Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle movie ending explained — Who dies and who survives Part 1?

With Tanjiro, Zenitsu, Inosuke, and the Hashiras being spread out across the titular Infinity Castle, there were a lot of players and various fights against the Upper Rank demons to keep track of.

That includes one with a major cliffhanger, which was surprising since the rest of the film segued into the remaining brawls to come quite nicely.

For those confused about any or all of the first Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle movie’s ending, here’s all you need to know about what happened — including who died and who survived.

Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle movie ending explained: What happened to Tanjiro, Giyu, and Akaza?

The main battle in Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle saw Tanjiro reunite with Akaza (along with Giyu by our hero’s side) and was by far the most intense.

Both Demon Slayers sliced off the Upper Rank Three demon’s limbs numerous times, but Akaza’s endless regenerative ability, stamina, and power eventually overwhelmed them both — to the point where the brawler-style demon even broke Giyu’s sword with just his first.

Tanjiro, however, managed a major breakthrough via a couple of flashbacks, one of our favourite anime tropes. Combined with comments he remembered from Inosuke and a childhood lesson he learned from his father days before his death, Tanjiro unlocked two abilities: Transparent World and Selfless State.

Transparent World is an ocular ability only accessible to those who’ve unlocked their Demon Slayer Mark. With it, users can see the inner workings of other living beings; analysing breathing, blood flow, and even the flexing of muscles; to get an edge on predicting enemy movements for dodging, and even finding an opening to strike at a much quicker pace.

Selfless State is a type of Zen state, an even rarer ability and even more crucial to defeating Akaza. That’s because part of the reason Akaza’s attacks were so relentlessly fast and accurate was because he could detect what’s known as Fighting Spirit, a power-based presence that everyone gives off on some level — even babies.

If you try to think of Fighting Spirit as the Demon Slayer version of Ki Sense in the Dragon Ball franchise, which lets others sense power levels, life force, and such, you wouldn’t be far off. It is also filled with emotive elements like bloodlust, anger, hatred, and the general will to fight.

Self State essentially allows users like Tanjiro to remove all emotion and enter a tranquil sense of being, one that is only pure focus. Because Self State is so rare, with general knowledge of it surrounded in mystery, Akaza never encountered a human devoid of Fighting Spirit once in his hundreds of years alive.

With that, Akaza couldn’t see Tanjiro coming, something he'd never dealth with before this point. Even when Tanjiro gave himself away, his lack of Fighting Spirit made Akaza unable to predict where his attack was coming from, and his head was sliced clean off as a result.

The scene was referenced in by Tanjiro voice actor, Zach Aguilar, during a chat with RadioTimes.com alongside Johnny Bosch. “I can see the moments in the theatre, like, where people will freak out, like, ‘oh, no way!'”, Aguilar said.

Surprisingly, though, Akaza’s indomitable will made him able to fight on without his head, and even nearly regenerate as easily as he had done with his arms earlier in the battle. However, before he could, he finally remembered his former life as a human named Hakuji and how he came to be a demon in the first place.

Akaza finally recollected how the unjust murders of his fiancée Koyuki, and her father Keizo — who also originally taught Hakuji his Soryu fighting style — caused him to go on a blood-soaked rampage in revenge. After killing the dozens of members of the rival dojo who murdered Koyuki and Keizo, Muzan Kibutsuji soon happened upon Hakuji/Akaza and transformed him into the demon we know.

After regaining his human memories, Akaza’s guilt and desire to be with his loved ones were too much to bear. So, he fatally wounded himself with a flurry of punches before he could regenerate the rest of his head, and died peacefully whilst smiling at Tanjiro — seemingly in gratitude for reuniting him with his family.

As for Tanjiro and Giyu, both ended the battle alive, though they did find themselves collapsing from exhaustion as Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle came to a close.

What happened to Shinobu, Doma, and Kanao?

Poison Hashira Shinobu Kocho’s fight against Doma, Upper Rank Demon Two, ended on a slightly more tragic note.

Although it first seemed like the petite swordswoman could overcome her disadvantage in height and strength by utilising her incredible speed and variety of poisons, Doma — the versatile head of the Eternal Paradise Faith cult – was able to quickly break down and become resistant to every concoction she might inject him with.

In a final attempt to avenge her sister Kanae’s death at Doma’s hands, Shinobu lunged with another variety of poison directly into Doma’s neck, from which he unfortunately recovered. He then killed Shinobu and broke her back.

In a cruel twist of fate, Kanao, Shinobu’s adopted little sister and apprentice, walked in on the two just as Doma was absorbing her mentor’s body — which is a more efficient method of eating humans used by Doma in the midst of battle.

There was some shifting back and forth between different fights, but Kanao’s and Doma’s was the only one to end on a cliffhanger. As the credits on Infinity Castle roll, we see the younger Demon Slayer tired and cut up with Doma still bragging, and their fate left up in the air.

What happened to Kanao, Doma & Inosuke in the manga after the Infinity Castle movie?

**Contains spoilers for the Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba manga**

In the manga (which will also inspire the upcoming Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle part 2), Kanao actually impresses Doma with speed and strength that might actually make her more powerful than her dead master.

Inosuke, who we saw towards the end of the Infinity Castle movie running around killing lesser demons, crashes in and joins the fight against Doma.

