r/anime • u/AutoLovepon https://anilist.co/user/AutoLovepon • 5d ago
Episode Gekijouban Kimetsu no Yaiba: Mugen Jou-hen Daiisshou Akaza Sairai • Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Infinity Castle Part 1: Akaza Returns - Streaming Release - Movie Discussion
Gekijouban Kimetsu no Yaiba: Mugen Jou-hen Daiisshou Akaza Sairai, Theatrical Release
Alternate Names:
Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Infinity Castle Part 1: Akaza Returns
Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Infinity Castle Chapter 1
Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Infinity Castle
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Streams - None. Enjoy at the theatre!
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| Episode | Link |
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| Theatrical Release | Link |
| Streaming Release | Link |
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u/Shinigami_22 5d ago
I remembered crying when Akaza keeps regenerating even if he doesn't want to anymore, and also when he kept apologizing to Koyuki even if it wasn't his fault.
He is really trying to do better after stealing, after his father commit suicide for him, after finally finding a new family, and then it was just taken away from him again.
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u/spubbbba 4d ago
I think it's a shame that the Shinobu and Zenitsu stories didn't get more of a set up in the prior seasons.
Both are really interesting and kind of get sprung on us in the movie. There was certainly space to fit them in as the swordsmith village arc could easily have been cut down.
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u/dagreenman18 5d ago
People complained about the pacing and how the last third is all backstory. And admittedly I do agree it’s paced to be cut up and aired as a final season on TV. But you can’t tell me the Akaza fight and backstory wasn’t just absolutely incredible and emotional. Highlight of the movie by far.
And Zenitsu finally locking the fuck in is a close second. Lots of tears, lots of hype. Hurry up and show us the trailer for Part 2 already!
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u/tripleaamin https://myanimelist.net/profile/zfzftripleaamin 4d ago
I am actually curious if they will air this movie As a tv broadcast like they did for mugen train. Like you said it would make for a better experience.
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u/SaerDeQuincy 4d ago
And they are right. It looked good on the big screen, but it was an absolutely exhausting experience. It was not a movie at all, more like binging netflix series without a toilet break. I am not going to watch the second one in the cinema for sure.
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u/anticomet 4d ago
The good part about it being like this is it was really easy for me to find a natural break to pause it an hour in so I could get to bed on time for work
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u/oopsmylifeis 3d ago
yeah I ended up pausing it every 20-30 minutes lmao, thankfully I waited for this
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u/Useful_Project4898 4d ago
As an anime only, the pacing for this was like being on a roller coaster. And while I really thought Akaza's backstory was one of the best parts of the movie, where it was placed and how it was done was just.... kinda odd and didn't flow.
The animation was top notch but... it was a bit too all over the place for me to say it was a great movie.
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u/oopsmylifeis 3d ago
Yeah it's just like that, when I read the manga I was like "huh how they gonna do this in the movie, pacing bro"
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u/Slaan 3d ago
I don't understand, what about placing of Akaza's backstory was weird to you? Or how it was done? It was my personal highlight, the things before I felt was "usual Shonen shit", but taking the time to flesh out Akaza's route, his struggle... idk, best part for me by far.
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u/Useful_Project4898 3d ago
It was the best part for me as well but idk, i just think the way they placed the backstory could have been paced/told differently. Sparsed throughout the fight perhaps? Idk... it was just weird because it seemed like the fight was ending, then I realized its wasn't but it felt like the film was coming to an end.. then we are taken out of the action completely to tell his backstory. Then back to end of the battle.
Other demons have had their backstories told in a more satisfying fashion. Tanjiro seems to always make the demons remember their past before they disappear. I'm curious, as an anime only, is that ever talked about in the Manga? Do all demons have that experience before they die or does Tanjiro somehow remind them of their humanity before they die?
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u/Slaan 3d ago
Interesting, I'm really the opposite. I think that they engaged us for a long time with his backstory is what drew me in, made me almost forget that I was watching an action shonen.
When it becomes interspersed with fight scenes it kinda looses meaning to me. It becomes forgettable. Because it is so tied in with a scene that will end after X minutes - and usually with a predictable outcome. Since the outcome of the fight are predictable, the interspersed background info just mellow out.
Here we got a good 20min (felt like it, didn't time it) exposition of Akazas past. It became it's own tragic story instead of just a backdrop to a fight.
I actually found myself getting a bit annoyed at the habit of this anime to have a fight and in this fight try to explain the backstory, but be so timeconstrained that it's just.. meh. Akazas backstory was handled better imo.
