The new theatrical version of the anime " Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Yaiba" based on the popular manga by Koyoharu Gotouge, " Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba: Kimetsu no Yaiba the Movie: Infinity Castle Arc Chapter 1: Akaza Returns," was released on July 18th. The "Infinity Castle Arc" depicts the final battle between the Demon Slaying Corps and the demons led by Muzan Kibutsuji . Voice actor Hiro Shimono , who has been playing Zenitsu Agatsuma since " Tanjiro Kamado, Unwavering Resolve Arc ," which began airing in April 2019, said he has undergone a process of trial and error in order to play Zenitsu. We asked him about the changes in his acting so far and his thoughts on the " Infinity Castle Arc ."
◇The Battle of the Drum Mansion is a “Zenitsu Tutorial” and a fateful collaboration with Chiba Shigeru
Shimono has been playing the role of Zenitsu Agatsuma for about six years since " Tanjiro Kamado, Unwavering Resolve Arc ." When he first took part in the recording of " Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba: Kimetsu no Yaiba," he felt like he had to "put his all into it."
"The first time I played Zenitsu was during the recording of the teaser PV, before the Demon Slaying Corps' final selection, which is when he first appears in the TV anime. I acted thinking, 'This is how I did it at the audition,' and the staff told me to 'make it more rowdy,' so I acted thinking, 'Huh, more than this?' and vaguely thought, 'I guess this will be the base.' A while later, Zenitsu finally appeared, and it was in episode 11 that he made his full appearance. Although he did appear during that time, when I got to know the atmosphere of the dubbing for ' Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba' again, I thought, 'I have to put my all into this.'"
He felt he had finally grasped the role of Zenitsu during the battle at the Drum Mansion in "Tanjiro Kamado, Unwavering Resolve Arc." This was the battle in which Zenitsu showed various expressions, such as screaming and crying, and first demonstrated his Thunder Breathing, First Form: Bolt-Up Flash.
"I think of Tsuzumiyashiki as a tutorial for Zenitsu Agatsuma. It's the first one that's packed with everything you need to know, like what to do in this situation, what to do if that happens. However, around the time of the Mugen Train, I made a minor change, making the screams a little milder."
Shimono has gone through a lot of trial and error up until now, but initially, when playing Zenitsu, he looked to the acting of voice actor Shigeru Chiba as a reference. Chiba plays the master whom Zenitsu calls "Grandpa," and Shimono had been using Chiba's acting as a reference even before he knew that Chiba would be appearing. It was fate that he and Chiba ended up working together as master and disciple, and Shimono recalls, "He told me that our co-starring was 'just a coincidence,' but it was so 'coincidence' that I was happy."
"When I told Chiba-san that I used him as a reference for playing Zenitsu, who is constantly yelling, he was smiling like a real grandfather. In the anime, there is a scene where Zenitsu says, 'Grandpa!' and the grandpa replies in a hoarse voice, 'Call me Master!' and I really heard him say, 'That's right, that's what I wanted to imitate, that's what I wanted to hear.' He also massaged my shoulders and said, 'It must be hard to yell all the time,' so I think he is really like a grandpa."
◇ "Infinity Castle Arc" Chapter 1: A "special scene" for Zenitsu
Shimono said that there was a scene in the first chapter of "Infinity Castle Arc" that he had long wanted to act in, and that during the recording he was "more fully focused than ever before."
"Even before it was decided that the ' Infinity Castle Arc' would be made into an anime, I would read the original manga for Zenitsu's fight scenes and practice my lines out loud. And when filming for the ' Infinity Castle Arc' was just about to begin, I was again reading the original manga out loud, thinking, 'I wonder if it's like this, or that.'"
The recording itself was done only with the cast members who appeared in the battle, and the atmosphere was said to be quite different from previous recordings of "Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba."
"Until then, I wasn't very good with quiet spaces, so I would sometimes end up talking to people, but this time it was different. In terms of the level of concentration, it was something I'd never experienced before, and I thought it was a special scene for me. I feel like I was more fully focused than ever before."
At the end of the "Hashira Training Arc," Zenitsu looked more determined than ever. I can't wait to see the first chapter of the "Infinity Castle Arc," a battle that Shimono-san took on with all his concentration, on the big screen.
"Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba: Kimetsu no Yaiba" tells the story of Tanjiro Kamado, whose family was killed by demons, who joins the Demon Slaying Corps to turn his sister Nezuko, who has turned into a demon, back into a human. The original manga was serialized in "Weekly Shonen Jump" (Shueisha) from 2016 to 2020. The manga has sold over 220 million copies worldwide. The TV anime "Tanjiro Kamado, Unwavering Resolve Arc" aired from April to September 2019, and the movie version "Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba - Mugen Train" was released in October 2020, drawing a total of approximately 28.97 million domestic viewers and grossing approximately 40.4 billion yen, the highest box office revenue in Japan's history. The "Entertainment District Arc" aired from December 2021 to February 2022, the "Swordsmith Village Arc" from April to June 2023, and the "Hashira Training Arc" from May to June 2024. The "Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle Arc" is a trilogy.
*The correct spelling of "Tsuji" in Muzan Kibutsuji is a single dot. *The correct spelling of "Nezuko" is "Ne + 爾".
