How KPop Demon Hunters Nailed the K-Pop Experience

The hit Netflix animated movie KPop Demon Hunters has not only been breaking records on Netflix charts outside Asia but is also sweeping real-world music charts — including those of BTS and Blackpink. A fantasy adventure about K-pop that came out in June, the film has been streamed more than 33 million times in two weeks, landed in the global top 10 in 93 countries, and currently ranks second on Netflix’s global list. Fans are already making their own drawings, and daily calls for a sequel are audible on the internet.

Since its 20 June release, the two bands that star in KPop Demon Hunters, the all-female righteous band Huntr/x and the bumbling Saja Boys, have not only taken over Netflix top 10 lists across more than 90 countries but have also cracked real-world music charts in the US and elsewhere. The seven songs they sing in the film were released as singles in May and June and took the top two spots on Spotify’s US chart, where only one other band — Queen and David Bowie’s “Under Pressure” — had achieved the same feat. They have also cracked Billboard Hot 100 with seven songs from the movie — more than either BTS or Blackpink, the two bands they toppled from the first and second spots. KPop Demon Hunters’ success on music charts has been as unexpected as its success on Netflix.

In the film, the trio Huntr/x — Korean-American Rumi (Jennie Guimaraes), Mexican-American Mira (Marimar Rodríguez), and Afro-Latina Zoey (Makenzie Lee) — are pop divas by day and demon-slaying heroes by night. They clash with their eternal rivals, Saja Boys, in a world where both the conflicts and concerts take place against a backdrop of dazzling special effects, stagecraft, and a coming-of-age story about friendship, trust, and being yourself. As they take on global superstardom and “saving the world”, they get into over-the-top rivalries with the Saja Boys. The film combines what a Korean-Canadian co-director Maggie Kang calls a “treasure chest of tropes from K-pop”, with humour, the occasional wince-inducing jump cut, and much heart. The unique cocktail is working.

Interest in the genre of the film and its music has followed this diverse audience over from the screen. While the film’s music is clearly a hit with viewers, it has also been compared by reviewers to the authentic dance tunes that drive the K-pop genre. “It gives the film a surprising level of maturity,” said Lashai Ben Salmi, a European community leader and blogger who focuses on Korean culture, in an interview. The filmmakers incorporated K-pop into the DNA of KPop Demon Hunters to a level where the music works both as a plot device and entertainment. As Kang said, the music is what the superheroes use to fight back the dark.

In the spirit of diversity in the cast, which came from countries as varied as South Korea, Mexico, Ecuador, Colombia, and the US, the filmmakers also made cultural authenticity a priority. K-pop, K-dramas, and Korean films have already gained significant mainstream acceptance in the US and in other Western markets. In the world of Netflix and YouTube, even unwatched K-dramas can top the Netflix collection list of even the non-Korean user. KPop Demon Hunters takes representation and inclusion a step beyond. The film has South Korean actor Jeong Jinwoon as an angel, Korean girl band Wonder Girls in a supporting role, and the actors of the Huntr/x and Saja Boys coming from different countries. From the food the characters eat and how they eat it to the Myeongdong streets and Cheonggyecheon, even the insides of Korean buildings are the traditional Korean dining and seating style, or places such as Seoul’s ancient city walls, Hanuiwon herbal clinics, public bathhouses, or Namsan Tower. Some choices are less expected, but far from cliché. “I just love seeing Korean actors and actresses on screen. I know it sounds a little weird, but I rarely see a K-drama or movie that I feel is respectfully accurate,” Salmi says. “KPop Demon Hunters provided that — if only for a moment.”

Filmmakers also went to South Korea and looked, in person, for such details that bring it alive. From folk villages to Myeongdong street photography to hanbok (Korean traditional attire) to daily life, the crew filmed in South Korea and studied how to animate Korean sounds and movements. In the final product, although the English-speaking cast members speak English, they move their lips as they would for Korean. Their reactions also feel Korean. In some scenes, the characters also use Korean words or sing Korean lyrics.

The film goes further, offering a peek into K-pop fandom itself. From fan signing events and light sticks to K-pop concert choreography, the glowsticks lighting up the audience, and the fans singing along, to Kalgunmu (dance routines where fans synchronise with the artist), to Korean language signs, to Korean words such as daebak sprinkled across dialogues, the film captures K-pop culture in its entirety. It also reflects not just the music but the culture of K-pop in all its eras and does not target just one sub-section of the fandom.

Fantasy and Korean folk are another reference that unites KPop Demon Hunters across multiple cultures. The films’ swords and fans that Huntr/x wields in their fight against the demons are the tools of Mudang (Korean shamans), and Saja Boys look like Korean Grim Reapers (Korea has a complex history with the Grim Reaper trope). Folklore-inspired symbols dot the film, such as Dangsan trees and Dokkaebi (Korean goblins), and its animated mascots, a guardian tiger Derpy and a good luck magpie Sussy, are folk-inspired too.