I Saw Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle Early and There’s Nothing Else Like It

I’m a newcomer to Demon Slayer. Newcomer as in “just watched the whole thing for the first time this year” kind of newcomer. Still, as they say – better late than never. And man am I glad I watched the anime when I did so I could fully appreciate Infinity Castle for what it is – a work of anime art that greatness of which would have been inconceivable twenty years ago back when I was a kid and anime was still making its way slowly but surely into the mainstream.

Now, we have shonen anime films smashing box office records, and drawing huge crowds around the globe. As special as the 2000s might have been for anime fans, I would argue that there’s never been a better time to be a fan of this particular medium.

But Infinity Castle’s achievement doesn’t rest simply as a testament to anime’s overwhelming popularity in the 2020s – it truly is an epic work of art.

In this review, I’ll be diving into every single high note from the film – the moments that sent lightning bolts of electricity through my entire body that would be at home amidst a powerful thunder clap and flash worthy of Zenitsu. As such, I can’t say boldly enough.

SPOILER WARNING: I will be covering huge spoilers from the film in this article so read at your own risk.

Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle is electric from the start

Demon Slayer employs very little exposition to remind viewers of where we are at in the story. We don’t relive the last exciting episode that saw Muzan facing off against the Hashira at long last, but instead witness once again the Stone Hashira’s silent vow to do his master’s bidding, and allow Ubuyashiki to offer himself as bait so that he can trap Muzan in a crushing vice.

However, Muzan has a backup plan and quickly drops the Hashira and the majority of the Demon Slayer Corps into a world of his own design – one that ignores the laws of reality being constantly in flux, easily manipulated by a single Upper Demon, and seemingly infinite.

Apparently, Ubuyashiki anticipated this event happening, and an HQ has been set up in order to help navigate the enormity of the Infinity Castle, with everything from birds relaying messages and acting as eyes and ears for Ubuyashiki’s son who has taken over command of the Demon Slayer Corps.

However, I’m getting ahead of myself because we don’t really get the sense that there is a master plan at works here from the good guys’ side until later. Instead all is confusion as we drop right back into the story where we left off with the Hashira, Tanjiro and friends plummeting into the endless realm of the Infinity Castle.

Shinobu gets left eerily alone

With the basis established, Infinity quickly kicks into high gear, with the first major mini arc involving Shinobu. While later combatants will get handy help from the birds flying performing reconnaissance for the Demon Corps. leaders, Shinobu somehow manages to find her way face-to-face with an upper-rank demon well ahead of anyone else.

As it so happens, this is to her great detriment as she must battle Upper Rank Two entirely on her own with no reinforcements in sight.

Well, at least she’s a Hashira…or so you would think. However, in this particular matchup she’s at a sore disadvantage as Upper Rank Two has almost zero trouble with her poisons she’s been mixing. Although we do get a potent depiction of Shinobu’s impressive speed, her inability to decapitate demons due to her small stature is a very, very bad thing against Upper Rank Two, and she gets taken out with relatively easily despite putting up an incredible fight.

Why was Shinobu alone in the first place?

To be fair, we’ve yet to see Shinobu operating at full capacity, so I wasn’t necessarily too afraid when she confronted one of the strongest demons out there. Shinobu is a Hashira after all and possesses relative strength. Who knows what kinds of poisons she has concocted and how strong they will be against even the most powerful of foes.

However, after witnessing the full extent of her powers, and how limited they actually are when going up against someone as strong as Upper Rank Two, it really makes me wonder why she was at all comfortable battling an Upper Rank on her own. Surely fleeing the scene to join up with another more combat-focused Hashira would have been justifiable given her toxins had yet to be pressure tested in a battle as intense as the one with Upper Rank Two would be?

Essentially every other Hashira gets a buddy to travel with – The Stone Hashira is with Tokito and the Love Hashira is with Obanai. And yet, all four of those Demon Slayers are each stronger offensively than Shinobu. Shinobu should have been an instant pick for partnering with another Hashira in the case of a battle scenario like this one, and indeed had she had someone more combat focused with her, she could have made for a deadly foe.

