KPop Demon Hunters (2025) Animated Movie Review

KPop Demon Hunters is a 2025 animated musical/action/fantasy/comedy movie that features three K-pop heroines (Rumi, Mira, and Zoey), following a tradition of ancient female warriors, battling demons as they also deal with their life as music stars, members of a successful group named Huntrix. Trouble arises when a new boy band, the Saja Boys, rises in popularity and steals their fandom but this new group hides sinister secrets, turning the popularity contest into a fight for the future of mankind.

Produced by Sony Pictures Imageworks, directed by Maggie Kang and Chris Appelhans and starring Arden Cho, Ahn Hyo-seop, May Hong and Ken Jeong, to name a few. It was made by Kang to express her passion for her heritage and country. It was released on Netflix on June 20. 

Right from the start one has to be taken aback by its singular style, the marvellous and beautiful art direction and the swift and fluid animation of the highest order. It's quite fantastic on those terms. I think that visually it's quite breathtaking, incredibly detailed, full of stimulating colors, eclectic music video editing and great character and background designs that are borderline iconic and memorable, especially when we are talking about the main trio with their fashionable hairstyles and outfits. 

The protagonists are quirky, pretty and energetic, playing off of each other very well. When the film was announced, people praised it not only for having three main female characters but also because the comedy involved them having very goofy and over-the-top expressions instead of being always composed and playing it too straight to maintain their "femininity". Demon Hunters breaks that boundary. I think director Maggie Kang herself said it best: "I just wanted to see something different from the Marvel female superheroes that were just sexy and cool and badass. But I also wanted to see girls who had potbellies and burped and were crass and silly and fun, because that's really what I am. So I just wanted to create something that encompassed all of those elements." This is a good step forward because girls being silly is something that is needed in entertainment, it's almost normalized here with daffy jokes about eating lots of food, slapstick, burps, nutty shouting, kooky reactions and things of that sort. It's varied in its comedy, using both character-based humor and visual gags to good effect.

The musical department is just as imaginative, I enjoyed the rhythmic and catchy songs all the way. Even if K-pop isn't my cup of tea I still had a very good time listening to the soundtrack and every song worked very well. So if you were worried about the movie depending on your musical taste then you don't have to anymore because it's not an alienating factor here.

I must say that the world, the art and the writing are all pretty creative and well done, but unfortunately there are some issues with it, the storyline isn't quite as original as I expected, reusing the typical "big secret" and the trite "girl band versus boy band" tropes. It never becomes intolerable but it sort of becomes too conventional and safe to stand out properly. I also wasn't a fan of the cheap Korean humour, the boyband jokes and also males writing stuff that they think women find attractive. I also think it loses momentum by the third act before quickly gaining it for the climax. The character conflicts also could have been less arbitrary or resolved in a more thoughtful manner.

Since a great deal of its components are so greatly made, I think it would be good to see a full animated series based on this world and characters in the future or at least some sequels that explore the possibilities of its universe. I would pay to see these characters in a plethora of hilarious scenarios and plots.

Also, here's some older concept art I found that they used when the project was announced.

In short, it's a fun and entertaining time, especially for teens and kids but parents will also enjoy it's cleverness and the technical feats accomplished will surely make it more palatable than the average kids film. Totally recommended if you believe it may be for you (specially if you are into the subject matter), and also if you can put up with some cutesy weirdness. 

The Brave One (2007) Movie Review

The Brave One is a 2007 crime-thriller-action film directed by Neil Jordan and starring Jodie Foster, Terrence Howard, Naveen Andrews, Zoë Kravitz and Nicky Katt. It was written by Roderick Taylor, Bruce A. Taylor and Cynthia Mort. The film was a box office bomb (keep in mind, Foster got paid $15 million for this film) and reviews were mixed at the time. After all, it's an interesting depiction of post-traumatic stress disorder and of women who don't want to be victims and take action.

Erica Bain (Forster) is a New York radio host who lives an average life. One day, Erica and her husband are attacked by a group of muggers. She is badly wounded and her man is murdered in cold blood by the criminals. After her recovery, she spends most of her time as a vigilante, killing robbers and low lifes with her handgun (one she got from the black market after failing to buy a weapon). Meanwhile, detective Sean Mercer (Terence Howard) is going after the recent acts of vigilantism Erica committed.