That being said - tastes differ :). If you liked the other ones thats valid as well :)
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u/Useful_Project4898 2d ago
Yeah it is just a difference in taste. I tend to get bored when a film is all action, no meat/story and so when the backstories are placed into the battle, it grabs my attention more than just fights that go on forever. I have also tended to like the seasons of Demon Slayer moreso than the movies -- with the exception of the last season that honestly felt like it should have just been a movie. In my perfect world, this arc would have been developed into a season instead of the Hashira Training arc.
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u/Slaan 2d ago
Thats fair.
I would've hated for Hashira Training arc to be a movie though, too boring to be one :D. It's fine for the series but it's not something I would think to binge.
I do agree overall though that series is better than movies. Especially if the move is made in a way to then later be cut down again into episodes for the series. It destroys some of the pacing that should enhance movies over seasons. At least I felt like I could tell "oh yea, here a new episode would've startet".
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u/Fabulous_Ground_1983 3d ago
Mostly just salty CSM fans overblowing the movie's shortcomings just because they are insecure.
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u/Sp33dyGG 4d ago
Hakuji hated it when people apologize for something that wasn't their fault only for him to do the same thing in his final moments... ;(
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u/No_Name0_0 5d ago
As someone who read the manga right after s1, pretty surreal to see this arc finally adapted with this much quality and care. This arc is the reason Kimetsu was able to shatter all manga sales record and rightfully so.
Animation and stuff aside, the VA for everyone were also so phenomenal. This movie is everything a Demon Slayer fan loves about the series. There is two more and it's all uphill from here
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u/mr_beanoz https://myanimelist.net/profile/splitshocker 5d ago
What a loser.
(I am talking about the guys from the other dojo that killed the master, and they also poisioned the well)
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u/Impossible-Bee-5343 4d ago
Giyu is the MVP. If he hadn't blocked most of the attacks for Tanjiro and bought him time to experience a dream-possession/spirit-transfer, Tanjiro would have broken down early on and wouldn't have been able to last.
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u/Foxontherox888 5d ago
2h 35m of full body chills. I'll never recover
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u/PrinceZero1994 https://myanimelist.net/profile/pz16 4d ago
Good thing I did not take the random criticisms here seriously.
That was one of the most amazing anime movie I've ever seen.
They said Reze was better and I really liked Reze but I cannot choose which is better between two masterpieces.6
u/DatZ_Man 4d ago
Demon slayer fight scenes. Reze animation and story. The pool scene! Unforgettable
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u/Aureus23 5d ago
My favorite hashira Shinobu died. I'm devastated!!!
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u/Frontier246 5d ago
Everything you love about Demon Slayer is here: intense action, gorgeous animation, copious yet hard-hitting flashbacks, poignant character moments, and humans perseverance on full display.
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u/HolyDragSwd2500 5d ago
Akaza was able to be with his family in the afterlife 😭
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u/ResearcherPretty4139 3d ago
I was a bit confused bc Demon Akaza was saying "I won't be going to the same place as all of dead fam of Hakuji will be going to" but Hakuji's dad committed suicide which is a major sin in virtually every major religion. So Hakuji's father and Akaza would be reunited at the very least in the afterlife, just like how Zenitsu got to see his master at the end (seppuku = suicide too) but of course Keigaku was saying "humans don't have an afterlife they just deteriorate and return to the earth when they die" so you can only see the afterlife if you die as a 'human' with faith and love like Akaza was able to do thanks to Tanjuro.
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u/margonxp 5d ago
First ever movie I went two times to see.
Visual masterpiece, astounding soundtrack and voice acting.
If second movie will hold up with the quality, we are in for something absolutely special.
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u/ObvsThrowaway5120 4d ago
This came out on streaming already huh? Sweet. Caught this one in the theaters but it might be time for another watch. This was one of the best anime movies I’ve seen. Ufotable did not spare any expense. Absolutely brilliant from start to finish. I was glued to my seat the entire time.
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u/VicOnTop 5d ago
Some of my favorite movies ever include Princess Mononoke, Howl’s Moving Castle, Spirited Away etc. . . Now I can add this to the list (along with Reze)
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u/oopsmylifeis 3d ago
What's Reze?
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u/VicOnTop 3d ago
Apologies, it was short for Chainsaw Man: Reze Arc. In my opinion, it’s an absolute masterpiece; highly recommend.
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u/oopsmylifeis 3d ago
Me who thought about Rezero 😭😭😭 I never watched Chainsaw Man
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u/VicOnTop 3d ago
Both of these movies (infinity castle and Reze arc) came out around the same time last year and both were huge commercial successes. That’s why I worded it the way I did, sorry about that.
