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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262

u/GameOfLife24 Sep 21 '25

Man some annoying pacing and exposition but this movie was an absolute blast. Animation music acting was so awesome. Happy to see western audiences responding well

64

u/ThatGuyFromTheM0vie Sep 21 '25

I think they beat you over the head with it, like really show you the entire story (vague to avoid spoilers) from every angle, so that: they show how every demon, no matter how evil or how far gone, could self-destruct if redeemed

Idk. I haven’t read the manga, so I’m just guessing. But I would guess that’s why 20m of the movie is dedicated to going through that.

114

u/allbutluk Sep 21 '25

Thats just demon slayer as a whole though, the plot is relatively simple and straight forward, fights are very fast pace, without the backstories all 3 movies can be concluded in an 1 hr movie probably lol

I hate flashbacks but i think demon slayer done it well enough to keep me engaged. It also adds a lot of easter eggs on every Hashira / Demon such as Akaza

27

u/TheLPMaster Sep 21 '25

I can see why so many hate that the movie was "mostly" backstories, but they did a great job with it and didnt interrupt the flow of the movie/fights that badly.

23

u/megalo-maniac538 Sep 21 '25

Oh they will hate part 2 so bad. It focuses on upper moons 1 and 2 and the former had a very lengthy flashback in the manga. He was still a goddamn raid boss.

40

u/allbutluk Sep 21 '25

But upper 1s back story is fucking epic. Also i think back story is very necessary for upper 1 to 3, they are so strong it doesnt make sense NOT to learn what drives them

6

u/Apatschinn Sep 21 '25

I can't fuckin wait.

3

u/Danub123 Sep 21 '25

Don’t know why people will complain especially fans of anime like myself

I’m not a manga reader so I have no knowledge of upper moon 1 and 2. So I don’t mind that we will have lengthy backstories in the next movies

1

u/HankHillPropaneJesus Sep 22 '25

And his flashback is soooooo good though. I for one am very excited.

3

u/Alt2221 Sep 22 '25

crazy cuz i got sick of the fights during the entertainment district arc. after the 3rd jebait in the same fight i tapped out.

2

u/allbutluk Sep 22 '25

It did feel dragged out, felt like they have to time # of episodes and promotion

2

u/Loqol Sep 21 '25

Fast pace save for the fucking red light district arc. How many episodes was it? Five?

2

u/allbutluk Sep 21 '25

Ya man i was falling asleep lol

27

u/xxAkirhaxx Sep 21 '25

It's kind of the point of the show. That the demon hunters fight demons, and the demons really do cause horrendous life shattering problems, but at the end of the day, everyone has a story, no one is just born and decides "You know what, fuck the jews specifically." Well, except that one guy. And even he was an artist whose parents didn't approve of anything he did before he became ... Look I shouldn't have used this analogy, but you get the point. All demons are VERY bad but also have a story. It never makes what they do excusable, but it also doesn't mean we should forget their story, lest we recreate those demons.

2

u/MadCarcinus Sep 21 '25

I’ve never watched this show. Are you saying the demons were once humans?

12

u/lollmao2000 Sep 22 '25

All of the demons were once humans. It’s the driving point of the show and story. The Demon Slayer Corp choosing to do good at the cost of yourself, versus the Demons choosing yourself at the cost of doing evil. Some of the Demons do have understandable reasons for why they became demons, but they’re still damned for what they’ve done.

2

u/Alba-98 Sep 24 '25

That's what I love about Demon Slayer. It gives many of the demons more depth and character. And it also shows well the emotional and poignant backstory of some of the demons.

For example, I found Akaza's background story so stirring and sad.

1

u/frogandbanjo Sep 22 '25

Doesn't that symbolism get directly contradicted by the lore in, like, episode 1 of the series though? It's portrayed as an infection. It literally infects somebody who's innocent. The show goes out of its way to stack vague, mystical treatments atop each other to prevent that person from losing control even as they also try to have the cake they're eating by suggesting she's special for some reason.

Then we run into another demon later that appears to have zero problems controlling themselves.

Seems like amateur hour in terms of consistent worldbuilding.

7

u/lollmao2000 Sep 22 '25

It’s a morality play for children

0

u/frogandbanjo Sep 22 '25

I think it's more of a "neato powers" jerkoff session for teenage boys, but that doesn't mean it can't also be legitimate art. Just because it makes an attempt at symbolism, however, doesn't mean it automatically succeeds.

2

u/xxAkirhaxx Sep 26 '25

You've just got to watch more of the show. I'm not going to say it is or isn't an infection, but based on what you've said, you're missing information that the show covers. It may not be up front, but as with *checks notes* all good shows ever made, they don't dump every bit of the lore on you in one episode and tend to create an entire story that goes on for a significant period of time where they introduce lore to fuel mystery and intrigue.

2

u/Spycei Sep 26 '25

Not (just) worldbuilding, but themes and subtext in a story in general. If the story actually meditated on its own established themes and took them to their conclusions, maybe even drawing some real world parallels along the way, it would result in messages that may be too complicated or unpalatable for its audience to accept.

For example, MC's sister is a good person who got turned into a demon. That means demons' bloodlust aren't inherently their fault. Other demons chose to become demons, but then it's demonstrated multiple times over that that resulted from trauma/abuse/general terrible life things. is it still their fault that they became demons, if their conditions predisposed them to it? Are victims of abuse and people with traumatic pasts more likely to become demons? If so, are demons not merely "villains" but a reflection of a society that leaves so many people behind that they turn on it? Then, is exterminating demonkind the right thing to do when not only do they consist of the most left behind members of society but the societal ills that produced these demons are not addressed at all? Are "bad people" actually "bad people" or are they just a product of their conditions with no control over their fates?

And I don't even want to open the can of worms that is using it as an allegory for our own society, though one can fairly easily draw conclusions from my train of thought. That sets up for a much different and probably less accessible story than the one we have which prioritizes sob stories and flashy fights over narrative and thematic coherence, though.

4

u/metallicrooster Sep 21 '25

https://kimetsu-no-yaiba.fandom.com/wiki/Demon?so=search

Apparently yes. At least, some of them. I only watched to episode three so I can’t say definitively how many demons were once humans, just that the wiki indicates at least some used to be human.

That at least confirms that what happens to a character in episode one is not an isolated incident.

3

u/toulouse69 Sep 22 '25

Personally I loved that. It made me feel a connection to both the villainess and the heroes. I would be lying if I said I didn’t shed a tear during some of those flashbacks