Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Infinity Castle Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Infinity Castle

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Now Playing: Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Infinity Castle

Akaza’s Return

Images c/o Columbia Pictures Philippines

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Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Infinity Castle was exhilarating! It’s the first of three feature films that will cover the final arc of the beloved title. 

It starts with a clever version of “Previously On…” by keeping things relatively fresh while still catching audiences up with what happened the last time we saw these characters. 

The final moments of the last season of the anime was re-contextualized a little bit by giving us new information on what transpired. It then quickly transitions to catching us up on what’s happening with the main players of the Demon Slayer Corp as they free fall inside the Infinity Castle.

From there, the action rose steadily with a healthy dose of emotional and funny moments in between. 

Breathtaking action

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Infinity Castle

The anime has time and again proven that its major fights are absolute visual spectacles. And while that’s the case, there’s always a little bit of worry on my part wondering how they’re gonna top or match everything they’ve done so far. 

It’s safe to say that Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Infinity Castle is not at all lacking in this department. The feature film features three major fights. In terms of eye-pleasing action sequences, the film absolutely delivered. 

I’m sure that, like myself, many are anticipating how Zenitsu’s fight would be animated. I can say this was truly one of the most hyped moments of the film. The audience in my screening was audibly gasping and applauding on several moments of the fight. 

All of the major encounters against the Upper Rank Demons had extra baggage between the characters. It added weight to the battles which could have been dismissed as nothing but visual candy. But make no mistake, the entire film is definitely a feast for the eyes. It just happened to be more than that. 

Healthy dose of humor and heart wrenching moment

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Infinity Castle

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Infinity Castle isn’t all action – and it’s all the better for it. There’s a healthy dose of comedic moments to break the moments of tension. 

However, the real other main ingredient are the emotional backstory moments that give context and add plenty of weight to all the battles. 

Every single main battle in the film has history behind it. Every match had elements of revenge and anguish that made each fight all the more interesting. 

The main encounter had series protagonist Tanjiro shine while fighting alongside the Giyu, who introduced him to the Demon Slayer Corp. They were up against Demon Upper Rank 3 Akaza who most will remember for being the one responsible for the demise of Fire Hashira Rengoku. 

Jarring pacing?

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Infinity Castle

The film was full of action and hype moments but it stalled a bit because of one particular flashback story. I thought that hurt the pacing a little bit. 

If there’s anything that some Demon Slayer fans might not like, it’s this. Especially if you’re there fully expecting two and a half hours of pure hype moments. 

I did feel that this backstory went on for a little too long and that it could have been handled with more brevity. However, the emotional payoff somehow made up for what might be a jarring switch in momentum. 

Should you watch Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Infinity Castle?

If you’re a Demon Slayer fan, this is a no-brainer must-watch. Infinity Castle is the homestretch of the franchise. It is what the whole story has been building up to. Granted, this is just the first part. 

There’s plenty of shocking, awe-inspiring, and gut-wrenching moments – especially if you’re anime-only. The film isn’t edge-to-edge action. Instead, it’s a dose of everything we’ve known and loved from the series so far turned up to eleven.

All told, it’s one hell of an experience and one that will make you wish they just dropped the Infinity Castle trilogy all at once. 


Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Infinity Castle arrives in Philippine Cinemas on August 20.
In the US, the film will have a limited general screening on September 9 for Crunchyroll subscribers. Genral release is on September 12.

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1st teaser trailer, details for Death Stranding Isolations series unveiled

Animated series to debut on Hulu on Disney Plus

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A new teaser trailer for the upcoming Death Stranding Isolations series on Hulu on Disney+ has been revealed.

The upcoming animated series is set to debut in 2027. It is set in the world of Death Stranding immediately after the game’s protagonist Sam reconnects the continent of North America via the Chiral Network.

The series will tell a completely new story separate from that of the video games. The narrative will focus on a young man and woman as they set off on an adventure.

As America is reborn from the ashes, the renewed connections that bind it together bring about new and unforeseen consequences.

In this tumultuous new landscape, there are some who walk a different path to the one chosen by Sam and his Bridges comrades.

One is a wise old man who connects people through a method that defies all reckoning. There is also a female soldier ensnared in a cycle of war and destruction.

Moreover, there is a boy who seethes with rage at the absurdity of his life, and a girl who chose to sever all ties with the outside world. Fate has other plans for her, however, and chance encounters see her launched headfirst into a world she does not recognize.

Death Stranding Isolations is written by Tow Ubukata (Activator, Bone Ash, Project Darkness) and directed by Takayuki Sano (Jujutsu Kaisen 0 – The Movie, Attack on Titan The Final Season).

The series is animated by E&H production (NINJA KAMUI, BULLET/BULLET, the Magic Knight Rayearth Television series 2026) with original character design by Ilya Kuvshinov (Ghost in the Shell: SAC_2045, The Wonderland).

