4DXの体験
It felt like you were in the castle, the first three minutes or so, when you are falling with Tanjiro and the other characters, and you feel the wind and the movement and stuff.
I was like, let me get out of here! I don't want to be here anymore!
Welcome back to 2AM OTTACK! I'm your host Mayu, a born and raised Japanese non-otaku, and...
I'm Cisco, an American otaku.
In this podcast, we share our reviews of anime and manga through our distinct perspectives with commentary on Japanese culture, history, and language.
Cisco, we went to see Demon Slayer, uh, what? Kimetsu no Yaiba Infinity Castle the movie?
Was that the right title?
God, I don't even remember. It's definitely Demon Slayer, Infinity Castle, the movie. It might be Demon Slayer, Kimetsu no Yaiba, Infinity Castle, the movie. It definitely has a lot of things in a row.
Right. In 4DX.
Yeah, I guess you gotta add more to it. Yes, in 4DX.
And it was my very first time to try 4DX.
How was it?
It was scary.
Really?
It was scary at the beginning. I was like, I didn't expect seeds to move that hard.
Yeah, you kind of wanted a seed belt or something?
Oh, yeah, totally.
映画のタイトルと内容
Yeah, yeah.
Anyway, so we already talked about Demon Slayer movie, the Infinity Castle, before when you watched the movie in Japan.
That's right.
If you are interested in hearing the experience in Japan, check the episode out first. It's going to be in the description.
All right, we're going to talk about...
Demon Slayer, Infinity Castle. No, wait, sorry. Let me try again.
Demon Slayer, Kimetsu no Yaiba, the movie. Damn it. Demon Slayer, Kimetsu no Yaiba, Infinity Castle, the movie in 4DX.
You know what? I think the Japanese title is even longer.
Yeah, you gotta be kidding me.
No, let me check.
Is it like, to the Infinity Castle?
No, it's like Akaza.
That is the main part of the film.
Okay, let me try in Japanese.
Gekijouban, Kimetsu no Yaiba, Mugenjouhen, Daiisshou, Akaza Sairai.
What's Sairai?
Came again, come again.
So, let's see. Let's break it down little by little. I don't think I remember the whole thing.
Gekijouban, Kimetsu no Yaiba.
Theatrical version, Demon Slayer.
Mugenjouhen.
Infinity Castle arc.
Daiisshou.
First chapter.
Akaza Sairai.
Akaza Returns.
Yes, that's the whole title.
Okay, let me see if I can remember that.
Demon Slayer the movie, Infinity Castle arc, chapter one, Akaza Returns.
Yes.
That's a mouthful.
So, that's the title. I think the official title in Japanese, which is pretty long, but yeah, that's very descriptive.
Yep, it's pretty specific.
映画の感想
Specific, yes.
So, we're going to all talk about it today, our experience watching the movie in 4DX in North Hollywood, which was full, starting from 10.30 p.m.
Yep.
Before we start, we'd like to hear from you. Share your thoughts, ideas, questions, or even suggestions that we should talk about.
Send us a message to the email to the description, or you can use Spotify and YouTube comment section as well.
Why don't we talk about the movie, separating into three parts.
Okay.
So, the first part, there will be spoilers, just in case.
Spoiling away.
Spoiling away.
Okay, I guess now everybody's had a chance to see it, so if I'm spoiling it for you, it's on you at this point, right?
Okay, so part one is really about them getting in, and it sort of wraps with Kojo's fight against Doma.
Now, when I was reading the original manga, I felt a little bit longer, but in the movie, I felt a little bit short.
This part about Kojo's battle?
For some reasons, because maybe they wanted to spread about the later part.
コジョウとドーマの戦い
I mean, you know what, I'd have to read the manga again to be sure, but I think they broke it up by going back and forth.
I don't think they have the start to finish.
I think she comes and meets him and is like, you're really messed up, and then it breaks away for something else, and it comes back and they actually fight, and she dies, and they go back to something else.
I think they come back one more time and then have Kano fight him again, which I'm sure is coming in the next movie.
What I liked about the first part was how the voice actor, Hayami Saori, she did such a great job in the emotional level of rage.
Almost the whole time, Kojo is kind of like, you can tell she's angry behind, but she doesn't show it.
She kind of always sounded soft and impolite, but this time, she just let it out, and then how much she is pissed about Doma.
I liked how she acted the part. Also, I liked Doma's voice actor, Mamoru Miyano. He does a lot of voices.
So patronizing.
What do you mean?
He just sounds like he's looking down on her the whole time.
Yeah, he's so pity on her, and it's just messed up.
