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<\/figure>\nPlot<\/strong>: Every generation, a trio of people is trained as demon hunters to protect the world from demon invasion. They use their music to unite the masses. With their songs and loyal fans, they generate the power to strengthen the honmoon, a powerful magical barrier that seals demons away into the underworld. It\u2019s said that if the demon hunters of any generation manage to turn the honmoon gold with a particularly powerful song, the honmoon will seal the demon world away permanently.<\/p>\n This generation, a K-pop trio, HUNTR\/X, made up of Rumi, Mira, and Zoey, has gotten incredibly close to making that happen.<\/p>\n However, the demon king, Gwi-Ma, is desperate to defeat the demon hunters and get back to the human world before the honmoon turns gold. A demon named Jinu offers his help to combat HUNTR\/X and destroy the honmoon, countering with a demon K-pop group called Saja Boys who will steal their fans away.<\/p>\n Breakdown<\/strong>: I wasn\u2019t even planning on writing a review for this movie. It was gonna be one of those times where I just watch something and allow myself to have the experience without worrying about having to write a review about it. But I kept coming up with things to say about it, so here I am.<\/p>\n K-Pop Demon Hunters<\/em> was a breakout smash hit that either no one expected or everyone expected. K-pop has exploded in popularity in recent years, but even with K-pop behind it, the title alone raises eyebrows to how it became so intensely mainstream so quickly.<\/p>\n Still, it did. It\u2019s an absolute phenomenon. I hardly see anyone with a negative thing to say about this movie, the branding is practically everywhere now, and people say it doesn\u2019t matter if you love K-pop or never heard it in your life \u2013 you will likely love it too.<\/p>\n Well, I\u2026\u2026.didn\u2019t love<\/em> it.<\/p>\n Actually, to be honest, I quit about 20 minutes through the first time I gave it a go. We just weren\u2019t clicking. The chemistry wasn\u2019t there. It\u2019s not you, it\u2019s me. We can still be friends.<\/p>\n I gave it another go a few days later, determined to finish it, and this time it grew on me quite a bit more.<\/p>\n Before I continue, I should mention that I had never listened to a K-pop song all the way through until watching this movie. K-pop just isn\u2019t something I\u2019m into. I don\u2019t actively avoid or dislike it or anything, but I also don\u2019t seek it out. I\u2019ve watched anime for so long that I\u2019ve come to enjoy J-pop and J-rock, but I haven\u2019t connected with K-pop in that way.<\/p>\n Even now that I\u2019ve watched the movie and come to really love some of the songs, even put some on my playlists, I\u2019m still not itching to track down more K-pop. It\u2019s just not something that vibes with me overall so far.<\/p>\n Also, even some of the songs I love annoy me a teeny bit because of stuff like\u2026.at the risk of sound like an old fart, why do they need to randomly rap in the middle of songs? If I want to listen to rap, I\u2019ll listen to rap. If I want to listen to pop, I\u2019ll listen to pop. I don\u2019t like when songs suddenly shift genres in the middle, is all. I guess it does help break it up and makes a creative bridge for the song, but I just don\u2019t care for how it\u2019s used in a couple of the songs.<\/p>\n For those wondering what songs I did love, in order,<\/p>\n 1 \u2013 What It Sounds Like<\/p>\n 2 \u2013 Your Idol<\/p>\n 3 \u2013 Golden<\/p>\n I might also put \u201cHow It\u2019s Done\u201d as a fourth entry. I\u2019m not sure I \u201clove\u201d it, though. I think it\u2019s just a massive ear worm.<\/p>\n Everything else I found to be fine. Although, one thing I feel I should question \u2013 again, keep in mind I barely know anything about K-pop \u2013 why is there such a lack of\u2026.Korean in these K-pop songs?<\/p>\n I did watch the English version, but even the English songs had Korean peppered in there. I\u2019m just wondering, if this is a celebration of K-pop and Korean culture, why are most of the songs in English? \u201cWhat It Sounds Like\u201d actually has zero<\/em> Korean lyrics. The songs sound perfectly fine either way, I was just confused. In the J-pop and J-rock I\u2019ve heard over my life, there may be English words here and there, maybe even a sentence or two, but in these songs you basically get like a few words of Korean once every verse, if that.<\/p>\n While we\u2019re on the subject of the music, though, let\u2019s tackle the aspect of being able to love the movie no matter if you\u2019re a K-pop fan or not. You most certainly can, as you can probably tell from how insanely popular it became in the west, but, also, be honest, it\u2019s much easier to get into this movie if you\u2019re already into the fan culture.