Demon Slayer Infinity Castle THE ANIME MOVIE OF THE YEAR 2026p

I just got home from watching Demon Slayer Infinity Castle, and it just might be the best anime film I've ever seen. What's up folks, Chris from Cinema Hooked, and I say that first statement a little tongue in cheek, just in the sense that I had never seen an anime film before. First and foremost, I want to be up front with the fact that I'm not necessarily an anime fan. I'm not an anime hater either, I just didn't really grow up with it, and when it was introduced to me, I was, you know, very old and not really a kid who would typically watch that sort of stuff. But I went to the theater, and, I mean, we've got little kids, we've got teenagers, we've got adults. I mean, anime is for everybody, I'll just say that. It is for everybody. So if you're seeing this and you are an anime fan, and you'd like to introduce me to some good stuff I should check out, leave a comment down below, let me know, like, your top five anime films or TV shows, I'll check them out. Because nowadays I kind of watch everything and anything under the sun. Even if it's actually known to be something terrible, I watch it just to say that I've seen it, and I can provide content where I just talk about how terrible something is. This review might be a little different than anyone else who's reviewing Invinity Castle just because, you know, I don't have any knowledge of the show or the other movies, anything like that. I just went in blind knowing nothing about this other than the teasers, you know, not the teasers, but the trailers I've been seeing for the past probably month at the Cinemark theaters. They've been playing the trailer for this. And then my buddy went and saw it Friday night and I was like, hey, like, how was it? I'm thinking about seeing it. And he's like, what? You're a fan of Demon Slayer? And I'm like, no, but you know, I'm willing to check it out. And he was like, go see it. Tell me what you think. And I saw it. And I got to say, I was really entertained. I will say I did get really sleepy in it though, just because me naturally as a human being, when I read for long periods of time, I get tired and I saw it with the subtitles because I don't like to watch stuff that's dubbed. It's just not natural. It's not good. So reading for, you know, two and a half hours, it did kind of start making me a little bit drowsy, but I powered through, saw the whole thing. And I got to say, I really enjoyed what I saw. The characters were really interesting. I thought some of the villains were really interesting. Some of the villains kind of like, or, you know, bad guys, the demons in this movie were kind of boring to me. But the one, there was one that I really loved. That's got to be Duma. I love that character. I just, I, you know, you guys might hate me because I have no former knowledge of these people. You're like, Oh, how are you going to like that person? Like he's like the worst person, like, God, I hate that character. But just seeing him in this movie, I loved how he seems super nice, but then he's taunting and he's just egging you on. And I just loved him. It gave me the vibes of, reminded me of Michael Sheen in the Twilight movies who played the character Aro. Just, you know, just, I don't know, something about the personality of the character just really made me think of him. And you know, yes, I've watched the Twilight films. Yes, I do enjoy the Twilight films. Let me know how lame I am in the comments. Getting back to the movie though, I mean, aside from like the last act, this was my favorite part of the movie. And I hate that there was such a big gap because he was very early on in the film. And then it was everybody else's story and then kind of got back to him at the end. But glad he didn't die because I want to see him in the next film, which I do plan on seeing like I'm like invested in this now. Like I want to watch the show now, I want to check it out. So Duma, that was my favorite character. Hate me if you want. Let me know why I'm wrong in having him be my favorite character because I want to know more about this series. I want to know more about these characters and I'm going to do my little research, but I'd love to have conversations with you guys down in the comments. It's hard for me to critique this film because not knowing any prior knowledge of this franchise, you know, the flashbacks, sometimes the flashbacks were going a little too long for me and it's kind of like, Hey, can we get back to the action? Because my favorite part of these movies, and I'm sure it's like a favorite part of the show was that the fights are awesome. The animation is awesome. I absolutely loved all of the fight action scenes, loved it. It was just the flashbacks that drew a little bit slow for me. The one flashback I didn't mind was Akaza because one, it was a really great flashback. He got so much rich character information. He found out so much more about the character. And then when I was discussing the movie with my friend, he was saying how Akaza is his favorite because deep down, truly in his nature, he never really was a villain. He committed these crimes so he could get the medicine for his father and that didn't work