By Eden Lozano
On Sept. 12, the next installment in the “Demon Slayer” series hit theaters in the U.S.
“Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba – The Movie: Infinity Castle” is just part one of a trilogy of feature-length films set to complete the final arcs of the “Demon Slayer” storyline.
If you aren’t a fan of the manga or anime, the story follows Tanjiro Kamado (voiced by Natsuki Hanae), a boy trying to cure his younger sister Nezuko (Akari Kito) from being a human-eating demon. He joins an organization known as the Demon Slayer Corps to enact revenge against the demon that killed his family and turned his sister – the demon king and the most powerful of all, Muzan Kibutsuji (Toshihiko Seki).
“Infinity Castle” broke several box office records and beat out another film in the series – “Mugen Train” – as the highest grossing Japanese film worldwide.
The animation in “Infinity Castle” was beautiful, taking it a step above what audiences have already seen throughout the series. The animation studio, Ufotable, just gets better and better with time.
Production on the film began over three years ago while episodes of the series were still airing, according to a booklet handed out with the film in Japan.
Shinobu Kocho’s storyline in the film is severely underbaked. Shinobu, one of two women in the main cast, is portrayed as physically weak, so she primarily uses poison as a weapon. This depiction is already problematic as it is, but it could almost be redeemed since the series depicts Shinobu as a calculating and incredibly swift Demon Slayer despite her weakness.
Unfortunately, the film does not nearly begin to do Shinobu justice. As someone who read the manga and is a huge fan of her character, it was disappointing to see the film adaptation cut her time so short. There are layers to her character arc that have yet to be seen – I expect that the next movie will emphasize this – but what has been revealed so far feels rushed and underwhelming. I would have liked to see more of her storyline portrayed in the film, or at the very least, I would have liked to see Shinobu’s arc get a little more runtime.
I felt similarly towards the storyline depicted with Zenitsu and his former training partner-turned-demon. Like Shinobu’s subplot, Zenitsu’s corner of the tale, though exciting, felt like an afterthought that deserved to be fleshed out better.
The storyline over the Upper Third demon, Akaza, was quite the opposite from the aforementioned storylines – it was very, very drawn out, almost to the point of becoming far too repetitive. It makes sense why Akaza’s arc is so long – out of all the Upper Six demons, his storyline has the most packed into it given his tumultuous life and afterlife. However, his storyline unfortunately overshadowed the other subplots strung throughout the film, which made their overall impact on the plot feel less significant.
That being said, I did like the execution of Akaza’s storyline. Out of all the demons, his former humanity is one of the most tragic. I felt that the film did a great job of reminding us that all of the demons in the series were once people, too, who became misguided and led down bad paths. Still, this does not mean we can’t mourn the person they were or who they could have become under better circumstances.
The voice acting was very well done. I watched the film in both Japanese and in the English dub, and I think the acting was well done on all accounts. Some of my favorites were Saori Hayami and Erika Harlacher as Shinobu, as well as Hiro Shimono and Aleks Le as Zenitsu Agatsuma. Their performances were very emotional and fit the characters well, as they both experience a certain level of change and maturity in their character arcs.
I enjoyed “Infinity Castle” very much, and despite its flaws, I found it to be an accurate and compelling adaptation of the themes from the manga series. I rate it at five out of five stars.