<\/p>\n So much of this movie centers on K-pop fans and how they react to trends in the genre. The demon hunters of that generation basically NEED to be the top group in order to keep the honmoon powerful. The more fans they have, and the more passionate and loyal they are, the more powerful the honmoon is, the better chance they have of turning the honmoon gold and sealing the demon world away forever.<\/p>\n No negative aspect of fan culture or parasocial relationships is ever touched upon because they don\u2019t want you to think about that stuff. The girls see their fans as precious and feel a drive to protect them when the Saja Boys try to take them. They\u2019re very good to their fans, which is great, I just think maybe it goes a bit overboard with how clean cut the whole dynamic is.<\/p>\n You could definitely argue that there\u2019d be no point in bringing up any negative aspect of K-pop\u2019s massive fan culture or fan culture in general, especially given that this is basically a kids\u2019 movie, but it\u2019s still a faint blip on my radar.<\/p>\n I guess you could say one negative aspect of fan culture that they did touch upon, at least probably with pop music, is how fickle fans can be. How quickly they moved away from HUNTR\/X to Saja Boys when you could just be fans of both. Near the end, it\u2019s more of a mind control thing, but before that it\u2019s clearly a matter of the fans just being manipulated with demons who are clearly taking the most appealing forms for K-pop stars imaginable and taking the most popular stereotypical boy band roles to draw as many fans as possible.<\/p>\n Besides Jinu, the other demons in Saja Boys don\u2019t even get proper names. They\u2019re named Romance, Mystery, Baby, and Abby \u2013 that last one might sound normal, but his gimmick is literally his rock hard abs.<\/p>\n The movie has this one unnamed fan who may be meant to embody the fickle nature of fandom. When the Saja Boys arrive on the scene, a HUNTR\/X fan rips off his shirt to reveal to a Saja Boys shirt. Once the Saja Boys are \u2018defeated\u2019 by the girls, that same person rips off their Saja Boys t-shirt to reveal a HUNTR\/X t-shirt underneath. It\u2019s possible he\u2019s just a gag character, but it is interesting that they were pointing this out.<\/p>\n The entire final song, which I did list as being my favorite and was the only one that gave me real emotional feeling, incorporates the fandom aspect into the big crescendo as they all sing with HUNTR\/X, giving the energy of their spirits to them to defeat Gwi-Ma and restore the honmoon. That was the moment that finally resonated with me. It was right at the buzzer, but they managed to establish that connection with me. Which is weird, because, again, I\u2019ve never been into K-pop. I think that\u2019s a testament to how good that song and scene really are.<\/p>\n Before I watched this movie, I barely knew anything about it besides that it involved K-pop\u2026.and demon hunters. I did know that the movie was about three women. I thought they were teenage girls at first, but apparently they\u2019re in their twenties. It\u2019s actually kinda hard to swallow that because they act like they\u2019re 14. Given that their images are everywhere, I figured it would be a movie about them equally or about their friendship, and it\u2019s really\u2026.not.<\/p>\n Rumi is the main character. She\u2019s the lead singer in their group while Mira is the dancer and choreographer, and Zoey is their lyricist and lead rapper. (Apparently, a rapper being part of K-pop groups might just be a thing because the Saja Boys also have a designated rapper in Baby.)<\/p>\n I guess this is to be expected. Most group deals in pop music have one person who is typically the face of the group, like Justin Timberlake in N*SYNC, or Nick Carter in the Backstreet Boys, but I wasn\u2019t really expecting them to do this here for some reason. They try to make off like their fans love all three equally, but it\u2019s clear that the focus is meant to be more on Rumi.<\/p>\n The movie also tries to put a good deal of focus on the dynamic and friendship between the girls of HUNTR\/X, but it just feels flat to me. They don\u2019t have great chemistry, if you ask me. They try so hard to make it seem like they do, but it wasn\u2019t working for me. Both in the comedic segments and the more serious and emotional ones, they just didn\u2019t feel like strong friends to me. It felt like the movie kept shouting in my face that they\u2019re best friends and really close but I wanted to see more to actually believe it.<\/p>\n I didn\u2019t care at all when the inevitable breakup happened near the end nor did I feel anything when they inevitably got back together.