Demon Slayer Infinity Castle Part 1 Review - Fableverse

Demon Slayer’s Infinity Castle has always been a fascinating location. Its first reveal at the end of Season 1 left many fans in awe, even those who have been following the manga. The physics-defying lair of Demon Slayer’s Muzan Kibutsuji is rendered magnificently once again by Studio ufotable in their fourth film adaptation of the anime hit, although, as you’d likely find out in this review, the curious landscape is not everything Demon Slayer Infinity Castle Part 1 has going for it.

Demon Slayer Infinity Castle Part 1 of 3 depicts the beginning of the final arc of Demon Slayer, seamlessly transitioning from the end of Season 4 into the first moments of Season 5. As the Demon Slayer Corps close in on Muzan’s location after Ubuyashiki’s sacrifice, they are all transported by the Biwa Demon into the Infinity Castle, setting up a long and fateful battle that, for the Demon Slayers to win, needed to last until sunrise.

Demon Slayer Infinity Castle Part 1 covers roughly twenty chapters of the manga, from the beginning of the battle until the end of Tanjiro and Giyu’s battle with Upper Rank Three Akaza. Thus, this movie also covers other battles, such as Shinobu’s duel with Upper Rank Two Doma and Zenitsu’s duel with Upper Rank Six Kaigaku.

If you’ve been following Demon Slayer then you’d already know what to expect from these battles - beautifully rendered and choreographed fight scenes, animated to perfection, with brilliant colors and vivid imagery. The fights and the conversations are all complemented by the film’s musical score that lend more emotion and weight to the scenes.

The 155-minute film did not hold back in treating its audience with visual and audio flairs, but the length of the film did eventually make it feel a bit cumbersome. It is, so far, the longest of the four Demon Slayer films produced by ufotable, and some fans might already feel exhausted at the conclusion of Tanjiro’s fight with Akaza. Although essential in its storytelling, the lengthy retelling of Akaza’s past hurt the film’s pacing. With Shinobu’s and Zenitsu’s battles wrapping up within an hour together, the entire fight with the Upper Rank Three felt like a marathon in comparison.

However, those are the downsides of having to compress so many events and backstory in a single movie, and Demon Slayer Infinity Castle Part 1 of 3 isn’t the only anime film that had to sacrifice pace a little bit for a good balance between clarity and brevity. Even though the time spent in revisiting Akaza’s past may have been a little bit longer than what would have been necessary, it still hit viewers with an emotional gut punch that would definitely leave a lot of fans bawling their eyes out as they leave theaters.

But ending on Akaza’s tale would have made the film a downer, so ufotable quickly ramped up the excitement once again by setting up the next fights fans have to look forward to. Going with a quick rundown of the Hashiras as they approach their targets and ending the film with an appetizer of the battles to come, it’s hard not to feel that Part 2 couldn’t come any sooner.

You already know that you’re in for an epic journey if the film you’re watching is just Part 1 of 3 parts. The final and most important arc of Demon Slayer has finally began, and although the anime series will quickly overtake the films, fans of the series will definitely still want to come back for Parts 2 and 3 because of how well ufotable handled Part 1.

In a series like Demon Slayer, we explore themes of human suffering and how our stations in life could lead us to make horrible decisions and become monsters as a result. However, Demon Slayer doesn’t use the context behind the demon’s actions as an excuse for their misdeeds; rather it is used to juxtapose the demon’s pasts with Tanjiro’s equally tragic past. It teaches us the meaning of hope, and how despite the worst circumstances, we have control over our actions, and that good always trumps evil in the end, regardless of how difficult or impossible the odds might seem.

That being said, we learn from Demon Slayer that small incidents could eventually lead to catastrophic results, and a little change in details could mean the story could take an entirely different path. For example, we could speculate on Tanjiro’s fate if Nezuko was not spared and suffered the same death the rest of their family was subjected to. Would he still have become a Demon Slayer if he had no incentive to search for a cure for Nezuko? Or what if Tanjiro was the one who was turned into a demon - how will the Demon Slayer Corps react? And would he still be able to stand up to Muzan, resisting his influence?

Explore “What If” Fables such as Half-Demon Tanjiro? The Corps Can’t Know and other anime-focused alternate universe scenarios in FableVerse,where you can write your own story and explore what could have happened if circumstances in your favorite anime worlds were different. It’s entirely free on Voyceme, and simply playing one Fable makes you eligible for a $100 gift card giveaway, currently running until September 12, 2025.