The series is executive produced by Hideo Kojima and produced by KOJIMA PRODUCTIONS.

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Cyberpunk: Edgerunners 2 now streaming, Cyberpunk 2077 update coming

Edgerunners returns to Night City

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Cyberpunk: Edgerunners 2

Cyberpunk: Edgerunners 2 is now streaming on Netflix, with all 10 episodes available to watch. CD PROJEKT RED and animation studio TRIGGER have also announced a new update for Cyberpunk 2077, bringing content inspired by the anime to the game.

The Edgerunners 2 Update (Update 2.5) launches on October 22, 2026, for PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S. A Nintendo Switch 2 release will follow shortly.

Edgerunners returns with a new cast

Set in the world of Cyberpunk 2077, Cyberpunk: Edgerunners 2 tells a standalone story through an entirely new cast of characters. The series follows a veteran edgerunner, a young cinephile, a chrome-obsessed delinquent, and a Snake Nation netrunner as their stories explore vengeance and redemption in Night City.

Director Kai Ikarashi leads the new installment, with Kanno Ichigo serving as lead character designer. Masahiko Otsuka returns as a collaborator, while Bartosz Sztybor serves as showrunner, story writer, and producer.

Both Cyberpunk: Edgerunners and Cyberpunk: Edgerunners 2 are available exclusively on Netflix.

Cyberpunk 2077 gets a new update

CD PROJEKT RED announced the Edgerunners 2 Update alongside the anime’s premiere on October 20. The free update will introduce new items and features to Cyberpunk 2077, including content inspired by the new series.

The update launches on October 22 for PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S. CD PROJEKT RED has yet to announce the Nintendo Switch 2 release date beyond confirming that it will follow shortly.

The studio will reveal more details during a special episode of REDstreams on October 21. The broadcast will air on Twitch, YouTube, and Steam, with official patch notes scheduled for release on the same day.

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Now Playing: Clayface

Finally, a supervillain story worth watching.

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The thing about supervillain movies is that they rarely let their villain be a villain. From Venom to Kraven the Hunter, they’re contrarian dreck that reframe a mass murderer as a “misunderstood anti-hero” who’s overshadowed by a corny do-gooder. Boo hoo. Thankfully, Clayface got the memo to not do that, even if it came pretty close.

Clayface reimagines how rising actor Matt Hagen becomes one of Batman’s most (literally) monstrous enemies. Here, Matt is horribly disfigured by gangsters then abandoned by his friends. He finds hope in Dr. Caitlyn Corr’s genetic experiments, but loses his body, mind and soul as her miracle cure enables his worst impulses.

Basically, Clayface is everything Joker failed to be. It’s a sympathetic origin story for a twisted Batman villain, but it doesn’t make excuses for them. If Joker scapegoats Arthur Fleck’s madness and anarchy on the nebulous enemy that is Society the way an aimlessly rebellious teenager would, Clayface throws all the blame and consequences on Matt — and Matt alone.

I like how Matt’s story is a tragedy of his own making. He wasn’t always evil, and he really was wronged by scum. Worse, his identity is cracking, which is a bit of psychological torment that I wish the movie dwelled on more. And yet, he always had a way out. He just keeps choosing the cruelest and greediest options instead.

This is the kind of agency most supervillain movies — or any movie about a juvenile anti-hero fighting The System, really — lack, but Clayface has an abundance of. There was a moment I thought that the movie would still side with Matt despite everything he’s done, only for him to cross a line. In the end, he can only blame himself when he loses everything and everyone.

However, I was let down by Clayface’s violence. There’s blood and guts, alright, but they’re too inconsistent. For every morbidly satisfying disemboweling or close-up of a nasty scarring, there’s a moment where the movie cuts away from these too early. I lost count of how many times Clayface jumped to the next scene before really letting blades sink into flesh, or how many of Matt’s kills were done offscreen. 

Minus the pivotal deaths, the kills are also not as diverse as I’d hope from a killer powered by Play-Doh and imagination. It’s just variations of stabbing and bludgeoning. My issue isn’t a lack of brutality, but that this reluctance to push it further or just show it gives the well-built tension a lackluster payoff. A movie about superpowered revenge in one of fiction’s vilest hellholes should be more depraved and creative.

To be fair, this is more the fault of the movie’s constraints, not a lack of skill or thought. Effects cost time and money that Clayface clearly didn’t have a lot of. This would also explain why Matt is limited to identity theft not by molding himself, but via clever camera work. For what it’s worth, I see and respect the smart workarounds the movie found to deliver the dread. 

Still, I like Clayface. It’s the rare supervillain movie that’s self-aware and honest about its darkness. It humanizes its villain, but commits to their monstrosity while rejecting forced redemption. It’s also a grisly thriller that works on its own merits, yet complements DC Comics’ latest growing cinematic world. That said, Batman can’t arrive sooner to beat Matt’s melted face in.

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