How the Success of Kpop Demon Hunters (2025) Could Provide a Framework for Invigorating the Korean Animated Film Industry through Use of Cultural Representation.

Korea has a complex history with its own domestic animation production, having long been associated with subcontracting for other countries. Despite a wealth of talented animators, domestically produced animated films have not garnered much success at home or abroad, and have failed to establish a strong identity the way its live action film productions have. The overwhelming success of Kpop Demon Hunters [1] both internationally and in South Korea shows that there is real potential for animated content steeped in Korean culture to reach larger audiences. From here this paper will briefly look at the history of animation in Korea and how it may be viewed by audiences, including a short analysis of the Korean Creative Content Agency (hereafter referred to as KOCCA) white papers from 2023 and 2025, including looking at changes in animation consumption between these two years, [2] [3], then by analyzing 2 case studies, Kpop Demon Hunters and Kung Fu Panda [4], to examine the use of cultural representation in animated films and how that affected their relative success. While there are many animated films that focus on or have strong cultural representation Kpop Demon Hunters was chosen to examine due to its recent success, both internationally and within Korea and the cultural influence it has had. Similarly, Kung Fu Panda was chosen due to the similar set of circumstances that saw it gain great strides internationally and in China in 2008.

When Korea released its first feature length animated film, Hong Gil-dong [홍길동] [5], it seemed to be on a path towards a unique voice in animation production. While the animation is somewhat crude in its skill, the backgrounds show a painterly look that is highly reflective of Korean art and the Korean countryside. The style of the characters is also of note, while modern Korean comics and animation have shown a tendency towards Japanese style aesthetics, early Korean animation was more unique in its style, examples of backgrounds and characters can be seen in Fig. 1. Upon the release of Hong Gil-dong the film saw 100,000 viewers within its first four days, ranking 2nd at the box office. [6] In that same year, 2 other Korean animated films would be released; Hopi and Chadol Bawi [호피와 차돌바위] [7] and Heungbu and Nolbu [흥부와 놀부] [8], all based on traditional Korean folktales. This shows that in early Korean animation there was a desire to represent their own culture in the art produced and that audiences did respond to it positively. By this point, however, subcontracting for Japan had already begun, with Jeil Donghwa (Jeil moving pictures) contracting with Toei Animation, [9, p. 147] and as Korea moved more towards producing animation for Japanese and American productions the landscape of animation, and how it was perceived by audiences was forever changed. During this period of animation production, Korean animators and artists would be trained on, and produce art replicating, Japanese animation. Not only this, but due to the subcontracting work Korean companies were doing, Korean broadcasters were able to purchase distribution rights for Japanese animation at a lower cost. From then on, domestic production became heavily influenced by Japanese style animation. First as creators; drawing cels for Japanese series, and as consumers who grew up watching mostly Japanese animated productions on television. [9, p. 148] Since the 1990s western animation studios have also seen heavy use of Korean animation studios in the production of some incredibly famous western animation, such as The Simpsons [10], Futurama [11], Steven Universe [12] and The Legend of Korra [13], among others. As a result, those who do know of Korea’s domestic animation production know it mostly as a country of outsourcing. The Simpsons having multiple times made references to, and jokes about its use of subcontracting in South Korea during its run, as seen in [14] [15] [16]. Despite all of this, there have been many attempts to create homegrown Korean animated films, as well as experiments in investing in the domestic animation industry, but none of these pursuits have yet resulted in international acclaim the way that the Korean live action film industry has.

