Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle is the beginning of the end for the legendary shonen franchise. Taking place almost immediately where season four left off, Tanjiro and his friends have some serious challenges thrown in front of them in the over two and a half hour long silver screen outing. Originally hitting Japan earlier this year, the Demon Slayer film is set to arrive in theaters on September 12th, but we here at ComicBook.com had the chance to see the Infinity Castle early to share our thoughts on the first of the finale trilogy.
Videos by ComicBook.com
Infinity Castle immediately starts with Tanjiro, the Hashira, and his young allies within the Demon Slayer Corps falling into Muzan’s lair quite literally. While nearly every hero under the Corps’ umbrella gets a respective moment to shine, some swordsmen get far more screen time than others. Zenitsu struggles to fight a demon who hits a bit too close to home, Shinobu tangles with the nefarious Doma, while the “main event” revolves around the long-awaited rematch between Tanjiro and Akaza following the devastating events of the latter’s introduction in Mugen Train. Luckily, Tanjiro does have back-up in the form of Giyu Tomioka, the Water Hashira. On top of all these battles, the demon lord Muzan watches from the background with an unfortunate hostage in his clutches.
To start, let’s tackle the positives of Demon Slayer’s latest film. One of the biggest strengths of the shonen series has been its stellar fight choreography, mixed with the amazing artistic design of Studio Ufotable, and neither of these aspects is lost in Infinity Castle. In fact, there’s an argument to be made that this movie has the best examples of both in any Demon Slayer anime outing so far. The anime fights herein are in the running for the best that 2025 has to offer within the medium. Blows are fast and furious, the movement is amazingly fluid, and the choreography takes what worked in the source material and amplifies it to a wild extent.
The Infinity Castle itself is perhaps the most gorgeous part of the movie’s art, as the ever-shifting environment almost acts as a character that the heroes and villains have to contend with. Some animation shots are jaw-dropping, especially with one sequence at the end of the film that gives viewers a sweeping look at Muzan’s changing abode. Demon Slayer helped become the powerhouse it is by injecting fluid, eye-popping animation for anime fans to enjoy, and Infinity Castle certainly plays on the franchise’s strengths in that regard.
When it comes to the original Japanese iteration of the film and its English Dub, both are worthy recommendations regarding the respective casts giving it their all. The casts do a fantastic job of capturing the emotional beats, along with some of the grueling, bone-cracking battles that are a part of them. Not everyone, hero and villain alike, makes it out of this film alive, and some of the acting perfectly reflects the heartache therein. Even newcomers like Channing Tatum and Rebecca Wang prove that they are worthy additions to the English Dub cast.
As for the negatives, well, there is unfortunately some ground to cover in the weaker elements of Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle. To start, a great comparison for the latest film is Demon Slayer: Mugen Train, the first film of the franchise that would go on to become the biggest anime movie of all time. What worked so well about Mugen Train is that it delivered a complete story during its runtime, with a tale that didn’t necessarily require audiences to be too well-versed in the overall story. I cannot imagine a world where a viewer walks into Infinity Castle and has any idea as to what is happening, but this quibble is a minor one. Mugen Train would go on to become a television season, but the movie was a complete story in and of itself. Infinity Castle is very much a “Part One,” and that fact can be felt across the board.
Where Infinity Castle truly stumbles is how it really feels as though this was a season of a television series slammed together to make a movie. There are flashback sequences that can often run for a good portion of the movie’s runtime for example. While said flashbacks can be interesting enough, they have a tonal shift that brings the film to a screeching halt at times. This “trick” has always been a part of Demon Slayer lore, aka witnessing a demon’s human origins as they turn into dust following decapitation, but it doesn’t work well here, and it doesn’t work as well to humanize said antagonists.
As for the overall story, there are three major fights that I mentioned earlier that take up the lion’s share of the movie’s runtime, and while nearly every character makes an appearance, some get left on the curb throughout. This might be more of a complaint with the source material, but some heroes have been waiting on the sidelines for quite a while, and we were saddened that they had little to no role here in Infinity Castle. Without diving into spoiler territory, there are two “main characters” in particular that felt wildly absent. As for the fights themselves, the weakest involves Zenitsu and a character who has mostly stuck to the shadows, but has big ties to the lightning-based swordsman. Said weakness doesn’t come down to the animation or fight choreography, but rather, due to the emotional connection that could have used more build-up in previous storylines outside of a “blink and you’ll miss it” drop in the fourth season’s Hashira Training Arc.
Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle is a titanic outing in the anime world, taking what works best about the shonen series and amplifying it. Unfortunately, the same can be said for Demon Slayer’s weaknesses here, which we feel even out what makes the film work. There’s a lot to love here for Demon Slayer diehards, but it’s a far cry from either best anime movie of the year or best entry in the franchise.
Rating: 3 Out Of 5
Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle hits theaters on September 12th.
Most Viewed
-
image courtesy of 20th Century Studios -
Image courtesy of Prokino Filmverleih
