Korea makes its animation push on Netflix

While we focus on Japanese film, animation and culture, we're not blind to some of the amazing work being carried out elsewhere, especially when it's so clearly inspired by anime in the first instance. Laika's Kubo and the Two Strings (dir. Travis Knight) was the first fil I can remember that went hard for a Japanese look while staying visually distinctive, but Korea has been catching up in the animation space, especially through Netflix. True, much of what's on offer to date has been children's TV series of mixed quality, from Teeniepings (another Thea favourite) to Bread Barber Shop, but this year two releases have been mature, beautiful and of serious merit.

Nan-Young working on Mars

Let's start with Lost in Starlight, a film I very much enjoyed despite clearly pulling from a variety of anime sources, from the scientific adventure of Wings of Honneamaise to Shinkai's own romance Voices of a Distant Star. the idea of a relationship tested over vast distances isn't really new, but this first Netflix animated feature film from Studio Climax still manages to hit all the right notes, with Mars obsessed astronaut Nan-Young's expeditionary ambitions hindered when she falls for Jay, a down-on-his luck musician who pulls her heart back to Earth. 

By any measure, this is a beautifully animated feature film, with terrific attention to detail, gorgeous backgrounds, excellent animation and a very human story at the centre which has all the elements of a Shinkai film, if not the fabled directors expert touch and talent for surprise. I highly recommend giving it a watch, the music in particular is stirring and enhances the drama. Also of note is the animation, which is incredibly rich and detailed - it manages to make Earth look beautiful and the pull of space full of mystery, with great use of palette and digital overlay to create an unforgettable experience. 

While there are some elements that are fantastical, it's mostly grounded with some lovely ship and equipment designs for the space elements, with some nice ideas for future technology in the everyday world making it feel like a future we could feasibly slide into.

Fun, sassy, confident and belting out incredible tunes, Mira, Rumi and Zoey are Huntr/x

The big title is undoubtedly K-Pop Demon Hunters, a tour-de-force of style, blistering K-pop beats and incredible action, it's been created by Sony and the team behind the Spiderverse films, and boy does the quality show. Conceptualised, produced and with screenplay contributions by South Korean Maggie Kang, the film embraces Korean culture and uses many real-life influences (with the bands loosely modelled on the likes of Twice and BTS) to create many of the characters. The voice cast is a mix of Korean and American talent, with many of the American cast being of Korean descent. Half of the character design team is also Korean, with the talents of Jeannie Lee, Yesolyi Kim, Shiyoon Kim and Hyun Song We. Essentially it was created in the US under Korean supervision lo give it plenty of authenticity.

Youtube is currently on fire with reaction videos...

This is really where Pixar and Disney have missed the mark with their recent bean-mouthed and badly animated output. It slaps down the broader Hollywood machine too, because here we have three distinct female personalities that are presented as tough, committed and confident while remaining completely relatable and flawed with room for growth. By the end of the film I knew exactly what drove them, the problems they faced as individuals and how working as a team helped them to be greater than they ever could be alone. The sisterly relationship is reminiscent of the Frozen series with secretly half-demon lead-singer Rumi sharing Elsa's "cursed" arc and rapper Zoey adopting a ditzy but loving supporting role, only here we get a third, more hard-edged dancer called Mira to add an element of danger - together the trio form the idol group Huntr/x and protect the world from demons by using their music to move the people and create a spiritual shield keeping evil at bay known as the Honmoon. 

The Saja Boys, they'll steal your heart then come for your soul...

The film leans heavily into being a pop-video-lead story, with action scenes always accompanied by an amazing K-pop anthem that has my daughter singing to herself around the house. The idea of an idol group suddenly having to deal with a rival that's made up of demon boys is just cinema gold, and so it proves to parody the entire culture in a way that spreads the love and really inspires a lot of interest thanks to the sheer quality of the music, animation, characters and story.

Little observations like the fans obsessing over their "ships" between the two bands, the fickle nature of one fan constantly changing sides by ripping off his logo t-shirt to reveal the rival underneath and the way the girls gleefully carb-load before a performance is all spot on - It's honestly the best film I've seen in years and I think Sony missed a trick making it a streaming release, because this film in a cinema setting with booming speakers and those concert crowd scenes in IMAX would absolutely slay.

Needless to say Thea has now watched it at least 8 times by my count and I've ordered her some Huntr/x merch from the Netflix store, which she will flip over - can't wait to see her face!

So while we remain a site dedicated to Japanese culture, game has to recognise game and applaud the huge contribution Korea has made to animation this year. Bravo, I hope to see more very soon!

Lost in Starlight and K-pop Demon Hunters are streaming exclusively on Netflix UK.