Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Infinity Castle Staff on the Series’ Climax and Working as One

Hours ahead of a headlining Hall H panel at San Diego Comic-Con, the key creatives from the ufotable staff working on Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba — days into their very first trip to the United States — spoke on cinema color theory, the impact of bringing Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Infinity Castle to the big screen and how they're just happy to have finally tried an American hamburger. Crunchyroll News was fortunate enough to sit down with ufotable's Haruo Sotozaki, Director, and Yuichi Terao, Director of Photography and Finishing Director, to talk about the Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba global phenomenon and how their creative experiences have shaped the anime series, its first feature film, and now Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Infinity Castle . Thank you both for joining us today. It’s truly an honor. Could you each please introduce yourselves and your role in Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Infinity Castle ’s production? Haruo Sotozaki: My responsibilities as the Director mainly include storyboarding, checking anything that comes up from the other departments, making sure the genga (key animation), composition and the layout are good, and all of the characters' acting is the way it should be across all of the different cuts and scenes. Then, I assist and do some sakuga, some of the directing of the key frames afterwards, as well. Yuichi Terao: My role in Infinity Castle is the Director of Photography and Finishing Director. I have two roles, so the DP role is gathering all of these different materials that have been developed in different pipelines. So the character animation, backgrounds, and 3D assets, after Sotozaki-san has checked them and approved them of course, I then compose them onto a single screen. I would then composite all of this, adjusting anything from the color, the lighting, adding 3D effects on top like smoke or rain, all culminating into the look, feel and visual expression that we know Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba , making sure it aligns with the world's setting. My other role, the Finishing Director, is something that I've done for quite some time. In the post-production process, you would gather all of these materials that I mentioned, and then, before it goes out, I would check how it all comes together. There are several different sections in the animation production pipeline, given the scale of animation we're producing, so we'll have 20 or 30 different pipelines and types of materials that would all gather together to create the show you see on screen. Because all of these pipelines are slightly different, there's discovery along the process. For example, when gathering materials and putting it onto a screen for the first time, you'll realize certain things that you couldn't have predicted when you go into the process. Once I see the screen merge as one, that's when we can come up with new ideas and say, "I think we can improve the quality even more," so I'll talk to Sotozaki-san and we might come up with new approaches to create just the right visual expression we're looking for. Since the Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba anime first premiered in 2019, it has captivated fans around the world. Demon Slayer -Kimetsu no Yaiba- The Movie: Mugen Train even became the biggest-ever box office hit in Japan in 2020. For each of you, what has it meant to you to be part of sharing this story with the world? Sotozaki: I couldn't have predicted this massive phenomenon that Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba has become, and watching all of these moviegoers go to the movie theater in this day and age and see the film. That sight alone makes me really, really happy. I can definitely sense that the entire staff, all of the animation and production teams, are receptive to that passion and energy that the audiences bring. I think it's that energy that continues to empower us to make the next project, the next project, etc. Terao: First, I just want to say thank you to all of the readers who are reading our interview in this article, as well as the people who have supported the Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba project this far. Of course, thanks to Gotouge-sensei and the amazing manga that sensei has written, it has enabled us to do what we do on the animation side. It's this sequence of events that has happened in such a unique way, with all of the pieces converging onto this film, that makes what we do possible. I don't want to just make this a numbers game. I know people chase the big megahit, but we try to look beyond that to see the happy faces on different moviegoers, and watching them engaged with the story, that combination...to be able to continue making anime. For us, there's nothing greater. It’s hard to believe we're so close to seeing Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Infinity Castle in theaters. Is there a moment each of you is most excited for fans to finally be able to experience in this film? Without spoiling anything, of course. Sotozaki: Infinity Castle has been absolutely scaled up in this theatrical adaptation of the story, so we get to witness characters, all the action, with this amazing background. And, of