Voice actor Zach Aguilar has previewed emotional moments coming in the final Demon Slayer films after Infinity Castle became the fifth highest-grossing film of the year
Demon Slayer star Zach Aguilar has hinted at whether the popular anime, distributed by Crunchyroll in the UK and globally, might extend beyond the two films currently in development. The acclaimed Japanese animation series, adapted from Koyoharu Gotouge’s manga, launched in 2019 and has since become one of the most beloved franchises around the world, even making its mark on cinema screens.
Aguilar provides the English voice for protagonist Tanjiro Kamado, an aspiring demon slayer who sets out on a dangerous quest to rescue his younger sister after she’s transformed into a demon. The franchise’s most recent instalment, Infinity Castle, is a blockbuster cinematic experience that has climbed to become the fifth biggest-earning film globally this year, raking in an impressive $780 million (£594m).
Whilst two additional films are currently being produced to conclude the original manga’s storyline, Aguilar has discussed the possibility of the series continuing beyond that point in an exclusive interview with Reach, reports the Express. “I can’t say too much about the future,” he revealed. “[There’s] a couple more films left still for the series as a whole.
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“There are a lot of awesome fight scenes, because I am a manga reader I’ve read the entire manga and I love the story. It’s a beautiful story. It just blew my mind reading it. I mean I cried, you know? I cried multiple times reading through the manga.”
In the gripping two-and-a-half-hour film, Tanjiro and his companions become trapped in the perpetual temporal prison called the Infinity Castle whilst pursuing the Demon King, Muzan Kibutsuji.
“Watching it animated now, especially with [animation studio] Ufotable doing such a mind-blowing job on the animation… it has been adapted amazingly well,” Aguilar continued.
“So I think the people who have read the manga, like me, will really enjoy everything that they’ve done, not only with this film Infinity Castle, but I’m going to bet moving forward with the other two movies Ufotable’s going to continue to crush it with their adaptation of the manga into films. It’s just going to be beautiful.”
Teasing an emotional journey in the forthcoming two instalments, he added: “There’s so many good moments coming up, moments with Tanjiro. Towards the very end I do have a favourite moment that I can’t really speak of, but it is just awesome, and I’m excited to be able to portray those crazy emotional scenes as the series comes to an end.”
The Infinity Castle storyline will conclude within the trilogy, and there’s speculation that the final arc, Sunrise Countdown, may also feature in the concluding film. Nevertheless, fans remain uncertain about which events will appear in which instalment.
“From what I believe, just reading the manga and whatnot that’s the end of the story, I think it kind of makes sense for that, to kind of be the cherry on top,” Aguilar said. “But I mean, who knows really with anime?”
Regarding what lies ahead for the franchise, there’s no fresh source material left to draw from as the original manga series wrapped up in 2020. Despite this, Aguilar remains optimistic about potential opportunities.
“If they ever do anything else with my character, whatever it is, whether it’s some kind of flashback or something that wasn’t shown, obviously I would love to be a part of it,” he said.
“This franchise has been absolutely incredible and they’ve done a phenomenal job with it. I’m super thankful… this is one of those things you never forget. One day I’ll tell my kids about this show.”
At present, Infinity Castle can only be viewed in cinemas, though it’s anticipated that the film will become available on the anime streaming platform Crunchyroll in the near future.
Demon Slayer is available to stream on Crunchyroll.
