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K-Pop Demon Hunters: Action, Attitude & Anime Energy

• Barbara & Teja Arboleda • Episode 87

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Barbara and Teja talk K-Pop Demon Hunters! We're loving the action, attitude, and sparkle. Barbara struts her fandom in her Mystery Saja-inspired wig.

From the high-energy battles to the hilarious character moments, this movie might be one of the most fun surprises of the year.

#kpopdemonhuntersnetflix

SPEAKER_00:

What could possibly be unclear?

SPEAKER_01:

Your vision for one.

SPEAKER_00:

Maybe a little.

SPEAKER_01:

You would not be able to get into a Waymo right now.

SPEAKER_00:

I'm cosplaying here. Well, at least for the for the wig. Yes. I'm cosplaying.

SPEAKER_01:

And this too has something to do with the topic of today's episode of K-pop Demon Hunter!

SPEAKER_00:

Yes! Yes! I am Mystery Saja.

SPEAKER_01:

And I'm a total fan of K-pop Demon. You know, I I did not want to watch it. I did not want to watch it at first.

SPEAKER_00:

Okay, I can't.

SPEAKER_01:

It it seemed so strange to me at first. I was like, you can't mix K-pop and Demon Hunters. I was to, and I like using that word. I was reticent to engage and watch the movie. And I thought it was actually a series at first. I'm like, I'm not gonna be able to watch a series.

SPEAKER_00:

But uh it was uh it was good.

SPEAKER_01:

It was good, it was very good. Let me just introduce to you why these are here. Now, this is we're way past dinner, and we haven't had instant ramen or this is a cup noodle.

SPEAKER_00:

The minute, the minute that I saw this in the movie, I said, I have not had cup noodles in years.

SPEAKER_01:

Now they have a branded Oh yeah, they have like the They have a branded K-pop demon hunters uh Well you know that they will. Instant ramen, yeah. There were three of them. That's why we've got three here.

SPEAKER_00:

And each of the Right, it was the Hunters, yeah. Right. It had their names on it and everything.

SPEAKER_01:

And so we're just gonna try this. Again, I haven't had instant food. This each of these was less than two dollars, and there's a reason.

SPEAKER_00:

Oh, this is spicy. Woo! Oh spicy, spicy. Yeah.

unknown:

Woo!

SPEAKER_00:

Is yours spicy? Okay.

SPEAKER_01:

This one is called Korean spicy beef flavor. Out of six jalapenos, hot peppers, it's three.

SPEAKER_00:

Oh, this is oh wow, this is only one one jalapeno. And I'm like, Woo! I think they want to know what we thought about K-pop demon hunters. I mean, we loved it. Um, yeah, no, so it was um it was really good. I I I I thought the story was great, the characters were fun, you know.

SPEAKER_01:

They loved eating their own uh cup ramen, or you know, their whatever you call it. What was it called again?

SPEAKER_00:

Well, I mean it it looked like cup ramen, you know, so well it wasn't called that. I don't um I don't I don't remember if they called it that I mean I they probably did call it just ramen, but yeah, no, it was it was very good and like the the music music was so good.

SPEAKER_01:

I didn't even think about this, but the actors are not the same as the singers.

SPEAKER_00:

No, no, yeah, that was um a little bit of a surprise.

SPEAKER_01:

And one of the songs was in the top 40, or what have you called it? It was already oh really? Which one? Billboards? I don't remember one one of the hit songs. Oh, I should have looked it up.

SPEAKER_00:

And everyone's singing it apparently, and I'm so hungry, and this is good, and it's it's good in a way that only ultra-processed foods can be when you're just really hungry. Okay, so wait a minute. Which K pop Demon Hunter, not under Hunter Song is a hit. Which one is it? There were a lot of good songs.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, there were a lot of good songs.

SPEAKER_00:

Um, oh, take down. Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_01:

And it was yeah, it was a great story.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

I was really pulled into the story.