The poison that she deploys against Upper Rank Two (called Doma) could have been deadly. In their fight, it is at its strongest the first and last time it is used, and is strong enough to slow him down. Having another Hashira present could easily have meant Doma’s demise, and he himself even points to the fact that were Shinobu able to cut off his head she likely would have beaten him.

Shinobu’s battle with Doma is jarring opening battle

For all of the beauty of the battle between Shinobu and Doma – with Shinobu’s insect-focused attacks and agility and Doma’s flamboyant fans and Demon Blood Art that turns blood into mist that punctures lungs, the end result is a bit jarring. Watching a beloved character like Shinobu not only fall in battle but then be absorbed by her enemy is truly disturbing, and I was pretty shocked to see it happen (I – unlike you – hadn’t read any spoilers so didn’t see her death coming).

Not only does it introduce the film in an unsettling way, it also serves to implant the notion into your head that in this world, anything can happen and no one is safe.

Zenitsu battles a ghost from his past

After witnessing Shinobu’s death and seeing her apprentice, Kanao, show up a little to late to help her, we pivot to what Zenitsu is up to. Of course, this is still the more serious Zenitsu that we saw leading up to Infinity Castle, and he not once breaks from this new and improved form.

However, suddenly Zenitsu is looking for someone in particular – someone who he seems to know for certain is there, even though I as a viewer had not idea what he was talking about.

Anyways, the suspense is alleviated when Zenitsu comes face-to-face with the demon he has been anticipating running into – Upper Rank Six, Kaigaku.

As it so happens, Kaigaku is actually Zenitsu’s big brother – who knew that Demon Slayer had a Sasuke/Itachi theme going on wrapped up into two thunder breathers?

The stage is quickly set for an epic battle between two brothers who have chosen two very different paths – that of an Upper Rank Demon, and that of a lowly Demon Slayer. To make matters more interesting, both brothers have inherited the powerful Thunder Breathing technique but both are incomplete. While Zenitsu famously only knows one form (the first form), Kaigaku has mastered every form but the first form.

Of course, Kaigaku has fused his own Blood Demon art with his Thunder Breathing to create something deadly. But not for a moment is Zenitsu phased as he faces down assault after assault with uncharacteristic calm.

Zenitsu’s battle is the most satisfying moment in Infinity Castle

Although another big (and highly advertised) fight is yet to come, I found this part of the story to be the most satisfying. There’s a clear connection between Zenitsu and his foe that adds layers of emotion to the battle. We get a much deeper look into Zenitsu and his past than we were perhaps expecting, and we finally get to see what a battle between Zenitsu and a very powerful foe looks like when Zenitsu takes the gloves off and gives it his all.

The result? Absolute, mind-bending Thunder mastery.

Despite taking some pretty severe hits, Zenitsu brushes them off like they were nothing, and charges up for an attack that proves to be his most deadly we’ve seen to date. And it’s not Thunder Breathing First Form.

Indeed, Zenitsu has created and mastered his own Thunder Breathing form, one that had never existed before. And the power of this form is at the peak of any level of attack we’ve yet experienced.

Using this new technique, Zenitsu dispatches his brother’s head in a single blow, and shortly thereafter reveals that he had originally created the technique to use fighting alongside his brother.

However, there’s not feel-good repentance story for Kaigaku – he just dies a terrible demon death. For Zenitsu, however, there’s plenty of character growth. Presumably on the edge of the after life with rose bushes (life) keeping him back, he sees his grandfather once again, and expresses his remorse for not having been able to save his brother.

Indeed, Zenitsu even asks his grandfather for forgiveness before unleashing his final form, and bids his brother farewell, presumably knowing that this unhinged technique will surely end him once and for all.

And what does Zenitsu’s grandfather tell his grandson? Nothing but that he is his pride and joy. It’s an incredible moment for Zenitsu’s character growth and the most satisfying of the three main fights in Infinity Castle.

There’s more to Akaza than meets the eye

Now onto the main event.

