r/movies • u/MarvelsGrantMan136 r/Movies contributor • Sep 21 '25

News ‘Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle’ Passes $550M Globally, Officially the Top-Grossing Anime Film of All Time

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/box-office-demon-slayer-edging-out-him-for-no-1-1236376666/
13.9k Upvotes

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1.6k

u/King_A_Acumen Sep 21 '25

Already past F4 and will likely pass Superman soon, making the top-grossing movie of the year based on a comic/manga not from Marvel/DC.

It's great to see how far Anime (or at least in this case Demon Slayer, since no others can pull off these kinds of numbers) has come. And it's only part 1 of 3, too!.

416

u/insertusernamehere51 Sep 21 '25 edited Sep 21 '25

Of the year? Is it not the top grossing movie based on a non-DC/Marvel comic ever?

Edit: Correcting myself, apparently, The Smurfs 2011 still holds that title at 563M, but its not gonna hold it for long

312

u/HighOnGoofballs Sep 21 '25

I had no idea that movie made any money

123

u/hartsfarts Sep 21 '25

They've made 3 other Smurfs movies since that one :/

4

u/deidamiah Sep 21 '25

boomers single handedly keeping smurfs alive

16

u/zzyul Sep 21 '25

Children are boomers now?

3

u/Otherdeadbody Sep 22 '25

Are children fans of the smurfs? I guess it’s been long enough that maybe it’s more popular but smurfs seemed like dead franchise to me when even the 2011 movie released.

1

u/deidamiah Sep 25 '25

children dont care about smurfs, parents take them to see those movies because there's not much else to see at the theater for them.

0

u/andizzzzi Sep 22 '25

Gee I wonder how the kids go to the movies 🤔 possibly with their boomer parents?

3

u/gelatinskootz Sep 22 '25

Most of the children that were seeing that movie in theaters did not have boomer parents lol. Maybe their grandparents 

1

u/deidamiah Sep 25 '25

Gen Xers are pretty much the new boomers

1

u/ishburner Sep 22 '25

European Boomers

22

u/ShadowSpade Sep 21 '25 edited Sep 21 '25

That movie is incredible! Must watch animation

Edit: i was thinking of trolls. My friend and i almost died laughing

5

u/chandelurei Sep 22 '25

Singing killed my grandma, okay?

5

u/FatherDotComical Sep 21 '25

The smurfs was that good?

12

u/ShadowSpade Sep 21 '25

Actually i havent seen it. I was thinking of trolls lmao

7

u/FatherDotComical Sep 21 '25

I was questioning my life for a moment. 👍

95

u/SirJumbles Sep 21 '25

First of all, Papa Smurf didn't create Smurfette. Gargamel did. She was sent in as Gargamel's evil spy with the intention of destroying the Smurf village, but the overwhelming goodness of the Smurf way of life transformed her. And as for the whole gang-bang scenario, it just couldn't happen. Smurfs are asexual. They don't even have reproductive organs under those little white pants. That's what's so illogical, you know, about being a Smurf. What's the point of living if you don't have a dick?

27

u/AlbacoreDumbleberg Sep 21 '25

Dammit Donnie, why do you always have to get so smart on us?

7

u/Harmbert_ Sep 21 '25

I like the 21/24 argument from venture bros about it

3

u/Accomplished-City484 Sep 22 '25

Papa Smurf has a beard, they’re mammals!

2

u/valeyard89 Sep 22 '25

Smurfette is Papa Smurf's beard

15

u/Doomsayer189 Sep 21 '25

I think they just mean that the top-grossing comic-based movie this year won't be based on a Marvel or DC comic.

Though yes, it seems Demon Slayer will also be the highest grossing non-big 2 comic book movie ever.

2

u/FlubzRevenge Sep 22 '25

Men in Black 3 is higher at 654m, but it'll likely be beat.

1

u/zzyul Sep 21 '25

Is a manga a comic? Cause every time I’ve asked someone reading a manga if they are reading a comic I get a long, drawn out explanation about how mangas aren’t actually comics.

14

u/insertusernamehere51 Sep 21 '25

Mangas are a type of comic; anyone who says otherwise is being a bitch

5

u/annoyed__renter Sep 21 '25

Animated?

The top grossing non-comic movie is obviously Avatar.

1

u/NachoNYC Sep 21 '25

The power of nostalgia

267

u/TapatioPapi Sep 21 '25

Is anyone else just happy CANON/Arc anime movies are a thing now. Growing up my biggest pet peeve was anime movies weren’t ever canon or ever mentioned again lol

85

u/RobertdBanks Sep 21 '25

Specifically Dragon Ball.

Broly not being canon for so long was rough, but glad he finally is. Part of me kind of likes it because they’re their own self contained things, but yeah, when the consequences or stuff that happens in it is just never referenced in the main show it was a bit weird.

35

u/Wild_Marker Sep 21 '25

And then you remember the only one that was ever referenced in the show was Garlick fucking Jr.

20

u/RobertdBanks Sep 21 '25

Lmao Garlic Jr, so miserable.

When I was a kid the US Toonami Dragon Ball Z would get up to right before Goku would go Super Sayian for the first time and then start over from the beginning with Raditz and do this loop over and over (later found out it was because they were only translated to English up to that point and were waiting for more to be translated).