SPEAKER_00:

Using the enthusiasm of their fans to sustain this web that protects the human world from the demon world.

SPEAKER_01:

I know. What a great theory.

SPEAKER_00:

What a great and then the Saja boys came along.

SPEAKER_01:

So you have the three main characters, three women, K-pop stars, who are also demon hunters.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, because and they had the whole legend that only one at a time ever like has that power to use their song to fortify this web that protects humanity.

SPEAKER_01:

And the demons send a boy band, a boy, a male k-pop band, to basically pull them into their into their web of evil.

SPEAKER_00:

And as usual, like each one, as in real life, like each one has its personality, right? There's the the hot one and the dreamy one and the mysterious one.

SPEAKER_01:

You know, they all had the hair over her eyes like that. Yeah. His. This was one of the demons. He was the one who's uh the the first one to show up.

SPEAKER_00:

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh it was great. Yeah. And um, and the the enthusiasm for K pop in general, because K-pop, I think, at least for a moment.

SPEAKER_00:

It's an ascendant, yes.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, it was the most popular ascendant. Yeah. Mm-hmm. That's a good word. It's a good word. Can you use that in another sentence?

SPEAKER_00:

Um. But I can make you snarf, apparently.

SPEAKER_01:

Okay.

SPEAKER_00:

Okay. Wow. Okay. Slow down there. I'm hungry. I know, but you're like eating all my food.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh, that's yours?

SPEAKER_00:

It is now.

SPEAKER_01:

Because. Oh, because you can't eat the hot stuff?

SPEAKER_00:

Well, I can eat the hot stuff.

SPEAKER_01:

So K pop has been uh extremely successful worldwide. I have I have an appreciation for K-pop. It's not like I've listened to the music all that much, but I love I love the art of it. I love how it is created and the art of it. It's it's so well rehearsed and and um put together.

SPEAKER_00:

Well, it's highly manufactured, it's highly manufactured.

SPEAKER_01:

It's true. It's true, but it is an art form.

SPEAKER_00:

It is, it is.

SPEAKER_01:

And I respect that. I respect how much effort is put into that art form. I don't think that the lifestyle is all healthy for K-pop oil.

SPEAKER_00:

Well they abuse them. They abuse them, just like they abuse uh my esophagus with my gut with the mm-hmm. I think these are noodles.

SPEAKER_01:

This is extremely spicy. And so I appreciate that.

SPEAKER_00:

I think that they have dance rehearsal and singing rehearsal and lessons, and then they have to learn songs and they have to do interviews and they have to fight demons. I mean, it's a lot. It's a lot.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, how do you you wouldn't have time to, you know, go to the bathroom.

SPEAKER_00:

Not really. I mean, no wonder they eat, you know, cup noodles, because that doesn't take much time to cook.

SPEAKER_01:

That's right, they don't have much time.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Just some hot water and four minutes.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. There you go.

SPEAKER_01:

And it's also how they save money. Prior to K-pop, and this was growing up in Japan, we had excuse me, what is now called J pop.

SPEAKER_00:

Right.

SPEAKER_01:

It wasn't called J pop back then.

SPEAKER_00:

It was just so next is L pop. That's that's gonna be the next thing. L pop. Because J pop, K-pop, and L pop.

SPEAKER_01:

So what country is L pop?

SPEAKER_00:

Laocian pop. Lithuanian pop? Luxembourg. Luxembourg.

SPEAKER_01:

Luxembourg pop. Lux pop.

SPEAKER_00:

Lux pop. Lux pop! Oh my god! We just made it pop! That is fantastic! That is awesome. We have to go to Luxembourg now and we have to source a group.

SPEAKER_01:

And there are only like three people there, so everyone in the country is part of the band.

SPEAKER_00:

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_01:

Lux pop! What a great idea! Wow. Think about that. Wow, that could be highly very specific. Very, very specific, very, very wedge market. We were talking like an audience of eight or nine people.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. It's worth it. And instead of you know instant noodles, they'd have like instant Bratwurst or something.

