'Kpop Demon Hunter' - You'll know if you like it.

Josh
Sep 10, 2025
4 min read

Chris Appelhans; Maggie Kang (2025)

Is Babymetal Kpop?

KPop Demon Hunters, this year's must-see animated movie, is a fine movie. I mean that, it’s just fine. This is a movie that didn’t appeal to me at all, which is why I didn’t watch it straight away. Despite everyone talking about it within the first few days of its appearance on Netflix, it vanished from my mind. It wasn’t until Novak Djokovic did a little jig from the show for his daughter. So I thought, let's finally give this a watch. And as I expected, it did nothing for me. Firstly, I don’t listen to K-pop. I couldn’t even tell you a single song or band that falls under that genre of music. The closest thing I get to K-pop is BabyMetal and I don’t even know if that counts. And another thing, and I feel like a dirtbag for saying this, is that it's already starting to become a cliché to have… I don’t even think there’s a word for it. But the Spider-Verse style of animation. We’ve had an absolute wave of similar-looking animations after studios realised that we can have animation other than soft, 3D, Pixar-looking movies. I only hope we see the same wave with 2D animation.

*KPop Demon Hunter (2025). Courtesy of Netflix.*

KPop Demon Hunters follows three singers, Rumi (Arden Cho), Mira (May Hong), and Zoey (Ji-young Yoo), who take the mantle of a long lineage of demon hunters. A group that weaponises popular forms of music to defend the world from monsters. We land in the era of K-pop. And like the music, we have a high-energy opening action scene. Setting the stage for the over-the-top comedic nature of the animation. The first song is incorporated well with the action, blending into a concert. They do use this time to establish the core characteristics of our band members, Huntrix. However, it's nothing that we haven’t already seen. We’ve got a stoic, brave leader, a cold goth and a bubbly, overly happy one. Reasonably stock standard. Enough for younger audiences to attach a personality to.

From this opening, I would say if you aren’t bought into the comedy, music or animation, then the rest of the movie will probably be a bit of a slog. Opposing Huntrix is the underworld that sends up another K-pop band to steal their fans, weakening the trio and then take over the world. A romance blossoms between Rumi and the leader of the Ji-noo (Ahn Hyo-seop), with a shady past that sent him to the underworld to begin with. Their relationship was fine; they had enough between each other that I believed they could have a relationship. Enhanced by the revelation that Rumi has distinct tattoos that indicate demons. Being half demon and half human. Now this is where the predictability kicks in.

If you’ve seen a movie at all, you know exactly where the plot is going. So, spoilers, I guess. The band's mother figure insists that Rumi hide the tattoos until they can be ‘fixed’. So you instantly know that her band will find out, they’ll have a falling out and the lead will have a Frozen moment and accept the demon is a part of her and take control of the power. The relationship between Ji-noo was set up for him to have a redemption moment. You watched the final battle, just waiting for the moment he jumps in front of an attack to save Rumi. I didn’t expect a death, as the tone had me set up for them to live happily ever after. So I guess that’s something.

Back to the animation, as mentioned, with the rise of this style becoming more and more common with titles such as The Mitchells vs. the Machines (2021), Puss in Boots: The Last Wish (2022), The Bad Guys (2022), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem (2023), or even Arcane (2021). I’m not saying this to diminish the quality of these movies and shows; I’m purely pointing out that having this style of animation isn’t something wholly unique anymore. Kpop Demon Hunters has this style that presents itself like a 3D anime. With characters' eyes changing to the shapes of their desire or their emotions manifesting as a physical object. Maybe it's just a personal thing, but I kept asking myself, why are they doing the choppy half-frame rate animation? In Spider-Verse, it makes sense when Miles is half as good as Peter. Or even debating it acts to the feeling of simulated moving when flipping through pages of a comic. Here, I didn't see a reason to have the choppy animation. And that's not to say the animation isn't good. There are elaborate dances and fights that have a strong rhythm to their presentation that amplifies the music, even if you're not into it.

What could stand out to a certain audience is the lore and love put into the Korean mythology. The demons look like traditional paintings as well as creatures. Specifically, a dopy-looking cat with a crow companion. Even from the small amount og research, certain costumes, pieces of clothing and weapons are all ripped from Korean history and myth.

If K-pop or Korean lore is your thing, this would be right up your alley. I don't fall into any of these categories, so this didn't connect to me. This was a rather stock standard animated movie to me. I can appreciate the animation but as I like to repeat, a special effect without a story is a pretty boring thing.