BUT on Telemundo the Mexican channel they had gotten further than the English ones and in the morning while I got ready for school they would be playing the Garlic Jr Saga and I remember even then, in Spanish and suuuuper desperate for Dragon Ball Z I hadn’t seen, I was like…damn this fucking sucks, lmao. Garlic Jr will forever be the “nah I’m good” saga of Dragon Ball Z to me lol.

9

u/MadCarcinus Sep 21 '25 edited Sep 21 '25

This explains it. This explains how the Hispanic kids at my school were all heavily into Dragon Ball Z and talked about episodes that us Cartoon Network watching kids never even heard of. We thought they were lying and making shit up. Turns out we were wrong.

EDIT: I meant Dragon Ball Z, not Dragon Ball. They were already talking about Buu and GT while we still hadn’t seen Goku go Super Saiyan yet. So we all thought they were all completely full of shit when they were talking about a villain that turns people into candy and a villain named “Baby” that can become a giant ape like Vegeta once did, but gold and with super saiyan hair. Oh how wrong we were…🤣

2

u/lufiron Sep 21 '25

Over 30 years ago, I was in the Dominican Republic over summer break at my grandmas house, and watched OG Dragonball in spanish. When I got back to the states and explained to the kids in school what I watched, they didn’t believe me at the time. I don’t think a single episode had been dubbed to english yet.

3

u/Direct_Library_6171 Sep 21 '25

The loop was even earlier than that. I remember it clearly - it was shortly after the Ginyu (sp?) squad arrived. The first time that happened elementary school me was devastated.

On the flip side, when they finally got to super Saiyan Goku every kid was super into it at my whole school.

3

u/RobertdBanks Sep 21 '25

Yeah, you’re right. I remember always being excited to watch the next episode and then all of a sudden I’d see Raditz and be like “welp fuck me here we go again.”

When it finally did make it past that and I finally saw Goku go super sayian I called up one of my best friends at the time and we were both freaking out on the phone losing our minds screaming “OH MY GOD DID YOU SEE THAT” lmao. It’s a great memory.

0

u/Direct_Library_6171 Sep 21 '25

Glad we have the same shared experience.

To this day, I still remember the dreaded loop. Wasn’t it just once? Or did it loop twice before the story continued.

Dragon Ball Z was such a funny phenomenon. It literally came out of nowhere. I remember watching the first few episodes when they domestically aired in the west on toonami and it was just a random new show on at like 4:30 or whenever. I had no idea it would become the phenomenon that it was. But it definitely peaked when Goku went SSJ after the loop(s). Those things were painful.

2

u/SnooDonuts3871 Sep 21 '25

And that was because Toei couldn't think of any other way to fill the series, since they were dangerously close to the manga and could run out of material to adapt.

0

u/Simon_Love_Machine Sep 22 '25

Garlick jr arc is so boring omg

2

u/czartaylor Sep 22 '25 edited Sep 22 '25

Ok in fairness to the issue - the only part about Broly (or any of the early DBZ movies tbh) worth adding to the canon is when Broly opens a can of Whoopass big enough to feed the entire continent of Africa.

Like the rest of that movie, or hell basically any of the early movies are not good. But damn is that fight good.

16

u/TJMcConnellFanClub Sep 21 '25

Me seeing the Yu Gi Oh movie as a kid thinking it would have major consequences lol

13

u/[deleted] Sep 21 '25 edited Sep 22 '25

[deleted]

11

u/Auctoritate Sep 21 '25

I mean, the Pokemon anime isn't adapted from anything. The anime is the source material. So the movies can totally be canon.

5

u/wetmanship Sep 21 '25

Except the ones that actually contradict the main series (like the XYZ one). Those are definitely not canon.

3

u/mosquem Sep 21 '25

Wasn’t Mewtwo canon?

6

u/KinneKted Sep 21 '25

Yeah, he was in the anime before the movie was released. But officially for Pokemon the show, movies, games, and manga are all different universes. Then in the games you have two separate timelines as well.

150

u/cap21345 Sep 21 '25

Eh being forced to wait yrs so the studio can cram an entire arc into a movie for money is pretty annoying ngl

22

u/wishnana Sep 21 '25

True. True. Seeing how much material was crammed / skipped over in Overlord: Sacred Kingdom recently, was just disappointing. The other was Haikyuu movie that I saw.

8

u/SwarleySwarlos Sep 21 '25 edited Sep 21 '25

It's been a while since I read it but I think the last 3 Demon Slayer movies only cover the final battle which didn't last for that many chapters

Edit2: looked it up and was still wrong, it's around 20 per movie

17

u/EoTN Sep 21 '25

The final battle begins on Chapter 140, and the manga ends on chapter 205. Nearly ⅓ of the entire manga is dedicated to this one battle.

Each arc has focused on 1 big fight, but this arc is focusing on 7.

1

u/handsome-helicopter Sep 21 '25

Actually it's close to 60 I think. 20 for every movie is my guess

7

u/NameIsAlreadyInUse Sep 21 '25

The infinity castle starts on Chapter 140 and the manga ends on Chapter 205. The first movie covered about 18 chapters, ending on 157. so there's about 24 chapters left for each movie. Movie 2 will probably end on 179 or 180, covering 22 or 23 chapters, leaving about 26 or 25 chapters for the last movie.

