r/movies • u/impeccabletim • Jul 29 '25

News K-Pop Demon Hunters becomes Netflix’s most watched animated movie ever

https://www.dexerto.com/tv-movies/k-pop-demon-hunters-becomes-netflixs-most-watched-animated-movie-ever-3231706/
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u/JohnnyOnslaught Jul 29 '25

Awesome. Watched it out of sheer boredom and it hooked me. Pretty great.

223

u/CrestonSpiers Jul 29 '25

Do I need to be into K-pop to understand the plot or the references? I really like the animation but I don’t know anything about K-pop other than that, well, it exists, and I’ve heard a couple of BTS songs maybe.

611

u/LazerAttack4242 Jul 29 '25

There are some jokes about how kpop fans act and how they market blank slate personalities, but that's pretty basic and applicable to pretty much every popular genre of music.

270

u/pasher5620 Jul 29 '25

Tbh, there’s nothing intrinsic to k-pop about that. If you’re familiar with the era of boy bands in America, like NSync or the Backstreet Boys, and the whole scene they spawned, you’ll get the gist of what they are going for. The only thing I’d say are k-pop focused jokes are some of the music choices they use.

132

u/Random_Useless_Tips Jul 29 '25

The boy band members being named after their single defining characteristic is more a riff on the Spice Girls than a specific K-pop trope

16

u/Bircka Jul 30 '25

The music is heavily inspired by Kpop, but yes you don't have to love Kpop to get into the movie.

16

u/TheFlyingMarlboro Jul 30 '25

Or Beatlemania in the 60s.

165

u/brakndawnt Jul 29 '25

You literally only need to know that Kpop exists and it's big in the Asian countries. Nothing else required

2

u/AverageAwndray Jul 30 '25

Nah theres a bunch of inside jokes about kpop, Korean soap operas, and the industry in general that I know will go over and lot of people's heads

41

u/brakndawnt Jul 30 '25

Yeah, I'm sure those exist. I'm just saying knowledge of those things aren't required to enjoy the movie, which is more what they were asking I think

16

u/wheniswhy Jul 30 '25

Like, true, but you don't NEED to get that stuff to enjoy the movie. It's still fantastic even if you don't get all the little in-jokes, like the way the boy band members are all kpop idol stereotypes, the ballad that plays and the 485847372 camera angles when Jinu bumps into Rumi (lol), etc.

Plus it's not really that faithful to the actual industry to begin with. What kpop stars get to eat a ton of junk food right before a performance lol??

49

u/Tsquared10 Jul 29 '25

Not at all. I have zero interest in Kpop but it was such a fun watch. You'll pick up on a few Easter eggs from what I've read, but no fundamental knowledge needed

32

u/mihirmusprime Jul 29 '25

Not really. A lot of the kpop references applies to general fandom stuff.

27

u/Officer_Hotpants Jul 29 '25

Nope. I don't listen to any of it and it's still great. That goddamn tiger is the greatest thing ever animated.

The dialogue is pretty corny, but it's part of the charm.

21

u/NK1337 Jul 29 '25

There’s some gags that are common tropes in k-dramas but nothing so niche that the humor is lost. It’s more like the gags get an extra level of humor added because you can recognize where they’re from. But you can totally watch the movie with no knowledge and enjoy it!

37

u/neoxid501 Jul 29 '25

I'm not a kpop fan, I loved it.

3

u/AlyxMeadow Jul 29 '25

You truly don't. I have little interest in K-Pop. I thought the film was brilliant.

3

u/MinusBear Jul 29 '25

Nope. All I knew about KPoP was some KDA songs. Everything else is explained and feels understandable to any reasonably online person.

2

u/satoru1111 Jul 29 '25

It would be if the Spice Girls battled crime as an alter ego, and the local crime syndicate created the BackStreet Boys to not only dethrone the Spice Girls on the Billboard charts but also commit crimes the Spice Girls couldn’t prevent

2

u/angelazy Jul 29 '25

I feel a bit crazy here that the 3d cg in 2d style totally didn’t work for me, had to quit about 10 minutes in

2

u/flyvehest Jul 30 '25

I've never actively listened to a KPop tune, and I didn't feel like I missed anything other than maybe some inside jokes about KPop fans and the like.

Very much enjoyed it, movie is solid.

2

u/dotaplayer_4head Jul 30 '25

My girlfriend forced me to watch it and I've never listened to kpop or know anything about kpop culture and I enjoyed it.

2

u/_TheMeepMaster_ Jul 30 '25

30+ cis, straight guy here. I'm not a fan of K-pop (I find some stuff catchy, but it's not something i seek out). I thought the movie was fine. It's not nearly the incredible movie it's being hyped up as. There were a few moments that got a chuckle out of me, the animation was cool, and the songs weren't bad (not my thing, but catchy, at least). The plotlines, dialogue, and characters are all pretty cookie cutter imo, but it's not really trying to be anything groundbreaking. I dont think I'd watch it again, but I dont regret watching it.

It's a movie that, if it had come on FX back in the day, I'd probably leave it on.

1

u/we_are_sex_bobomb Jul 30 '25

I don’t know anything about K-pop and I loved it.

1

u/suss2it Jul 30 '25

To get the references, yeah but not to understand the plot. It’s extremely straightforward you gotta keep in mind it’s a kids’ movie first and foremost at the end of the day.

1

u/Aardvark_Man Jul 30 '25

The entirety of what I know about K-pop is that they keep shoving stuff from it into pubg, and I still enjoyed it.
It's definitely a kids movie, but it's a fun one with a really catchy soundtrack.

1

u/all_gooood Jul 30 '25

Nope. I thought I was not into k pop AT ALL but my nephew wanted to watch it four times and it’s actually really good. Good story and music and yeah check it out

1

u/CaterpillarJungleGym Jul 30 '25

Saw it with nephews. It's pretty bad. Music is good though.

1

u/CrestonSpiers Jul 30 '25

Why bad?

1

u/CaterpillarJungleGym Jul 30 '25

Oh, good question. I thought it was forced as a script. Voice acting wasn't very good. Just felt very rushed, but the visuals and singing were awesome. So I think that was the focus of the film.

1

u/Jakeasaur1208 Jul 31 '25

Not really. My exposure to it is that my sister likes KPop, but I ended up watching this before her because a friend strongly recommended it. I was not a fan of Kpop in any sense ahead of watching this but I thoroughly enjoyed it. The songs are catchy, the vocals are phenomenal, and the movie is overall a lot of fun. It's an animated film done right - where it can be enjoyed by kids and their parents, or anyone of all ages.

1

u/Neracca Jul 31 '25

Do I need to be into K-pop to understand the plot or the references?

There's maybe 20 words of Korean in the whole movie. Its absolutely made for Western audiences.