On June 20, 2025, Netflix released a highly-anticipated movie musical titled K-pop Demon Hunters. As the title suggests, it’s a film about a common music genre: K-pop. Although it’s not my style, the movie exceeded expectations and was a wonderful viewing experience. Rumi (Arden Cho), Mira (May Hong) and Zooey (Ji-young Yoo) are all members of a girl group called Huntr/x (Huntrix, I love the styling!). Rumi holds a secret that no one in her band knows but their manager Celine (Yunjin Kim). This idea of a crime-fighting trio of demon hunter girls was an idea that had originally pulled me in, as well as the music and animation. Usually, I’m not one to be interested in K-pop. Despite this, I still found myself singing their catchy earworms with other fans of the movie, which is undoubtedly a new favorite of mine.
For a little background, the girls use music to maintain and strengthen the Honmoon, a barrier to protect mortals from otherworldly beings. Demons didn’t like this, so they came up with the idea to create a rival band. The result is a 5-person boy band called Saja Boys with Jinu, Mystery, Abby/Abs, Romance, and Baby who write their own songs and compete with Huntri/x over fans and, for Saja Boys, to get their soul. If the plot is too much to pay attention to, the music itself is chock full of deep meanings and captivating melodies. With my personal favorite, “Takedown,” and other popular songs such as “Soda Pop,” “Golden,” and “Your Idol,” you can vibe along to the film freely and might even be inclined to add the album to your library afterwards– I’m sure I did.
As for movie reception, Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer (critic’s review) gave it a 97%, and as for the opinion of everyday watchers, the Popcornmeter is at 91%. Comments claimed it being a must in theaters but not a movie one should nitpick the details of, which makes sense considering its status as a kids movie. Now, you can experience it in certain theaters and not just with a Netflix subscription. Produced by Sony after highly successful Spiderverse films, it’s no wonder they produced yet another highly-rated animation film. With dramatic fights and heart-wrenchingly emotional scenes all mixed in between hilarious moments, K-Pop Demon Hunters is a rollercoaster of emotion.
While “hiding a secret that could ruin their reputation” is a common trope, in this case, they have a great twist and elaborate story that compliments the animation and soundtrack wonderfully. It’s not usually a trope I like, so it surprised me when I found that I really enjoyed it in K-Pop Demon Hunters. It truly exceeds expectations. Constantly engaging and fun for the whole family– rated PG– it has vibrant concert songs and a wonderful, enthralling plot. The movie truly ties together action, sound, and emotional scenes all together, and I highly recommend it.