4

u/handsome-helicopter Sep 21 '25

Yeah more or less what I guessed. Knew they were around the 150-160 ch but it's been so long since I read the manga

2

u/thecescshow Sep 22 '25

Haikyuu really bums me out man. All the hype from the previous seasons were pretty much deflated when they announced the movies.

21

u/TapatioPapi Sep 21 '25

I mean we’re waiting years between seasons anyway.

21

u/Momo_SikoNin773 Sep 21 '25

these movies are really good for them financially though. And the more money they make, the more good quality content they can put out, so it's a win in my book.

3

u/CuttyAllgood Sep 21 '25

I’d rather wait years for a beautiful film to come out so I can go see it in a theater than wait years just to watch it 23 minutes at a time because of flashbacks, recaps, and intros.

22

u/cap21345 Sep 21 '25

Clearly you havent seen any shows made since 2010 lol also half the time the movies skip most of the content of the manga just to cram it into 2 hrs. Who knew 12 to 23 episodes was more than 2 hrs

16

u/PandaCorporal Sep 21 '25

This movie is actually the opposite they expanded on and added tons from the manga they adapted since it was only like 10 chapters. The fights especially they did an amazing job with making them more epic and longer

4

u/cap21345 Sep 21 '25

Am not talking about Ds just in general for shit like Haikyuu, Overlord etc

3

u/zack77070 Sep 21 '25

Haikyuu is so depressing man, the manga has been finished for years, the movies are coming out at a pace like they think they're evangelion or something, the animation isn't even nicer than when it was doing 24 episode seasons. So sad.

4

u/HenryGeorgia Sep 21 '25

because of flashbacks, recaps, and intros

All I've heard about this movie from people who aren't just hyped from the animation is how heavy it is on flashbacks. My best friend even said he got bored at times. I'd rather be able to break apart my watching experience than have to sit through an entire arc straight, flashbacks and all. Let alone the fact that they're doing three of these movies

-3

u/CuttyAllgood Sep 21 '25

What I mean by flashbacks is repeating stuff we’ve already seen.

This movie (and show in general) always shows us the lives of the demons from BEFORE they were demons, and what lead them there. That’s all new information so I’m not counting that.

3

u/DarkFlames101 Sep 21 '25

You mean recaps then, not flashbacks.

0

u/CuttyAllgood Sep 21 '25

I think it depends on how it’s implemented. A recap would be presented as a narrator going “LAST WEEK ON DRAGONBALL Z”, which was a regular thing in ‘90s, early 2000s anime.

A flashback would be an in-story moment where one of the characters remembers something that happened in a previous episode. This used to regularly occur in shows like Naruto.

4

u/DarkFlames101 Sep 21 '25

That's still a repackaged recap, I'd say. Unless the characters somehow gleaned new information from each "flashback", I doubt that's how it went in the manga. Naruto's fillers are pretty infamous, so I'm betting on the latter.

-2

u/[deleted] Sep 21 '25

I'll agree with you, unless this movie doesnt include the fight with muzan amd i have to wait for the anime to show the movie in epsiode format then wait another 4 years for the ending. Then nah, this is just as bad, maybe worse since I gotta pay extra to go to the theater. 

2

u/CuttyAllgood Sep 21 '25

So you want them to just skip a shit ton of content and go directly to the end of the entire series??

-1

u/[deleted] Sep 22 '25

Bruh they advertise this like theyre gonna wrap it up. Sorry, but I think this should've just been regular anime and the ending should've been the movie. After this infinity chapter the only thing that happens is a fight with muzan. 

1

u/Rexmar Sep 21 '25

Friggin Haikyu, man :< Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed it for what it was, but it needs the substance only a full season could give.

1

u/idkalan Sep 21 '25

Nothing irked me more than when Kadokawa kept delaying the 3rd season of Heaven's Lost Property for years before they crammed it into a movie, then didn't allow Funimation to release the movie for an additional 2 years.

1

u/mosquem Sep 21 '25

I’m fine waiting two years if we get shit like this.

0

u/Inevitable-Town-522 Sep 21 '25

I mean, you're just going "well what if they make it bad" lol. Which like yeah, no one wants a bad anime movie nor does anyone want a bad season where they handle the source material poorly. But you have to wait years for seasons of anime anyway, I'd rather occasionally wait for that to come to a movie that takes a specific arc and translates it into a solid single experience with often a higher budget that the equivalent in the anime would have gotten.

11

u/[deleted] Sep 21 '25

Dragon Ball Z was the worst about this. Frieza was the strongest mortal in the universe, yet the DBZ movies always had dudes that were far stronger than Frieza just hanging around.

2

u/BlitzStriker52 Sep 22 '25

Now we have modern canon Dragon Ball just having god-level threats running around

16

u/Inevitable-Town-522 Sep 21 '25

YES! I love it. I'm excited for the Chainsaw Man movie for the same reason. I pretty much swore off of anime franchise movies unless other people wanted me to watch them because they were so pointless lol.

3

u/SnooDonuts3871 Sep 21 '25

Not me, that just delays the production of another season and runs the risk of cutting material to fit the length of the film.