Within Korea, it may not be just Korean animation that struggles to find success. There is some evidence that animation is just not as popular with Korean audiences in general. On the one hand, Frozen [17] and Frozen 2 [18] were very popular with children and adults alike, Frozen 2 having the 7th highest ticket sales in Korea as of 2025 and the second highest sales among foreign films. [19] Frozen also consistently ranks among the most enjoyed animations in KOCCA surveys on animation attitudes in Korea, in all age groups. [2, p. 114] [3, p. 131] However, animated films account for only 5 of the top 100 highest ticket sales in South Korea, with no Korean animations on that list at all. [19] For comparison, in North America animated films account for 16 of the top 100 highest grossing films (Adjusted for inflation). [20] According to the 2023 and 2025 white papers from KOCCA; Koreans tend to show more interest in animated television compared to animated films, with Japanese animation constituting the most watched animated tv content. The only Korean content included in the 2023 paper being The Little Penguin Pororo. [21] [2, p. 114] The Korean animations that have seen the most success domestically and internationally are those aimed at very young audiences. Korean merchandise characters, such as Pucca and Mashimaro, have also been exported successfully, [22] however their associated animations remain not as well known or well received. As of 2024 the way that KOCCA surveys the general public has changed, now they make a clear distinction between younger children and older respondents and most questions and responses are divided between respondents aged 10-69 and respondents aged 3-9. From this it can be seen that the reason The Little Penguin Pororo had originally featured in the most enjoyed animations section was due to its popularity with young children. An interesting pattern emerges when comparing animations enjoyed by respondents in these two groups. In 2025, in the 10-69 age group, apart from Frozen, they are all Japanese productions. [3, p. 131] In the 3-9 age group however all but three of the most enjoyed animation programming are Korean productions. [3, p. 179] While the paper does not go into the reasons for watching Korean content among young children, the paper does ask why the older respondents chose not to watch native Korean animated content. The number one reason given by respondents, was that the majority of domestic animation was aimed towards young children, and just from looking at the most well-known contemporary, domestic productions it is understandable that they would think this way. Given that these audiences consumed largely, more mature, Japanese animation it can be assumed that this preconception applies only to Korean animated productions. The second most given reason posits that Korean animation is not as enjoyable as foreign animations. [3, p. 143] On the other hand, the youngest age group, or their parents, were not asked why they consumed Korean animation more than others. It is possible that the reason Korean shows aimed at younger audiences are more popular in Korea is due to the ease of finding them available in the Korean language which is more necessary for young viewers, though this is not expanded upon in the paper. For those in the older age group it was also asked why those who consumed domestic animation products chose to do so. Before 2023 there was a decrease in viewing of domestic animation products [2, p. 133] but that has since trended slightly upward by 2025. For both years the most common reason given for watching domestic animation was because it resonated with their own sensibilities [2, p. 134] [3, p. 142], this seems to indicate that despite preconceptions of Korean animation being for very young children, there is still a desire to see their own culture and morals represented on screen in a more mature way. Also, of note in the 2025 paper was that one of the animation contents enjoyed by respondents, despite being produced in Japan is in fact based on a Korean web novel IP, Solo Leveling [23]. It brings up the question of why this was not created as a Korean animated production. In 2025 the Ministry for Culture, Sports and Tourism in Korea also noted that domestic animation struggles to be competitive due to its heavy focus on content for infants and toddlers. In response they launched the 'Basic Plan for the Promotion of the Animation Industry' and now plan to invest more into domestic animation production, especially for older audiences, with a specialized animation fund of 20 billion won and a total of 150 billion won planned to be raised over five years through to 2029. [24] for comparison, this is a threefold increase from a similar initiative that was announced in 2020 with a goal of investing 50 billion by 2025. [25] An increase in budgets and funding for animation could be a blessing as animation is notoriously expensive. Historically Korean animation budgets have paled in comparison to their American and Japanese contemporaries, as can be seen in Fig. 2. It is important to note, however, that more money does not always mean better quality. The works of director; Satoshi Kon have high quality visuals, story and animation- His works are critically acclaimed and are estimated to have been made on fairly low budgets (from $800,000 to $2.6m), [31] [32] While investing resources to animated productions helps, it cannot be relied upon to consistently create successful or engaging content. In section 5 of the 'Basic Plan for the Promotion of the Animation Industry' the point is brought up to encourage and develop use of AI in animated film production. While they do not specify what type of AI and in what circumstances, this represents an area that Korea should be careful of if they wish to expand into western markets. A Yougov survey [33] of British adults regarding AI use in streaming content, found that while up to 64% of the public were comfortable with AI use in translation and subtitles, the majority were uncomfortable with AI use in any part of the creative process. Another survey showed less resistance to AI use in film and television, but in most cases only 50% of respondents felt it acceptable to use in most parts of film production. [34]

