Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba - The Movie: Infinity Castle

It's been a long time since we saw a young Tanjiro Kamado crawling through the snow of that night in the forest when his family was killed and his sister Nezuko turned into a demon, and pleading for her life to Giyu Tomioka to let him save her. A long time, since the last pieces in the seemingly eternal war between Muzan Kibutsuji and the Demon Slayer corps fell on the board and the gears of fate began to turn. We have watched this pair grow, strengthen their bond and forge new ones as they helped make the world a better place by purging it of the demonic threat. But now the time has come for the final showdown. Muzan has made his move, and has trapped Tanjiro and the rest of the Demon Slayer Corps, including his best warriors, the Hashira, in a dimension outside of conventional space and time called the Infinity Castle. It is the beginning of the end for Kimetsu no Yaiba.

Demon Slayer, as we also know it, which was already one of the most important manga of the past decade, has made a splash on the anime scene by creating, with exacerbated attention to detail and care, one of the best series in history. Its animation quality is matched only by the charisma of its characters or the fantastic editing of its action scenes, as well as its memorable soundtrack. Against this background and having followed its story almost from its beginnings on screen, having enjoyed its video game instalments, I couldn't wait to sit in the cinema seat and enjoy this spectacle on a giant screen, with the sound thundering and surrounded by other enthusiasts.

Infinity Castle begins with a very brief flashback to the final moments of the Hashira Training Arc, as the last TV season is known. But from that moment on and for the first hour, the footage is a veritable festival of delightfully well animated music and battle choreography. We jump between the various main characters (both Tanjiro and Inosuke and Zenitsu and the Hashira) as they make their way through this universe of traditional Edo-era buildings that change orientation and defy the laws of the physical world. The Demon Slayers know they are at a disadvantage and must hurry to finish off Muzan, still weakened by recent events, so the night in which the three films that conclude the story unfold will be a race against time and death in their quest.

Infinity Castle can afford to serve time to some of its most fan-loved supporting characters, and the first half of the film revolves around that, as well as showing us the clashes between the Hashira and the Upper Moons, the most powerful demons. I'm not going to lie to you, there is room for joy, but also for tears of rage, and I'm not exaggerating if I say that, if you arrive like me having dodged all the spoilers for the summer release in Japan or having searched for character denouements in the pages of the concluded manga, you're in for a few surprises that make you jump out of your seat. It is also noticeable that the cinematographic format allows an economic investment in making the battles much more spectacular, and I don't remember having seen in Japanese animation better CGI effects in explosions and in the dust that rises than here. A monumental spectacle.

The centrepiece of the film is, of course, the confrontation between the protagonist Tanjiro and the Third Upper Moon, Akaza. It's a battle that's been brewing for several seasons now, and it's definitely a moment that fans will savour with every second on screen. There's also plenty of room to ponder and venture into where Tanjiro's character narrative is really going and what makes him so special as a Demon Slayer, as we see some revealing flashbacks about the Kamado family and Akaza himself. Because Tanjiro's true power is not his flaming sword and his Hirokami Kagura style, it is to awaken the human side of those around him, even if they have long ceased to be human.

Of course, condensing what could have been half a season of anime into a single film, and also being the first part of a concluding trilogy, the pacing is not what you as a viewer would like. There are characters that conclude their arcs in the franchise, and logically the film takes a lot of time on that, but there are others like Zenitsu that definitely deserved more. And perhaps the thing that left me the coldest (without detracting from the fact that it's still better than most of the other films and series in the genre) is that the soundtrack for Infinity Castle wasn't as spectacular and memorable as it was in the series. There are many tracks that fuse the chorus, electric guitars and traditional Japanese instruments that are Demon Slayer's signature style. I just found them a little less successful than at other times.

At the press screening we ranged from anime enthusiasts to national newspaper journalists and mainstream film critics. I suspected that some would enjoy it much more than others, but the truth is that during the two and a half hours of Kimetsu no Yaiba - Infinity Castle, and after the lights came up after the credits rolled, the silence was absolutely reverential, almost religious: An overwhelming story that anyone, even if you are not a regular anime fan, could understand and empathise with, but there is more to it than that. The wait until the next film is going to be desperate, but that just means we'll have at least another 4 or 5 hours of great anime to look forward to in the next few years.