A phenomenon, K-Pop: Demon Hunters, has exceeded boundaries of animation, film, and soundtracks! K-Pop: Demon Hunters accomplishes an incredible feat; great as an anime movie, K-Pop, and telling a very sophisticated story. In this way it reminds me of Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (2010) in perfectly balancing genres and styles. The film is directed by Maggie Kang who also provided the story and part of the screenwriting team. Kang was head of story for The Lego Ninjago Movie (2017). Her co-director is Chris Applehans who also wrote and directed Wish Dragon (2021). The screenplay team also includes Danya Jimenez and Hannh McMechan. They are a writing team that also worked on writing episodes of the teen comedy show, Gabby Duran & The Unsittables (2021).
It started streaming on Netflix on June 20th and reached the top of its releases. The two day release, August 23 and 24th. They are sold out screenings so Netflix is leaving money on the table not extending the run. Faint crowd sounds are heard before the crowd noise builds. A giant neon-lit stage with a three walkways extending into the crowd. In the center is a flower shape like a hibiscus main stage. The crowd roars for Huntr/x and they carry wands with light up hibiscus tips. We hear narration, this is Celine (Yunjin Kim). Sun-Hwa Kwon on the series, Lost (2004-2010) was a well known role for Kim. “The world will know you as pop stars, but you will be much more than that- ”, and we see the group in shadow with a pink mist. “-you will be Hunters!” Glowing pink lines weave from a night forest towards villagers, out of the pink crevices emerge demons!
A bulky demon with a club and a small demon with a cyclops eye, and a mysterious demon in black robes. They are dokkaebi in Korean mythology with different forms. We see inside a house a demon opening its mouth to steal a woman’s soul! These souls, glowing blue, streak back to the demon king, Gwi-Ma. He is a jagged mouth of pink and fiery colors. A mother protects her child holding up a rake as the narrator explains that heroes appeared with “voices that could drive back the darkness”! One Hunter touches the hand of a child and his chest lights up with the blue of his soul. The first Hunters dance and create a shield to protect people from the demons. Everything and words are explained, but I looked for a little cultural context thanks to the Youtube channel, Talk to Me in Korean, recommended. He is making a guess thinking that Honmoon means “soul door.”
Then, the narrator says that there is a new trio of Hunters for every generation; we see flappers, and then World World II singers, a trio with 60’s clothes. Then, the Sunlight Sisters, which look like singers from the 70’s. One of the singers, Mi-yeong Ryu, to the right side of the lead singer, has a long braided pony tail. They are looking to form a barrier to keep out Gwi-Ma and the demons out forever, the Golden Honmoon! We pull back to the narrator, Celine who was the lead singer of Sunlight Sisters. She meets the Hunter/x group under a tree with ribbons. Celine says that they will bring the Golden Honmoon. A billboard shows Hunter/x has their World Tour Final Show! The fans start walking in with purple shirts and hats with Hunter/x logos. The Magical Girl Trio is a manga and anime trope, KPDH makes the concept fresh with its characters.
Fans are interviewed, one says she likes Mira with long, pink hair, who is the leader dancer. Mira has a sullen look. Another says she is the black sheep of a wealthy family. A guy says she is the only one who could wear a sleeping bag to the Met Gala! Another group loves Zoey who is the lyricist for the group. Zoey has short, black hair and seems eternally perky. A guy notes that she grew up in Burbank, USA! These parts are so funny! Another fan says she’s the cutest maknae, this is the youngest member, the others are eon-ni, older sisters. Lastly, is Rumi, with her purple hair like her mother who was in Sunlight Sisters. A fan explains that her mother died when she was a baby and Celine raised her. We see three guys crying over Rumi’s voice, also funny! Then, the music starts and the fans go crazy. Getting ready is manager, Bobby, I did not realize that Ken Jeong voices him. Jeong voiced Gobi in the animated film, Over the Moon (2020).
He has everything set, but his group is not there! Bobby checks his phone and sees Hunter/x is flying overhead in a jet! On board, Rumi, voiced by Arden Cho gets the group ready for the concert. She played June in the live action, Avatar: The Last Airbender (2024) series. Eijae is her singing voice who also wrote songs in the film. She also wrote songs for the South Korean girl group, Red Velvet. Also in the group huddle is Zoey, her voice actor is Ji-young Yoo. The lead, Hayoung, was played by Yoo in the drama, Smoking Tigers (2023). Rei Ami is the singing voice of Zoey. She is known for singing on “Freak” with Sub Urban. Lastly, is May Hong who voices Mira, she played Margot Park in the dramatic series, Tales of the City (2019). Mira’s singing is provided by Audrey Nuna. One of her musical projecxts was A Liquid Breakfast (2021). They ready for the last concert by “carb loading”, shouting in unison, “for the fans!” Funny plus the Chibi expressions, exaggerated anime looks. This is wildly munching on a table filled with snacks!
The stewardess and flight crew are stunned at their eating! They toast each other with Pre-show ramen, pronounced “ra-myeon”, with their names labeled on them, but they find no water in the ramen! Bobby calls the group and uses his phone so that they can see the show is going on. Hunter/x sees out the jet’s window that they are leaving their fifty thousand fans! Rami walks up and says that they are all demons. The stewardess, voiced by director Kang!, has been watering plants with coffee and the other crew is equally strange. Rami holds up the stewardess arm to show patterns, purple tatoos. They shift into demons and the head demon threatens them, interrupted by Mira’s burp! He continues saying they are going to eat their fans. Mira says they are going to make it hurt. The lights flow on the cabin’s ceiling, cutouts of Hunter/x, as they sing, “How It’s Done” while pounding the demons. Great first song! They summon their weapons; Sumi with a Saingeom Sword, Mira uses a gokdo polearm, and Zoey wields six shin-kai throwing knives.
Love the multi-colored lights of the jet windows with splattered demons! Plus music video scenes of the fight. The tail of the jet is torn apart by the demons like gremlins of legend, see William Shatner in the "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet" (1963) of Twilight Zone! A brief pause as Huntr/x gobbles down their ramen. Then, they skydive straight down to do a brief make-up touchup, batter the demons, all to streak down at the concert arena! The concert begins with fans thinking the demons are in costume. Eijae as Rumi hits the high note with the last part of "Til the dark meets the light!", wow. The lip synch is not perfect with closeups. At the finish, a blue light flows from the concert. We see a dark world with a hexagonal building that reminds me of the Jedi Temple in Star Wars: The Phantom Menace (1999). The stewardess nervously shuffles past the crowds of demons. The massive, jagged mouth, of Gwi-ma voiced by Lee Byung-hun! Billy Rocks was a powerful performance for Byung-hun in the Western remake of The Magnificent Seven (2016). The demon stewardess is lifted up and screams as the other demons cower!
He rages that the Honmoon will be the end of the demons, then we hear the strumming of the bipa, we see a dark figure float upwards. He wears a dark robe and traditional hat called gat, sings of the demon king, "Will he let the fire go out?" This is Jinu, Ahn Hyo-seop provides his voice, he is in this year's fantasy movie, Omniscient Reader: The Prophecy. Andrew Choi is Jinu's singing voice and his first album is Love is Enough (2013).
Five+ Honmoons out of Five!
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