‘Kpop Demon Hunters’ evaluation: Charming and authentic, with a stand-out soundtrack

It isn’t on a regular basis that you’ve fictional boy bands and woman teams make their debut on the Billboard Hot 100 music charts. But final week, Huntr/x, the Ok-pop woman group and Saja Boys, the boy band, each from Netflix’s extremely charming and enjoyable Kpop Demon Hunters, debuted on the charts for his or her songs ‘Golden’ and ‘My Idol’ respectively. Today, Billboard introduced that the movie’s soundtrack was the very best charting soundtrack in 2025 to date, having seen a huge surge in its second week on the Billboard 200 albums chart. Songs from the movie are on the highest 10 songs on Spotify’s world high 50 and not too long ago, RM of BTS, the South-Korean boy band BTS, throughout a stay broadcast was seen buzzing ‘Soda Pop’, a tune by the Saja Boys. .

Of course, for any movie centered on music, the movie’s soundtrack ought to pull out all of the stops. The very good music in Kpop Demon Hunters is nevertheless simply one of many many issues the movie has going for it. It is actually spectacular that each one this was and is occurring alongside the discharge of the third and ultimate season of Netflix’s largest present but, Squid Game 3.

This American animated musical-fantasy movie follows the lives of the fictional Ok-pop group Huntr/x, comprising Rumi, Mira and Zoey (Arden Cho, May Hong and Yoo Ji-young voice the characters), who moonlight as demon hunters. They belong to a lengthy legacy of ladies demon hunters who sing and create a magic barrier, the Honmoon, which seals demons from the earth and prevents them from feeding souls to their demon lord Gwi-Ma (voiced by a superb Lee Byung-hun). As the ladies inch nearer to strengthening the barrier to fully seal their world from demons, Gwi-ma enlists a group of demons to execute a devious plan cooked up by Jinu (voiced by Ahn Hyo-seop). Jinu and his group resolve to tackle Huntr/x as a Ok-pop boy group, the immensely enjoyable Saja Boys who’ve a spring of their step and a playlist of hit songs besides. 

For anybody who has revelled in Ok-pop and even Ok-Dramas over the previous few years, there may be a lot to take pleasure in in Ok-pop Demon Hunters. The music is extremely catchy, particularly ‘Soda Pop’, ‘Golden’, ‘Your Idol’, and a terrific model of ‘Takedown’ by Ok-pop woman group Twice. Given its central characters, the animated movie makes an attempt to offer us a peek into the lives of the well-known. As Ok-pop idols, it’s not simply Rumi, Mira and Zoey’s love for song-writing and stay performances that we see, but in addition their secret love for bowls of ramen, an array of snacks and them vegetating on their couches as an escape from the fixed highlight. Competition is a very actual factor and the ladies slowly however certainly start to really feel threatened when the Saja Boys burst onto the scene. While the ladies are already main a double life, and making an attempt their finest to maintain up their good public personas, Rumi wrestles with a greater secret, and the disgrace that comes with it. 

The Saja Boys on Netflix’s Ok-pop Demon Hunters

If the catchy music and quite a few nods to Ok-drama tropes make the movie appear heat and acquainted, there may be a lot of nuance that non-Korean viewers like me have found because of deep dives in regards to the movie which have adopted its launch. Directed by Chris Appelhans and Maggie Kang, the movie has been lauded for its illustration of Korean tradition which incorporates all the pieces from the artwork on the stage backdrop when Huntr/x performs, to the numerous mythological references central to the movie. 

It helps that the animation is actually beautiful. Produced by Sony Pictures, the visuals convey alive Seoul’s Namsan Tower and the Bukchon Hanok Village. The satan, or the demons listed here are actually within the particulars — I couldn’t assist however discover how Rumi, Mira and Zoey have distinctly completely different seems to be for once they have their make-up on whereas on stage, and offstage when they’re writing songs whereas clothed in comfy sweats. Both the action-set items and the dance sequences are particularly slick. The Saja Boys too are every crafted to embody a fan favorite idol sort: there’s an ‘abs‘ Saja of course, but also a ‘Romance‘ Saja and a ‘Baby‘ Saja. Here’s to additionally hoping the derpy tiger and his magpie buddy are getting a spin-off, since we might love an origin story.

Maggie Kang’s story ensures that Kpop Demon Hunters is much from a easy coming-of-age/romance story. Of course, there may be a potential romance hinted at and a robust ship that nearly sails, however the movie trains its give attention to the themes of id and sisterhood, which feels much more rewarding given the set-up. There is a lot that’s intriguing about this universe and it makes you surprise if this could have labored higher as a TV present with a lot extra runtime. For now, a sequel to the movie, maybe? It actually seems like we haven’t had our fill of ‘Soda Pop’ but. 

Ok-pop Demon Hunters is at the moment streaming on Netflix