<\/p>\n That makes a little bit of sense because the movie really isn\u2019t about them as a friend group. It\u2019s about Rumi\u2026.and Jinu.<\/p>\n Yup, surprise, it\u2019s another romance story. One this movie didn\u2019t need, if you ask me.<\/p>\n Jinu is, by far, the best written and most interesting character of this movie. Hands down. So the fact that he\u2019s given so much attention is fine by me. Rumi is\u2026\u2026.*sigh* I don\u2019t really care about Rumi.<\/p>\n Rumi\u2019s deal is that she is the daughter of Mi-Yeong Ryu, who was a demon hunter of the previous generation in a K-pop group called the Sunlight Sisters. Her father was an unnamed demon, making Rumi a half-demon.<\/p>\n What\u2019s the story there? How did she meet this demon? Who was he? Were they really in love? Where is he? Why did she die so young? Did Gwi-Ma kill them? Did the demon dad kill her?<\/p>\n I dunno. They never tell us.<\/p>\n We learn nothing about this relationship. We never meet her mother. We see a couple shots of her during a brief flashback of the Sunlight Sisters, but that\u2019s it. Her profile picture on the Fandom page is low-quality because they had to blow up the only decent shot they had of her in the movie.<\/p>\n We do know, roughly, of former Sunlight Sisters member and surrogate mother to Rumi, Celine, but even then we don\u2019t learn a great deal. We know that she felt a sense of responsibility to Mi-Yeong to care for Rumi once Mi-Yeong died, that she likely taught Rumi, Mira, and Zoey their attitudes towards demons, that she was the one who chose them to be the new demon hunters, and she told Rumi to keep her patterns a secret from the other girls until the Golden Honmoon was formed because she didn\u2019t think they\u2019d understand.<\/p>\n I don\u2019t really get why Celine has such a prejudice against demons if one of her closest friends fell in love with and had a child with one. Unless he did have something to do with her dying. (Apparently, in a press release, they said her mother died in childbirth, but I don\u2019t like counting supplemental material, if that\u2019s even actually canon, because that information could easily be included in the movie.)<\/p>\n You\u2019d think her mother\u2019s romance with a demon would be an interesting part of the story to explore, right? Because it would make Rumi question the nature of these demons more. It would shine a light on the parallel between her mother and a demon falling in love and her and Jinu falling in love, but no. It\u2019s just a teensy part of the story to explain why Rumi is half-demon.<\/p>\n Rumi doesn\u2019t seem to have any demonic powers until very late in the movie where it\u2019s implied that she has some sort of connection to the honmoon as a demon as well. When she loses hope, a giant gash in the honmoon follows her footsteps. When she gets particularly upset, a ripple of red spreads across the honmoon.<\/p>\n The only indication that she is part demon before she starts losing control are the patterns on her skin. Every demon has spiky line patterns on their bodies that they can only cover when they shift forms to disguise themselves. Rumi can\u2019t shift forms, so she\u2019s stuck covering up any part of her patterned body with clothing. She didn\u2019t have many patterns at first, but they grew more and more until they started reaching her throat in the first third of the movie. This causes her voice to fail whenever she tries to sing, which is a huge problem because one of the main reasons she\u2019s so motivated to turn the honmoon gold is because it will, theoretically, rid her of her patterns forever.<\/p>\n She is deeply ashamed of her patterns and half-demon nature, but when she starts secretly meeting with Jinu and bonds with him over their shame and struggle with their demonic bodies, they actually start feeling better. Literally. Rumi\u2019s voice starts improving and Gwi-Ma\u2019s hold on Jinu weakens.<\/p>\n Jinu\u2019s story is much different from Rumi\u2019s. He\u2019s a \u2018full\u2019 demon. He used to be a poor musician busking the streets with his bipa to help feed him, his mother, and his young sister. They barely had any money or food and lived in terrible conditions. Gwi-Ma reached out to him and offered him a deal that would give Jinu wealth and comfort beyond any he had ever experienced before. He would give Jinu amazing musical and singing talent that would impress the highest of royalty. He would gain high status almost immediately and enjoy lavish feasts, beautiful clean clothes, and wonderful accommodations.