#we know /nothing/ in the grand scheme of things

[katmaibearfan]

Cw: discussion of bear injury

okay, so. 32 Chunk has arrived on the cams, which means we got to see a lot more about his injuries.

the good:

he's huge, so he can take his time resting, and he can move his jaw, which means he can definitely eat and drink (even if it is going to be difficult, slow, and painful). As both I and former katmai ranger Mike Fitz have been saying, he is going to be okay! We have seen injuries like this before, like 18 Humphrey and 420 Genghis, and they were both fine. It sucked, for sure! but they were, in the grand scheme of things, okay.

the bad:

he is limping pretty badly, and walking slow as a result. His shoulder and back seem pretty significantly beat up. He seemed unable to shake himself off to dry, possibly because of pain.

Edit: It has been pointed out to me that in video after his initial jaw injury, he wasn't limping, so the limp is definitely new. He may have tangled with another bear between the initial injury and now.

My Takeaways:

I'm now very, very confident that these injuries were caused by another bear. It may be a bear we know from the cams, or it may not be. Presumably the other bear is also injured, though i would guess they are less injured than 32 Chunk. Since 151 Walker was spotted uninjured by a ranger after 32 Chunk was injured, we know that whoever it was, it wasn't 151 Walker that broke 32 Chunk's jaw.

Under the cut is video from 32 Chunk's appearance today, for anyone who wants to see & who missed it live. There is nothing particularly gory about this video, but it does show his obviously-broken jaw and his significant limp fairly well, and as such, many people found it very hard to watch live. So, it goes under a cut.

[axcrazy]

Agree with a lot of points here!

I thought that the movie did so many parts well. I loved the characters, the costuming, the action, music, and choreography.

But the plot.... well.

More spoiler-filled rambling below

I hadn't even thought of Celine (don't think the movie did either, lol) I feel like having a member of the previous huntress trio sticking around behind the scenes to mentor the next generation would've made so much sense.

Especially since it seems that this generation is in charge of the final Honmoon, which will permanently seal the demon world from the human one. It feels weird that she wouldn't be more hands-on for what is basically the culmination of centuries worth of work!

You could even still have Bobby around as their PR / social media manager!

I also feel like Rumi pushing her friends so hard in order to speed up the Golden Honmoon process should've been given more weight. I love that they're such good friends but there should've been more moments of friction aside from "I feel like you're hiding something from us".

The theme of "no more shame, be proud of who you are" butts up against what you actually see in the movie.

It's difficult to have a "be proud of who you are" message when:

The world doesn't know demons exist. Plus all demons are gone now anyways, so what does her reveal mean in the grand scheme of things?

Demons, as a whole, are shown as unequivocally evil aside from a handful of demons Rumi personally likes.

It feels weird having the triumphant ending being Rumi "changing the Honmoon" by just reaffirming the status quo but keeping her patterns. (Also: Was it ever clearly stated whether non-huntresses can see the stripes?)

Jinu poked at her hypocrisy of not trusting her friends enough to tell them the truth. But is it about trust or is it the very real fear of being struck down by the people she loves?

Which all comes back to Celine, an important character who is weirdly shuffled to the very edges of the movie.

One of Celine's closest friends and allies had a demon lover! Does she not have feelings about that? Does she have lingering feelings of resentment towards her closest friend from not "trusting" her enough?

Rumi's emotional confrontation with Celine has her tearfully asking "Why didn't you love all of me?" It feels like there's a moment of missing someone grabbing Rumi by the shoulders and saying, "Existence is not a crime!"

I also agree that the demons should've been redeemed or be shown an alternate path outside of devouring human souls.

Gwi-Ma is explicitly said to be an entity who maintains power by making all demons to feel nothing but shame, misery, and hopelessness. And the movie just decides to do... nothing with that? Are we supposed to assume that no other demon is worth saving and deserves to be trapped in the underworld for all eternity?

Like I said , I really like the movie as a whole, but the theme felt a bit inconstent with the story.

my critical thoughts on K-pop Demon Hunters under the cut mostly ramblings on things i wish they had done instead that I tried to organize into a numbered list... obviously spoilers for the whole movie

Celine should have been their manager. I liked Bobby he was fun but I think it would have made more sense to have Celine be a more constant presence in the girls (especially Rumi's) lives. She could have better covered for them when they needed to run off and fight demons instead of just leaving Bobby hanging and she could have more consistently been there to guide them and remind Rumi to keep her patterns hidden. They have that one scene where Mari and Zoey ask Rumi to the bathhouse and they use that scene twice instead when they could have had a different scene with Celine. Honestly I assumed she was like far away from them or something but Rumi just goes to her in the end so it feels really weird she wasnt more present when she's the one that told Rumi she had to hide (also it could have made for interesting conflict if Jinu was encouraging her not to hide while Celine was insisting she must hide

