Movie Night! KPOP Demon Hunters REACTION
Added 2025-07-11 05:44:31 +0000 UTCAs promised, KPOP Demon Hunters is here :)
My sincerest apologies for the audio coming from the mic! OBS has completely messed it up, and I wasn't able to notice it until I started editing the video.
Comments
I hope the other reactors i love also watch this, if someone likes kpop and animation then they will like this, its so fun and i think its great that people are being introduced to it all over the world
Merrick
2025-07-14 03:14:08 +0000 UTCI originally wanted to wait to watch this with you but my social media kept being flooded with posts about the movie, my friends wouldn't stop talking about it. So when the ReacttotheK Discord held a watch party, I joined in and watched the movie there. And well, the soundtrack has kinda taken me over 😄 I was still pretty hyped for your reaction though, so it was kind of unfortunate that you released it just as I was getting on my way to see Stray Kids in Amsterdam. And yet, I just couldn't wait to get home and recover. I watched your entire reaction in the hostel bed after the concert. So now I'm here, rewatching a reaction to a movie I've seen many times by now, now actually at my PC at home, writing notes along the way. Yes, I am a normal person. Mic issues are unfortunate and it really doesn't sound great at times. But it's not unwatchable. - Same studio as Spiderverse. Not the same creative team but they obviously took a lot of lessons from it. That's why this movie looks so damn good. - The hunters, especially those first incarnations we see in the flashback, are heavily based on Mudang, the Korean female shamans that are said to converse with spirits in order to give advice and guidance to the people that visit them. Also performing exorcisms. You've seen this portrayed in a number of Kdramas already. - And then we see the evolution through the generations, mirroring the emergence of kpop as we know it today. Influenced by American vocal groups back in the 50s when American military troops were stationed in South Korea after the Korean war. I'm pretty sure one of the trios we see here is supposed to be a reference to The Kim Sisters, a trio formed in 1953, and the first Korean music group to achieve success in the US market in the 60s. - And the Sunlight Sisters, that Celine is a part of, is probably supposed to be the Demon Hunters' version of S.E.S., the first ever girl group from SM Entertainment, debuted in 1997. Also a trio. - Grown men crying to kpop? Couldn't be me 😎 (I cried my entire soul out at least 5 times during my last Dreamcatcher concert) - So, guess who Bobby is voiced by? KEN JEONG. Yeah. Extremely rare occurence of Ken Jeong playing an actual wholesome character. And with that I also want to mention that, even though the original production language of KPop Demon Hunters is English, all of the voice cast is Korean or of Korean descent. - Love how when the guy shows off his giant Huntrix tattoo, Rumi and Zoey are almost disgusted and Mira is just like „siiick“ 😆 - Rumi's singing voice is provided by EJAE, a singer-songwriter who has worked on many kpop songs, such as Psycho and Birthday by Red Velvet, O.O and Dice by Nmixx, Icky by KARD, Drama by aespa, Like A Flower by Irene and several b-sides from the aforementioned groups, plus Chungha, Twice, Hyoyeon, Lightsum, Billlie, Misamo, Kep1er, Le Sserafim and many others. She also took part in the writing of How It's Done, Golden and Your Idol in this movie. - The romanized Korean lyrics in the subtitles are throwing me off. Dude, either actually translate them or keep them in Hangul. Wtf is this 🤨 - How It's Done sounds quite Blackpink-Everglow-ish, with a bit of aespa, and maybe Craxy too. Very girl crush, very cool. Also, Domino by Stray Kids. - Gwi-Ma is voiced by none other than Lee Byung-hun! The Front Man from Squid Game. Dude just makes an amazing villain. And he does it in both the English and Korean dubs of KPDH. - Gwi-Ma's „oookaaay?