchy, fun musical treat that has some of the best animation that has been put on film and a truly special batch of characters who you just can’t help but love. Knowing that a sequel has already been greenlit is absolutely amazing because the world needs more films like this. It’s the kind of film that can be enjoyed by genre fans and people who have never heard a single K-pop song in their life… as someone who was a part of the latter group, this film might even be the push needed to give the genre itself a try. Kpop Demon Hunters is special, it’s absolutely golden.