KPop Demon Hunters became a phenomenon over the course of 2025, seemingly creating one of pop culture’s biggest franchises overnight. With Grammy nominations and an in-development sequel on the way, the future is bright, and in a surprise drop, Netflix has revealed even more details on the characters and their world in a new art book. There’s plenty to check out, but one of the most interesting insights is regarding the special charms HUNTR/X wears throughout the film, as the film’s creators have now revealed the meaning of those charms and why they wear them.
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Throughout the film, you can spot each member of HUNTR/X wearing special charms on their belts, earrings, and necklaces, and these are called norigae. Norigae are inspired by decorations on traditional Korean garments known as hanbok, and each one is customized to the individual hunter, with Rumi, Zoey, and Mira all having their own style and twist according to character designer Euni Cho.
There’s A Unique Norigae For Each Hunter
Each of the members has their own theme for their norigae, with Rumi’s design incorporating light and dark elements with mini magical-girl style charms and a crystal flower charm, and purple is the main color throughout. Then there’s Mira’s norigae, which Cho says, “reflected her big, bold personality, with bows that echo her signature hairstyle, a large heart charm symbolizing the warmth hidden beneath her seemingly cold expression and a fun twist of miniature Rumi and Zoey head charms – showing how she sees them as family and always wants to keep them close.”
As for Zoey’s norigae, Cho says that it was “inspired by children’s norigae from the Joseon period – shorter, bubblier and more colorful, just like her.” Cho went into more details, revealing that the charms also include “two big bells that echo her hair buns, a turtle, bunnies, toy bead blocks spelling out her name and other playful details in reflection of her childlike, creative side as both a hunter and a musician.”
The charms are all purely for fashion in the final version of the film, but the art book reveals that early in development, there were also concepts that gave the norigae additional functionality. This was thought to be things like allowing the girls to summon their weapons, but that ended up being changed to the more fashion-centric charms we saw in the final film.
The Future Is Bright For The Franchise
KPop Demon Hunters has achieved some mighty impressive milestones since its release on Netflix, as it has become the most-watched Netflix animated original film of all time and Netflix’s most popular English-language film ever. The film has brought in over 325.1 million views, and it then went on to sell out special showings in theaters.
Now it’s also earned five Grammy nominations for the soundtrack, and the popularity will only continue as the major merchandise rollout begins in earnest next year and work on the sequel begins. A sequel isn’t expected for a few years, but perhaps some short films can break things up until a full sequel is finished. We’ll have to wait and see, but to help pass the time, you can check out the full art book right here.
KPop Demon Hunters is now streaming on Netflix.
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