I haven’t, Buck. I am, however, into KPop Demon Hunters, whose very title speaks for itself. I bet you want some elaboration, do you?
I sure do, Jethro!
Conceived by co-director Maggie Kang, the backstory sees the evil demon lord Gwi-Ma (Lee Byung-Hun) and his minions hunt humanity for their souls. They're opposed by demon hunters who moonlight as girl groups. In this generation, our heroines are HUNTR/X (or Huntrix), consisting of Rumi (Arden Cho), their leader; Mira (May Hong), the tough one; and Zoey (Ji-young Yoo), the peppy one. As with their ancestors, HUNTR/X maintains the Honmoon, the barrier between the human and demon worlds, with their popularity. Once it turns gold, the Honmoon will keep the demons vanquished forever.
One of Gwi-Ma’s followers, Jinu (Ahn Hyo-seop), pitches the idea of a new boy band to steal HUNTR/X’s popularity, and with it, their fans’ souls. Jinu and a few other demons take to the surface as the “Saja Boys” and become Korea’s next big thing. Our heroines see through the act and plot to upstage them. Rumi, however, is part-demon, and starts doubting her mission. She falls for Jinu, who also has a dark secret, but how long can she keep her band mates in the dark?
I don’t know, Jethro! You tell me!
You figure it out as I discuss the music. The songs, which are composed by too many people to name, are all pretty nifty, whether they’re sung on stage or during battle. A particular highlight is Golden, the ballad central to our heroines’ golden mission. It’s pretty dramatic when Rumi sings it by herself, revealing the tell-tale markings of her demonic heritage. The fact that none of the cast sings for themselves doesn’t diminish the impact. However, I’m a bit bemused that Lea Salonga was cast as the singing voice of the girls’ mentor, Celine (Yunjin Kim), and she’s barely in it.
What did you think of the cast?
Our heroines are quite likable, even when they're wildly immature over things like the Saja Boys' popularity. Rumi is pretty much the main character, and she gets a compelling arc as she comes to terms with her demonic heritage. It's hard to feel nothing when she's hit with the "all is lost moment." Of course, it makes it all the better when she bounces back in the finale. Her demonic heritage, meanwhile, isn't thoroughly elaborated on, as if the filmmakers were saving it for a sequel (which they should make). Zoey and Mira, meanwhile, have their backstories largely delegated to the opening. A little more focus could have intensified the finale, but it's still good.
Now we get to the villains. Gwi-Ma's casually sardonic sense of humor is pretty refreshing for a Big Bad. But the film never forgets to remind you how evil he is, particularly near the end. Jinu, the film's other main character, tells Rumi and the audience a decently tragic backstory early on. While one may sympathize with him then, they'll really sympathize when he tells her the truth. Let's just say he's had a lot of time to think about what he's done. His fellow Saja Boys are just there to look handsome, even as demons, and nothing else. They have less personalities than Jinu's sidekicks, a demonic magpie and tiger, the latter of whom is quite the neat freak.
And the technical stuff?
As with the Spiderverse films, KPop Demon Hunters is a frenetic blend of 3D and 2D animation styles. Our heroines frequently emote like anime characters, usually when they're at their most immature. The visual gags are weirdly amusing, such as a bit where popcorn comes out of nowhere. The battles are just as energetic as the soundtrack, which also includes a pretty good score by Marcelo Zarvos. We also get some appealing character designs for both the humans and the demons. Both the demon and human realms look nice thanks to some equally impressive production design.
Well then, it's off to the cinema for ---
No, Baxter, KPop Demon Hunters is on Netflix. Did I not mention that?
No ...
Don't worry, this will make for another memorable home matinee. It's infectious fun watching our heroines bust a beat as they bust some demons. While its story isn't thorough, what we get is enough to make one interested in its unique lore, as well as Korean mythology. I'm pretty interested in a sequel, whenever that is, and the filmmakers have already said they have ideas. Hopefully, with enough time, those ideas will develop into something great. I think I said enough.
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