<\/p>\n The story is laid out to both Rumi and the viewer as being a fully understandable mistake at first. He did this for his mother and sister, who also enjoyed the benefits of Jinu\u2019s high status. But the patterns spread over time and thrust Jinu into the demon realm, causing his mother and sister to lose their status by proxy, and leave them suffering on the streets once more, worse off now without any support from Jinu whatsoever.<\/p>\n He\u2019s constantly haunted by the final image of his mother and sister and the whisperings that are always going on in Jinu\u2019s ear by Gwi-Ma reminding him of how he abandoned his family and failed them.<\/p>\n Rumi, before getting to know Jinu, felt exactly the same about demons as her friends did. They even sing about it in the song \u201cTakedown\u201d which was explicitly made as a diss track to the Saja Boys, whom they know are demons.<\/p>\n \u201cA demon with no feelings don\u2019t deserve to live.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cA broken soul trapped in the nastiest shell.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ma cut you open, lose control, then rip out your heart. You\u2019ll be beggin\u2019 and cryin\u2019, all of you dyin\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n She even states outright that she believes demons have no feelings during one of these secret meetings with Jinu until she hears his story and starts connecting with him. She eventually finds that he\u2019s the only one she can comfortably discuss her situation with as he understands trying to hold onto your humanity as you\u2019re slowly consumed by demonic patterns. Even if his circumstances are different, they still understand each other on a fundamental level.<\/p>\n Rumi has not told her BFFs, Mira and Zoey, about her patterns, going to great lengths to cover them up at all times. She doesn\u2019t believe they\u2019d understand, which was something constantly reinforced by Celine, as mentioned earlier. In a worst case scenario, they\u2019d hate and fear her or even attack her.<\/p>\n And\u2026.she was kinda right to think that because, when they find out, they draw their weapons on her. They don\u2019t attack her, and they let her run away, but still just the fact that they drew their weapons on her means they were willing to attack.<\/p>\n I totally get feeling betrayed, but they wouldn\u2019t hear her out at all. It also doesn\u2019t make any sense for them to assume to worst. Rumi was the one gunning harder than any of them to create the Golden Honmoon. She dragged them away from their vacation within the first like 15 minutes of it to reveal that she spontaneously dropped a new single without their knowledge and has promo appearances set up for it that very night to get the Golden Honmoon completed as quickly as possible. Why would someone who did that be in cahoots with the demons?<\/p>\n Yes, she did mention Jinu, which looks bad, but, again, maybe give your supposed very close best friend the benefit of the doubt and listen to her especially when she\u2019s clearly extremely upset.<\/p>\n And the fact that they\u2019re like \u201cYou were hiding your patterns from us? You lied?!\u201d Yeah. Funny. Don\u2019t know why someone would hide the fact that they\u2019re half-demon from people who explicitly state outright several times that they hate demons and think they should all die. Not just that they should die either \u2013 that they should die horrific deaths and suffer for all eternity in the underworld.<\/p>\n You see why I don\u2019t really feel much for this friend group?<\/p>\n Anyhoo, she eventually warms up to Jinu enough to offer him his humanity back. If he helps her create the Golden Honmoon by backing off the Saja Boys, he can be on the other side of the barrier when it turns gold. He\u2019ll be free to stay in the human world without a tether to Gwi-Ma ever again. And her patterns will vanish at the same time. They would no longer have to carry those burdens anymore.<\/p>\n And they fall in love, because of course they do.<\/p>\n This relationship is definitely stronger than the one between the girls, but I didn\u2019t get into them as a romantic pairing. I didn\u2019t feel that specific chemistry. It just felt like they fell in love because it\u2019s the trope. They just can\u2019t be platonically close because she beautiful woman and he hot man. Now sing a romantic duet and accept them as a couple.<\/p>\n As someone whose heart is chained to shipping forever and always, I didn\u2019t ship anyone in this movie. That chemistry was nowhere with no one. I can understand why they\u2019d work as a couple in the eyes of fans as their stories line up pretty well, but it\u2019s definitely more of a \u201cthey work on paper\u201d situation.<\/p>\n Of course, when everything seems well and good with Jinu and Rumi\u2019s plan, things fall apart. Gwi-Ma strengthens his grip on Jinu after he suspects treachery. Jinu\u2019s stake in this whole Saja Boys plan isn\u2019t even technically Gwi-Ma\u2019s doing. Jinu suggested the evil boy band to combat HUNTR\/X under the sole condition that, should they succeed, his memories of his human life will be wiped forever.