I'm fresh out of the theater, and the first thing I felt like I had to do the moment I got home was boot up my PC and write a review, so here I am. To be honest, I didn't go to watch this movie initially in theaters because it was a Demon Slayer movie; I went to watch it because it was a Ufotable movie, and I've never seen a Ufotable movie in theaters before, but after seeing what they can do (Heaven's Feel for example), I knew I couldn't miss the opportunity. That being said, I left the theater glad that it was Demon Slayer, or more specifically, Infinity Castle, that Ufotable had adapted into a movie.
To be honest, when I first heard that the movie was gonna be 2 hours and 35 mins, and only adapt the first 3 fights of the arc, knowing that only one anime film I can think of is of such length, I thought this just wasn't gonna turn out well. With a marathon of action, intervaled by interesting backstories, with a banger soundtrack supporting it. The movie was paced very well. The fights never felt stale, although that's the deal you're signing when watching a ufotable movie. Most importantly, they built on the source material and blew it out of the water; they turned a toilet into a pool with the directing, and then turned that pool into a lake with the soundtrack, and then that lake into an ocean with the VERY consistent animation. They covered the weaknesses of the manga, most of which were the pacing of the manga and how moments and fights in the manga felt rushed and left to imagination and headcanon.
One big plus about Demon Slayer's anime, and this goes for every season and film, is that they know how to capture an atmosphere and make you feel like you're there. Ufotable and their directors do this through audio, mainly, followed by incredible visuals. Entertainment District did this best, until this movie... that's all.
Some people like him, but I personally didn't give a damn about Douma prior to this movie. But when you have Miyano voicing him, how can you not love every second of dialogue that's given to us? Douma's entire demeanor is offsetting, creepy, and sadistic. He truly makes you think that he really is a demon. The way Shinobu looked at him with disgust is exactly the theme that his character expresses, and any human should look at him that way. Still not a fan of him, but he set the tone with the first fight, and his character is good. The Shinobu vs Douma fight overall was my favorite fight of the movie, which might sound crazy because obviously the highlight of the movie is Akaza vs Tanjiro and Giyuu, but something about this one did it for me.
For starters, the way the fight started, it was declared instantly that Shinobu is as swift as they come, although her efforts of trying to save one last person failed, regardless of speed, and this left Shinobu in a state of shock, confusion, disgust, and most importantly, rage. The entire fight was so simple. Shinobu kept trying higher doses of poison, and they were ineffective, almost like breaking your hands punching through a wall just to find another wall behind, and then breaking your legs kicking through that wall only to find one last one. That was the theme of this fight, and I loved it. With memories flashing before your eyes, you get an adrenaline boost and an indomitable will drives your body to throw your head at the last wall to break it, and ultimately, you find yet another wall behind that one. The fact of the matter is, you rarely see fights like this executed in anime well. Shinobu is the strongest weakling in the series, and a weakling can't be someone that's strong; that's all there is to it.
Kaigaku as a character is whatever; I don't care about his character that much. This was also the shortest fight in the movie, which makes sense; it works as a bridge between the two more significant ones. Seeing the other thunder-breathing forms was nice, and Kaigaku's BDA looks spectacular. The build-up for Zenitsu's 7th form looked really great, although the actual movie itself landing didn't look as visually stunning as I expected, ALTHOUGH, I think that's meant to be the point; it's a supercharged, lightning-quick slash; the charge-up should look cinematic, but the move itself should be swift and to the point. Kaigaku, as a character, is basic; nothing too interesting there. Really just made to build on Zenitsu and give him purpose in this arc, I fail to believe he is actually anybody's favorite character in this series. Not necessarily a bad character, just does not stand out.
I could go on for a while on Akaza vs Tanjiro and Giyuu, but because a million other people have probably spoken about it, I'll try to keep it short. For starters, I love how the fight is paced, although similar to the manga, each section gets much more time. Akaza's introduction was great, and then you get Tanjiro and Giyuu vs Akaza for a moment, but shortly after, you get a 1v1 with Tanjiro vs Akaza, mostly just Tanjiro fighting while trying to break down Akaza's ability. And then Giyuu with a clutch save, and we get his Demon Slayer Mark, and this is where the fight steps up visually, which of course, is ufotable's specialty. Anyway, if you want a recap of the fight, you can search one up, so I'm not gonna cover every moment because, like I said, let's be brief. Akaza's backstory felt like a short movie of its own, and I swear, Akaza's fighting while being beheaded was much shorter in the manga, as well as his backstory, but this is exactly why I say the movie fixes the flaws. The backstory, although it didn't invoke as much emotion in me as it should have, it sent a message, and it made me understand his character, and it gave me a reason to ACTUALLY CARE about a demon in this anime. This fight overall displays indomitable will probably better than I've ever seen, from Tanjiro, Giyuu, and Akaza, they all get back up like a dozen times, and it never felt repetitive, you always wanted more. One thing I will say is that the structure of how Tanjiro broke down Akaza's compass needle was kind of poor, although maybe that's just me, so I won't criticize it harshly.
Is it perfect storytelling? No not necessarily, and not every character is deep enough for you to cry when they die, or maybe you just don't care about the demons at all, and that's fine. However, when I hear "Ufotable" and "Movie", this is exactly what I want, nothing less. If you want more character development (which this movie has, nonetheless) and writing, why the hell are you watching a Kimetsu no Yaiba film? If you didn't like Mugen Train, that doesn't matter, I didn't really like it either, but this is different my friend.
I saw somebody else say this on their review (Credit: @juleseverworth), but it's true in their statement that the "entertainment value far outweighs its flaws". Something with weighted scores is that you can't give over a 10, but for example, with this movie, if the writing is a 5/10, then that isn't gonna drag down the score because the soundtrack, visuals, action, and pacing are all 11/10. You can shame Demon Slayer, but you can't shame this movie. This is the best action anime film as of 9/23/2025, it's true.
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