🎴 Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle – All Style, Less Soul? My Honest Review from Japan
In Japan, like a festival, Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle was released on the big screen. Fans lined up the theatres in cosplay with some even sobbing during the credits. I managed to get into it the first night here in Tokyo; and believe me, it was an experience. However that would have been perfect, right? Not exactly.
Let us put our feet up and unbox this as we would with a chai chatter. This review is in case you would like to know whether to see this movie or would like to know whether it is as insane as all the hype is about it.
🎥 Visuals That Could Blind You (In a Good Way)
It is time to be honest, Ufotable produces art, not anime. Not only is the visual fury spectacular once the Infinity Castle begins folding in on itself until the climactic shoot-out, but the battle levels are spectacular, as well. The colours are deep, the light is looking almost 3D, and the camera angles? In all seriousness, there are some of those shots where one ought to frame and hang them onto a wall of a gallery.
In the last fight, when a guy behind me actually whispered, I heard, to myself, “This is better than Marvel.” And to tell the truth he was not mistaken. The visuals seem universal, and not only an anime.
However the thing is that when every scene seems to be a climax, the real one bangs less. The graphics, even though being mind-blowing at times, at times overpower the emotion. Like when you eat biryani and get five kinds of raita, you are also satiated but do not feel good about it.
🕹️ Is It a Movie or a High-End Cutscene?
And this may be a hot take, but some of the fights (particularly, the ones with Muzan) began to feel like boss battles in any PlayStation game. You see the crazy blow everything up and stuff, and glow, and the bad guy screams constantly?
Yes, action is of first-rate. Yes the scale is epic. Other times, it became a commercial, a preview, to some video game, instead of intense, emotional confrontation between characters we have watched years to develop that we know so well.
As some fans in Japanese forums such as 5ch and even reddit internationally said, it summed it up:
"They brought life to the suffering out of the picture."
It is difficult to disagree. There is one of the most tragic deaths, I can not spoil it, but it was half rushed so that I did not even teared up. And that is even this person who wept when Rengoku perished.
📖 Storytelling: Rushed Like a Monday Morning Train
Among my greatest pet peeves? Pacing. The manga allowed emotional moments to relax. Almost everything is in fast-forward even in the movie. Set pieces of explosions are sandwiched between important character arcs. Like the notification you do not remember to click on the moments which were supposed to be the ones that make your chest ache pass by.
You should still recall how moving Akaza backstory was during the Mugen Train arc. Well, Infinity Castle had numerous opportunities to make the same impact but opted to sacrifice depth in order to achieve speed.
Being a fan who read ther manga and watched all the episodes religiously, there was something lacking. The soul. The quiet. The weight.
😈 Muzan: The Ultimate Villain or Just Loud?
Now we can speak about the demon king himself - about Muzan Kibutsuji. His entrance? Chilling. His powers? Terrifying. However, when the fight continued, I began wondering, is he vocal or is he actually three-dimensional?
Having emotional baggage to some extent were characters such as Doma and Akaza, but Muzan was usually one-note: angry, too powerful, and quite simply, quite shouty. I would have liked more philosophizing behind his actions at times- but the film came down to style, not substance.
Concisely, Muzan was spooky, right? But unforgettable? Not really.
📣 Japanese Audience Reactions: A Mixed Bag
The people applauded after my screening- yes, even in Japan the people tend not to clap. However, things were split a bit more outside the theatre.
There were hinting about going out to say things like:
"This is the greatest anime film I ever watched!"
Meanwhile the others said nothing, except, in low voices:
"It is beautiful but the emotional simplicity of Season 1."
Twitter Japan was fed with mixed hashtags, some of them were is it implying everybody who watched this anime(masterpiece) and the rest of the people were arguing whether the soul of Demon slayer was already covered by cinematic desire.
Even YouTube anime reviewers began to call it: Demon Slayer: The Visual Album.
❤️ My Honest Verdict
Score: 3.8 Out of 5 points
- You need to watch it? 100 percent yes.
- Will you love each part? Maybe not.
- Is it worth a buzz? It depends as to what you love- heart or hype.
In case you are the kind of person who loves jaw-dropping visuals, this film will blow your mind away. However, you who are on it to get emotionally touched by a story might feel to be a tad bit cold as you walk out.
📝 Final Thoughts
Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle is a motion picture monster. It will go down in history due to animation and action. It is like a firework display, exciting at the time you are looking at it but then you are looking for the emotional beef and you feel soon disappointed.
In my book, it is a must-see (not a must-re-see). I enjoyed it, I adored it and I did not read it because I experienced it as I expected to.
👉What say ye of Infinity Castle? Did it deliver as you had anticipated; was it all flash and music? Let me know in comments below please!
📲Link up this article with the rest of your Demon Slayer fans and do not forget to subscribe to the blog to see more of the anime reviews, analysis, and behind the scenes stories that are coming out of Japan.
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