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. "Infinity Castle Arc" depicts the final battle between Tanjiro Kamado and the Demon Slaying Corps and the demons led by Muzan Kibutsuji . Voice actor Natsuki Hanae , who has been playing the protagonist Tanjiro Kamado since " Tanjiro Kamado, Unwavering Resolve Arc ," which began airing in April 2019, said he feels that "Chapter 1: Akaza Returns" contains "lines and expressions that have never been seen before." We spoke to him about the behind-the-scenes recording, which he described as "quite tense."
◇ Recording with Akira Ishida and Takahiro Sakurai: "I have to hang in there so I don't lose"
"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, back into a human after she was transformed into a demon. The original manga was serialized in Shueisha's Weekly Shonen Jump 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 "Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba - Mugen Train," released in October 2020, attracted over 28.97 million domestic viewers and grossed 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 "Infinity Castle Arc" is a trilogy.
In "Chapter 1: Akaza Returns," Tanjiro and Giyu Tomioka face off against Akaza, Upper Rank Three of the Twelve Kizuki. Akaza is also the enemy who defeated Kyojuro Rengoku , the Flame Pillar, in the " Mugen Train ." Hanae said of Akaza, "First of all, his entrance scene was amazing. It was a very powerful scene. He's an enemy to Tanjiro, but he's so cool that for some reason I felt happy when he appeared."
He recorded the film with Takahiro Sakurai, who plays Giyuu, and Akira Ishida, who plays Akaza, and reflected, "They are truly wonderful actors whom I respect, so I was very happy to be able to work with them this time."
"Rather than thinking alone, 'What should I do?', I listened to Ishida-san's voice acting and responded to it, and the emotions came out naturally. Ishida-san and Sakurai-san acted with a really good tone, even during the test recording, so I was able to record with the feeling that I had to hang on to them so as not to be outdone."
◇Tanjiro's compassionate kindness
This time, Akaza's past is also depicted, and he said, "When I read the original work, I inevitably empathize with him, but I don't know Tanjiro, so I steeled my heart and took on the challenge head-on."
"Even if Tanjiro has a sad past as a demon, if what he is doing now is wrong, I think he is the kind of person who will reject it. That being said, he is also the kind of person who wants to be there for what happened in the past. What I have always liked about Tanjiro is that he doesn't think in terms of whether something is bad because he is a demon or good because he is human."
He said that one of the difficult parts of playing Tanjiro is finding the balance between his anger and mercy.
"Tanjiro has a kind of quiet anger, or rather, an emotion that wells up from the depths of his stomach, but at the same time, he also has the compassion to properly correct Akaza by saying, 'That's not right,' so I discovered that it was difficult to balance that expression this time. Tanjiro's honest feelings come out in his lines, so it wasn't particularly difficult to act, but I did feel that it was difficult to figure out how to raise the resolution of that."
I want to see the new image of Tanjiro that Hanae-san has portrayed in "Chapter 1: Akaza Returns" and the fierce battles burned into my memory.
*The correct spelling of "Ne" in Nezuko's name is "Ne + 爾". *The correct spelling of "Tsuji" in Muzan Kibutsuji is a single dot. *The correct spelling of "Ren" in Kyojuro Rengoku's name is "Ka + Higashi".
