S2.5E6 - DEMON SLAYER: KIMETSU NO YAIBA THE MOVIE – INFINITY CASTLE Review & Analysis

Demon Slayer is back in theaters with its second original movie after the record-breaking success of 2020’s Mugen Train, and the latest installment – Part I of the planned Infinity Castle trilogy, adapting the final arc of Gotouge Koyoharu’s manga – is proving every bit as popular, breaking box office records in Japan and now in America. That’s for good reason: Infinity Castle is an incredible film, depicting three major battles across its 155-minute runtime, and executing on all of it at the same insanely high level we’ve come to expect from ufotable over the years. This is a film with some of the most jaw-dropping animated spectacle you’ll ever see in a theater, but as always, its heart is with the characters, their backstories, and their interiority, and this film’s focus on the villain Akaza proves to be some of the most effective material in the life of the entire series. We talk about all of it and more, including the terrific vocal performances and killer soundtrack, as Kimetsu no Yaiba truly kicks off the beginning of the end.  Enjoy! We will be back with more special one-off episodes soon, with our next major season – Tomino-thon – currently in the works behind the scenes! Subscribe to our YouTube channels! Japanimation Station: https://www.youtube.com/c/japanimationstation  Purely Academic: https://www.youtube.com/@purelyacademicpodcastRead Jonathan Lack’s movie reviews and stay up to date with all our podcast projects at https://www.jonathanlack.comSubscribe to PURELY ACADEMIC, our monthly variety podcast about movies, video games, TV, and more: https://purelyacademic.simplecast.comRead Jonathan’s book 200 Reviews in Paperback or on Kindle – https://a.co/d/bLx53vK“Welcome to Japanimation Station” – Music by Thomas Lack, Lyrics by Sean Chapman, featuring Hatsune Miku. “Rolled Into One” – Music & Lyrics by Thomas Lack, featuring Hatsune Miku. https://www.thomaslack.com