This plot right here is essentially a very modernized version of the notorious and controversial seventies film Death Wish, it has pretty much the same structure and themes as a whole, the message of the movie about "justice" is also just as questionable. However, the film wasn't as polemic during its release and was seen as a rather tame entry in the revenge sub genre but one that delivers what it promises when it comes to cheap thrills.

That's certainly a good assessment because The Brave One is sort of a more violent and slightly more socially conscious film than average that manages to create a more gripping experience than the original, making the story be a bit more interiorized and ending up being more emotionally effective and captivating than the other film.

Jodie Foster is great as the vigilante lady, she manages to make you care about such a normal trope of a character with her conviction and acting skills. The supporting actors do their job competently but most of them never actually stick into your mind and some of them are annoying, like the officer who is onto the protagonist's antics. The direction and technical aspects are honestly pretty impressive and well done, always stimulating and dynamic with its editing and camera work.

I could recommend The Brave One if you are up for a decently done action crime film from its era, it doesn't overstay its welcome and has some nice acting moments from Foster but it's nothing particularly special and has several flaws in its logic and its derivative nature is surely tiresome.

Robotrix (1991) Movie Review

Robotrix (Woman Robot) is an action/sci-fi film from Hong Kong and directed by Jamie Luk Kin-ming for the prolific production company Golden Harvest. It stars Amy Yip Chi-Mei (She Shoots Straight, Erotic Ghost Story, Inspectors Wear Skirts 2 and 3), Chikako Aoyama, Hui Hiu-Daan and David Wu (In the Line of Duty 5). It's a very typical Robocop rip off with a female android working for the police force and hunting down criminals.

Evil inventor Ryuichi Yamamoto is turned into a psychotic cyborg killer and kidnaps a middle eastern prince. On his way out, he shoots down policewoman Selina Lam, whose brain is put in the body of a female android in order to catch the villain. Yamamoto begins a streak of murders and has to be stopped by two mechanical heroines, created by scientist Dr. Sara.

This delirious and sexy trash flick features a lot of the typical Hong Kong exploitation tropes like sleazy characters, deranged sequences, comedic relief, graphic violence and sexuality that's borderline insensitive and an extravagant scifi (sometimes fantasy) aspect to it. When it's all said and done, I can say that it's somewhat routine.

The fights are hyperbolic and exaggerated to the max, there’s also some nice choreographies with wires and good special effects when it comes to both gore and cyborg prosthetics. There is explicit sexual violence in this movie, it´s mostly crude and shown without subtlety, so be warned because it could clash with the campy tone of the rest of the film. The scifi angle is played quite straight but with some humor regarding the side-characters, the silly cops who are after the killer. 

Aside from some nice art direction, good sets, neat stunts and technically impressive feats here and there, it's not one that's mandatory. I think it's often dumb and dated with its mishandling of this strange mix of harsh subjects and lighthearted science fiction/action tropes. Like Robocop without the consistent tone and more focused on being exploitation.

Recommended for Hong Kong action cinema fans and perhaps those who seek a weirder flick than average. 

Bubblegum Crisis (1987-1991) OVA Review and Retrospective - Episode 3: Blow Up

In this episode, GENOM (the evil corporation seen before) tests and tries out a new boomer, a combat model capable of causing great destruction. Priss is warned by Linna about this combat boomer and both drive to the battle area where the boomers are having a shootout with the A.D Police. They are aided by Nene and Sylia. All of the girls had a night of bad luck.

Priss finds a lonely boy and waits for his mother to arrive. She cares for the child and tries to support her hard working single mother, who lost her husband and home. Priss is also stressed out and lashes out against Linna. Mason, a fiendish GENOM executive, plans to launch his attacks at the knight sabers; he also tries to evict people out of their houses using his threatening boomer bodyguards.

As the building is being demolished, an accident occurs and the mother of the young boy is killed. Priss then tries to take matters into her own hands by using her exo-suit, but the girls catch up to her and break their code in order to help her.

This initiates a battle between the knight sabers and the deadly combat boomers. 

Here we have some of the usual virtues and flaws seen in the show. Since the animators had no idea if the most current episode was going to be the last one, their stories tended to be sort of awkward and the narrative would repeat some of the same beats and scenarios and their resolutions wouldn't be as definite as they should have. 

This episode has solid animation work and fun character writing moments, but the core dramatic and emotional impact feels a bit stale because of it's very limited runtime, I wish they delved more into Priss' friendship with the boy and the mother, but I gotta say, the little amount of information we get is enough to give it a sadness and melancholy that sort of makes it work regardless.