Devil’s in the Details
This is exactly like the series… just juiced on meth.
Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba infinity Castle
Director: Haruo Sotozaki • Writer: Hikaru Kondo, based on the manga by Koyoharu Gotouge
Starring [Japanese]: Natsuki Hanae, Yoshitsugu Matsuoka, Hiro Shimono, Akira Ishida, Takahiro Sakurai, Mamoru Miyano, Yoshimasa Hosoya, Saori Hayami, Reina Ueda
Japan • 2hrs 35mins
Opens Hong Kong August 14 • IIB
Grade: B
What is there to say about Haruo Sotozaki’s Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Infinity Castle | 劇場版「鬼滅の刃」無限城編 第一章 猗窩座再来? The franchise that’s consumed the storyboard artist and aninmator’s life since the first season of the TV series kicked off in 2019 is as close as it gets to Teflon in film form. Based on the enthusiastic (Hong Kong enthusiastic) response of the preview audience alone (major props to the woman in the bathroom in full Nezuko cosplay, complete with pink kimono) Infinity Castle’s bang up box office from Japan is going to repeat here. The first part in a final trilogy wrapping up Koyoharu Gotouge’s sprawling manga is just as sprawling, clocking in at a postively Marvel-esque two-plus hours – half of that foundation work for the next two parts. But that’s neither here nor there; newcomers to the franchise that first published in 2016, if there is such a thing as a newcomer, won’t be entirely confounded and veterans will be happy to get to it. To Sotozaki and writer Hikaru Kondo’s credit, they don’t fuck around with explanatory clips from the series to bring the few newbies up to speed and get right to the way, way, way more cinematic action Sotozaki and animation director Akira Matsushima cook up. Demon Slayer is, rightfully so, regarded as a visually masterful work in each format, and in working for theatres first this time Sotozaki has upped his game. Everything looks like it did on TV – just richer, brighter, more detailed, more fluid, more kinetic and more immersive than it did on TV. Yuichi Terao’s cinematography and the punchy score by Yuki Kajiura and Go Shiina – part of a evocative sound mix – make Infinity Castle the capper fans probably want. It’s not perfect: it’s too long, the pacing is all over the map and the dialogue is as expository as ever, but none of that is shitty enough to take away the glee the rest is likely to stoke.
He’s… still… falling
Do we really need to recap? For those out there who’ve heard about the phenomenon that’s tearing through Japan but remain unfamiliar here it is: Demons walk the land of the Taisho Era, turning other innocents into yet more demons. These creatures have fangs, they can’t go out during the day, they eat people and turn them with blood. But they’re not vampires. They’re rooted in oni of Japanese folklore. Anyway, the Demon Slayer Corps exists to fight demons and rid the land of their foul souls. This corps of hashira, specialised, element breathing swordspersons, includes Tanjiro Kamado (Natsuki Hanae), a dull as dishwater, self-doubting, hero-worshipping nob who whines a lot and carries his sister Nezuko around in a box. She was turned into a demon, you see, but she can walk in the sun. The OG demon Muzan wants her so he can daywalk too. Elsewhere, another demon who’s resisting their fate is also a scientist looking a way to revert Nezuko to humanity as well as poison Muzan. She tries, and fails, and this is where Infinity Castle starts. There’s more, but you get the idea. Tanjiro and a bunch of his fellow Slayers fall into a netherworld of seemingly endless – dare I say infinite – space teeming with demons. The idea is to find each other, locate Muzan and take him down.
How this ends isn’t really a mystery. It’s a classic hero’s journey fantasy of destiny, regret, and the forces of good versus evil. Muzan will be defeated, but until then we’ll watch our Slayers battle the personal, errm, demons that will only make them stronger. In this part, the main action pivots on Corpsperson Zenitsu (Hiro Shimono) facing down his former classmate (?) Kaigaku (Yoshimasa Hosoya); Shinobu (Saori Hayami) squaring off against Doma (Mamoru Miyano), who killed her sister and whose fight draws in her other sister Kanao (Reina Ueda); and the big one, Tanjiro and Giyu (Takahiro Sakurai) in a showdown with Akaza (Akira Ishida), who killed a Slayer Tanjiro worshiped and then ran away into a forest. Tanjiro was pissed, and now he wants revenge.
Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Infinity Castle has enough going for it that the inconsistent pacing, indulgent running time and underwhelming “hero” can be forgiven, for the most part, thanks to the supporting cast of characters and their grandiose tragedies. Akaza’s sub-story is particularly dramatic, but Ishida sells it and Sotozaki’s visuals give his tale a graceful, bittersweet emotionalism that, in the end, paints Akaza as one of the story’s most sympathetic characters. And no, Tanjiro, you didn’t defeat him, you putz. The film oozes Act 1 energy, but it does end on a high note that hints at the coming presence of boar-headed Inosuke Hashibira, the positively French Muichiro Tokito and his perpetual ennui, and the buxom Slayer Mitsuri Kanroji, the only major Slayer with a boob window in her outfit and who can get excited that a boy looked at her during a demonic apocalypse. Because of course. Either way Infinity Castle sets the table nicely for parts two and three, and above all puts an exclamation point on the idea that summer blockbusters can come from anywhere.