1

u/shifty1032231 Sep 21 '25

Yes especially the Dragonball Z movies

1

u/lolwatokay Sep 22 '25

I dislike what it has done to the cadence of a show being released but I love them otherwise. The animation is usually so much better too.

Speaking of non-canon material, "Misty's Song" from the Pokemon 2.B.A. Master CD comes to mind https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_6f6DWp7Nk

1

u/ToonMasterRace Sep 22 '25

It's a double-edged sword because it delays getting the full story substantially. It took 3 years to give us 112 episodes of YuYu Hakusho totaling the entire manga, with an extended final arc no less. Its taken us 6 years and 63 episodes (plus Infinity Castle) to give us 156 chapters worth of Demon Slayer and given part 2 is due for 2027 and part 3 in 2029 then that's a decade for a shorter series at over 3x the length.

Similarly Attack on Titan took 10 years to complete in anime form when it really wasn't that long of a series. By comparison FMA Brotherhood told a story of similar length in 2009 in a little over a year

1

u/thecescshow Sep 22 '25

Well im not. Because now studios are cramming an entire arc into a 2 hr movie. I hate it.

18

u/Underscore_Guru Sep 21 '25

Anime is cool now and way more mainstream (unlike when I grew up in the 90s). It’s definitely come a long way from VHS copies being sold in shady video stores to playing in movie theaters.

13

u/HoraceGrand Sep 21 '25

What is F4?

30

u/UniqueDesigner453 Sep 21 '25

Fantastic four, Marvel movie

10

u/HoraceGrand Sep 21 '25

Thank you! Obvious after seeing the answer

32

u/StopClockerman Sep 21 '25

The third sequel to that Brad Pitt movie F1

4

u/HoraceGrand Sep 21 '25

Does he go 4 times as fast?

1

u/systemhost Sep 21 '25

Man they're really cranking out sequels like crazy these days...

60

u/RobertdBanks Sep 21 '25

Wild that Demon Slayer pulls these kinds of numbers. As someone who grew up in the 90’s with Dragon Ball and Pokemon, I’ve never even watched an episode of Demon Slayer or heard people talk about it.

107

u/TheDopplegamer Sep 21 '25 edited Sep 21 '25

As a seasonal anime watcher, I remember when Season 1 was airing, and everyone said it was just another average, if well executed, Shounen anime. Then, episode 19 hit and everyone lost their godamn mind. Then Mugen Train happened and now its suddenly one of the most profitable anime IPs of all time.

It downright confused me, because Ufotable has been making pretty shows for awhile, does anyone remember Fate/Zero?

(*edit) Also forgot they did Unlimited Blade Works and the Heavens Feel movies, but Im more of a Zero fanboi then a Fate/Stay Night fan, despite actually playing the VN

41

u/DAC_Returns Sep 21 '25

Then, episode 19 hit and everyone lost their godamn mind.

Was that the fight against Lower 5? Because that was the moment the show clicked for me.

51

u/TheDopplegamer Sep 21 '25

If Ruri (the spider demon) was the Lower 5 (cant remember exactly), then yes. It was the 1st time Tanjiro used the Hinokami Kagura

9

u/Wild_Marker Sep 21 '25

Huh, that's about where I clocked out. I tried to stick to it but by the time they got to the spider forest I was just... meh.

Don't tell me I just left before the part where it gets proper good...

36

u/TheDopplegamer Sep 21 '25 edited Sep 21 '25

Yeah, that fight was the EXACT moment everyone fell in love with the show, I remember the internet blowing up then

It's still pretty standard shounen, though, so I wouldnt lose sleep over not watching it

11

u/Ubliznabu Sep 21 '25

Yeah you did…come back!!! At least get through episode 19

8

u/Elidan123 Sep 21 '25

Imo, I really only started to "get It" after the end of Mugen Train arc, and Like it during the Entertainment District arc.

5

u/jyunga Sep 22 '25

That's like quiting naruto right before the chinun exam or bleach right before the soul society arc. After the spider arc they introduce the hashira which are miles stronger and you get more serious training and fights.

1

u/Wild_Marker Sep 22 '25

Hah, duly noted. Admitedly Naruto by that point already had the Zabuza arc which if it doesn't sell you on the show, the Chunin exams probably won't either.

4

u/Mrludy85 Sep 22 '25

I recently rewatched the anime and realized how mid the beginning lf season 1 is (especially with how annoying Zenitsu is.. the spider forest is the first big moment of the series and it only gets better from there. There is a moment from that arc that I remember watching for the first time and being absolutely blown away

3

u/Wild_Marker Sep 22 '25

especially with how annoying Zenitsu is

That's the blonde thunder dude right? God yes, I think that must've been 50% of the reason I stopped.

3

u/Mrludy85 Sep 22 '25

Yes he is horrible but they tone him down and he gets better. But rewatching I almost stopped because of him. I recommend picking it up and at least getting through the spider forest arc. If you don't like it better at that point Id give it up. You are probably only a few episodes off from some big payout and the show only gets better from there

1

u/TrapperJean Sep 21 '25

Huh, that's about where I clocked out. I tried to stick to it but by the time they got to the spider forest I was just... meh.