I think she should have told Zoey. Zoey has that line when Saja Boys are introduced saying "maybe they're nice demons" which feels like it could have given Rumi some hope that she'd understand especially after Jinu starts saying she should tell her friends. It doesn't really make sense to me how Rumi's voice got fixed just from talking to Jinu (we'll get to that more later) but she's still hiding part of herself from those she loves most so she's still not really addressing her whole being (like the dr guy said she needed to) So she reveals herself to Zoey and Zoey is of course nervous but also trusts Rumi and keeps the secret. Being able to be open with Zoey helps Rumi heal her whole being a bit and her voice starts doing better! But they cant tell Mira because she really hates demons and thinks they should all die Maybe Mira even starts getting a little insecure because she notices Zoey and Rumi are closer in a way she can't pinpoint/clearly keeping something from her The reveal on the stage can still happen but have it slightly different when Rumi blasts her demon powers a bit earlier and it scares Zoey Rumi talks directly to her like "Zoey its me you know its me" and Mira puts together that Zoey knew…. the people she thought were her family were both keeping something from her and it cuts twice as deep. She breaks off from Zoey in the actual movie right after this so I think its fine just having it happen here instead

Rumi's parents We should have seen them like I think its really wild that Rumi keeps saying she was a mistake and the only one that really reassures her she isnt is Jinu I don't really care if its just one parent or both but I think something after she confronts Celine would have worked Like it could have been some "past Avatars" thing where she connects to her mom's spirit because she was also a Hunter Or her blasting off demon magic when confronting Celine somehow calls her dad's spirit to her but there should have been something there where Rumi is told she's not a mistake and her parents created her with intention because they wanted her and wanted to give her all the love in their hearts and it helps her love herself more (SU "every moment you spend loving yourself is me loving you")

Rumi and Jinu bonding we should have seen more of it? they have like 2 scenes with just the two of them before the scene where they sing Free but that song didn't really feel emotionally earned cause we didn't get to see them bond that much? I kinda would have liked even a montage of them spending more time together and would prefer if that time had been spent showing Jinu showing Rumi more about being a demon and having her connect in a way with that side of her She needed to address "the whole to fix the part" so I think she should have been shown to be accepting that part of her maybe it even comes up with her using some of her demon abilities to fight other demons or somehow using it for their performances idk Also they had the bit at the signing where people are already shipping them and I think it would have been funny if they had been caught hanging out and it fueled those rumors I think this would have made her voice getting better make more sense? she's just like "I dont know why but ever since I started talking to you more my voice has gotten better" and its like yeah girl I dont understand that either? why is that happening?? It should have been more directly from her accepting her demon half

The tonic reveal I think it would have been better if she learned the tonic was fake a little later? like she's taking them and getting better which she thinks is because of the tonic but then learns they are fake and questions why she's been getting better and puts together that its because she's been accepting her demon half more (preferably thru the previous point of Jinu showing her more demon stuff)

The bracelet I noticed the tiger holding it in the scene before Saja Boys go on stage near the end but I didnt notice that Jinu was wearing it on stage until I saw a post pointing it out and I watched the movie twice!! Which I guess is a fun detail but I feel like it should have been more directly pointed out? its literally not even mentioned and hard to notice BUT ALSO Jinu should have given the bracelet back to Rumi He's in a place now where he cares about her enough to give it to her and it just feels like it would have meant something to give it to her as a reminder of the hope she gave to him (especially if he's just gonna die anyway)

The big one…. the demons should have all been redeemed/given the chance to redeem I can't speak on how this would have been received from a cultural standpoint (idk much about demons in Korean culture) but from a story standpoint they should have been redeemed… Jinu said the demons were being controlled by Gwi-Ma when Rumi gave Jinu hope it made the voices stop and Gwi-Man mocks him for thinking he could be free so okay the demons are clearly being controlled they do have that little scene where Rumi asks the one demon but it doesnt say anything and I wish it had cause yeah they are being controlled? Im sure some are fine with it but some might want to be free (like Jinu) it just feels wrong to only let Jinu be sympathetic and redeemed when there are likely other demons in a similar situation to him BUT even more then that I think its one of the only ways to make Rumi's situation really work. There is a message about accepting yourself but Rumi kinda never does?? she stops hiding her patterns but she doesn't actually accept that she's half demon and we are still told that demons are evil and need to be locked away (other then Jinu he's allowed to be redeemed thru dying) and it seems like Rumi's demon-ness is cured in the end? which I don't think is good (if that's not the case its really unclear) Rumi should have actually connected with her demon half and then tried to connect to the other demons by giving them hope of freedom from serving Gwi-Ma I just don't think the message works for accepting ones self when half of what Rumi is is still painted as evil and needing to be locked away

this doesn't even touch on the fact that I think Jinu shouldn't have died mostly cause I don't care for the "redeemed thru death" thing I think it's usually bad Like I guess it can work cause he selfishly left his loved ones behind for himself to have a better life before and now he's selflessly giving his life to protect someone he loves but idk I don't think saying the most selfless thing you can do for someone is die... sometimes living and being willing to change and grow is more selfless

I do think the movie was fun (music, character design, art direction) but the overall story was not so strong and at times felt quite sloppy with its message

feel free to give your own thoughts on this just pls keep in mind I'm not trying to shame anyone who really likes it and these are all very much my own personal opinions and reading of what the movie gave us