Why Kpop Demon Hunters is the Best Film of 2025 (Contains Spoilers)

Unless you have been living under a rock the last month or so, you have most likely seen or at least heard about the maximalist sensation that is KDH. Beautiful animation, amazing character development, entertaining humour and a soundtrack that is UNFORGETTABLE, this film really has it all!

The vast majority of consumers have dubbed this project one of the best animated films since the 'Into the Spiderverse' series. Which is unsurprising considering the same animators at Sony also worked on KDH. The blend of 3D animation and vivid colour makes it difficult to keep your eyes of the screen, and I haven't even spoke about the character design yet! Each background whether it be a bedroom, studio or even a street feels full of life and vibrance. Every location feels like a lived in fantasy, imagine any major city but through rose tinted glasses. There's something very anime-esc about the set design, it's captivating while not stealing focus from the main characters.

Starting with the main three heroines: Mira, Zoey and Rumi are our main focus of the film with a little more emphasis on Rumi being the lead due to us learning her backstory and it being a main subject point to the plot. That aside, you could look at all three characters and believe they were the main character because no detail was spared on any of them. Each girl has a uniqueness to their design that reflects their personality perfectly.

Mira: the rebel black sheep of her family has bright pink, waist length hair that she ties in two front bunches to accentuate her angular, sharp features. While you would assume pink bunches would not pair well with a deadpan, intimidating character that wields a scythe, it surprisingly does. Her demeanor reminds me a lot of Mai from 'Avatar, The last Airbender', the flat, almost threatening tone of voice screams comes from money, but was never allowed to express herself. However, it is obvious how much she adores her band members as her mask always slips when she's in their company.

Zoey: an adorable bouncy character that thrives on high energy. You can tell she was designed as the 'fun' and 'upbeat' character due to the style of her dark black hair; two space buns with a full fringe. I personally love that they went with a natural hair colour for Zoey because it doesn't take away from her personality. If they gave her bright hair like the other girls I wouldn't stop myself from associating her with Pinkie Pie from MLP. A picture says a thousand words as they say, just how Zoey's round features and more natural appearance tells the audience she is the approachable, friendly member of Huntrix.

Rumi: the overworked legacy child that leads the Huntrix in song and battle. Rumi is an interesting character to psychoanalyse because at first she stumped me. While she still showcases that same badass energy that the other girls do, she always came across a little reserved at first. Almost like she was afraid to stand out, which makes sense when you realise she is hiding a huge part of her identity and has done since she was born. Her rounded face gives her a youthful appearance, yet her sharp eyes reflect a level of determination. She has the look of a child that grew up to quickly with the expectation of perfection. This makes her emotional outbursts throughout the film all the more heartbreaking. You not only see a scared girl tasked with saving the world, but a child that hates herself so much it causes her physical pain.

Combining all three characters with completely different backgrounds and personalities, you get an insane amount of chemistry. Sisterhood is a troupe common enough in young adult animated content but this was so wonderfully written that you get swept up in the emotion of it all. Your heart breaks when Rumi asks her caregiver to end her life, you can't stop laughing when the girls shameless stare at the Saja Boys, you feel like you're witnessing an adolescent right of passage of first crushes.

Which brings me to our secondary characters, the Saja Boys alongside our love interest Jinu. A demon boy band looks as you'd expect, gothic and ethereal (just like my page haha). Their human forms are aggressively pastel, very much reminiscent of the BTS 'Hwa Yang Yeon Hwa' or 'The Most Beautiful Moment in Life' era. While their demon forms are dark and mysterious. Traditional elements of Korean clothing combined with mesh and Demonia style boots make for a design that strangely works. They look scary while having that enticing, Siren appearance.

Jinu: Our mysterious sarcastic lover boy. Keeping his design pretty simple considering the other members, which helps him to stand out as the ringleader. You can tell the creators took influence from K-Drama love interests with his cold demeanor that eventually opens up into a tragic backstory that makes the audience swoon (blegh). While his design is appealing, I preferred the twist in his backstory. Finally a villian that is not just a tortured sad boy. He may not be 'evil' but he was definitely a bad person. Having a love interest that is not only on the 'bad side' but grows as a character is something I would love to see more of. He is presented as a selfish, stuck up lead who only serves his own interests, which we find out is why he became a demon in the first place. When his character finally accepts that he made a mistake, it showcases a level of humanity we don't see a lot of anymore. Flawed characters can be well written without their reasoning for being 'bad' being as simple as 'protecting my family' or 'for the good of the people'. Humane characters are psychologically more relatable.

It's amazing to me that a storyline as simple as fighting demons to protect the world as magical pop stars could contain as many beautiful messages as it did. Young consumers who feel ashamed of themselves can relate to these personified anxieties that the demons are. Even the true villian of the movie is basically a fuck off pit of fire that causes anxiety and depression! I know as a child I would have really enjoyed seeing our protagonists win against monsters that 'suck the soul' out of people, but even more so that the reason they won was because Rumi learned to love and accept herself. That a person's greatest strength is the love we show ourselves. That while we may not be perfect, we can still have a positive impact on the world.

A line from the song This is What it Sounds Like "So we were cowards, so we were liars, so we were not heroes, we're still survivors" - still gives me goosebumps everytime this song plays.

I fear this film has rewired my brain and I will be singing Golden every opportunity I get haha.