If you have a daughter between the ages of 6 and 12, it is very likely you’ve seen Netflix’s cult classic “KPop Demon Hunters”—at least three times.
Even if you don’t have kids, you may have watched it at least once. This masterfully animated musical comedy about a Korean girl band, Huntr/x, that moonlights as demon hunters has seduced even my childless friends. The soundtrack, led by its biggest hit “Golden,” is ubiquitous. That song alone has garnered more than a billion views on YouTube.
So the question is: Should parents be concerned that their children are obsessed with funky Korean girls who literally (and humorously) slay demons—slashing them in half, and banging them with coffee pots, knives and swords?
They should worry about it only as much as they worry about their kids celebrating Purim by reading Megillat Esther. Because KPop Demon Hunters can, in fact, be read as a modernization of the Jewish tale of mystery, disguise and redemption.
The Scroll of Esther is a beloved and enduring text not only because it enshrines Jewish self-defense in the face of a real attempt at genocide, but because it presents character archetypes and plot dynamics familiar from countless Western books and films. Take the 1990 rom-com “Pretty Woman,” for example: an ingénue hides her identity to survive in a powerful man’s world, only to eventually influence him to side with “good guys” seeking to preserve their family inheritance.
Purim archetypes are exactly the kind found in KPop Demon Hunters, making the show a surprisingly effective vehicle for helping our kids understand the holiday story.
The heroines: Esther (Rumi)
Esther is an exiled Jewess mentored by her cousin Mordechai. She is forced into the palace of King Ahasuerus, who chooses her as his wife. Ahasuerus is a wealthy party man desperate to hold onto his kingdom. He is not necessarily evil but amoral, easily influenced by the people in his orbit.
The heroine of KPop Demon Hunters, Huntr/x bandleader Rumi, is also an orphan with a secret to hide. Her mother was a demon hunter, but her father was a demon—making Rumi secretly part-demon herself, revealed by purple scar-like patterns spreading across her body. Still, she remains committed to her mission: slaying demons and performing crowd-pleasing songs that strengthen the “Honmoon” shield protecting human souls.
Ultimately, the demon within Rumi, as within Esther, is self-doubt.
The morally dubious man turned heroic: Ahasuerus (Juni)
Rumi is confronted with a potential romantic interest in the form of the K-pop heartthrob Juni. But Juni turns out to be a demon who helped concoct a plan to launch the boyband, Saja Boys, as a way to steal Huntr/x’s fans and weaken the Honmoon.
Juni parallels Ahasuerus: a man torn between good and evil. Ahasuerus collaborates with Haman in a plot to destroy the Jews, unaware that Esther herself is Jewish. But he soon realizes he had made a grave error. Similarly, Juni collaborates with the Demon King to destroy the Honmoon as a means to heal deep-seated trauma.
Just as Ahasuerus is inexplicably drawn to Esther, Juni is drawn to Rumi. He notices her demon markings and recognizes something familiar in her. Through understanding their fears together, they form a bond and ultimately join forces in a quest for freedom.
The dictator: Haman (Gwi-Ma the Demon King)
Gwi-Man, the fiery Demon King, is the Haman of the KPop world. What do fascists like Haman and Gwi-Ma seek? They seek to suppress the soul, represented in Esther by the Jewish people, who introduced to the world the idea of individual autonomy expressed in the worship of one God. How fitting, then, that the Saja boy band, in its attempt to conquer fans, sings a song called “Idol,” crooning, “I’ll be your idol, baby / keeping you in check, keeping you obsessed.” This is the cry of a dictator. The rabbinic midrash teaches that Mordechai refused to bow to Haman because Haman wore an idol around his neck, making the gesture of bowing to him an act of idol worship.
The upright: Mordechai (Huntr/x)
No single character perfectly parallels Mordechai, but in KPop Demon Hunters, that role is played collectively by Huntr/x itself—Rumi and her closest friends, Mira and Zoey—at their best, seeking to protect human souls, literally, from consumption by the demons. Just as Esther and Mordechai must ultimately unite to defeat Haman’s plan, Huntr/x must come together to take down Saja Boys and the Demon King.
So if your daughter wants to watch KPop Demon Hunters for the umpteenth time, or if you hear her singing “Golden” or “Free” until your ears fall out, rest assured: She is, in some way, connecting to a foundational story of our tradition—one in which good triumphs over evil, and individuality endures in the face of authoritarian forces.
I know what my daughter will be wearing for Purim this year. She’ll be a Huntr/x, probably Rumi.
And I know what we’ll be watching when we get home from the Megillah reading.
