“K-POP Demon Hunters is the epitome of soundtrack glory. I was levitated by its revolutionary screenplay, characters, and music. If I could describe my life with music, the K-POP Demon Hunter soundtrack is what it would sound like. After watching it for the 6th time last month, I wouldn’t mind a 7th.”
— Sara Li, Tepper ‘29, when asked about what she likes about the new Netflix original animated hit, K-POP Demon Hunters.
Released on June 20th, 2025, the K-POP centered urban fantasy movie has attracted more than 236 million views. It is also most-watched-animated film on Netflix as of today.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3JTVQTk36R8
K-POP Demon Hunters (KPDH) follows the story of HUNTR/X, a three person superstar girl-group based in Korea where they are the ultimate superstars. During amazing performances and showcases of their vocals, the girls— Rumi, Mira, and Zoey, secretly protect their fans from demons with their weapons and songs. Their songs are the driving force of the Honmoon, a barrier between the human world and the demon world. However, when an irresistible rival boy band of demons in disguise appear (the Saja Boys), HUNTR/X begins to struggle, especially Rumi who has an identity crisis.
Alongside the story, KPDH introduces many hit songs sang by the characters. Most, if not all of them have skyrocketed in popularity:
But, what does design have to do with K-POP Demon Hunters?
There’s actually plenty of overlap between UI/UX design and film skills principle-wise! KPDH showcases this well.
Since the movie is set in Korea, ethnographic research was done to ensure it was representative of the country and its people. Maggie Kang, co-director of KPDH, wanted to pay homage to her own heritage, so she drew from Korean folklore, mythology, and demonology. If you look at Maggie Kang’s X account, you can see her documentation process and iteration of different settings and early concepts of characters.