Animated, Kilkenny, Photo Credit: Andrew Downes.
Maggie Kang and Chris Appelhans, co-directors of cultural phenomenon KPop Demon Hunters, kicked off their “European tour” at Kilkenny Animated this weekend. The two are set to appear at a few other festivals and conferences over the next few weeks. As part of the act, they are treating audiences to a full presentation on the story of building the movie from the ground up.
The film’s cultural impact was clear before the session even began. Walking through Kilkenny, I passed two young girls with Rumi hair — an unmistakable nod to the film’s lead character. KPop Demon Hunters was screening for the public just up the street, its influence extending far beyond streaming to real-world play and fandom. A local Kilkenny kids’ party salon is now offering KPop Demon Hunters-themed makeovers, a spontaneous response to audience demand in a market where official products are still scarce.
Inside the session, Kang and Appelhans unpacked the many layers that made the film so resonant: the responsibility of representing Korean culture in a major animated feature; the reimagining of the female superhero; the centrality of music; and the film’s distinctive visual language, drawing from music videos, concert staging, fashion photography — and, of course, K-Pop itself.
According to the directors, Sony Pictures Animation and Imageworks attacked the challenge, trying new things and pushing the limits of CG artistry to meet the filmmaker’s ambitions. They joked that they sold in a movie about kick ass, appealing KPop Superheroes who overcome their fears, but actually created a deep commentary on shame and generational trauma that was very culturally Korean. The film has a bubble gum wrapper, but the reason it has staying power is because it really connects with audiences.
A major part of that connection is the characters. Representation of women superheroes who are also deeply human. “We have Gamorra and Black Widow who are cool and sexy and badass, but we don’t get to see the real side of them; their insecurities, their flaws. KPop Demon Hunters is about these women overcoming their inner demons, while they were fighting actual demons”, said Maggie Kang.
04/10/2025 Animated, Kilkenny, Photo Credit: Andrew Downes.
The other important aspect of the film for Kang in particular was the authentic depiction of Korean culture. The directors described a two-week research trip they undertook with their team after completing their first script draft. They worked with local scouts to capture the architecture, landscape, and rhythm of modern Seoul, grounding the film in real neighborhoods that reflected the personalities of its lead characters. They visited Jeju Island to study traditional Dokkaebi demon statues and got to play around with traditional weapons used in the film.
The trip also allowed them to ingest Korean culture quite literally. They ate their way through endless meals to capture food’s central place in both culture and relationships in loving, precise detail. “We wanted to show women who eat,” Kang explained, “who bond over food and friendship.” The smallest touches, a chopstick napkin, a properly set banchan spread, came from Korean artists across the production who insisted that every frame feel true.
If the research trip grounded the movie in a place, music gave it a pulse. The decision to infuse Kang’s initial idea of Korean demonology with K-Pop brought scope, spectacle, and emotional universality. The directors worked with top Korean songwriters to create original tracks that advanced both story and character. Each song had to carry narrative weight as well as chart-worthy energy. The most important and challenging number, “Golden,” had a lot of jobs to do. It had to reveal the girls’ backstories, heighten the film’s central tension and, being vitally important to the story and the success of the movie, it had to be a banger. Singer-songwriter Ejae eventually cracked it, later becoming the singing voice of Rumi.
Animated, Kilkenny – Photo: Andrew Downes.
At the end of the session, both filmmakers circled back to the film’s personal origin. Kang spoke of questioning whether she was “Korean enough” to bring the first animated depiction of her culture to life, before realizing that authenticity comes from honesty, not orthodoxy. “Everyone has a different relationship with their culture,” she said. “You have to make the movie for yourself first.”
As the Kilkenny audience filed out, a long queue lingered for promised autographs. Kang and Applehans sat for over an hour. Despite being a talk about the animation production experience, there were several kids present, some of whom busted out dance moves for the directors. It was proof that KPop Demon Hunters has moved beyond the screen; from global streamer to living fandom. The girl with Rumi hair outside wasn’t an outlier; she was the signal of what happens when authenticity, artistry, connection and cultural specificity align. A movie made from weekends and conviction has become a phenomenon built on resonance.