<\/p>\n Jinu was lying a little bit when he relayed his story to Rumi before. Everything went pretty much the same in real life except his mother and sister never enjoyed the benefits of his new lavish lifestyle. He was brought into a palace, but they wouldn\u2019t let his family in, so he was forced to choose between enjoying whatever comforts he would get in the palace or staying with his family in poverty forever. He chose to stay in the palace.<\/p>\n It puts a much harsher light on Jinu\u2019s decision. He might have made the snap choice to make a deal with a demon to improve his situation, but at the end of the day he chose to abandon his family for fine robes and feasts. But even when he was enjoying these luxuries, he was haunted by what he did to his family, and his guilt of leaving them torments him day after day. All he wants is to forget them so he can finally be rid of the guilt.<\/p>\n He admits this to Rumi after the Saja Boys and other demons take over the Idol Awards as a means of telling her that this is all hopeless and he\u2019s chosen to just accept his fate as a demon, much to Rumi\u2019s shock. To her credit, she doesn\u2019t judge Jinu for what he did when she learns the truth of his past. But you could easily just say that her overlooking this sin is partly because, like she outright said earlier, if there\u2019s no hope for Jinu to be redeemed then there\u2019s really no hope for her. (This sounds like a weird thing to say since Rumi didn\u2019t do anything wrong, but Rumi believes that Jinu\u2019s situation is more understandable. He made a mistake that doesn\u2019t have to define him, but she thinks she IS a mistake.) If she accepts him resigning to his fate as a demon, that means that\u2019s all that awaits her, too.<\/p>\n In the actual end, though, Rumi doesn\u2019t give up. She returns to the Idol Awards to face Gwi-Ma alone because Mira and Zoey were caught in his spell after breaking up due to Rumi\u2019s lies. She sings \u201cWhat It Sounds Like\u201d and Mira and Zoey\u2019s spells are broken because it\u2019s a bit of an apology song to them. They make up, and Jinu, inspired by Rumi, sacrifices himself to save her from a powered-up Gwi-Ma, lending his spirit to her sword to give it a spiffy new form to allow her to defeat Gwi-ma once and for all.<\/p>\n And that\u2019s the end of their love story.<\/p>\n I\u2019m not kidding. They actually don\u2019t wuss out and bring him back to life. He\u2019s gone, as per this pre-sequel writing. I really, really respect the decision to do that. Not only would his sacrifice have been tarnished if they did that, but it would have been so predictable to do that.<\/p>\n He\u2019s the next best thing \u2013 he\u2019s always with her as part of her sword. It is still sad, of course, but it\u2019s more interesting this way. Plus, it\u2019s a very fitting and respectful way to redeem Jinu. I would say I\u2019m biased about keeping him dead because I didn\u2019t care about their romance, but Jinu was my favorite human character, so I think it cancels that out.<\/p>\n Bringing it back around to Mira and Zoey, surely they had to have more impact on the plot than just being Rumi\u2019s best friends and fighting or singing, right? It can\u2019t all just be Rumi and Jinu.<\/p>\n Well\u2026.it kinda can. Yes, Mira and Zoey are there throughout the movie. But outside of participating in fights or singing, their role is mostly just Rumi\u2019s best friends. Mira and Zoey have such difficulty establishing any sort of meaningful presence in the movie that they felt the need to inject blatant explanations of their backstories three times<\/em> by three different methods.<\/p>\n First, they have the fans introduce what each girl\u2019s deal is through some TV interviews. Then in the song, \u201cGolden\u201d, they each get a part where they discuss their backstories. Then later as they\u2019re having a heart-to-heart with Rumi after she starts acting weird, they once again recap their backstories.<\/p>\n Mira was a rebel, the black sheep of her family, and she was frequently at odds with her other seemingly more formal family members. Outside of her being the most aggressive member of the trio, we never really see her being all that rebellious or trouble-making. Once she joined HUNTR\/X, she felt like she finally belonged somewhere.<\/p>\n Zoey was born in Korea but raised in Burbank, California, causing her to have a bit of an identity crisis as she\u2019s torn between her Korean heritage and her life in America. She always felt like a weirdo jotting down lyrics in her notebooks all the time, but then she joined HUNTR\/X and she didn\u2019t feel like a weirdo anymore.