‘Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – The Movie: Infinity Castle’ review: A stunning, sensorial fever dream in free fall

Anime motion pictures spun out of long-running shounen sequence are likely to journey over their very own scale, with an excessive amount of plot, too many characters, and much too little time. However the spectacular trappings of Demon Slayer’s much-awaited adaptation of its Infinity Castle Arc takes the alternative gamble, for time is what it has in abundance. At a whopping 155 minutes, the trendy shounen phenom’s splashy new installment is the primary slab in a trilogy meant to shut the juggernaut franchise, and it feels designed to overwhelm. Demon Slayer has successfully introduced that playtime is over.

Directed by Haruo Sotozaki and produced by Ufotable, the movie plunges us straight into the ultimate arc of Koyoharu Gotouge’s manga. The Demon Slayer Corps, contemporary from a string of exhausting campaigns within the Hashira Training Arc, discover themselves swallowed entire by franchise antagonist, Kibutsuji Muzan’s shifting fortress – the titular Infinity Fort that folds and unravels like origami below stress.

Partitions tilt, flooring collapse, and doorways lead sideways into voids. There’s no preamble to ease us in, not even an opportunity to breathe. The film begins by abolishing all geography, casting our heroes headlong into an Escher-esque fever dream of suspended gravity. Muzan’s taunting lair, rendered in vertiginous sweeps of 2D and 3D, rapidly asserts itself as an adversary in itself that’s nearly unimaginable to map.

After which the combating begins, which is, as ever, the franchise’s nice seduction. Having at all times been extra athletic than contemplative, the powerhouse of Ufotable takes the mandate very severely. The duels unspool with the fluidity of ballet, however the velocity of a ballistic missile. Limbs shear away in clear strokes; sparks, flames and torrents of water collide in painterly bursts; and glowing nichirin blades hint calligraphic arcs throughout the body with a circulation that feels nearly synesthetic.

There’s a Zenitsu sequence so exquisitely timed by which our erstwhile coward unveils a shock seventh type of Thunder Respiratory, that might justify the IMAX surcharge alone. Every crack of thunder lands half a beat after the strike, with the sound design lifeless set in rattling your enamel.

However the spectacle can be inert with out the pathos. Gotouge’s enduring trick has been to lace each demon battle with reminiscence and remorse, and Infinity Fort leans into the tried-and-tested formulation as soon as extra. Akaza, the tattooed brute who murdered fan-favorite Rengoku in Mugen Prepare, returns as Tanjiro’s adversary, and what might have been a rote rematch turns into the movie’s tragic centrepiece.

Mid-battle, his reminiscences start to peel again and his remaining act of a self-inflicted loss of life, has paradoxically been probably the most affecting beat of the franchise since Rengoku’s personal martyrdom. In true Demon Slayer style, the decapitation appears like liberation as soon as extra.In fact, to pause a battle for a requiem often is the most shounen impulse possible, however the sequence has refined that melodramatic detour into its signature gesture — an indulgence its friends, from My Hero Academia downward, have hardly ever managed with such conviction.

Not each subplot soars. Shinobu’s duel with Doma begins with promise however sputters into disappointment, robbing her of the decisive victory followers had been primed to count on (although manga readers would know that the Insect Hashira would possibly simply have one remaining trick up her sleeve). Nevertheless, the imbalance does replicate the bigger situation of the movie juggling so many characters, that some inevitably fall by the wayside. Ensemble finales are liable to this triage.

When the film yields to flashback, or indulges Muzan’s oily proclamations, its pacing wobbles with out fairly collapsing. The backstories themselves are hardly novel however they perform like strain valves, like moments of sanctioned launch to unclench earlier than the blades resume their dance. The cycle is acquainted by now: encounter, reminiscence, catharsis, renewed violence. However the filmmakers know exactly when to kick the heartbeat again up.

What distinguishes Infinity Fort is its poise. The place Mugen Train supplied a self-contained loop, this movie sprawls outward, unabashedly unfinished but cloaked within the thrives of conclusion. Every confrontation carries the unmistakable premonition that not everybody will emerge intact. The sequence’ common streak of comedian aid is pared to the bone and changed with an air of attrition. Even the music conspires within the impact, with Yuki Kajiura and Go Shiina’s swelling motifs heavy with portent and panic.

The film is already rewriting data in Japan. Right here in India, subtitled screenings at 5 within the morning are promoting out, which is a small miracle for a rustic the place anime motion pictures have been fortunate to get particular cult showings, 5 years in the past.

By design, that is solely “Half One,” and it’s apparent that that is however a style of the actual fireworks which might be being saved for later. That leaves the present movie in a tough place of concurrently an excessive amount of and never sufficient. But inside these contradictions, Sotozaki and his crew have crafted a powerful blockbuster for the ages.

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – The Film: Infinity Fort hits theatres on September 12

Revealed – September 08, 2025 02:19 pm IST