SPEAKER_00:

I I don't know that that's what they eat in Luxembourg. I don't either. It's not Germany or Austria. It's Luxembourg.

SPEAKER_01:

They have smaller Bratfust.

SPEAKER_00:

Oh my god.

SPEAKER_01:

Lux Lux Pop. What would it sound like? Would it be like semi-Umpa music? I don't know.

SPEAKER_00:

No. Luxembourg Luxembourgish cuisine is hearty, featuring potatoes, meats like pork, and fish from local rivers. So popular dishes include Judmat Gardebonen, which is pork and pork and beans.

SPEAKER_01:

What's the first part? Jud jud.

SPEAKER_00:

Gardebonen. Gard Gardabonen.

SPEAKER_01:

Soda pop. What was soda pop about?

SPEAKER_00:

About getting people excited. Right? Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. Soda pop.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, exactly. And then that was what really got like the guys to be to start to steal away the fans. And if they stole away the fans, then the oh my god, what was that thing called again? I looked it up. I had to look it up again. Oh, and then I made it go away. It's the thing Han Moon. Hon moon. Hon moon. The Han Moon. Wow that they had to, that net that they had to um, you know, protect humanity with.

SPEAKER_01:

Right.

SPEAKER_00:

They had to turn it gold. And it kept fading.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh, that's right. That's right. That's right. So it says here in Wikipedia, it became the most watched original title in Netflix history.

SPEAKER_00:

What? No!

SPEAKER_01:

With 325 million views.

unknown:

Really?

SPEAKER_01:

And its sing-along theatrical release was both the widest for Netflix film and the first to top the box office in the United States, surpassing Glass Onion on Knives Atmosphere. The film Soundtrack also saw significant success, receiving a platinum certification from the RIAA in October 2025. So that's crazy, isn't it?

SPEAKER_00:

Wow. Yep. That's I mean, Netflix has come a long way from mailing out C D DVDs in little packages and having people send them back.

SPEAKER_01:

The most successful show.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

I I I just find that to be like and how do you pitch that?

SPEAKER_00:

Well, it has a lot of elements that that draw people in. It's got action, I think animation and anime is popular. Um K-pop is popular. Like it's got sort of all of the elements that people want. It's got a love story. Yeah, it's got the it's got the supernatural element, you know, and then it's got the struggle because of course the the main character, Rumi, she um is half demon. Yeah. And then, you know, she's supposed to be killing demons, but then she's half demon and she goes through this whole identity crisis.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. And being a mixed person myself, I know what that different. Wait, wait, you're a demon? I'm not part of demon.

SPEAKER_00:

You're half demon? Okay, I guess I gotta come back here again.

SPEAKER_01:

No, I'm not. No. Oh, okay. I just checked in with myself.

SPEAKER_00:

Okay, you're sure.

SPEAKER_01:

Checked in with my fans.

SPEAKER_00:

Oh, okay. So you are not a demon. No. You're not a demon.

SPEAKER_01:

Well, if I keep eating the spicy food, the possibility that you will be kind of.

SPEAKER_00:

I might breathe fire. Oh, okay. That'd be kind of cool. But just not at me.

SPEAKER_01:

Not you. No. I wouldn't want to mess up that hair.

SPEAKER_00:

No, it would melt this hair, probably is what would happen. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Hmm. Yeah, I'm I'm I remember taking uh our older daughter to a K pop. She was she is.

SPEAKER_00:

Uh, but she was who were they, Chinae or something? Was that who they were?

SPEAKER_01:

That was one of the guys. It was b uh. Sorry, the B. Big Big Big Big Big Ben. Big Big I don't remember. I forget. Anyway, so I drove her down to New Jersey. It took us two and a half hours longer than we anticipated.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

But we left early and uh got to New Jersey, parked the car in the parking lot, ran in. They were just about to start. 43,000 people packed.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

People of every age, gender, race, culture.