Kpop Demon Hunters currently sits as the most watched original film of all time on Netflix, with 325,100,000 views in its first 91 days. [35] Despite having already released on streaming services it was given a theatrical release where it earned 24.3 million dollars [36] and became the companies best-performing release. The popularity of the soundtrack also cannot be understated as the songs “Golden” and “Your Idol” were at the top of the Billboard Hot 100 [37], making Huntrix and the Saja Boys the highest charting female and male K-pop groups respectively at the time. In Korea itself, as of August 2026, the song “Golden” still holds the number one spot for Perfect All Kills. [38] The argument has been made that it is Kpop Demon Hunters strong cultural representation and extremely strong visual ties to Korea that has made it so popular. [39] With the world riding the Hallyu (Korean Wave) there is a larger interest than ever in Korean culture across the globe. For Korean audiences, there is a chance to identify with a lot of what’s on screen. References to modern Korean culture such as the pop groups being inspired by real kpop artists, with music that very much matches. Or the more subtle things; During a scene in a restaurant, the table shows the chopsticks and spoons having been placed on a paper napkin, while this is a small detail that most audiences would have missed, it was specific elements like this that were the result of input from the Koreans on the production team. [40] Another example, during a scene towards the end the characters are in a sauna and have towels wrapped around their head that are made to look like ram horns. Both these details can be seen in Fig. 3. One more scene that was certainly recognizable to Koreans; the characters visit a traditional Korean medical clinic where the doctor gives a medicine in a little plastic pouch that turns out to be just pear juice with a sticker on it. These small details have all resonated with Korean audiences. References to classical Korean culture such as Derpy the tiger, who is designed to be strongly reminiscent of traditional folk painting (Minhwa), or traditional Korean clothes worn by the singers at the beginning (Hanbok) or the hats worn by the Saja boys at the end of the film (Gat) have engaged global and Korean audiences alike in wanting to understand more about these historical cultural elements. These traditional cultural elements gained so much sudden renewed interest that it even resulted in the Seoul National Museum selling out of souvenirs featuring folk art tigers and traditional hats. [40] At a Seoul press conference for Kpop Demon Hunters, Maggie Kang (The director) spoke about the importance of authenticity in presenting Korean culture, through small and large details, while keeping a universal overall theme that would appeal to a large audience. [41]

Many films have used strong cultural representation to varying degrees of success, but Kung Fu Panda shows the most parallels to the current situation with Kpop Demon Hunters. While the use of Panda’s and Kung Fu may seem obvious as Chinese cultural elements, there are many finer details that contribute to its strong cultural representation. The furious five seen in the film, are animals that are named in Kung Fu ‘styles’; tiger, snake, monkey, crane and mantis. Chinese architecture is seen in the building designs, and in the temple an octagonal area is based on the eight trigrams, as can be seen in Fig. 4. The large cooking knife used by Po’s father is a recognizably Chinese cooking implement that most people would have in their home but is not often seen in the western world. The film even displays the conflict of two Chinese philosophies through the two grandmasters in the film, Master Oogway and Master Shifu, can be seen as a representation of the clash between Daoism and Confucianism respectively. [42] While the visuals and details may be very Chinese, one thing that set it apart from Chinese animation and cinema was its comedy and characters. The films comedy is very American and the way the characters behave and develop also speaks to a more western style of film writing that was less common in Chinese cinema at the time. When it first released, Kung Fu Panda became the highest grossing animated film in China and the 6th highest grossing film overall for 2008, Grossing an estimated $26 million [43], putting it in close range to the three films just above it. The film resonated strongly with Chinese audiences [44] and the success of Kung Fu Panda prompted an investment in Chinese animation production. The number of domestically produced animated films increased dramatically in that time, going from around 30 in the 2000’s to over 100 in the 2010s. The budgets for animated films during the 2000’s were fairly low, usually around one to two million dollars. While some of the more breakout Chinese animated films of the 2010s had budgets from 10 to 20 million dollars. [45] Now the quality of Chinese animation has skyrocketed and seen massive box office success within China, with Ne Zha 2 [46] [47] becoming the highest grossing animated film of all time solely due to how popular it was domestically. Kungfu Panda’s sequels would, themselves begin to see more involvement from Chinese studios as China opened up to more co-productions in animation. The Chinese government didn’t just give money to the industry, but investigated and learned what made Kung Fu Panda work, they talked to the animators and producers and their most successful animated films have been those that focus on Chinese folklore and traditional settings. However, despite the growing success of Chinese animation domestically, it still struggles to reach much of an audience internationally. [44] It is important to note, that while cultural representation was a part of the reason for Kung Fu Panda’s success in China, previous animated Chinese films did also feature folk tales and traditional culture, The story of the monkey king is one of the favorites for adaptations in general. For Chinese productions, it was also about changing the way that stories were told to appeal to older audiences and utilizing more modern forms of storytelling, as well as increasing the quality of animation.