But it was an interesting part, and it was so heartbreaking that she couldn't do anymore, and then she just got...
Absorbed.
Yeah.
You gotta wonder why he bothers chomping down on the other dead bodies when he can obviously just physically absorb their whole thing immediately through his body.
Maybe he was bored.
Yeah, maybe. I mean, he likes eating, which is pretty gross.
That's weird.
Yeah.
I can't remember. Kojo's gonna come back somehow? Like, she's dead.
She's dead.
But I can't remember what happened in the manga.
4DXの体験
Then enjoy this narrative tension of finding out what happens next.
Okay. So is there any favorite part about the first fight, Kojo and Doma?
After having seen it twice, yeah. Like, the part at the very end where she's already dying, and then she does the centipede attack anyway.
That part's really freaking cool. I really like that part a lot.
And that part was great in 4DX.
Like, the way in which they used the air jets in that scene was really cool to simulate all of her footsteps that are breaking the whole place.
Yeah, that part was dope.
What about the second part, Zenitsu?
The Zenitsu part? Yeah, it's really short.
It's definitely the shortest narrative part of the film.
And this was not that different in 4DX, actually, compared to the others.
It's still good.
As with the first time I saw it, I was mostly grateful that it was short.
The story isn't as gripping as the other parts, you know?
And so it has, like, exactly the right amount of time.
Right.
Like, long enough for you to be like, oh, he's, like, squaring off against, like, the guy who is older than him and better at everything than him.
And he wins.
So that's satisfying.
Didn't waste a lot of time going through the backstory.
It feels like about the right amount of time.
I felt the same way.
I was, like, I was totally fine with, like, movie finishing ending there.
Ending there?
It would have been only an hour long.
Right.
You know, feels like a regular movie.
Right, right, right.
Yeah, no way.
But, like, there's not, like, the crazy Zenitsu part.
Right.
Yeah, he's not annoying at all.
He was cool.
He's just cool the whole time.
Yeah, it's great.
Yeah.
It's about time.
Inosuke was, like, here and there.
Yeah, he doesn't really show up.
But he was not, yeah, not there yet.
Yeah, there's a backstory.
I kind of forgot about it.
But, like, a promise was grandpa.
無限城での冒険
And then it's so sad.
Grandpa committed suicide.
Yeah, that part's really messed up.
Yeah.
But the other bro didn't master the first form.
Form.
And then, yeah.
That's what got him in the end.
Yeah.
The third part, which is Tanjiro and Giyu against Akaza.
And this is, like, the main thing in the movie.
The longest part and by far the most interesting part.
Yeah, that part's cool.
We started watching from 10.30.
Yeah.
But when we went inside, before 10.30, like, there are people already sitting on the seats, right?
Yeah, we went in about 10.10, which is, like, not an unusual time to enter a movie theater.
Yeah.
But it was filthy inside.
It was so dirty.
It was so dirty.
And I was like, God, like, how could it be, like, this gross?
And then we realized that they hadn't cleaned the theater after the previous show.
And I actually want to give, like, the theater a break here.
Like, 4DX is basically designed to spill everything.
So, it's totally understandable that the theater was a mess before they came in and cleaned it up.
And when we came back after they'd cleaned it, it was looking a lot better.
You know, but it was weird to me, the idea that, like, you can't even go in the theater before the showtime begins.
Like, that's pretty unusual.
But, yeah, so we went in at 10.30, and we got out at 1.30.
Well, as we walked towards the movie, like, seems like people just came out from the movie.
Yeah, it did seem like they were cutting the showtimes really close together at this theater.
That might explain why it wasn't clean yet by the time we went in.
And, yeah, that seemed like that showing was—well, I know that showing was packed because I tried to get tickets to it.
And the only tickets available were on, like, the very sides.
So, I mean, that was true for this one, too.
Yeah.
But, yeah, it was wild.
So, yeah, starting from 10.30 and then lots of fighting at the beginning, which I was terrified.
Right.
Because, like, it was my first time.
We're in the Infinity Castle.
Exactly. And you told me beforehand it's going to be like a roller coaster, but, like, I didn't.
You didn't believe me.
It's not like I didn't believe you, but I did think about how it was going to be crazy like that.
Got it.
Yeah. So, like, lots of, like, hanging onto the seat.
Yeah, you have to hold on to the sides really, really tightly.
And then the whole time, it was like almost whole time like that, like mist and then, like.
Snow.
Yeah, and everything.
And when it comes to Akaza Flashback, there's no movement at all.
All of a sudden, it's just a regular movie.
Regular movie, which put me to sleep.
Well, it was late.
