Why Saja Boys Characters In KPop Demon Hunters Weren’t As Fleshed Out As Jinu Defined By Director

KPop Demon Hunters options the villainously endearing demon Okay-pop boy band referred to as the Saja Boys, however solely one in all them will get any actual character improvement. KPop Demon Hunters’ story is definitely in regards to the lady group Huntr/x, who’re demon hunters in addition to singers, and the way the Saja Boys come up to fight them on behalf of Gwi-Ma (Lee Byung-hun), the demon king.

As a result of the Honmoon, the magical ward defending the world from demons, is powered by Rumi (Arden Cho), Mira (Might Hong), and Zoey’s (Ji-young Yoo) voices and their followers’ appreciation for his or her music, a bunch of bold demons suggest to Gwi-Ma that changing into a rival musical group is their greatest transfer. The group is led by Jinu (Ahn Hyo-seop), a extra nuanced and sympathetic character.

Whereas Jinu’s tragic backstory is explored, and he provides some emotional assist to Rumi, who’s struggling to just accept her personal demon heritage, the opposite Saja Boys are pretty one-dimensional characters. Through Reddit, KPop Demon Hunters co-director Maggie Kang defined that there merely wasn’t sufficient display time for all of the Saja Boys to have correct arcs. Take a look at her feedback beneath:

They have been at all times extra facet characters and we did not have time to flush out character arcs for them– a storyline that will tie into the disgrace/acceptance theme. We wished them to be extra far gone a demons vs Jinu in order that Jinu pops as a man who’s totally different among the many, I suppose, monsters as a result of he has a tinge of his soul left.

What The Saja Boys’ Minimal Characterizations Imply For KPop Demon Hunters

It Is Finest For The Film’s Pacing, However Kang Implies Attention-grabbing Worldbuilding

In an effort to preserve KPop Demon Hunters at an inexpensive runtime, Jinu was the one member of Saja Boys who may have an arc, and he serves the narrative goal of supporting Rumi’s arc as properly. The remainder of the time, it’s nonetheless hilarious to see Mira and Zoey’s cartoon reactions as they swoon over the opposite Saja Boys — up till they battle them within the closing act.

All through the film, Rumi is questioning how a lot of the hunters’ beliefs she was raised with are true, together with whether or not she ought to sympathize with the demons. Resulting from what she, and we because the viewers, have realized about Jinu, we naturally flip to the opposite main demon characters in search of comparable story beats.

Nonetheless, Kang specifies that some demons are “extra far gone,” and maybe Huntr/x has no alternative however to do what they have to to guard humanity on this case. KPop Demon Hunters strikes a steadiness between charismatic however irredeemable villains and the morally grey determine of Jinu, in order that the story can discover each eventualities.

Our Take On The Different Saja Boys As Characters

Easy Villains Are Nice In Their Personal Method

The Saja Boys are loads of enjoyable as uncomplicated villains, there to indicate off a sure side of Okay-pop earlier than they reveal their true selves for the ultimate battle. The excellence between their charming stage personas and their (nonetheless type of charming) demon selves is likely one of the some ways KPop Demon Hunters is such a novel film, relying closely on Okay-pop tradition.

Nonetheless, it does really feel like a KPop Demon Hunters sequel is of course set as much as discover extra of the demons’ psyches, particularly when Jinu could also be gone after KPop Demon Hunters’ ending. Regardless of the way forward for KPop Demon Hunters, it seems like a number of the demons are merely villains — however we take pleasure in their presence nonetheless.

Supply: Reddit

KPop Demon Hunters

9/10

Launch Date

June 20, 2025

Runtime

95 minutes

Director

Maggie Kang, Chris Appelhans

Writers

Maggie Kang

Producers

Aron Warner

• 

•