‘KPop Demon Hunters’ puts global spotlight on Japan’s colonial past

A TikTok post uploaded by user Jay (@merajorphosis) on Sept. 15. Captured from TikTok

The worldwide popularity of the Netflix animated series “KPop Demon Hunters” has unexpectedly drawn attention to the atrocities committed under Japanese imperialism.

The trigger was curiosity about a tiger character dubbed Derpy, which set off what some online users are calling a butterfly effect.

TikToker Jay posted a video on her channel on Sept. 15, with a caption saying, “Just found out Japan took out all the tigers Korea had for generations last century from watching and searching up the tigers history in kpop demon hunters...”

The video, showing Jay’s dismay, went viral, gaining more than 1.2 million views and 190,000 likes as of Wednesday.

The tiger, who appears alongside the magpie character Sussie in the film, was inspired by traditional Joseon-era (1392-1910) paintings of tigers and magpies known as “hojakdo.”

Together, they guide the protagonists Rumi and Jinu between the land of the living and the afterlife. Jay said she was drawn to Derpy’s charm, which led her to discover the history behind the extermination of Korean tigers.

During the Japanese colonial period, tigers were labeled “harmful animals” and systematically hunted beginning in 1917, as large civilian hunting groups were mobilized. While officials justified the hunts as a way to protect villages from tiger attacks, many historians view them as part of Japan’s broader efforts to erase Korean cultural identity and boost imperial morale.

Interest among global viewers quickly shifted from the extinction of tigers to broader critiques of Japanese imperialism. The TikTok video drew more than 2,000 comments condemning Japan’s historical wrongs and denouncing ongoing distortions.

One comment that received about 27,000 likes read, “They (Japan) also tried to eradicate the Mugunghwa (rose of Sharon), Korea’s national flower, to suppress Korean national identity and it is now a symbol of Korean resilience.”

Others wrote, “The extinction of tigers is only a small part of what Japan did,” and “Japan left war crimes out of textbooks, so many Japanese today do not know about their own country’s brutality.”

Derpy and Sussie in "KPop Demon Hunters" / Courtesy of Netflix

Some urged viewers to look up information about wartime sexual slavery, known as the “comfort women” system, noting that many victims were as young as 14.

Blending K-pop and Korean mythology in a modern fantasy setting, “KPop Demon Hunters” has become Netflix’s most-watched title worldwide and topped the Billboard chart with its original soundtrack.

This recent social media discussion connected to the movie is even more striking given that Sony Pictures Animation of Japan co-produced the project.

This article from the Hankook Ilbo, the sister publication of The Korea Times, is translated by generative AI and edited by The Korea Times.