It is one of the animated films Kpop fans are raving about in 2022. The Netflix production turned out to be an international phenomenon that has kept viewers glued to the screens since the initial release. Released a little more than a month ago, the film has been taking over charts on music and entertainment venues.
It tells the story of HUNTR/X, which is a teenage girl group who doubles up as demon slayers and their humble adversaries, the Saja Boys, a boy band of demon idols in disguise. It is a fan fiction brought to life and as it turns out, real Kpop stars were somewhat involved in it.
When viewers started to recognize the same patterns of moves and faces, the creators of the film, at last, convinced many that, indeed, the real idols, played a big part. Jinu the charismatic leader of Saja Boys is one of the most memorable characters and he was mostly inspired by no one other than Kai of EXO.
According to an interview with the animator Min Hong, to be able to capture the emotional expressions of Jinwoo, the leader of Saja Boys, she drew a lot of inspirations with EXO Kai. Kai is surrounded by the legacy of dense energy and a unique aura on the stage, which is why the reports about Jinu being an embodiment of his playbook did not reveal new information to the fans.
Kai was not the only one. When it came to nailing the choreography to Soda Pop, the high-octane first song by the Saja Boys, Min Hong fell back on MONSTA X and SHINee. He said that natural movements that allude to the choreography of domestic idol groups contributed to the animated performances of the group. It is no wonder why K-pop stans instantly recognized similarities. The working title of the film, KPop Demon Hunters, somehow remained.
I was surprised that KPop Demon Hunters, was one of the working titles and it was kept as the official title. It was originally intended to be a present to the Kpop fans, but Min did not realize she would create such a hit, she said.
In the meanwhile, Korean designer Wi Hyun Song unveiled the transformation of one of the most unconventional characters of the movie Gwi Ma, who was dubbed by the famous Squid Game actor, Lee Byung Hun. Gwi Ma was created in response to the supposed statement by the director Maggie Kang, who asked to have a demon one has never seen before.
As the film has gained stars such as ASTRO Cha Eunwoo, EXO Kai, SHINee, and MONSTA X in their bets on the influence of the characters and ways of their moves, KPop Demon Hunters is no longer a mere animated movie; it is a confession to the Kpop world. With BTS, BLACKPINK and TWICE anointed in the preliminary stages of research as well, there comes no prizing that the film has been welcomed into the fandom as a different breed of idol fantasy.
First Generation Kpop Inspired Director Maggie Kang for the Characters in ‘Kpop: Demon Hunters’
Discussions that have been held many times within the K-pop fandoms pertain to what the actual inspirations surrounding the main characters of Kpop: Demon Hunters are. Although the major impact is obvious it is possible to mention that at the beginning of the film the directors had their own vision on the creation of the three-dimensional groups. There have been many fans of the genre since it first emerged in the 90s…It captures and embraces all that KPop is…and I hope the millions of K-Pop fans out there in the world will experience the same way, says Kang to Variety.
As stated in an interview with Forbes, Maggie Kang grew up on the K-pop of the first generation, including her favorites H.O.T. and Seo Taiji and the Boys. In collaboration, Kang and Appelhans built a digital bulletin board and posted their favorite artists and then after sometime opened it to the whole department to do the same.
This gave us a mega-listing of all the good of the goodest which ended up to the combination of characteristics in the design of the characters. The classic model K-pop bands ITZY, BLACKPINK, and TWICE inspired the formation of HUNTR/X, Rumi, Mira and Zoey. Arden Cho, the voice of Rumi, states to Entertainment Weekly that her character was required to be “grounded yet vulnerable.” Being the leader of the group and the main vocal dominator, Rumi takes apparent inspiration in BLACKPINK Jennie and Jisoo who sound brashly composed and have the illustrative style.
Mira proved to be fashion forward (May Hong) who was a direct inspiration of the Korean model Ahn So Yeon. She is a tomboy in a good way, or rather, seems to have a soft underbelly. Offered in a contrasting energy reminding of being sarcastic and endlessly charismatic is Zoey by Ji-young Yoo.
Being a rapper in the group, she manages to combine the wanton, rogue behavior of TWICE Chaeyoung and channel it into slightly askew humorous vibe, making her a distinctive personality. And not to mention, they had a forceful lineup of their own capable of original tunes such as Teddy Park, THEBLACKLABEL producers and other western composers.
It is noteworthy that TWICE lead singers Jeongyeon, Jihyo, and Chaeyoung even perform one of the most climactic tracks, a fierce anthem titled Takedown that juxtaposes fiercely beating drums on one hand and lyrical assertion and empowerment on the other, solidifying the fact that HUNTR/X is a “real Kpop group” in the given film lore. As per EW, Jeongyeon, Jihyo and Chaeyoung declared that Takedown was an “aggressively determined track” and commended the “performance, visuals, fashion, and emotion connection.” And these are all important aspects of K-pop culture.
The Saja Boys Were Molded After Famous K-Drama Actors Like Cha Eun-woo
Among the most interesting aspects of K Pop: Demon Hunters, it is definitely a group of boy band bad guys called the Saja Boys which is named after the Korean word saja which means lion. This fictional band acts as pop idols and villains and uses feigned ambitions of sexy smiles and swagger as the thinly veiled front of a dark supernatural motive. Whereas the girl group Huntrix is an olive branch of Kpop which symbolizes its light positive appeal, the Saja Boys are the other side of the coin, as the girls do contain their sex appeal, aka, the dark and glamorous side of K-pop. They were nearly inspired by the hottest K-pop boy bands on any scale that at the same time had very specific visual signature and personalities.
According to Forbes, the Saja Boys draw visual and tonal influence on the images of such eminent stars as Tomorrow X Together; BTS; Stray Kids; ATEEZ; BIGBANG and Monsta X. All these groups had something to offer to the blueprint. Maggie Kang, admits that she intentionally designed this heart shaped bang on him. One can readily identify how the Blood Sweat & Tears, and Black Swan eras of BTS in particular contributed to the formation of the Saja Boys aesthetical setting of visual demons, an ethereal beauty with certain ghostly tint to it.
Jinu, the leader of Saja boys plays that cool detached formula he is handsome and charming but detached. It was also considered by the director that Jinu was inspired by the K-drama actors Cha Eun-woo and Nam Joo-hyuk, who were willing to have a traditional Korean appearance to shape the character from. In an ironic situation, the character who looks physically similar to Jinu was cast with Ironically, Business Proposal star Ahn Hyo-seop dubbing Jinu.
The more modern bands such as Stray Kids and ATEEZ influenced the style of the group mostly in the form of high-energy performance style and aggressive stage presence. The choreography of such idols is aggressive, bordering on theatrical, which became part of what the animators came up with in showing how the Saja Boys perform, taking both ideas of pop choreography and supernatural battle. TXT was another reference point when it came to young age.
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