Sequel city for KPop DH, plus 2 Oscars & it’s amazing

by Chad Aiggia, Screenmancer Film Critic

If KPop Demon Hunters from SONY Animation had never won the Oscar? We never would’ve seen it, that’s a fact. But it did on Sunday March 15th, actually two Oscars for Best Animated Feature as well as Best Song for “Golden.” Then we had to watch it on Monday March 16th, and immediately you knew why Directors Maggie King and Chris Appelhans scored a sequel that had been announced by distributor Netflix on March 12, meaning even before the double-statuette frenzy.

Literally this extravaganza in animation took seven years, total, to make. “Growing up watching movies set in other Asian cultures, I wanted to see the Korean culture represented in an animated movie,” says filmmaker and co-director Maggie Kang. “For some reason, I landed on demonology. I thought about how the jeoseung saja (grim reapers in Korean mythology) was such an iconic image from my childhood, and the thought of demons naturally led to demon hunters,.”

She further explains, as part of Netflix’s Art of Kpop Demon Hunters, childhood memories alone weren’t enough, “and I knew I wanted to see female superheroes who were a lot more relatable, who like to eat and make silly faces….not just being pretty, sexy and cool, but with real insecurities.” So how did Maggie and Chris manage to make animated characters both emotionally sophisticated and wildly funny, even though movie is about trio girl band HUNTR/X vs five-boy band SAJA BOYS?

Watch the trailer, and some serious next level storytelling…

Everyone we know is absolutely irrationally in love with this box office darling Kpop Demon Hunters because it feels authentic on some crazy level of next level storytelling with an original plot for once. Believe me, you are not ready for how deep. shallow, wise and ridiculously funny this film is from the jump. Oscar winner for best it also has Ken Jeong in it, a huge plus.

Then you have to scroll through this behind-the-mic slice of demon pie from Netflix; because these are superstars in the making courtesy of the red “N.” Think KStew after TWILIGHT huge… unless you’re familiar with these Korean stars already. Girl band members Arden Cho (Rumi), May Hong (Mira), Ji-young Yoo (Zoey) with their ringmaster Yunjin Kim (Celine); and Boy band members Ahn Hyo-seop (Jinu), Lee Byung-hun (Gwi-ma), with Daniel Dae Kim as Healer Han. Singing voice talent brought in is as follows: EJAE (for Rumi), Audrey Nuna (for Mira), and Rei Ami (for Zoey).

Co-director Appelhans spells it out for us. “What’s wonderful about K-pop in the modern world is just the way that it brings people together, with so much empathy. It crosses all boundaries, all cultural borders. For us to come up with a mythology that taps into the truth of what this music does feels powerful.”

While we don’t ever have a Gush instead of a Review, K-Pop Demon Hunters is a gushable fan favorite worldwide. Now it makes sense why The Academy put the Golden statuette double-touch on SONY Animation for this one.

Follow the story at Tudum, streamer Netflix’s news site. 

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