“KPop Demon Hunters” brings Asian American representation and Korean ethnic influences to Netflix for a fun, empowering frolic to catchy tunes (music by Marcelo Zarvos). Created from a story by Korean American Maggie Kang who co-wrote and co-directed (with Chris Appelhans), “KPop Demon Hunters” follows the lead singer of a girl band who are singers by day and demon slayers off-stage.
Like the younger-age-group targeting “Turning Red,” this film has the female gaze firmly in place. In “Turning Red,” the girl gang at the center of the story were fervent fans of a boy band, but here in “KPop Demon Hunters,” the girl K-Pop band–Rumi, Mira and Zoey, Huntr/x, must fight a boy band, the Saja Boys, for billboard domination.
In this world of demon hunters, demons bring human souls to feed their ruler Gwi-Ma. For each generation, a trio of women are trained as demon hunters who, through the magic of their voices, create a magical barrier, a forcefield restraining the demons from the human world called the Honmoon.
The current demon hunter trio are under the guidance of former demon hunter Celine (voiced by Yunjin Kim with singing voice by Lea Salonga), who raised the orphaned Rumi. Rumi (voiced by Arden Cho) is the lead singer (Ejae provides Rumi’s singing voice) for Huntr/x. Mira (voiced by May Hong with vocals by Audrey Numa ) is the main dancer for the group while Zoey (voiced by Ji-young Hoo and singing voice by Rei Ami) is the main rapper. For their demon slaying duties, each uses a different weapon: Rumi, the saingeom sword; Mira, the woldo (moon blade) and Zoey, knives.
As Huntr/x, they are unrivaled as top pop stars until the arrival of the five-member Saja Boys. Led by Jinu (Ahn Hoo-seop), the group are actually demons who are backed by the evil Gwi-Ma (Lee Byung-hun) and part of Gwi-Ma’s plot to defeat Huntr/x. Yet both Jinu and Rumi have secrets and there’s no secret that Mira and Zoey are attracted to the other Saja Boys.
This is a colorful 3D animated fantasy adventure (screenplay by Danya Jimenez, Hannah McMechan, Maggie Kang and Chris Appelhans) with young women trying to be heroes despite their hangups and secrets. It’s fun and delightful blend of western and anime traditions, influenced by editorial and concert photography as well as Korean dramas, but I’m sure that people familiar with Korean culture and folklore can better appreciate the story and visuals.
“KPop Demon Hunters” was animated by Sony Pictures Imageworks and released on Netflix 20 June 2025.
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