“ in response to Jinu's plan is so funny to me 😂 - Little fun fact about Jinu btw: his name in Hangul is 진우. Which is the same as the protagonist of Solo Leveling, Jinwoo. The only difference is in how they chose to spell it in the Latin alphabet. But the pronunciation and Korean spelling are identical. - I have a theory that there are two kinds of demons. There are „pure“ demons that have been demons from the moment they came into existence. Those are the ones that look the most demonic, with exxagerated features, huge fangs, horns and all that. And then there are humans that were turned into demons. Even in his demon form, Jinu still looks very human, after all. Just with glowy eyes and purple skin. - Those charts. All made up names and then just TWICE in second place 😄 - Rumi is honestly kinda fucked for not even giving her girls ONE MINUTE to relax after a huge world tour 🙃 - Golden is literally just I Am by IVE. Straight up the same song. They're even standing on a plane. - „No more hiding“ as you do everything to hide your demon patterns. - I would really like to know how a hunter and a demon ended up procreating. Honestly, what the hell could possibly even lead to that situation? 🥴 - How is Celine so sure that Rumi's patterns will disappear when the Honmoon is sealed? Because we clearly see that they stick around, more visible than ever when they create the new Honmoon at the end of the movie. - Come on, Bobby only gets 3%? That's just not right. One of the few managers in the music industry that genuinely unconditionally cares about his artists and he gets paid peanuts.. - Dr. Han actually had the right idea, going into Rumi's psychological state because that's what really caused her vocal issues there. But Mira just wanted a quick miracle tonic. - Cue ALL the Kdrama clichés. - Apparently Love Me Right and Love, Maybe were used as placeholders during storyboarding, but they couldn't come up with other songs that would've fit better than those two so they just kept them around. - Of course the Saja Boys get the ahjummas immediately. Like they channeled the energy of five Lim Young-woongs into one group. - Soda Pop is one of those typical really upbeat boy group songs. Stuff like plot twist by TWS or Candy Sugar Pop by Astro. Name is pretty similar too. Actually, the Astro connection fits really well because Jinu's visual design is heavily based on Cha Eunwoo of Astro. - For a song that sounds so bright, the actual lyrics are quite dark if you think about it. They're literally singing about consuming their fans' souls. - KILL SAJA. Fuck, the style of this movie is so good. - A few bits about the Saja Boys: Abby Saja is voiced by SungWon Cho. You may know him as ProZD on Youtube. And Mystery Saja's singing voice is provided by Kevin Woo, who is himself a kpop idol and member of the group U-Kiss. - And I believe that old man in the bathhouse is also voiced by ProZD. - „Relax, Bobby. It's just social media numbers. Not the end of the world.“, he says, as Huntrix watch the literal end of the world unfold before their eyes. - The facial animations are just glorious. - CUE THE BEST CHARACTERS IN THE MOVIE. - So according to the creators of the movie, the official names of the tiger and the bird are Derpy and Sussy. And that's just amazing. - Sleeping on the sidewalk overnight, yup, I've been there. But only to get barricade at concerts. Why would you even do that at a fansign, where it really doesn't matter what your position is? - Well, they got the shipping aspect almost right. One unrealistic detail: all the ships are straight. And you know THAT'S not happening irl 😅 - Rumi definitely feels personally affected by the lyrics of Takedown. „A demon with no feelings don't deserve to live“ So, that would imply that Rumi, being part demon herself, also has no feelings and doesn't deserve to live. Of course she wants to change the lyrics. - Ahjummas always know what's up ☝🏻 - I feel like most of the problems could have been avoided if Rumi had been honest with the girls. I'm sure Mira and Zoey would happily have accepted her and worked with her to figure this shit out. But Celine drilled it into her head that she MUST hide this part of her and it's that lack of honesty that's causing all the friction here. - So about the tiger and the magpie: they were often depicted together in old Korean folk paintings, called minhwa. The tiger represents the nobility: powerful but kinda stupid. The magpie represents the common folk: seemingly weak but very cunning, constantly outsmarting the aristocracy, and thus being the ones that hold the REAL power. This also goes into the hat. It's a gat, made for the nobility. And the bird keeps stealing it, taking that power for himself. - Free is such a beautiful song. HUGE appreciation for Ejae and Andrew Choi singing this! - And I think this was the moment where Jinu fully decided „nah, fuck Gwi-Ma, I'm sinding with Rumi for real“ - And