And there are a couple parts, even in the Akaza part, when, like, somebody gets punched really hard where, like, the seats vibrate.
But, yeah, no, compared to the rest of the movie, it's basically just a regular film.
And, yeah, it's late.
The movie's long.
It's understandable that you completely fell asleep in the theater.
Even in a 40X theater, you fell asleep.
You said, like, it's going to be 40X, so it's going to be, like, busy and, like, movements, and you're not going to fall asleep.
So I didn't take a nap or anything.
Oh, got it.
Okay.
And I usually go to sleep around 1030.
Right.
And then it's going to be, like, midnight or something.
Right, yeah.
It was probably, like, almost one.
So when I woke up, there was, like, a very, like, touching, moving scene.
Right, right, right.
映画体験のシェア
Which I was like, what happened?
I don't remember anything.
Oh, you missed the best part.
I know.
I missed the best, best part, which was a shame because I wanted to be, you know, moved and then, like, crying and this stuff.
Wait, really?
Yes.
Should we go see it again?
Not in 40X.
Okay.
Yeah, and then I need to go, like, daytime.
Yeah, that's probably a good idea.
Yeah, it was three hours.
Yeah.
Yeah, it was a shame.
Like, I fell asleep and I can't believe myself did that.
I can, but yeah.
I wonder if anybody did the same thing as me.
In that theater?
Yeah.
I bet that little kid we saw at the end was definitely asleep.
We saw a family.
He was, like, borderline getting carried out of there by his dad.
Oh, my God.
They look, like, eight or nine or something.
The kid, yeah, very, very young.
Yeah, I was on the same boat as them.
So, did you see the part where Tanjiro's dad cut the bear's head off?
I did.
Okay.
Because that part also is slow.
Yes, it is.
Like, Tanjiro's dad's part, yeah.
Right.
It was.
It was.
Yeah.
So, anyway, Akaza part is must see.
Yeah.
But it comes later.
The whole thing is good.
The first time you watched the movie in Japan, you didn't cry.
I teared up, but I didn't.
I mean, you know, yeah, I didn't really cry.
Partly, though, it was, like, I was hearing people in the theater all around me, like,
openly crying, which blew my mind.
Because, you know, Japan, that's not a thing.
People really don't want to cry in public.
Like, I was shocked.
And then in America, I feel like the reaction was more understated.
Like, fewer people were, like, openly crying.
But it might have to do with, like, who the audience was, right?
Like, the audience in America was, like, a bunch of people in their 20s and 30s, basically.
Whereas the audience in Japan was, like, a much wider age range.
So, maybe that had something to do with it.
Yeah, I was, like, more emotional this time than I was last time.
And I'm not sure why that was.
Maybe it's because I knew what was coming at the end of the Akaza arc.
And, like, for me, it's, I mean, the whole show is very Buddhist.
But, like, in particular, the end of Akaza's arc has, like, a lot of, like, kanon kind of imagery going on.
With, like, you know, forgiveness and stuff.
It's also, I mean, it explains why Japanese Christianity was, like, a thing, kind of.
That, like, kanon being the Buddha of compassion, like, really makes it easy to see some Jesus parallels.
And, like, I don't know, that theology.
But, yeah, I don't know.
I find, like, the part where his, you know, his old wife, who got, like, murdered before they could get married,
comes back and is, like, you don't have to hate yourself anymore.
You can forgive yourself for not being able to protect me.
And, you know, he's going to hell.
Like, he's a demon.
Like, it's not going to be, like, a happy ending.
But his ability to, like, ask her for forgiveness and for her to give it is a moving moment in the movie for me.
Wait, how did he meet, become demon?
I forgot.
After he kills all the people in the Kenjutsu dojo, he's, like...
He's a scout?
Yeah, he's wandering through the town.
And Muzan shows up and is, like, I heard there was a demon that killed 67 people.
I didn't think it was going to be a human.
And then, like, he doesn't even respond.
And then Muzan just, like, jams his hand straight through his head and is, like, you're going to be a demon now.
4DXシアター体験
Like, he doesn't...
I mean, I think it is accurate to say he had already sort of thrown away his humanity by killing the entire dojo full of people.
So I don't know that there needed to be, like, a full-on contract or anything.
And Muzan makes people into demons without asking for their permission all the time.
But it's a real contrast to Upper Rank 1 turning Zenitsu's older, you know, his senpai into a demon.
Where he, like, puts all the blood in his hand and is, like, you know, you have to choose this, essentially.
And the guy does.
Akasa doesn't choose to become a demon, but he's definitely, like, killed enough people to, like, be going to hell anyway at that point.
