00:20One thing I don't think is discussed enough in online film critic circles about Netflix
00:25is that they do good animated films.
00:27Nomona is great, Pinocchio got an Oscar, they get a lot of animation veterans making these
00:31films, and I'm excited for Fixed.
00:36A good example is the most recent film, K-Pop Demon Hunters.
00:41The film is about a group of K-Pop singers who also hunt and fight demons.
00:45There's three of them, and if you've seen any film or TV show where there's a group
00:48of three, then you know what you're getting.
00:50You've got the leader, the cute one, and the muscle.
00:52The group, Huntrix, finds themselves facing off against a rival pop group called the
00:57Visager Boys, who, surprise surprise, turn out to be demons, but there seems to be more
01:02going on than you think.
01:03I quite enjoyed this film.
01:05It's a bright and vibrant film with great energetic animation that has a very 2D quality to it.
01:09The film is very funny as well, with a lot of gags with the demons, especially one involving
01:13a big demon cat, and the popcorn eyes joke is a great and clever gag, and always made me
01:18laugh whenever it popped up on screen.
01:19If anything, this film has made me interested in what co-director Maggie Kang will do next.
01:27The music is good as well.
01:28While I'm not a K-Pop guy, I do think the songs are kind of important in a film about
01:32musicians.
01:33There's a lot of nods to the whole K-Pop scene and its fan culture, which I feel a lot
01:37of fans
01:37would appreciate, but it kind of went over my head.
01:39I've mentioned the power trailer aspect of the film before, and it does owe a lot of respect
01:43to all of the shows and films of that ilk, like Powerpuff Girls, Totally Spies, and Hi
01:48Hi, Puffy Yama Yumi.
01:49Yes, I remember that.
01:50I'm Azuma.
01:51The film feels very much like a continuation in that tradition, and also a great addition
01:55in the pantheon.
01:56My main complaint is that the film is a little bit bare-boned.
01:59Some aspects are well developed, like Rumi's eternal struggle, but others are left out to
02:03dry.
02:03Like the character of Selene, who is established as the group's mentor, but she only shows
02:07up sporadically so we don't get a better understanding of her relationship with the group as a whole.
02:11And Ken Jeong's role as the manager gets a whole scene during the All Is Lost moment,
02:15but we don't get much about his relationship with the group as a whole.
02:18The film has a fast pace, but it leaves a lot of things behind.
02:21Overall, K-Pop Demon Hunters is a fun film.
02:24While ultimately some elements do feel underdeveloped and should have been given more focus, I still
02:29found this an entertaining film with a lot of energy.
02:32I'm excited to see what the team who made this film do in the future.
02:39While I reviewed K-Pop Demon Hunters, I didn't expect it to become a big sensation.
02:44I decided to review it because I had some free time and I made it out of a soundly quick
02:48speed,
02:48and considering my numbers of subscribers and my average view count, which ranges around 50 or 60 views,
02:53please subscribe, I didn't realise that it would be my channel's most popular video.
02:57Firstly, thanks for the views, much appreciated.
03:00Secondly, why is it my most popular video?
03:02Well, I think one reason why it's my most popular video is because
03:04I've reviewed one of the year's most popular films.
03:07The film, K-Pop Demon Hunters, has surprisingly become a huge hit for Netflix,
03:11becoming its most viewed animated movie.
03:13And not just that, but the film's songs have topped the charts
03:16and has its own fandom that's popped up seemingly overnight.
03:19This popularity has gotten the attention of even major news publications
03:21like the Social Security Press and The Guardian.
03:23Now, I may be a small poldank YouTube video maker, but I have my own two cents on this topic.
03:29It's a good film that appeals to a lot of people and has become a good word of mouth hit.
03:32That's it.
03:32Like what you see here? Then please subscribe from my YouTube channel so you can get more.
03:36Actually, there's a lot more going on than you might think.
03:39In the Associated Press article, they mentioned that the film manages to appeal to the massive
03:44fan community that surrounds K-Pop and it factors into the film in a big way.
03:47Indeed, they did a lot of research. One of the film's directors, Maggie Kan,
03:50said her team prioritised represent the fandom and the idols in a very specific way,
03:54as to not disappoint K-Pop fans.
03:56Now, a lot of recent media is often made to appeal to fans, but a lot of it focuses on
04:03the nostalgic
04:04market. It's usually a day that ends in Y whenever some 80s movies get a legacy sequel.
04:10But K-Pop's popularity is relatively new, often cited as part of the second generation of the Korean
04:16wave, the increased popularity of Korean culture that we're still in the midst of.
04:21K-Pop Demon Hunters captures a modern zeitgeist instead of a past one, with the fandom popularity
04:26playing a big part in the film. Even though I don't listen to it, in my view I did mention
04:30that
04:30there's a lot of nods to the fan culture surrounding K-Pop as well.
04:32There's a lot of nods to the whole K-Pop scene and its fan culture, which I feel a lot
04:36of fans would
04:37appreciate, but it kind of went over my head, just as much as any other older nerd media will
04:42reference to stuff like that as well. K-Pop Demon Hunters' success can be due to it appealing to
04:46a current pop-cultural trend than something from the past, but most modern media has often been
04:51reused and has been stuck in recently.
04:58And thus, it's the end of the summer, and now the time to take stock and look back at what
05:03we did during it.
05:04I mainly watched films, so here's a list of some of my favourite films of the summer season.
05:11K-Pop Demon Hunters. I've already reviewed this film and also examined why it became such a big hit.
05:21But to reiterate, K-Pop Demon Hunters is an energetic, bright and funny film that taps into
05:26a modern zeitgeist but manages to chart its own story regardless. The animation is great here
05:30and excels when it gets to be very cartoony. This film, as you well know by now, is available on
05:35Netflix. Like what you see here? Then please subscribe for my YouTube channel so you can get more Watch This
05:39Space but also other things such as my short films. Please remember to like and subscribe the videos you
05:44just watched and also please check out The Orange Bin, my blog where I have write-ups of my episodes
05:51here which with links to sources that I mention on the show. It also contains some of my old blog
05:56posts
05:57if you want to see what else I used to do back in the olden days. So please remember to
06:01check out my
06:01blog and like and subscribe to my YouTube channel.
Comments