KPop Demon Hunters (2025) review

South Korean pop trio Huntrix - consisting of frontwoman Rumi (voiced by Arden Cho), pouty dancer Mira (May Hong) and rapper Zoey (Ji-Young Yoo) - fight off demons with glowing blue weapons when not performing sold out concerts for their rabid fanbase, but right after fiery, formless menace Gwi-Ma (Lee Byung-Hun) unleashes boy band Saja Boys on the world, Rumi becomes romantically involved with their lead singer Jinu (Ahn Hyo-Seop).  For anyone not into KPop and all the manufactured (and inoffensive) cuteness that surrounds it this might be an absolutely nauseating viewing experience (the target audience is mainly kids who enjoy singing and dancing on social media platform TikTok) and the ending is pitiful (a sequel is already in the works), although I have to give director Kang credit for trying to make a "fun" movie about her own culture.  The animation is distinctive - aside from the clear anime influence, it looks like an eye-catching PlayStation game - however the production team should have probably stuck with one genre: I couldn't imagine the ladies of Le Sserafim getting their nails dirty hacking up goblins.