Watching Infinity Castle in IMAX is truly thrilling, with every fight sequence enough to pump blood through the theater. And the crowd adds something to the experience as well, just as it does at a UFC event. The animation, the artwork, the intensity is all peak anime, and the final mini arc of the film is no exception to that rule.

As heavily advertised, this fight takes place between Giyu, Tanjiro, and the dreaded Akaza.

We haven’t seen Akaza do much since he killed the Flame Hashira in the last big Demon Slayer film. However, judging from the reaction to the crowd during the fight, plenty of people are still a bit miffed about his killing off Rengoku, and were certainly ready to see Upper Rank Three get his just just comeuppance.

Right off the bat Tanjiro shows off how much stronger he has gotten since Mugen Train by dodging and counter attacking Akaza with relative ease. Giyu has a good showing here as well, keeping in lockstep with Akaza at every moment, showing that the water Hashira should be considered in the same league skill-wise as even the powerful Rengoku, if not quite matching him in strength.

However, a battle of attrition almost always favors the demon. After all, demons can take plenty of hits and still rejuvenate. Eventually, the human will run out of steam.

Tanjiro figures out a secret

While Giyu uses every ounce of his skill – even unlocking additional power and a mark – to go toe-to-toe with Akaza without suffering too much damage for a while, Tanjiro attempts to figure out a game plan to deal with Akaza. The result is a meandering journey through flashbacks where we get some foreshadowing of what’s to come when we see Tanjiro’s dad teach him how to see the transparent world. Not only does he tell Tanjiro the benefits of seeing this world, he shows him how handy doing so can be when he kills a big bear without breaking a sweat.

Tanjiro leverages this memory and power to become truly dangerous, avoiding Akaza’s true power which turns out to be sensing someone’s fighting spirit (or intent to kill).

While Giyu once again uses his Dead Calm technique to survive an otherwise lethal attack from Akaza, Tanjiro casually sneaks up behind Akaza, declares that he’s going to decapitate him (like his dad did to the bear in a flashback a few moments earlier), and then just does it. While that might sound funny, it actually is done in such a way that is pretty cool in the movie, if not quite as dramatic as the moment Zenitsu beat his brother.

Akaza’s head is removed from his body, and Tanjiro gets credit for killing one of the strongest of the Upper Rank Demons.

What happens next, however, nobody expected.

Akaza is one tough cookie

However, Akaza is one badass demon and he doesn’t let something like losing his head ruin his dead. Instead, he just starts to grow a new one, something which causes the story to take quite the dramatic turn away from action and deep, deep into the past to get a very fleshed-out look at who Akaza was before he was a demon, and what caused him to go wrong.

While Akaza’s flashback feels a bit long at times and somewhat oddly placed in the story right at when the climax should have been, the decision to humanize one of the biggest badguys in Demon Slayer serves to exemplify one of Demon Slayer’s strongest themes – that being that no one – not even the hated Akaza who killed Rengoku before his prime – is beyond redemption.

Indeed, by the end of Akaza’s drawn-out flashback I doubt there was anyone watching the movie who didn’t at least in some small way feel for the defeated demon. Had Akaza succeeded in his own rebirth, he would have utterly destroyed the severely weakened Tanjiro/Giyu pairing. However, Akaza comes to a powerful realization about who he is now that he has regained his memory. Freed from the pain and guilt from his past life, he’s ready to let it all go, thanks to the fact that Tanjiro’s spirit brought to mind his own old teacher.

And with that, Akaza is freed through death to rejoin his loved ones in the after life.

It’s a fitting end for a character like Akaza, and a story that shows Demon Slayer is about much more than the insanely gorgeous and beautifully handled fight scenes.

Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle movie – the verdict

Ultimately, Infinity Castle isn’t just one of the best anime films I’ve seen in a long time, it’s one of the best films, period. It’s message of unwavering surrender no matter the odds, human struggle to survive, and the power of forgiveness and redemption are enough to fill any cup with the strength to keep on keeping on. And with fight scenes that I’m still not sure the world is ready for after seeing them in IMAX, there’s plenty here to keep you on the edge of your seat, wondering when it ever was that anime got this good.