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www.postmagazine.com 22 POST MAR/APR 2026 KPop Demon Hunters Animating stunning visuals for this Oscar-winning phenomenon BY KENDRA RUCZAK "W e're goin' up, up, up, it's our mo- ment! You know together we're glowin'!" You might recognize these catchy lyrics from Netflix's animated sensation KPop Demon Hunters — and they certainly exemplify its runaway success. Since its release last summer, the film has skyrocketed to the top of the charts and cemented itself as a true cultural phenomenon. "KPop Demon Hunters unleashed a global fan frenzy — we're talking dancing, singing and more screaming than anyone was emotionally prepared for," states Marian Lee, chief marketing officer at Netflix. After racking up more than 500 million streams, the film now reigns as the most-watched original title in Netflix history. The soundtrack went cer- tified double platinum in the US last fall, becom- ing the first film soundtrack to have four songs simultaneously reach the top ten of the Billboard Hot 100. A sing-along version hit theaters last year, marking Netflix's widest theatrical release yet, and its first to top the box office. A partnership with Mattel and Hasbro is now unleashing a wide variety of official merchandise for fans worldwide. In addition to a rabid fan base, the film also re- ceived critical acclaim for its animation, visual style, story, music, voice acting and more. A successful awards season culminated in a slew of accolades, including Golden Globes, Grammys, Critics' Choice Awards, and Producers Guild Awards, plus a stag- gering 10 Annie Awards and two Oscar wins for Best Animated Feature and Best Original Song. Written and directed by Oscar-winners Maggie Kang and Chris Appelhans, the film follows Huntr/X, a trio of K-pop superstars who sell out stadiums to crowds of adoring fans. When Rumi (voiced by Arden Cho), Mira (voiced by May Hong) and Zoey (voiced by Ji-young Yoo) aren't dazzling audiences on-stage, they're living a secret double life as legendary, sword-wielding demon slayers. With the emergence of the Saja Boys, an alluring new rival group whose members are actually de- mons in disguise, the all-star hunters must confront their greatest supernatural threat yet. Springing from Kang's desire to craft a story inspired by her Korean heritage, the film boldly blends ancient mythology with a modern musical flair. This unexpected cinematic harmony needed to be brought to the screen in a captivating visual style. Sony Pictures Animation and Sony Pictures Imageworks teams in Vancouver and Montreal, led by animation director Josh Beveridge, were up for the challenge, delivering dynamic 3D animation that truly brought the film's stunning dance cho- reography and demon-destroying fight sequences to life. Kang and Appelhans shared insights into their directing process for the film at the 2025 VIEW Conference in Turin, Italy. Anime fans will rejoice when they hear the slew of beloved titles that influ- enced the film's distinctive visual style. "In terms of animation, we were inspired by anime, and when we say 'anime,' we're talking, like, 'old people anime,' like Cowboy Bebop, FLCL, Lupin [the Third], Sailor Moon," Kang shares. "What we liked about those is there's this kind of snappi- ness to everything. All of our characters are kind of modeled after those proportions — very long, incredibly-long legs. They're like, seven feet tall if they were real people in real life." Despite the fantastical comic-like proportions, it was important to the directors to lean into a more three-dimensional animation style. "We were very inspired by the kind of anime manhwa faces that you see that are very exagger- ated and kind of cartoony, I would say. But in our movie, we didn't want to represent them in a 2D way," she continues. "We thought that everything needed to be a 3D representation in our movie, so that's what we leaned into Spider-Verse — which