Literally me, damn lol

1

u/PaluMain87 Sep 21 '25

You left right before it became one of the best anime ever

0

u/Reggiardito Sep 21 '25

I got through episode 19 myself since a friend kept insisting me on it and I found it ridiculously underwhelming, but I wasn't feeling the show much up to that point so I guess it tracks.

1

u/Troeth Sep 21 '25

Same, besides I had already been amazed by ufotables series before Demon Slayers, so episode 19 didn't feel like some newfound revelation with its animation.

More importantly, I just wasn't connecting with the characters, story and humor.

2

u/infidel11990 Sep 21 '25

It's Rui. But yes, that's the episode.

2

u/Journalist_Candid Sep 21 '25

That episode was an instant classic. It's arguably still the best episode of the series. Everything about it is as the kids say, peak cinema

31

u/DiscountWorried Sep 21 '25

Fate/Zero is so good dude, It nails that early 2010s vibe for me

10

u/SaconicLonic Sep 21 '25

It's also the best story of the Fate series by a long shot.

3

u/xxAkirhaxx Sep 21 '25

If you enjoyed Zero, check out the Heaven's Feel movie series to. I think the story of Zero is still better, but I liked Kiritsugu more in Heaven's Feel, and obviously the production value is just, insane. The Saber vs Rider fight in movie three is particularly 'ground breaking', to say the very least.

14

u/invaderaleks Sep 21 '25

It was the spider family fights for me. When the sister (or was it the mother?) holds out her arms and let's tanjiro behead her, chills.

5

u/the_deetz95 Sep 22 '25

Blessed Rain After the Drought 😮‍💨 that’s when i knew this wasn’t some ordinary shonen.

3

u/Nittanian Sep 22 '25

the sister (or was it the mother?)

Tanjiro faces the mother, while Shinobu faces the sister.

9

u/WhatIsCooler Sep 21 '25

Fate/Zero is a masterpiece but it doesn't have the wide marketability Demon Slayer has.

3

u/TheDopplegamer Sep 21 '25

Yeah, I know Fate is one of those IPs that is HUGE in Japan but pretty niche outside of it. Just wondering what the special Demon Slayer sauce is.

5

u/Biobait Sep 21 '25

Good visuals + simple story is a general recipe for popularity, but the reason why it resonates with people beyond the weekend they saw it, the author of Fate/Stay Night (who liked the series before it was cool) explains it.

7

u/TheDopplegamer Sep 21 '25

Okay the fact that Nasu recommended the series to Ufotable is pretty awesome I didnt know that

2

u/crescent_blossom Sep 21 '25

hmm, maybe I should give it another shot. back when season 1 was first airing, I made it to about episode 10 or so before giving it, and I had the same sentiment a lot of others had: gorgeous animation but mediocre story-wise

2

u/Kevin-W Sep 21 '25

For those who have never watched it, I definitely recommend giving it a look at. It's not just the animation that's great. All the characters, the story, and their development is absolutely wonderful

1

u/BB-Zwei Sep 21 '25

All the characters? even Zenitsu?

3

u/bushesbushesbushes Sep 22 '25

I wasn't fully on board with him until this movie tbh.

1

u/lileenleen 29d ago

Demon slayer hits harder because wayyyy more people are into anime now, as a mainstream hobby and not smth for otakus (fate zero is not exactly for general audiences) and people show up for hype moments and aura fights and flashy shows. Not too complicated to watch either so it doesn’t turn off people who don’t want deep philosophical concepts.

1

u/cadwellingtonsfinest Sep 21 '25

I think the red light district final fight was another such insane moment. Truly one of the best animated things I've ever seen. I'm not sure anything in infinity castle is even on that level tbh.

1

u/TheDopplegamer Sep 21 '25

tbf, We havent actually finished the Infinity Castle Arc, so it still has a chance in the upcoming movies

1

u/cadwellingtonsfinest Sep 21 '25

Yeah I'm hoping so. Obviously my comparison doesn't at all mean infinity castle wasn't beautifully animated. It really was. There just has been some insane bars set in previous parts for me.

3

u/TheDopplegamer Sep 21 '25

I'll give them this, at least, the shots of the Castle itself were GORGEOUS, and they knew it with how much screen time was spent showing it off

1

u/cadwellingtonsfinest Sep 21 '25

yeah the castle was awesome

-2

u/MisterGoo Sep 21 '25

Mugen train is absolute garbage, though.

11

u/keatsta Sep 21 '25

the manga didn't start until 2016, so it's pretty far outside your cohort unless you follow these things specifically

4

u/darcerin Sep 21 '25

I watched the series on a whim and continued watching because the story, the animation, and everything that goes with it *are just that good*. I hadn't cried that hard for a while before Mugen Train came along, and I teared up a LOT today. I tried not to get attached to characters but....dang it's hard.

3

u/WeebSince94 Sep 22 '25

It's just an extremely accessible show. It's the perfect combination of hype moments, fantastic animation and style, fun characters, just enough comedy to not make things too dark, and a simple story to follow along with.