SPEAKER_00:

You you polled them on their culture?

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, I I did a whole survey monkey thing.

SPEAKER_00:

Cool, cool. Okay, yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Um it's amazing. I think it got, you know, stuck at one point. You know.

SPEAKER_00:

Crashed the survey monkey. Totally. Crashed it, yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

And there were parents and little kids. There were people in their, uh, of course, I'm in my 60s now. There are you know, people in the 60s, 70s, and they knew all the words to the songs. Half of it's in Korean, and I'm like, what is going on?

SPEAKER_00:

Was it Big Bang? Big Bang. That's right.

SPEAKER_01:

Big Bang.

unknown:

Okay.

SPEAKER_00:

That's right.

SPEAKER_01:

And uh she was just screaming the whole thing. Of course, I had my earplugs on.

SPEAKER_00:

Um and you know, you see the same thing, the characters, right? They've each each got the different hair, like the different look to it. But yeah. Interesting. I wonder what like what happened to them. Like, where they had too much instant rummy. Big bang now. Big bang k-pop. Band now.

SPEAKER_01:

They're demons.

SPEAKER_00:

Oh, okay. Currently inactive as a group with members focusing on solo careers. Oh, of course. Well, yeah, you'd have to. You'd have to.

SPEAKER_01:

They they're burned out.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, yeah. Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_01:

Well, I I have to say, as hungry as I am, I was able to complete my oh, cool. I mean, I I when I'm editing this, I'm gonna see myself eating very quickly.

SPEAKER_00:

Oh, well, but that's all right because faster than me for a change, because like usually on the weekend.

SPEAKER_01:

You just plow through your food like a demon.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

And I'm the hunter.

SPEAKER_00:

Well, I do have tattoos, so that means I have lines on me. So maybe that makes me a demon.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh, do the tattoos show up and go away?

SPEAKER_00:

Do they don't. They're just kind of always there. I think that's a thing, you know, with tattoos.

SPEAKER_01:

What a great show though. I loved it. I really loved it.

SPEAKER_00:

And our Is there gonna be a second one, do you think? I mean, they kind of finished the story, but Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Well, maybe if it's not demons, maybe it's like, you know, traffic ticket hunters.

SPEAKER_00:

K pop demon hunters, too. Other people are asking this question. I know I don't want to try AI mode right now. I just want to get an answer. Yes, there there will be a sequel.

SPEAKER_01:

Black Mold Hunters.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, that'd be a good one. That'd be good.

SPEAKER_01:

They break open the walls to look for black mold.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, yeah. That I think that would be equally as popular. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Yep.

SPEAKER_00:

And the songs about that. The songs you could write about black mold. Oh my goodness.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. Wow. I'm having more.

SPEAKER_00:

Wow, okay. That's that's cool. That's cool. Um, yeah, so they're already developing it.

SPEAKER_01:

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_00:

I guess. So we'll we'll see. Oh, and they'll delve deeper into character backstories. So yeah, we got a lot of backstory from Rumi this time. So maybe they'll pick one of the other characters.

SPEAKER_01:

You get to see them when they're younger when they're more backstory.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. That'd be fun. Woo! All right. Very good.

SPEAKER_01:

Okay, pop demon hunters. It doesn't matter who you are, you gotta watch it.

SPEAKER_00:

How about it and while you're watching it, have some cup ramen. Cup ramen and watch it. That's like the it'll be like it. If only we'd known beforehand, we could have watched with cup ramen. Maybe you have to have to watch it again. Maybe you'll have to watch it again. Yeah, that's it.

SPEAKER_01:

Excellent.

SPEAKER_00:

Get cup ramen, watch K-pop demon pictures and cops.

SPEAKER_01:

And if you've got tattoos and they suddenly get larger.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, then you might be a demon.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. You just might be a demon.