of course, right in that moment Gwi-Ma pulls him back down to remind him who's boss. - „All these fears, it's the demons talking“ That is literally how Gwi-Ma controls people. Through their fears. - Who is the most specialest snowflake - The Saja Boys fighting could be because Jinu tried to convince them to lose and the others just weren't having it. - Notice the posters for Twice and Meovv in the hallway - For what is supposed to be a MAMA-type performance, there's a disturbing lack of backup dancers. - Even though Takedown was not on the schedule, Rumi just immediately snaps into the choreo. Like on autopilot. That muscle memory. - I've said this already but I really feel like the fact that Rumi is a demon isn't even the dealbreaker for Zoey and Mira. It's that she basically lied to them their whole lives that's the problem. - And now we have Gwi-Ma infiltrating the minds of Bobby, Mira and Zoey as well. Amplifying their own insecurities. In fact, that's pretty much all Gwi-Ma is: a manifestation of people's fears and insecurities. When he talks to Bobby, Mira and Zoey, it's their own voices that they (and we) hear. - Honestly, Celine is the one who is most to blame for all this. Her toxic treatment of Rumi, surpressing her real self, only loving parts of her under specific conditions. Celine made Rumi feel like there was something inherently wrong with her her whole life. Wtf was she expecting to happen? - And the sad irony of Celine trying to cover up Rumi's shoulders again, when the patterns have already spread to her hands and face. Complete and utter denial of reality. - And here we have my favourite song of the movie! Do give Your Idol a listen on Spotify, the full song is quite a bit longer than what we see in the movie. - Ejae said she was inspired by EXO's MAMA when she wrote Your Idol but personally, I hear a lot of Wolfgang by Stray Kids mixed with Halazia by Ateez in there. - Oh, and I would be totally cooked here. Song begins, I'm selling my soul to Gwi-Ma IMMEDIATELY. - „No one's coming to save you“ cue Rumi! - Your Idol might be my favourite but in the context of the movie and what it's doing thematically, What It Sounds Like is the best song here. Since it's about finally accepting yourself for who you really are, faults and all included. It's what the entire movie is about. - When Jinu sacrifices himself, his demon eyes are replaced with his human eyes. Really nice detail there. - The new honmoon they've created isn't golden, it shows all the colours of the rainbow. Also magically turning midnight into daytime :D - Also kinda funny how Huntrix basically murdered their rival boy band live on stage in front of tens of thousands of people and got away with it 😅 Yes, everyone there was in a trance but I would still like to know how the media is gonna try and explain how this beloved group that was dominating the charts just completely vanished overnight. - And now that Rumi has embraced her patterns, they've also started to shine in much brighter colours. - DERPY AND SUSSY LIVE! Really great movie. When I first heard about it I was worried that it was going to be cheap and cringe and bad, basically just a cash grab. But no, this was made by really talented people who clearly have a lot of love for kpop, not just as a music genre, but also the entire culture surrounding it. Amazing animation, great characters, the only gripe I have is that it's too short, leaving a few things underdeveloped. It moves REALLY fast to fit everything into just 90 minutes. This should have been at least 2 hours. One thing I really love is that them being kpop idols and also demon hunters isn't two separate things. I thought that's what it was going to be and that would have been super gimmicky. But no, they are inseparably connected. Being kpop stars is the ENTIRE POINT of the hunters. Because their singing and the positive emotions that they bring people is essentially what's keeping the demons at bay. Directly fighting demons with weapons is only done as a backup for when some manage to break through the Honmoon. The hunters never make an attempt to actually GO to the demon realm to fight Gwi-Ma directly. Soundtrack is banging! Quick attempt at rating the original songs: 1. Your Idol 2. What It Sounds Like 3. Free 4. How It's Done 5. Golden 6. Takedown 7. Soda Pop Gotta rewatch this with the Korean dub at some point, see how that influences the atmosphere.
Marcel Wannieck
2025-07-13 22:36:51 +0000 UTC