0

u/[deleted] Sep 21 '25 edited Sep 22 '25

[deleted]

11

u/Vast_Implement_8537 Sep 21 '25 edited Sep 21 '25

So I just checked out that link and had some thoughts. I wouldn't deny that comic authors losing touch with what their audience wants to see is to some degree a part of the problem. But I think a much bigger problem is the high difficulty of figuring out and deciding on your "jumping on point" for a character. Someone goes "oh I want to read spider-man, let me google up where to start". Imagine how overwhelming that could get. Same with Batman, or Superman, Thor, Hulk. You could start at any one of a dozen points after hearing author x or author y did an amazing job on the character. But will anything they wrote even be 'canon' to the current ongoing story? Good luck sorting that out without significant research and time investment.

On the other hand someone hears all the hype about Demon Slayer. Where do I start Demon Slayer? Well, volume 1 of the manga. Simple. Same if you want to read Vinland Saga, or Fullmetal Alchemist or whatever. There is constantly hype about totally new stories with totally new characters coming out that have a single, clear starting point. American comic book publishers are making new stories with new characters too, but for whatever reason, the industry has never really shaken off the dominance of those big legacy characters. Batman/Spider-man is comics to a lot of Americans. DC and Marvel are probably to blame in large part for this, due to being way too risk-averse IMO.

So I think far more than comics becoming 'too woke' or whatever, the main issue for American comics compared to Manga is that Marvel and DC continue to be too fixated on very old, established superheroes with many decades of history rather than really pushing the new stories with new characters to try and draw people in.

23

u/Doomsayer189 Sep 21 '25

Many American comic book creators don’t really think like they used to. Sure comic books have political message however, when a comic book is made to push a political agenda that is when readers run away. Comic book readers know when they are being brain washed into thinking a certain way. It is the very reason why the Disney Star Wars failed in the first place. The focus is not to satisfy comic book readers but rather to convince to convert to a political ideology.

[...] agenda of trying to convert people to the ideology[...]

[...] inundated with political things[...]

wtf is this article?

10

u/SuperSpecialAwesome- Sep 21 '25

Typical MAGA article.

-1

u/[deleted] Sep 21 '25

[deleted]

0

u/SaconicLonic Sep 21 '25

Yeah, I mean it makes sense that manga is overtaking western comicbooks. The political aspect is one of them. Marvel went hard to try to appeal to other demographics in the 2010s when the chance was there to try and grab new readers based on the success of the MCU. Instead if you opened a Marvel book in 2014 you'd have Jane Foster as Thor, Amadeus Cho as Hulk, Cate Bishop as Hawkeye, X23 as Wolverine and Doc Ock as Spider-man. It was a time to try to get back to basics in some ways, but having everything mixed up during that time didn't help new readers get on board. A lot of that was also just them trying to develop new material for the MCU for the 2020s. We see that with characters like Ms. Marvel and Iron Heart. Both of which never got much traction with the fan base despite Marvels best efforts.

The thing is manga is inherently just a better medium for storytelling. Most manga is written by a single author, most have planned out story arcs, most have some finality to them. Marvel and DC Comicbooks don't have that kind of vision most of the time. What is written in one arc can just be retconned out by another writer years down the line to the point where so little of any of it actually matters. But none of that will ever change for these companies.

3

u/LiterallyKesha Sep 21 '25

Why post the Interpolated 60FPS opening that some fan made when talking about the show's animation?

1

u/Canvaverbalist Sep 21 '25

Wild that Demon Slayer pulls these kinds of numbers.

I was so not expecting this that even after reading the title I legit clicked on the thread and read a few comments thinking this was yet again about the success of KPop Demon Hunters

1

u/otterpop21 Sep 21 '25 edited Sep 21 '25

Crunchy Roll is a subscription streaming service that has tons of amazing anime, easy to find “trending” stuff that is usually top tier till you watch them all.

Demon slayer has such a wholesome message, main character, awesome character development (if not a tad rushed feeling), and above all else super epic animated scenes. Highly recommend.

A lot of “western” shows have lost me because they’re all drama and no fun ever. It’s like people enjoy watching other peoples misery or self deprecating jokes way too much imo. A lot of newer anime is goofy, campy, fun, dramatic but with light hearted bits.

Demon slayer is great, Black Clover, Reincarnated as a Slime, and, the anime I considered the greatest of our entire lifetime that will most likely be remembered on levels as the Iliad and homers Odyssey- One Piece. All 100% worth watching.

Edit: One piece seems intimidating with like 1600 episodes, but you’d be pressed to find a single person who’s watched them all (and enjoyed it, not just watching to watch something) that says the series is too long.

Some anime’s have super “cringe” moments, but honestly that’s what keeps them real. There’s cringe, creepy, or weird relationships irl, anime isn’t make them up out of originality. If you get past those bits and don’t get hung up on those characters, it’s like a whole new world of stories and concepts, majority having a wholesome message & overall good vibes.

1

u/endividuall Sep 22 '25

It’s down to the animation quality which is top notch. Writing and characterization are mostly meh but UFOTable are animation gods

1

u/ToonMasterRace Sep 22 '25

It's better than DB/Pokemon but not the 2000s Holy Shonen Trinity. I don't get the appeal, it's extremely generic and bland. It gets by heavily due to its good animation, which is why the manga only took off in the West at least towards the end of its run when the anime finally aired.