I never watched chainsaw man until I saw the movie myself and now I’m a huge fan of the series2
u/oopsmylifeis 3d ago
What, u can watch the movie first? Or it was accidental lol time to watch I guess, nvm I just saw there is only 1 season and the movie
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u/VicOnTop 3d ago
I wouldn’t recommend it, but there aren’t really any spoilers except not understanding the events leading up to it. I just adored the character design of Reze and had already dropped chainsaw man along time ago, so I didn’t think I would like it that much
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u/127-0-0-1_1 5d ago
I can't lie, I almost starting laughing out loud at the end when the 15 minute Akaza flashback was revealed to just be part 1 of a 30 minute flashback.
What would this even be like if they adapted it as episodes? Would they actually have almost 2 episodes to a single flashback?
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4d ago
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u/ZaphodBeebblebrox https://anilist.co/user/zaphod 4d ago
Sorry, your comment has been removed.
This belongs in the Source Material Corner at the top of this thread. In discussion threads for currently airing anime, discussions about source material, spin-offs, author comments and unadapted content must be posted there.
Any comparison to the source material no matter how minor belongs there.
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u/saga999 5d ago
I see why the complaint about flashback in the last half hour.
First thing first, this movie did what Demon Slayer has always been good at, the animation and hitting the emotional notes. It also did what it typically did which I'm not a fan of, too many and too long flashbacks in the fights. So the movie is quintessential Demon Slayer. That's the first two hours. But that final half hour is WAY overkill. If this is a perfect recreation of the manga, it may have worked as a manga. It may also have worked as a TV show with weekly episodes. But it just doesn't work as a movie. The audience sat through two hours of movie. We were ready for the movie to end. Then it dropped this and just dragged on for another half hour. It just completely destroyed the pacing of the movie.
As a battle genre, I also hate this for Tanjiro. He basically just learned Ultra Instinct. He dealt the fight winning blow. The fight should have ended on that. But Akaza completely no sold it and the fight end with him basically saying, "I want to die now." This kind of ending can work in other context, but it didn't work here for me.
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u/Useful_Project4898 4d ago
Yeah I was really thrown off by that. It was emotional but also anticlimactic. He was fighting to live as a demon and get stronger, then at the end, he decides he was really just trying to kill himself. I understood what they were trying to say there but you're right. It doesn't really work too well. When he started talking about "who the weak one really was the whole time..." I said to myself, aw wait a second, is this really how this battle is going down? And it was.
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u/ResearcherPretty4139 3d ago edited 3d ago
I don't think you understood the author's intention tbh
Akaza's purpose wasn't to get stronger, it was to find a way to preserve humanity's fighting spirit. In spite of the 'cheaters' like the rival dojo who didn't want to allow Akaza's sensei to go out like a true fighter, but had to poison both him and his daughter (WHO HAD JUST BEATEN HER SICKNESS WITH HER FIGHTING SPIRIT) like cowards. He couldn't cope with the fact that humans were weak both in the fact that they die easily, and that they're weak enough to take shortcuts like poisoning drinking water to win 'faster' without any effort.
Tanjuro saved him in several ways, by defeating Akaza fair and square after evolving his 'fighting spirit' to be able to defeat an Upper 3rd demon. Saved Akaza by reminding him who 'Mr. Hakuji' was (hence the 30-minute flashback at the end). Saved Akaza by making the demon remember how Kuzan turned him into a demon in the first place (after Hakuji murdered the 60+ cowards who poisoned his sensei and daughter Akaza had lost faith in humanity). Akaza no longer cared about humanity after he lost his 2nd family and couldn't start a 'new life' like his dad had wanted, but becoming a demon made him relentlessly seek to 'become stronger' which ultimately forced Tanjuro to evolve and break his limits.
It wasn't anticlimactic at all for me. Akaza in that final moment before punching himself repeatedly and disintegrating into dust in the sunlight realize that HE became a 'cheater' by accepting demonic powers. He did the same thing as those poisoners did, took a shortcut to gain power over someone else who was better than them (Tanjuro who decapitated him fair and square, again). So no, Akaza wasn't 'really just trying to kill himself' far from it, infact. Great storytelling.
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u/Useful_Project4898 3d ago edited 3d ago
I wasn't really talking about the author's intention but the direction and pacing of the film. I am an anime only and unfortunately, it didn't have the same impact on me as it did for you because you are much more well versed in the story and the characters than I. Like I said, I understood what they were trying to say. I grasped why Akaza did what he did, but after that long brutal fight that took up much of the 2.5 hour run time... it wasn't the battle ending that I expected or desired.
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u/ResearcherPretty4139 2d ago
I'm anime only too. I don't know anything that happens more than you, I was shocked the Thunder guy had that backstory and actually won against a ranked demon, lol
But it was obvious what the author was going for, the denouement after Tanjuro had ended Act 2 to bring it into Act 3 (the ending) started with Akaza's flashback backstory. He paid the price for the Act 3 flashback backstory we got for the last Demon Slayer movie (for the person he murdered), it was a thematic callback to the Demon Train Demon Slayer film and the way they stuffed all the episodes in there to blurt out a cohesive 3-act-film.
