Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle is the beginning of an epic trilogy where our heroes, the demon slayers, in pursuit of the Demon King Muzan, find themselves trapped in a place of his design. They travel through an endless maze of buildings that defy gravity and put our heroes in a wild new place where they must use every power and ability that they have gained to stay safe. The opening montages will be a delight for fans with great new music made for the film along with immediate action as the team of heroes show off their abilities against the demon’s minions. But, soon, things become serious as we encounter some of the Upper Demons and the slayers battles against them will be ones to remember.
The film’s script contains lots of melodrama within this action-packed film, where the fights are filled with one-ups with visual flourish and details that make the experience impactful and entertaining. The animation and colours of the slayers’ abilities beautifully contrast against the dark and more sterile brown wood that are shown in the castles and rooms. They truly become the light in the darkness for those who the demons threaten. Demon Slayer is full of epic set design that seems endless yet doesn’t give us so much visual noise to bog down the fights scenes and moments when the animation introduces unique colours and backgrounds that mix up the visual style.
The film sets up a very video game-esque goal and obstacle structure. Different rooms have the upper demons who are ready to destroy any slayer who gets in their way. Whether you’ve seen the show or not, you are tense watching how our heroes may encounter the upper demons at any moment. As an audience member, you never know where you are going within the narrative as, many times when we encounter new demons, we get their whole backstory or we get more background on our heroes. These flashback sequences then reveal unexpected obstacles and lead to very cool action scenes with great subtext put into every blow delivered by both the demons and the slayers.
I was privileged enough to see the film in IMAX where the epic scale and the endless world the heroes explore surrounds them. One of the film’s strengths is in the plentiful amount of unique character, many of whom fans of the show would be familiar with but, for those who aren’t, we get insights into key characters that make us invested in their battles and the very cool, always moving and various styles of animation used to show the sword fights and brawls that occur.
The sound design has to be noted as a seriously impressive element. The film is mixed amazingly for theatres, booming with the sounds of fighting, the unique “tings” and “swoosh” of blades. At times, the sound becomes very uncomfortable and features grotesque noises to match some of the brutality seen on screen.
The main crux of this film turns out to be the fight between our hero’s Tanjiro and Giyu’s fight against the Upper Demon Three Akaza named whose backstory is explored at length for many scenes. We are connected to his past and how he came to be who he is. The result brings up empathy and connection to his present struggle against Tanjiro, making the conclusion satisfying and emotionally resonant. It does the uneasy thing and makes you feel empathy for a figure that has been shrouded in evil. It’s a challenge that likely affects all of us in the social media age, as we hear opinions that feel repulsive to our own, making it easy to shut ourselves off from the experience they have been through. This film allows us to look into why someone would become such a person and, while that never justifies it, it does help us see how our contempt for others only breeds more contempt and that can breed dangers of a greater degree. This is a surprisingly challenging theme that resonated with me strongly and was easily one of the most interesting parts of the film with a standout finale. The visuals and music escalate into a worthy finale for how grand this film is with its many characters and areas. Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba Inifinity Castle is an epic film to see on the big screen and for fans of the show’s storytelling approach, a huge win. It won over me.
Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba Infinity Castle is available in theatres on Friday, September 12th, 2025.