Yeah.
So overall, the 40X, I don't know.
Like, I got a comment from M.O.T.A.K. that I should watch the movie in 2D first and then go to 40X.
And I didn't.
Yeah.
And now you know why?
I mean, I understand why, because, like, it's hard to focus.
Even though I was listening to the whole thing in Japanese in the theater with English subtitles.
But it was an experience.
It felt like you were in the castle.
Yeah.
And the first three minutes or so, when you are, like, falling with Tanjiro and the other characters, and you feel the wind and the, like, movement and stuff.
I was like, let me get out of here.
Like, I don't want to be here anymore.
Yeah, exactly.
That's how I was feeling.
Yeah.
Because, like, I don't want to do this for three hours.
Yeah, it was fun.
But to understand it, like I said, like, I fell asleep.
And, like, I guess.
Thank God it woke you back up.
I got used to it.
But when we walked out of the theater, I realized my upper thighs soared.
Were sore?
Yeah, sore.
From, like, just, like, just tensing your whole body up?
I guess so.
Yeah.
I didn't think I was holding that hard.
Yeah.
So do you recommend this in 40X?
I do.
Yeah.
I mean, I think, like, you have to enjoy 40X.
I think there are a lot of people out there in the world who probably don't want to go to 40X movies, like, no matter what.
Right?
But the experience was very much what I thought it would be like.
And I don't like getting wet at movies.
So I usually turn the water off.
But the people next to us had the water on.
So I definitely still got, like, pretty misted during all of the water breathing moments.
And I realized some other aspects of 40X this time.
Like, one, there are lights inside the theater that shine.
So when Zenitsu, in particular, is doing his lightning moves, there are lights that, like, shine on in the theater that make it look like there's, like, lightning happening.
Yeah.
That was pretty cool.
Also, I think this is the first time I've seen a 40X movie that had a scene where it was snowing in the movie.
And they release snow from the top of the theater in the front to, like, make it be, like, snowing in the actual room, too, which was, I don't know, which I actually found pretty cool.
Uh-huh.
And smoke?
I didn't smell anything this time because I was wearing a mask because COVID is, like, back now.
No, I said smoke.
Smoke.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
No, that I had seen before.
Oh.
I didn't really get the scents this time.
Sometimes there are scents.
Oh, yeah.
I smelled.
You smelled them.
I smelled.
I didn't.
But, yeah, I think it was a fun experience.
And 40X, like, elevated the movie a little bit for me.
I don't usually see movies more than once.
So having the experience be sort of different the second time around really helped me want to go back.
40Xシアターの体験
And like I said, particularly when the characters are unleashing their special moves, the way that they paired that with 40X was very worth it.
So I thought it was good.
Yeah.
I liked how it was executed.
I liked the smell when Kojo was around.
The smell of flowers and the smell of something, like, medicinic.
Hmm.
Interesting.
Yeah.
Like, a specific kind of smell from this medicine that, like, in old days.
Okay.
And I kept wondering, whoever chooses the smell of, like, a particular movie, do this use the same exact smell for worldwide?
Or is it different from theater to theater?
I think it's got to be, like, mass produced.
Who choose that?
I don't know.
I don't know how 40X theaters work.
Like, how do they, like, sync up the motions?
And, like, who gets to choose, like, what the motions are?
Right.
Like, part of me wonders, is it like AI?
You know?
The AI watches the movie and tries to decide, like, what kind of motions, like, fit with the action that's happening on screen?
Or is it a person who, like, designs a 40X experience for every film that's going to be shown in 40X theaters?
That sounds like a mystery.
It would be a pretty fun job.
Do you want to do that?
No.
But I feel like it would be a fun job for somebody.
I like that the parts, whenever, like, characters got beaten, and you feel, like, kind of, like, a punching feeling on your back.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
That was kind of fun.
That was cool, yeah.
It was, like, a little bit like a massage chair, but, like, with a weird timing.
Yeah, it's like, it has, like, massage chair-like things in the back.
Yeah.
I don't know.
If I could see just, like, a regular movie with a regular massage chair, I'd be like, I'd pay extra for that.
You might fall asleep.
I would be okay with that, too.
All right.
殺意と戦闘精神
Let's do today's word of the day.
All right.
What's today's word of the day?
Yeah.
Saki.
Killing intention.
Right?
Or killing intent.
Feel.
Somebody is behind you and was, like, trying to kill your feeling.
Yeah.
You feel.
You feel their killing intent.
Right.
Yeah.
It's called saki in Japanese.
Saki.
Saki.
Satsu means kill.
Right.
And the ki is feeling.