<\/p>\n Outside of Zoey bringing Rumi to some hack doctor to help her throat problems after her patterns reached her throat, writing \u201cTakedown\u201d together, and them breaking up after they learn the truth about Rumi, they don\u2019t do anything but sing and fight.<\/p>\n We don\u2019t even really see their specific skills in action. Rumi\u2019s singing is a focal part of the movie because, without her being the lead singer, they can\u2019t perform their big Golden Honmoon song or even any song to help keep the honmoon strong.<\/p>\n Zoey does rap several times, but she only raps like a tiny bit more than the other two. She writes a song in the movie, but that\u2019s very much a joint effort between all the girls (Mostly Mira and Zoey, though, given that Rumi doesn\u2019t like the lyrics). It\u2019s not like she took the reins there.<\/p>\n Mira does\u2026.Actually, I can\u2019t remember her ever once dancing (any more than the other girls) or working on choreography in this movie. She is definitely the most suspicious of Rumi once she starts meeting with Jinu in secret and becomes reluctant to sing \u201cTakedown\u201d but that\u2019s about it.<\/p>\n Obviously, this isn\u2019t a case of \u201cIf you took these characters out of the movie, nothing would change.\u201d (Even though it does get kinda close) but I was very disappointed that they were so underutilized, ultimately. I found them quite likable, which is why I wanted them to have a stronger role.<\/p>\n Let\u2019s shift gears to our big villain of the movie, Gwi-Ma. He\u2019s\u2026.cool. He\u2019s a big magenta fire mouth for most of the movie, so he looks cool. He\u2019s voiced by Byung-hun Lee of Squid Game<\/em>, so he sounds cool. But otherwise he\u2019s just a very cookie cutter big bad demon. I actually think his final powered-up form looks kinda silly.<\/p>\n He serves his purpose in the movie just fine, but nothing makes him stand out besides just being a pretty fire. All the demons fear him because he\u2019s always tormenting them. He\u2019s one of those villains where he doesn\u2019t do anything on his own until the very end. He always has his subordinates doing stuff for him. I suppose the honmoon is preventing him from doing anything on his own, so it makes sense, but it still makes him kinda boring.<\/p>\n Speaking of his underlings, let\u2019s cover the demons, because that\u2019s another aspect of the movie that they kinda fumbled on. Jinu explains to Rumi that some demons were originally humans who entered into a contract with Gwi-Ma. (We\u2019re never told outright, but the Fandom page lists the Jeoseung Saja demons as the ones who were previously human \u2013 hence why Jinu\u2019s band is called Saja Boys.) These demons are constantly tormented by whisperings in their ear by Gwi-Ma and, should it affect them, memories of their pasts. This pain and shame is how Gwi-Ma controls at least this subset of demons.<\/p>\n There are some demons that just seem to be typical born and bred demons, but the ones who look like humans and have patterns are the Jeoseung Saja. Many wind up losing most if not all of their humanity as they serve under Gwi-Ma, but some, like Jinu, and, presumably, whoever Rumi\u2019s father is, retained their humanity.<\/p>\n I didn\u2019t even think about this until later when I was looking up something else, but I found a reddit post about all this that makes a good point.<\/p>\n A significant portion of this movie is about how Jinu\u2019s not irredeemable just because he did something awful or because he\u2019s a demon now. Rumi isn\u2019t a monster because she\u2019s half demon, either. Their mistakes and blood don\u2019t define them. Rumi, in an effort to see if there were other demons like Jinu, even stopped in the middle of a fight to ask a demon if he\u2019s being forced to fight by Gwi-Ma. She never gets an answer because Mira kills it before it can, but it does respond by smiling briefly before it\u2019s killed. Still, the one she was trying to talk with was what\u2019s listed in the Fandom page as a Dokkaebi, which are the born and bred demons I mentioned.<\/p>\n Bear in mind again that these terms aren\u2019t defined in the movie. I had to seek out supplemental material to make that distinction. The movie just refers to them always as flat \u2018demons\u2019 so it makes sense for Rumi and the viewer to get confused.<\/p>\n Even with all that in place, with Rumi accepting her demon nature as a part of her and making it her own, even with her friends forgiving and embracing their half-demon friend, even after bringing up the conversation of some demons doing this against their will and being perpetually tormented, even acknowledging that Jinu is a good person in the end, they still slaughter the Saja Boys and several other Jeoseung Saja who could very well have been redeemable during the final battle. I just think something got lost there.