Kung Fu Panda and Kpop Demon Hunters have shown that combining universal themes and representation of broad and specific cultural elements can be an effective way to drive audience engagement. The creators of these films showed a deep respect and love for the culture they represented that came across in their films and inspired an interest and curiosity from its international audience while creating a sense of belonging and pride from the culture it represented. While at the same time maintaining broad appeal, especially through their writing. The early history of animation in Korea, which initially focused on telling Korean folk stories, also shows that this desire to represent Korean heritage through animated film did work for the brief time that it was being produced. The success of the Chinese animated film industry after Kung Fu Panda also shows that, with investment and confidence in local production, an entire industry can be successfully invigorated if given the right support. The KOCCA papers [2] [3] provide a good start to see how people in South Korea feel about animation and show a small but increasing interest in growing the Korean animated film industry. In creating Korean content that goes global, the successful industries- such as music, drama and film- did not necessarily start by aiming for global reach, but by building industries that resonated strongly with Korean audiences that also had potential for international appeal. Attempting to create content with the intention of making it international before considering domestic interest will lead to inauthenticity. Visual appeal, proper funding and marketing are also important factors in making successful, resonant animation. It is important to remember that American productions often have a large amount of their budget go into advertising which also has an effect on how far they are able to reach. With all that in mind Korean animation production companies should consider the following; 1. Invest well, with the understanding that it will be expensive, taking into consideration large advertising budgets and the time and cost associated with animation. 2. Back animated stories that reflect Korean culture and sensibilities, while also looking for those scripts that present a broader appeal in their storytelling and comedy. 3. Ensure that productions meet high levels of quality in animation and visual designs, that can reflect the unique artistic voice of Korea, while understanding that being too uniquely artistic or straying too far from contemporary norms in animated visual design is likely to alienate viewers.

South Korea has many hurdles to overcome due to the history of animation production, associations in the animation industry and preconceptions from Korean audiences themselves. Although there are attempts at researching and surveying the Korean public on their opinions of animation there is room for more thorough research. While it is often assumed that the answer to any problem is to throw a lot of money at it, as always it is more complicated than that. It is not enough to just invest in Korean animation, but to invest in the animations that have the right balance of broad appeal, artistic merit and specific cultural representation. It is important to note that this is not the only way to engage audiences, cultural representation is just one part of a larger puzzle that could help to entice local audiences before trying to move on to global recognition. More research is necessary to understand the extent this element can factor into audience engagement with animated content, by further study of previous films, deep statistical analysis of animated content viewership patterns and experimentation in creating animated films with a strong Korean voice. It seems that quality, originality, authenticity and strong Korean identity could be the keys to unlocking the future of animation in South Korea.