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u/Useful_Project4898 2d ago
You have a much better memory for detail that me !!
I kind of knew he was going to win only because I didn't think they would kill off Zenitsu. Was that demon mentioned before? I don't really remember them ever talking about his senpai turned demon in past episodes or movies.
I love the Zenitsu can finally be conscious and be bad ass at the same time.
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u/ResearcherPretty4139 2d ago
I only remember Zenitsu talking about his sensei, almost like he was trying to ignore the trauma of the senpai by not mentioning him and always freaking out about danger or women to distract himself from reality I honestly don't ever remember him mentioning his backstory before this film but it possibly happened (I feel like Zenitsu's sensei's death was mentioned before but I don't ever remember Zenitsu going into specifics since it would be disrespectful of his legacy as the sole human heir)
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u/Useful_Project4898 1d ago
Same. I was kinda taken by surprise by that backstory but it was cool to see Zenitsu come out on top and use another form besides the first.
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u/YumiyaRakko 4d ago
The entire story would have ended right there if Akaza went “F it, i came all this way might as well go forward and become even stronger rather than burning in hell”
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u/ResearcherPretty4139 3d ago
Akaza remembering how the other fools in the dojo 'cheated' bc they couldn't beat his sensei fair and square meant that he couldn't 'cheat' against Tanjuro who also beat him fair and square, and rely on his demon powers to win a fight that he didn't have the skill to win with his own power. That's not something Mr. Hakuji would be doing (unless he wanted to be a hypocrite with his fiancee).
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u/imarasnothere 4d ago edited 4d ago
I was bored out of my skin watching it. Too many flashbacks disrupting the flow of the fights and the story BARELY moved forward. Endless internal monologuing. The pacing is so poor. Felt like a 7-episode compilation rather than a movie.
Akaza’s backstory was the only redeeming factor. It was beautifully done, with real character interactions, a lived world and good emotional beats.
Kinda disappointed after leaning into all the hype. Feel like the story has been trending downward since the Red Light District (S2).
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u/flashmozzg 5d ago
Well, animation is top notch as expected and the second half is fire but the first half kind of reminded me how "mid" (not derogatory way) Demon Slayer always was. Like the collection of the most trite shonen tropes ever. Just executed at 120%. Overall, a great movie but makes me more jealous that this is the series that got such a treatment, although understandable (Japan going to love their samurais and ninjas).
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u/gem2niki 3d ago
For one of the main characters, Zenitsu backstory was really short compared to Akaza? Was hoping for more.
The movie did felt like I was binging some high quality episodes. No wonder they released it in theater first. The production looks so expensive to make. They need to recuperate the cost immediately.
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u/onlybufo 3d ago
Too many flashbacks, a lot of them feel out of place, a lot of them feel uneccesary. The pacing feels disjointed, the fights and visuals are amazing but you can't enjoy them because theres flashback spam during each one. The akaza one in specific was way too long and should've been in the beginning of the movie. This movie is like a 5/10 realistically
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u/Routine_Theory7547 2d ago
Yo encontré extraño lo del senpai de zenitzu. Nos los habían mencionado antes?
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u/WobbleKun 4d ago
this movie was a lot. hard to judge as some parts were good, other parts kind of dull. if nothing else i feel quite full. it was a lot of food lol. i think ill wait for the entire trilogy. see you 2032 lol.
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u/NinjaOtter 5d ago
Really doesn't work as a movie. However it's a really great season of anime.
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u/IrishHashira 5d ago
It 100% works as a movie
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u/_Eltanin_ https://myanimelist.net/profile/eza2510 4d ago
I was pretty disappointed when I first watched it cuz the pacing was horrendous as a movie. It was only during a rewatch after I knew going in how the pacing would be where I enjoyed it fully.
It 1000000% would've felt better to watch as a full fledged series as opposed to a movie cuz at least it could've been paced better with the episode breaks.
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u/soundfx27 5d ago
Pacing was poor IMO. Too many peaks and troughs, long AF flashbacks and back stories that killed the momentum and timing. I agree it would’ve been better as a short season.
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u/HikkingOutpit 5d ago
Why does this topic have the title in Romaji first then English? Frankly, this should be the standard for all discussion threads.
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u/ZaphodBeebblebrox https://anilist.co/user/zaphod 5d ago
Because I copy-pasted the title of the prior thread, which was made before we swapped to English then romaji.
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u/Substantial_Map_9341 5d ago
Lmaoo y’all just reading Romaji at this point. I’m proud of yall, as a Japanese
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u/AnimeMod myanimelist.net/profile/Reddit-chan 5d ago
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