Commentary: ‘KPop Demon Hunters’ Hits Like ‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles’
by Frank Martin
There’s no denying that Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is a tornado of a phenomenon. What started as an indie comic book exploded into an enormous franchise of cartoons, movies, video games, toys, and more. But their fandom is largely built within the boys market. This isn’t surprising considering that the four turtles, created by two young men, are brothers. Until recently, there has yet to be a suitable mirror for the girls market to cheer on. From the demographic data companies relay on, the segment typically shies away from martial arts, violence, and action. With the release of Netflix’s KPop Demon Hunters, that portion of the market finally has a group of warriors with attitude that appeals to their sensibilities.
The film is about Huntr/x, a trio of singing girls named Rumi (Arden Cho), Mira (May Hong), and Zoey (Ji-young Yoo), who have an army of devoted fans that cheer on their every move. But that’s just their public face. In reality, they draw strength from their fandom in order to fight demons who invade the human world intent on stealing people’s souls. They are each hardened warriors and have their own individualized weapons to destroy the demons wherever they may pop up. To challenge them, a demon boy band is formed to take away their fandom, but the pop stars learn to find their inner strength to beat them in the end.
There are obviously many differences between the Demon Hunters and Ninja Turtles. For one, the turtles aren’t pop stars at all — despite the “Coming Out of Their Shells” live tour in the early 1990s. In fact, they are mutants who hide from society’s enforcers. They enjoy eating pizza and skateboarding, just like the demographically typical boy. But as a story geared toward the similar demographically typical girl, KPop Demon Hunters focuses on singing and dancing. The overall tone of both groups, though, is surprisingly similar. The girls in Huntr/x are cool and slick, just like the Turtles. They each have their own individualized weapons, fight style, and attitude. Their popularity has soared amongst today’s youth, inspiring the audience to fight alongside them while singing. That type of fervor mimics what many boys experienced when the Ninja Turtles cartoon first exploded on the scene in the late 1980s. And while both have demographic crossover, centering a team like this for young girls is both thrilling to see and proof that the market was always there.
KPop Demon Hunters is now streaming on Netflix.