course, all the drama between the demons and humans unfolds before our eyes, so there's gonna be a huge spectacle. Terao: I was just remembering an anecdote in an episode that really made me fall in love with the media of movies. It's called panorama, where people go into this almost cylindricle structure, and when you look around you, there's going to be 360 degrees of some kind of visual, other landscape, etc. Maybe the Alps, and that kind of immersion is almost the origin of filmmaking and, in a way, transporting people to a different world. The power of film can command that. In the Infinity Castle movie, when you're entering the castle, at a certain stage, the audience also feels as though they have teleported inside of it. To me, when you hit that moment, it's just amazing. For Sotozaki-san, after years of working on this story with the team at ufotable, what does it mean for you to be here at the beginning of the climax? Sotozaki: We were very fortunate in that we were able to work with the same team since the very first season. By working together for so long, you begin to understand which animators are better at perhaps action sequences or which are better at expressing the nuance of slice of life. In doing so, I can make the best possible assignments in how the animation is produced, and it helps me plan how the final imagery is going to come together. So, even taking Terao-san, the DP, or my 3D director, [Kazuki] Nishiwaki-san. By assigning them bigger roles and responsibilities, we almost have this shorthand communication where there's no need to micromanage or get very detailed notes because we have this trust and implicit communication, which I think is what helps transform the visual expression, and allows us to push the status quo even further each time. Because it's built on that foundation. For Terao-san, Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba is known for its incredible presentation. Are there any special elements you took into your creative process as Director of Photography on Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Infinity Castle ? Terao: There's a different approach to producing for TV versus film, and they both have their merits. One of the biggest differences, of course, is the size of the screen, the sound environment, as well as the length of the content that we're experiencing. If there are 20 minutes to tell your story? There are 20 minutes. If there are 60? There are 60, but there's a different emotional journey that audiences are going to be going through when experiencing it. In the same way, I believe there is a visual journey, where the timing at which you bring new visuals puts the audience on this path, and that is different in film. For example, in Infinity Castle , there are a lot of orange tones, and that leaves a strong impression because of the nature of the color. If the orange is too overpowering, then the drama between the characters might be harder for the audience to process, because they're processing so much color information. So, to take whatever drama is happening on the screen throughout the screenplay, and then match it with the right visual journey and the timing of when we tweak things like color or tone, that arc in film is different from TV. We heard that this is your first time visiting the United States as a team! Is there an experience or food you’re each hoping to have while you’re here? Sotozaki: Well, fortunately, I already got to do a lot of those during this trip. For example, checking out comic books, anime and manga shops. We went to Balboa Park together, and I got to eat a hamburger, which, of course, was a very different size scale to hamburgers in Japan, but I can say that it was very delicious, nonetheless. Terao: I'm very much looking forward to the panel that I'm going to be sharing with Natsuki Hanae-san, but at the same time, Hanae-san showed me photos of him at the zoo, and there's this safari landscape, which is something I would love to bring my kids and come back to visit. At the same time, I definitely feel this unique kind of energy coming from Comic-Con. And if time allowed, I wish I could spend more time and immerse myself in this celebration of all things comics, anime, and manga. We’re sitting here just a couple of hours before the Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Infinity Castle Hall H panel at San Diego Comic-Con. Before we part, do each of you have a special message for fans around the world as we prepare for this next chapter? Sotozaki: I absolutely hope that the American moviegoing audience will have the opportunity to go to theaters and experience Infinity Castle on the big screen. Terao: I believe there is something to be said about new experiences, and how hard those are to come by nowadays, and that's something that's very, very precious in the space of entertainment, and the Infinity Castle movie, there's a lot of spectacle there in imagery that we've never seen before on the big screen. I hope that all of the moviegoing audiences can really feel that, and I think there's something in there for everyone to be able to experience that feels fresh. Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Infinity Castle comes to theaters around the world beginning this August and in the United States and Canada starting September 12 . Stay tuned to Crunchyroll News for the latest on the film!

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