Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle Is The Year’s Biggest Anime Movie, and It Lives Up To The Hype

At long last, Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle part 1 is making its long-awaited English debut. The film has been making waves and breaking records just from its release in Japan and Asia, and even after two months, the hype hasn’t died down in the slightest and is only poised to get bigger from here.

Tanjiro and the Demon Slayer Corps have been thrown into the eponymous Infinity Castle in a race to kill Muzan once and for all, although the powerful Upper-Rank Kizuki still stand in their way. It’s only the first part of a planned trilogy, but even this single film has so much that can be unpacked for years to come.

Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle Is One Of Ufotable’s Most Gorgeous Projects In Years

The first thing to discuss, of course, is the direction; for years now, Ufotable has had a reputation for producing some of the most visually stunning and all-around gorgeous anime a person can watch, and Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba has been one of the best examples of what they’re capable of.

Sure enough, Infinity Castle brings everything great about the TV series’ visuals to their peak with how dynamic the artwork and animation are, especially in scenes where a fight is made out to be even bigger than the manga, and Akaza’s fight, especially, is so impressive that it’s hard to pick a single moment to single out.

The soundtrack also adds a lot to the overall direction, as Yuki Kajiura and Go Shiina’s score never fails to perfectly sell a scene through either gorgeous instrumentals or their signature incomprehensibly beautiful vocal tracks; the two have been mainstays for Demon Slayer and Ufotable for years now, and Infinity Castle might be their best work yet.

Between the gorgeous animation and direction of Haruo Sotozaki and the incredible soundtrack of Yuki Kajiura and Go Shiina, Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle has some of the best direction not only for the Demon Slayer franchise, but of any recent anime movie, and hopefully, its sequels will be even better.

Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle Is An Emotional Rollercoaster From Start To Finish

Demon Slayer has always been famous for its emotional writing, and Infinity Castle has that in spades. The film opens with Shinobu trying to kill Doma and avenge her sister, and from start to finish, it always does a great job of fleshing her out as a tragic figure, especially with Shinobu’s fight ending with her death.

Zenitsu, of all characters, also gets a good showing; Zenitsu’s fight with Kaigaku does a great job of showing how much he’s matured, and despite his victory, it’s one of the most bittersweet fights in the series, by far. Zenitsu has always been a controversial character, but fortunately, Infinity Castle shows that he’s finally become someone worth rooting for.

Even Tanjiro and Giyu got some surprisingly good material; not only did their fight with Akaza provide plenty of catharsis for their arcs, but Tanjiro, specifically, shone through the extra insight into his relationship with his father and how that helped him evolve, all of which was depicted in one of the film’s most beautiful sequences, by far.

The biggest standout of Infinity Castle, however, was Akaza, as while he was entertainingly evil as in Mugen Train, after delving into Akaza’s backstory, everything was turned around to make him one of the most tragic characters in the series. It was truly incredible writing, and it made for a perfect conclusion to such an emotional tour de force.

Demon Slayer’s Biggest Gimmick Is Both Infinity Castle’s Biggest Strength And Weakness

Much like the TV series, Infinity Castle’s story is often interrupted by flashbacks of varying length, the longest of which was Akaza’s, which was essentially the end of Infinity Castle‘s story, and as always, there’s a definite issue in how often the story has to come to a halt to explain how the characters got to where they are.

The pacing, as a whole, also has its share of problems; unlike Mugen Train, which was largely structured as one continuous story, Infinity Castle is very episodic, so at times, it feels less like watching a lengthy movie and more like marathoning a season of anime, especially with how little work was put into changing the flow of events.

That being said, as clunky as the pacing in Infinity Castle can be at times, it’s very rarely to the point that it becomes detrimental to the overall experience gained from watching the film, so if someone can overlook that bit of awkwardness, it’s still a fantastic film from start to finish.

That’s especially true of the flashbacks; the criticism of the flashbacks was often misguided for ignoring how they’re used to create a final moment of catharsis for the characters and audience, and Infinity Castle understands that perfectly with how well its flashbacks are used, so the positives of it all more than outweigh any negative points.

Is Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle Part 1 Worth The Hype?

With Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle just being the next arc in the Demon Slayer story, it’s easy to write it off as just an inflated form of the Demon Slayer anime, and parts of the film don’t necessarily justify the theatrical experience, especially when it comes to some of its pacing issues.

That being said, not only are those issues so minor that they can, and should, be easily ignored, but with everything the film has going for it both visually and narratively, Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle part 1 is, by far, one of the greatest film experiences of 2025.

There’s never been a film quite like Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle, and no matter what sort of Demon Slayer fan a person is, it would be a shame not to see it in theaters.

Review copy provided by Crunchyroll and Sony Pictures.