The Beast Breathing style Demon Slayer is not only enraged at Doma for the death of Shinobu, but that of his mother Kotoha, too. It turns out that both her and an infant Inosuke were taken in by the Eternal Paradise Faith cult, before Kotoha realised Doma was devouring followers and tried to escape with her son.

Unfortunately, she was caught, killed, and eaten shortly after she dropped Inosuke off a cliff in hopes he would survive. Which he did indeed, and went on to be raised by boars. Inosuke, while grateful he can now remember his mother and his true origins, still vows to kill Doma for what he’s done.

Doma executes some crafty tricks and tries to escape, but is soon stopped in his tracks thanks to a final secret weapon from Shinobu: the special poison she had coursing through her own body, which Doma absorbed without realising.

This was secretly Shinobu’s plan the entire time. Over the course of a year, with the help of Lady Tamayao, Shinobu had been steadily filling her body with wisteria flower poison.

Her sword also contained the deadly poison, but only 50ml, which Doma could easily resist.

By allowing herself to be absorbed, however, Doma gets hit with an amount of Wisteria poison worth Shinobu’s entire body weight of 37kg — over 70 times the lethal dosage.

Already causing his body to melt and take away his energy, Shinobu’s secret Hail Mary gave Kanao and Inosuke the advantage they both needed to behead Upper Rank Two at last. They not only avenge Shinobu, but her sister Kanae, Inosuke’s mother, and all the other innocents Doma killed over the years, too.

What happened to Zenitsu & Kaigaku?

Out of all the big fights that took place during the Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle movie, Zenitsu vs Kaigaku was the most straightforward and the most epic the blonde-haired swordsman has ever been.

Throughout the entire film, Zenitsu had shed his usually cowardly persona for one that’s more straight-talking, focused, and angry. That’s because of the letter Zenitsu received toward the end of the Hashira Training Arc in Demon Slayer season 4. It told him that not only did his former fellow Thunder Breathing student Kaiguku defect to become a demon, but their master — former Thunder Hashira, Jigoro Kuwajima — recently committed suicide by seppuku out of pure shame.

Enraged, Zenitsu fought Kaigaku in a battle of Thunder Breathing for revenge. Known for only being able to perform the first of Thunder Breathing’s six forms, Kaiguku underestimated Zenitsu throughout the entire clash.

This was also partly due to the new Upper Rank Six demon’s long-standing inferiority complex, stemming from the fact that Kaigaku could ironically only use all Thunder Breathing forms other than the first — originally causing Jigoro to name both him and Zenitsu as shared successors to the fighting style, instead of being the sole heir.

Much like Akaza against Tanjiro, Kaiguku's underestimation of his opponent was his undoing. At a moment he least expected, Zenitsu revealed a secret seventh form of Thunder Breathing he invented himself: Flaming Thunder God.

Zenitsu beheaded Kaigaku with ease and avenged their master before quickly collapsing from exhaustion and the wounds Kaigaku had delivered. Zenitsu also unknowingly delivered justice for the deaths of Gyomei's adopted children, as it was revealed in Demon Slayer season 4 that a human Kaigaku gave up their locations to a demon in order to save himself.

Some would say that Zenitsu being able to defeat an Upper Rank demon so effortlessly compared to other fights shown in the anime looks far-fetched, since Gyutaro and Daki from season 2 were the previous Upper Rank 6 — and left Sound Hashira Tengen, Tanjiro, Inosuke, and Zenitsu himself with far worse injuries.

On the other hand, Yushiro, who arrives to give aid to Zenitsu, notes that Kaiguku was far weaker due to him being a relatively new demon who was still getting used to his abilities. If facing Kaigaku alone as he did even a year later, it’s far more likely that Zenitsu would’ve been quickly defeated instead.

What happened to Muzan Kibutsuji & Lady Tamayao?

After being caught off-guard by Kubayashiki’s explosion and Lady Tamayao’s poisonous attack, Muzan escaped deep within the Infinity Castle and sealed himself off in a fleshy cocoon while he recuperates. With Lady Tamayao also attached and getting slowly absorbed, Muzan is preparing for the battle ahead and eager to kill the remaining Demon Slayers once and for all.

Based on what we know about the manga, though, we predict this won’t happen until Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle part 3, since there’s another big battle to come in part 2 first.

Who will the other Hashira fight in Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle part 2?

**Contains Spoilers for the Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba manga**

Anything we saw of the other Demon Slayers and Hashira — like Gyomei, Muichiro, Mitsuri, and Obanai — was just them making their way through the Infinity Castle, killing lower-level demons.

With Tanjiro, Giyu, Kanao, Inosuke, and Zenitsu exhausted after the fight with Doma is concluded, this movie's ending hints that Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle part 2 will follow the manga once again by pitting some of the other warriors against the biggest remaining demon: Upper Rank One, Kokushibo.

Despite going against Gyomei, Sanemi, Shinazugawa, and Muichiro all at once, we know the upcoming battle against Kokushibi will be even more of a nail-biter than it was in the manga — and will likely take up most of part 2.

This is quite a lengthy fight in the manga as well. So, after what we believe will be the early portions of the Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle sequel showing Doma’s demise at the hands of Inosuke and Kanao, it looks like almost all of part 2 will be Kokushibo’s battle against the Demon Slayer Corps, followed by Muzan’s resurgence in part 3.

We still have no release date or window for Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle part 2, so now, the long countdown begins.

Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle part 1 is in UK cinemas from 12th September.

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