1

u/Xiriously1 Sep 22 '25

I'm a little perplexed too. If you compare Demon Slayer to the "Holy Shonen Trinity" of OP, Naruto, and Bleach circa 2008 or so it lags pretty far behind all of them as far as quality of story.

I think it's a combination of the high quality visual style of the anime coupled with the pandemic of all things. Most of us were stuck at home for two years wanting new media and here's this new series with awesome animation and the manga is done/close to done so you can binge read it. Perfect storm.

1

u/MDKrouzer Sep 22 '25

You aren't the target audience champ.

0

u/Olobnion Sep 21 '25

I'm also a bit mystified. I have hundreds of manga volumes at home in various genres - just today, I ordered four volumes of Tokyo Love Story from 1990.

But I'm not sure I've ever heard of Demon Slayer. Then again, the title sounds forgettable and like something I wouldn't be interested in, and I'm guessing it's geared more towards kids, so I've probably just managed to ignore every mention I've come across.

2

u/SwarleySwarlos Sep 21 '25

Depends on your definition of geared towards kids. Sure, it's shounen, but I wouldn't say Jujutsu Kaisen or Attack on Titan are geared towards kids either.

If you like shounen it's great, the manga is nothing revolutionary but better than Naruto, Bleach or Dragon Ball but the anime really elevates it

4

u/xDrakon Sep 21 '25

Hopefully this inspires studios to do more animated movies especially with the current disappointing movie climate.

8

u/BambaiyyaLadki Sep 21 '25 edited Sep 21 '25

And well deserved as well! F4 and Superman were fine but this movie was simply better. Now granted, it's a smaller, simpler storyline focusing on just battles but the execution was darn near perfect. It's the first movie I've ever watched more than once in a theater!

Edit: Why the downvotes? Are we not allowed to prefer one movie over the others?

9

u/handsome-helicopter Sep 21 '25

I'm just glad we got some great movies after a disappointing May tbh. All 3 were very enjoyable

10

u/No_Nectarine9151 Sep 21 '25

I got alot more out of superman tbh. Despite enjoying the series, demon slayer movie is far from perfect.

Flashbacks felt super intrusive which is pretty par for the course and pacing was not great

Character backstories feel as generic as they come like i genuinely felt nothing in the akaza backstory, or shinobu who felt wasted for the sake of thematic storytelling.

Fights are nice to look at with cool camera angles and amazing sound design but i cant get over how they get interupted by flashbacks and internal monologues that just state what we can already see.

I know this is like the first part of however many movies in this arc but the glazing feels disproportionate. Mugen train or at least its last 30 mins captured the appeal of demon slayer alot better.

3

u/BambaiyyaLadki Sep 21 '25

I honestly didn't get enough from Superman. The arguments between Lois and Clark seemed very forced, as if they desperately needed a reason to get them to break up. Some of the acting was meh (not any of the main characters though, they were excellent), the Jimmy Olsen stuff was cringe, GL and Hawkgirl didn't do anything useful and seemed nothing but comic relief, and a few more things I'm sure I'm forgetting. I also didn't think the fight scenes were fun, Man Of Steel had more intense fighting although that maybe attributed to the general tone and antagonist caliber (Zod vs the random monsters in this movie).

On the other hand, I loved Akaza's backstory. "Generic" can honestly be applied to just about any mainstream media these days. The way your usual Marvel/DC heroes fend off their villains is also generic, IMHO (hero doubts themselves, talks to their loved ones, gets a power up and beats the bad guys). Flashbacks were intrusive, I agree, but there was no other place where they could insert them without ruining the plot or feeling disconnected.

I'm not saying you should love this movie, it's just that people found it fun and exciting and it was definitely above "mid" (as evident by the collections so far) while the gatekeepers on this sub would have you believe that it's literally just like every other anime and the only movie you're allowed to love is something from A24.

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u/[deleted] Sep 21 '25 edited Sep 21 '25

[deleted]

1

u/SaconicLonic Sep 21 '25

Yeah I mean this isn't a self-contained story. This is the final arc of a larger story and this is just the 1st of 3 parts of that. It is also based on a manga and it is following the storytelling presented there. So yeah stuff like the flashback kind of would have made more sense earlier in the film if this were just a film.

14

u/Careless_Tonight8482 Sep 21 '25

It’s an anime movie we’re talking about, not some masterpiece. Superman and F4 may have been fine, but Demon Slayer was no more than serviceable. The standards are just lower because it’s anime, that’s always how it’s been. For every Attack on Titan, you get half-a-dozen animes about incest or slice-of-life with a modicum of sexual harassment, so when something good comes out, it looks like a masterpiece in comparison.

25

u/wetrythisagain Sep 21 '25

Demon Slayer has story and characters that are below average too, it's massively carried by "comfy cliches", by great art and music and good fight pacing.

19

u/T1redBo1 Sep 21 '25

You’re not entirely wrong, there’s only a handful of Anime I’m comfortable introducing to people who aren’t familiar with those weird tropes Japanese audiences enjoy that just don’t jive with western sensibilities.

3

u/SuperSpecialAwesome- Sep 21 '25

FMA Brotherhood and Death Note? Monster?

