The Infinity Castle trilogy may struggle to completely resolve the controversies surrounding the ending of Kimetsu no Yaiba.
Much of Kimetsu no Yaiba’s enormous global success can be attributed to the anime adaptation produced by Ufotable. Although the manga had already achieved considerable success, the anime elevated the franchise to another level, turning it into one of the few series to reach extraordinary popularity around the world.
Despite the initial controversy surrounding the decision to adapt Infinity Castle as a trilogy of theatrical films, the first installment achieved historic success, and the remaining two movies are expected to deliver similarly impressive results. Infinity Castle is the longest and most intense arc in the manga, as the Demon Slayer Corps enters a major battle against the Upper Ranks.
More than a year has passed since the first movie was released, yet Ufotable has still not announced a release date for the next installment. The anime will almost certainly continue to deliver stunning visuals and spectacular battles. However, no matter how impressive the adaptation may be, the Infinity Castle trilogy is unlikely to completely fix the problems surrounding Kimetsu no Yaiba’s ending.
The Infinity Castle arc takes place inside an endless labyrinth, where members of the Demon Slayer Corps are forced to confront the remaining demons in Japan, including the Upper Ranks.
This setting results in a series of intense battles taking place one after another. That structure may not be particularly well suited to a theatrical format. Although the first film was a major success, it also demonstrated that consecutive battles and the characters’ backstories need breathing room for audiences to properly absorb the story.
This structure would arguably work better as a television anime, where the story can be divided into episodes of around 20 minutes.
The initial controversy surrounding the decision to turn Infinity Castle into theatrical films stemmed largely from this issue. Some parts of the story may be better suited to the storytelling format of a television series rather than being presented continuously on the big screen.
The same problem is likely to continue in the remaining two movies. However, without the theatrical format, Kimetsu no Yaiba might never have achieved the historic box-office success it has seen so far.
As a result, while the decision has brought major benefits to Ufotable, the movie format may also prevent the adaptation from fully realizing the story’s potential.
Kimetsu no Yaiba also needs additional anime-original scenes for its ending.
The Kimetsu no Yaiba manga concluded in 2020, and like many other Shonen titles, its ending received plenty of mixed reactions. Although the debate has died down over time, that does not change the fact that the conclusion felt rather rushed and resulted in the deaths of more than half of the main cast.
The manga’s epilogue was also only around one chapter long and featured a time skip that introduced characters believed to be descendants or reincarnations of beloved characters from the main story.
The manga did not explore the period following the time skip in much detail, making the conclusion feel even more abrupt. As if that were not enough, Kimetsu no Yaiba did not receive an additional spin-off or substantial bonus chapters in later manga volumes.
At this point, completely rewriting the ending is almost impossible. However, several anime-original scenes created under the supervision of Koyoharu Gotouge could still make a significant difference.
Even popular series such as Attack on Titan and Bleach faced controversy when their manga stories reached their conclusions. However, their creative teams worked with the anime studios to deliver what they considered the best possible versions of the endings without changing the fundamental conclusions of the stories.
Unfortunately, Kimetsu no Yaiba has not confirmed any similar plans, even though the anime has now entered its final stage. This means the possibility of the anime adding a substantial amount of new material to the ending appears relatively low.
Furthermore, Koyoharu Gotouge has not returned to the public eye with a new work for several years. As a result, whether the creator would become deeply involved in further collaboration with the anime studio remains uncertain.
Although the Infinity Castle trilogy is expected to continue delivering breathtaking battles and top-tier animation, the project may still struggle to completely change how fans feel about the ending of Kimetsu no Yaiba.
Sources: gamek