The famed anime Demon slayer: does it really need any introduction? The series seems to be at a point where everyone and their mother knows what it is. Although, just for the fun of it, Demon Slayer is an animated series produced by Japanese studio Ufotable, based on the manga of the same name, written and illustrated by Koyoharu Gotouge. The story of Demon Slayer follows a young, kindhearted boy named Tanjiro Kamado. After his family is tragically murdered by a mysterious demon, he is left on a quest to do two things. The first is to find a cure for his sister and last remaining family member, Nezuko Kamado, who was turned into a demon. His second objective is to avenge his family by decapitating the demon who murdered them, Muzan Kibutsuji, AKA, the strongest demon ever.
This movie is the latest chapter in the overarching story. The movie is essentially the beginning of the end, even confirmed by the tagline of the movie poster which scribes “The Final Battle Ignites!” I’ll say for sure that this may have been the best ‘season’ of the show for a while.
My only real criticism of this movie is the pacing. The movie is two and a half hours long, and you really feel the length at certain points. The point where I really felt this was Akaza’s backstory. It just randomly happens in the middle of a climactic fight, and it just spans the next hour of the movie. I will say that it wasn’t too bad– they made it long so that you could sink in the emotions, even though you can tell what’s going to happen next after a minute. Although it does lead to a pretty satisfying emotional moment around the end, they could’ve certainly condensed it.
My thing about Demon slayer, is that if you’re not here to see the characters fight demons, what else would you be here for? That being said, the action in this movie is simply spectacular. Visually stunning, masterful in their choreography, and overall will keep your attention. My only criticism with the fights, again, comes down to the pacing. The movie is essentially three long, drawn out fights that, while visually striking, do drag out for longer than they should. I believe that the fights would have benefited if they decided to cut them up and spread them across the movie. What I mean is imagine that they give us one bit of a fight scene, and then, after a minute, it cuts to another one. This sounds odd, but I’d say that season 2 basically did the same thing for its major fight, and they still managed to keep it engaging. I’m not saying that it’s impossible to recreate the same effect, but it would be better if they gave it an effort. I only hope that they find a way to fix this pacing issue in the next one.
Overall, Demon Slayer The Movie: Infinity Castle is an action packed, beautiful, emotional ride of a movie. While it has some pacing issues here and there, the overall movie is a great experience and a great chapter in the overall story. I would give it an eight and a half out of ten.