Feeling, spirit, intention, vibe.
Yeah.
Yeah.
All of those things.
Yeah.
And I think Tanjiro, like, remembering the conversation between Inosuke about saki and
I think it's toki?
Toki is, like, battle spirit.
Battle spirit.
That's what Akaza calls it instead of saki.
So toki is, like, a fighting spirit.
Just someone, like, wanting to fight you.
Saki is somebody wanting to kill you.
Tanjiro recognizes that this is how Akaza is able to fight so well is he senses his opponent's
toki.
And so by extinguishing his own toki by going into the transparent world and only doing
what is necessary, eliminating his intentionality and only focusing on his muscle actions,
he's able to sort of slip through Akaza's compass or whatever and kill him, which is
pretty great.
Also, the moment where Akaza pushes his own head back onto his neck after it's been cut
off.
That moment is pretty epic.
The higher can you do that?
Yeah.
Yeah.
That part is wild.
Why haven't any of the other demons done that?
If that's, like, a thing, you know?
Well, other demons are not that serious about fighting.
I guess not.
I don't know.
It was funny that when, like, Tanjiro figured out about Saki killing Saki and go right behind
サムライ文化と戦闘の礼儀
Akaza.
Yeah, right, right, right, right.
And he's like, oh, you're going to sneak up on him.
And then he's like, I'm going to chop your head off right now.
Like, why would you do that?
Completely gave it away.
Yeah.
And people laughed at the moment.
That part is really funny.
Yeah.
I don't think anyone laughed in Japan.
Because, like, you know, in samurai culture, it would be, like, disgraceful to, like, stab
your opponent from behind.
You have to, like, announce that you're going to fight them before you're, like, allowed
to attack.
That's why people didn't laugh?
I mean, I don't know if that's why people didn't laugh or not.
But I feel like what Tanjiro does in that moment is, like, a very Japanese thing.
You know, if, like, instead of attacking while his back's turned, to be like, I have to, like,
let him know that, like, I'm going to attack.
You know, that's, like, I don't know.
Somehow it struck me as, like, yeah.
And seeing it in America was hilarious.
But seeing it in Japan, I don't remember it being particularly funny.
It was, like, of course he would say that.
You know what I mean?
Yeah.
Because he's too honest.
Yeah.
Or he's too straightforward.
Like, you know, it would be too sneaky of him to just actually attack while his back was
turned.
Yeah.
So, saki.
You can use it.
Saki wo kanjiru.
Right.
I feel killing intent.
Yeah.
It's sort of like the English phrase staring daggers at somebody.
Okay.
Because, like, you know, the idea is that the daggers are coming out of your eyes and,
like, flying towards the other person.
Okay.
Before we end, is there anything you'd like to add?
I thought these movies were going to come out six months apart from each other.
映画の興行成績
No way.
But it turns out it's three years.
So, the next one's not going to really still 2027.
It's kind of a bummer.
It's a bummer.
Like, I'm glad that it'll probably be really high quality.
Yeah.
I mean, I appreciate that, like, UFO Table did not choke on making this movie.
Like, they really made it very good.
There's no sakuga hokai.
Of course not.
It's amazing.
Yeah.
And it's good in 4DX, too.
Yeah.
So, I'm excited for the next one, even though, like, yeah, it's so far away.
Mm-hmm.
But that means it's going to be even better.
I hope so.
I just liked watching the credits because it was all in Japanese.
Right.
And then people, voice actors and the staff names are all, like, so many, of course.
But I noticed there are, like, a bunch of, like, famous voice actors.
And one of them was, like, Yuki Aoi, who does voice for Mao Mao from the Apothecary Diaries.
I was like, I usually notice people's voice.
I was like, oh, there's got to be this person.
But I didn't notice her voice.
I was like, who's this?
And I realized that's got to be the boy.
I can't remember the name of the character.
Ubuyashiki's son.
Son.
The boy who was, like, drawing.
I was like, okay, I had no idea.
It's pretty crazy.
Yeah.
So I liked finding those moments.
Nice.
In the movie.
Yeah.
It just started playing in the theaters.
I don't know how long it's going to be in the theater in America.
Maybe a couple weeks.
Yeah.
I mean, I think I read somewhere that it's already the highest grossing anime film in
America ever.
Like, I think it's made, like, $60 million in the U.S. already.
That is crazy.
And that's, like, 60 mil is a solid opening weekend for literally anything.
It might be Ghibli.
Yeah.
I think it's had a bigger opening weekend than any Ghibli movie.
Yikes.
Yikes, indeed.
Because I like Ghibli.
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Peace.