out. And then he was taking care of the girl at the dojo and her and her father passed away and he wasn't there to protect them and he killed all those people and it was for revenge. But in his eyes, it was like through good intentions, like those were bad people. So while I loved his background story and then him getting turned into a demon, seeing that whole part, it was great, but we don't get to Akaza's flashback until like the two hour mark in this movie. And I'm like, wow, I couldn't help it. I was checking my watch. I'm like, okay, it's been two hours. Like how much longer is this movie going to go for? And I'm sure if you're watching this, you probably are a big fan of this franchise and anime in general. So you're probably like, give me more. Give me more. Yes. More flashbacks. Yes. Give me this. Give me that. And that's great. Me, just general audience member who doesn't have any invested interest in this, it was a little bit hard to sit through some of these flashbacks. There's one part of the film that I enjoyed, but at the same time, they could have cut it entirely from the film or at least condensed it to like take up half the time that it did was the thunder breathing fights. Those were cool and the background stories were interesting, but it went on like way too long. And we find out that he develops a seventh form. The other guy didn't know that there even was a seventh form. How can the guy that couldn't master the other five forms of thunder breathing, how can he possibly create a seventh all on his own? Like it was interesting. The fighting. Again, the fighting was the highlight of this film. For me, the flashbacks are nice and they're informative because they make you care a little bit more about the characters. But as far as an entertainment value, I want to see more of the fighting. So I don't feel like they got that balance in the movie quite correctly. So while I liked the thunder breathing stuff, I feel like they could have condensed that a little bit. It was really exciting to see him beat that demon with the seventh form. That was really cool. Getting back to the main fight, the final fight, that third act with Tanjiro and Giyu fighting Akaza. I mean, it was awesome. The visuals were awesome. The fighting was awesome. And again, Akaza's flashback. That was great. Absolutely loved it. There were so many times where I was just like, oh, oh my God, like Tanjiro killed him. He killed the demon and then, nope, cut off his head. And then it like just sealed itself. And then he's just this headless body, which that was really, really cool to see. Not going to lie though, it was a little bit disgusting when his head like started reforming itself. And it was cool to see Tanjiro and Giyu like seeing that and them being like, whoa. I think the biggest shocker for me was Tanjiro going to save Giyu to get him out of the range of Akaza's final attack. And then that final attack just being him just beating the hell out of himself. Because I just did not see that coming. I'm curious what you as an audience member, like, did you see that coming? Did you think the fight was going to keep going? Did you think that he would kill himself like that? Because I thought that was really interesting from a writing perspective for them to do that. And him completing this arc, because it was beautiful to see that he saw, you know, his father and the dojo master and his daughter, you know, his wife, to see them again. And him actually be like, I guess in this universe, their form of like heaven, him not going to hell, being killed as a demon, like he got his happy ending. Kind of. I'd also like to apologize again if I'm mispronouncing any of these names or butchering any of the details of their stories. I'm sorry. I'm a newbie to anime. So again, if you've got recommendations for other things to watch, things to speed me up, is the show worth watching? Like should I go back and watch all the seasons, however many seasons there are? What are some other shows and movies that you would recommend? Let me know because I really did like this film. I mean, on a scale of 1 to 10 and me not really being a particular anime fan, but being open to watching more entertainment value wise, I definitely put it around a 7, 7 and a half. Like I mean, as someone who didn't, as a big fan, like you guys probably are, I'd love to know what you would rate this, but I would give it a solid like 7 to 8 out of 10 on an anime scale. You know, I'm not going to even compare it to like Oscar winning films, stuff like that. But as far as an animated film, an anime film, I really liked it. I really enjoyed it. I'm glad I went. I'm glad I went into a different bit of culture there because I'm just not used to anime. Really appreciate you guys tuning into my channel. If you're new to this channel, please hit the subscribe button down below and hit the little like button like the sign there says. Really appreciate it. Helps a small channel like mine grow. Will I start doing more anime reviews? Possibly, but only if you leave a comment down below and we start a discussion so you can tell me which ones to watch. So let's keep the conversation going after the video ends and I'll catch you guys in the next one. Bye.