<\/p>\n I guess you could argue that leaving some demons alive when we don\u2019t have time to ensure any of them are good would be a bad thing, but I dunno. It just seems strange when you take it all in at once.<\/p>\n There are a lot of comedic elements to this movie that were also largely hit or miss with me. A lot of it was anime-isms I am more than accustomed to. My personal favorites in the comedy department were the entire segment at Healer Han\u2019s clinic, Derpy (spirit cat\/tiger) trying desperately to put a potted plant right-side up after he knocks it down (being a reverse of how cats typically are with always knocking things over.) and Jinu pointing out that Sussie\u2019s (the spirit magpie) hat isn\u2019t his \u2013 Jinu made it for Derpy, but Sussie keeps stealing it. That\u2019s funny on its own, but the idea that Jinu made that teeny tiny hat for that huge cat is similarly hilarious. Closest I got to audibly laughing at any point in the movie.<\/p>\n By the way, Derpy and Sussie are the best parts of this movie. Please, for the love of god, make a real-sized Derpy plushie and sell it at a reasonable price. I will gladly buy that. Thank you.<\/p>\n I can definitely see how people have fun with this movie, though. The anime-isms are still fun, there\u2019s plenty of energy at every turn, the musical numbers, even if not all of them resonated with me, are still fun and catchy, the voice acting is well done (Also, Mira\u2019s non-singing voice actress sounded so similar to Stephanie Beatriz using her Rosa from Brooklyn Nine-Nine<\/em> voice that I was floored when I saw that it wasn\u2019t her. She sounds exactly like Rosa. It\u2019s insane.) there\u2019s a lot of bright and vibrant colors, interesting shots, great character designs, and creative imagery. Plus, if you do love K-pop, this movie has to be a dream for you.<\/p>\n However, I still feel underwhelmed by several aspects of it. Like I said, I liked it perfectly fine, but I didn\u2019t love it.<\/p>\n I was looking up stuff about the movie and some of the plot threads when I read the rumor that, supposedly, the reason that some of the movie seems rushed and some aspects aren\u2019t well-fleshed out is because they originally created this movie to be three hours. But Netflix has a rule about animated movies for kids where they can only be an hour and half long. So they had to chop up the movie to meet the new time constraints.<\/p>\n I wanted to give the movie more leeway if such a thing was true.<\/p>\n As it turns out, it was entirely un<\/em>true from top to bottom. Someone on the staff stated that they had enough story ideas to fill a three hour movie, and there are rumors that more songs were recorded, but co-director Maggie Kang said they always aimed for the movie to be 90 minutes<\/a>. There is no director\u2019s cut.<\/p>\n Can you imagine, though? Having to cut out an hour and half of footage would be ludicrous. This is animation. That would be wasting years of work and millions of dollars. Not to mention what an embarrassing thing that would even be to admit from both parties that you signed a contract to give Netflix the exclusive rights to your movie and you weren\u2019t made aware of some arbitrary rule, that also, by the way, doesn\u2019t exist as far as I could tell, and had to literally slice your movie in half to get it released.<\/p>\n In the end, though, yeah, I stand by all my criticisms of this movie. This is how it was meant to be presented to their audience.<\/p>\n After all was said and done, despite my criticisms, I still enjoyed myself a lot more than I thought I would when I first gave the movie a shot. It didn\u2019t live up to the hype, if you ask me, but I can see the appeal to both K-pop fans and non-K-Pop fans. It\u2019s a fun and goofy action comedy movie with lots of catchy music and beautiful colors. And as long as you keep that in mind and don\u2019t expect absolutely anything deeper than that, you can have fun with it too.<\/p>\n I am looking forward to whatever they do with the sequel that is supposed to release some time in 2029, but that\u2019s a long way off. For now let\u2019s just wait for the life-sized Derpy plushie\u2026..Seriously, if they\u2019re not making that I will be writing angry emails. I want that now.<\/p>\n Screencaps provided by AnimationScreencaps.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n If you enjoy my work and would like to help support my blog, please consider donating at my Ko-Fi page. Thank you! \u2665<\/p>\n![\"\"\/](\"https:\/\/cdn.imgchest.com\/files\/0a77e6a52656.webp\")
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