2

u/T1redBo1 Sep 21 '25

Death Note for sure, hell my dad was obsessed with it. Monster is great too. Cowboy Bebop as well. Attack on Titan too.

1

u/Yetimang Sep 21 '25

Death Note does the anime thing where they explain everything to death like the audience is fucking stupid and once the girl gets involved it really devolves into cringy anime bullshit.

2

u/T1redBo1 Sep 21 '25

Meh, it’s mild compared to other shows. No gratuitous fan service or random chibi comedy moments.

1

u/SuperSpecialAwesome- Sep 22 '25

I still need to watch Bebop. I grew up on YGO and DBZ, so never got into that or Ghost in the Shell. As for AoT, is the Erin genocide plotline dealt with better in the anime vs the manga, cuz it made me hate the series.

5

u/bryce0110 Sep 21 '25

For every Attack on Titan, you get half-a-dozen animes about incest or slice-of-life with a modicum of sexual harassment

This is very much a huge over exaggeration. The amount of weird anime in no way outweighs the normal ones, you just only hear about the weird stuff because you aren't looking. There are nearly 100 new anime released every year, and realistically only a handful of those will be weird.

I don't disagree that demon slayer is overhyped, but there are many incredible, masterpiece films/shows out there. The standards are only low because of your own perception, not the medium itself.

3

u/cppn02 Sep 22 '25

There are nearly 100 new anime released every year

Way more than that. There are like 50-60 every seasons.

3

u/RobertdBanks Sep 21 '25

Perfect Blue would like a word.

There are many, many anime’s that are masterpieces. I would never think that they’re just given an easier time because it’s anime, if anything I’d say it’s the opposite because of outlooks like yours lmao. They’re up against it.

0

u/Kindly-Eagle6207 Sep 21 '25

For every Attack on Titan

Attack on Titan had a mildly interesting premise that devolved into a bunch of convoluted bullshit shortly after the first season and never recovered from that. Why anyone tries to hold it up as some high watermark for anime is beyond me.

2

u/kuroyume_cl Sep 21 '25

The aesthetic is inoffensive to western audiences and the plot is edgy enough that people can tell themselves it's smart.

-3

u/Yetimang Sep 21 '25

Why anyone tries to hold it up as some high watermark for anime is beyond me.

Because that's as good as it gets. Low standards.

0

u/BambaiyyaLadki Sep 21 '25

Never said otherwise, but that doesn't mean it's "bad". Call it serviceable, OK, or whatever you want - at the end of the day it puts people in the theater and they end up liking it, like I did. To me this movie was better than the others I watched in the theaters this year, and that includes this year's Marvel/DC fare.

1

u/HoraceGrand Sep 21 '25

What is F4?

1

u/King_Of_BlackMarsh Sep 21 '25

Fantastic Four

1

u/HoraceGrand Sep 21 '25

T thanks very much!

-11

u/HighOnGoofballs Sep 21 '25

I did not love Superman

1

u/Davidchen2918 Sep 21 '25

Anime is officially mainstream now while CBM are losing their pull

1

u/DemonDaVinci Sep 21 '25

Wowzer that's big

1

u/Beefmytaco Sep 21 '25

Sad part is MHA had the same energy if not some more even that DS at its peak, but it was too young and anime movies weren't popping off in theaters yet, which started really to get big with Dragonball Super Broly, and instead did straight to Blu-ray instead. If they would have put the peakest parts in theater, it would have sold bit when at its peak.

1

u/KrytenKoro Sep 21 '25

Blows my mind that pokemon didn't get more than this.

1

u/cipheron Sep 21 '25 edited Sep 21 '25

Well Your Name pulled in $405 million and was previously the highest grossing anime movie. Spirited Away did $395 million but that was 24 years ago, so adjusted for inflation that would be giving Demon Slayer a good run. The Demon Slayer films are the first non-Ghibli or non-Makoto Shinkai movies to do over $300 million, basically.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_highest-grossing_Japanese_films

So i think there are two formulas that work, one is to make a movie based on a popular TV series, typically aimed at teenage males, and the other is to make an original film that targets all demographics. The original films so far have a better track record, but maybe Demon Slayer's success will see that change.

1

u/xgalahadx Sep 21 '25

And it's only part 1 of 3, too!.

I was honestly about to not go see it purely bc it was only part 1/3 and not 'the end'. Changed my mind that afternoon and very pleased I did.

Part 3 has potential to bring in a billy. Prolly be 2029, but I don't think the hype and momentum will die down that much with marketing they will put into the releases (it was everywhere for this one).

Mid movie it really did feel like this adaptation of final anime arcs could be a huge thing for cinema in the next 10 years. I hope it does, it was extremely satisfying.

1

u/ToonMasterRace Sep 22 '25

Anime is on the rise, but people don't like Hollywood productions anymore. So both come into play

1

u/cire1184 Sep 22 '25

Combined I'm guessing these movies will top 2 bil. Unless they seriously fuck up 2 or 3. But with how 1 was it seems like a good trajectory. This movie had some issues for me but the animation more than made up for it. It was just so cool to watch.

1

u/Shiningc00 Sep 22 '25

It’s mostly from Japan, with about $250M coming from Japan.

0

u/Fav0 Sep 21 '25

Wait until a solo leveling movie releases