“Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle,” the highly anticipated film continuation of the anime series, brings fans worldwide to the climatic showdown of the series. Having been anticipated for so long, the movie made over five hundred and fifty million worldwide. Fans from all over the world came to cinemas in cosplay or bought merch from the theaters themselves. Moreover,  adapted from Koyoharu Gotouge’s famous manga, the movie takes fans deeper into Tanjro’s journey, and introduces characters from the Demon Slayer Corps who face Muzan Kibutsuji in his created infinity castle, a castle that multiplies at a single strum of a Biwa, a traditional Japanese lute. The film picks up at the exact moment where the Hashira Training Arc left the audience—the Demon Slayer Corps falling into the depths of the Infinity Castle. The group of Demon Slayers must manage to survive within this castle to slay the hundreds of demons at any possible corner and defeat Muzan for good. 

However, the real focus is undeniably the animation, Ufotable creates beautifully animated characters, allowing the audience to feel the sense of scale they created. The Infinity Castle itself was a constantly changing labyrinth; the light and the swooping camera pans made it difficult to keep your eyes off, for every detail was mesmerizing. 

Unlike many other animation films released recently, this franchise is ultraviolent and bloody, one battle after another, as characters who’ve spent years on their training in breathing styles—water, flame, thunder, ect—get to finally use it by killing Upper Rank Demons: demons who have not been killed for over an entire century. There’s a clear and defined technique to how these confrontations go, each side taking turns attacking, hoping to inflict worse damage onto the other. While many other anime series keep their main characters alive, Demon Slayer doesn’t shy away from killing their characters trying to fight for humanity. 

“Infinity Castle” contains a total of three major fights. The first being Shinobu, a young poison expert, against Doma, an Upper Rank two demon who views himself as a god. Shinobu combines her Insect Breathing with intense speed, testing her strongest poisons against him as her creative attacks cause attempted death with the thousands of cuts. Moreover, this battle is rather personal, for Doma killed Shinobu’s sister, Kanae. 

As for the second fight, there’s rather a big contrast. Thunder Breathing swordsmen Zenitsu—who only knows the first-form technique as he claims and Kaigaku, a former disciple now turned into a Demon who trained under the same older Hashira Zenitsu did. While they’re not related by blood, the two of them can be considered brothers; the battle has the tragic dimensions of a family fight as flashbacks reveal how Kaigaku was the one responsible for their master’s death. Although Zenitsu is outmatched by a long shot, he refuses to give up. 

After spending a lot of time in “Mugen Train”, the last Demon Slayer film, in a daze; Tanjiro once again battles against Akaza, a copper eyed demon who has a rank of Upper Rank three, alongside Giyuu. While Akaza is incredibly strong, having been known to have killed a Hashira in the last film, Tanjiro and Giyuu persist with their attacks as flashbacks reveal the Upper Demon’s backstory. Akaza has a rather complicated past, and through learning the tragic secrets he had long forgotten, the battle concludes. 

“Infinity Castle” isn’t just a traditional narrative with a beginning, middle, and end. It’s instead all the middle, building off the beginning of many battles. All the battles can be exhausting if you aren’t familiar with the story. Moreover, it’s an intense first movie of three, leaving audiences on a cliffhanger. With its blend of modern animation and phenomenal story-telling, its release has sparked many conversations about how anime is so influential now on mainstream content, proving that Japanese animation is no longer nice but now a shared experience with audiences worldwide.