Channing Tatum and Rebecca Wang have joined the English dub cast for the upcoming Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Infinity Castle arc.
Crunchyroll and Aniplex announced the news today, confirming the two stars will lend their voice talents to the upcoming movie continuation alongside returning cast members, including Zach Aguilar as Tanjiro Kamado, Abby Trott as Nezuko Kamado, Aleks Le as Zenitsu Agatsuma, and Bryce Papenbrook as Inosuke Hashibira.
Tatum (Deadpool and Wolverine) will provide English voice work for Keizo, with Wang (Blue Eye Samurai, Solo Leveling) tapped to play Koyuki.
(TOP) Channing Tatum. Photo by Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images for CinemaCon. (BOTTOM) Rebecca Wang. Image provided by Crunchyroll and Aniplex.
Crunchyroll and Aniplex released a statement welcoming Demon Slayer veterans and newcomers to the highly anticipated – and action-packed – Infinity Castle arc. It also includes confirmation that Tatum is already a fan of the anime thanks to his time spent watching the show with his daughter.
“We are thrilled to welcome back the beloved English voice cast reprising their roles for Infinity Castle,” Executive Vice President of Global Commerce Mitchel Berger said. “Their iconic voices have greatly contributed to the admiration of the characters and popularity of the franchise. And, we are excited to welcome Channing Tatum, who discovered his love of Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba and anime through watching the series with his daughter, along with Rebecca Wang as the English voices of Keizo and Koyuki.”
Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba began its manga run in 2016 and was created by Koyoharu Gotouge. It was adapted into an anime series by animation studio Ufotable in 2019 and quickly exploded into a mainstream success, with multiple seasons and video game spinoffs arriving in the years since. Demon Slayer Season 4, the show’s latest batch of episodes, aired its cliffhanger finale last summer.
Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Infinity Castle will unfold the story’s next major arc in the form of three full-fledged movies. The first chapter of this three-film event was directed by Haruo Sotozaki and released in Japan last month. Moviegoers can expect Crunchyroll and Sony Pictures Entertainment to bring it to theaters in the United States and Canada starting next month, September 12.
“As the Demon Slayer Corps members and Hashira engaged in a group strength training program, the Hashira Training, in preparation for the forthcoming battle against the demons, Muzan Kibutsuji appears at the Ubuyashiki Mansion,” a summary for Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Infinity Castle says. “With the head of the Demon Corps in danger, Tanjiro and the Hashira rush to the headquarters but are plunged into a deep descent to a mysterious space by the hands of Muzan Kibutsuji.
“The destination of where Tanjiro and Demon Slayer Corps have fallen is the demons’ stronghold – the Infinity Castle. And so, the battleground is set as the final battle between the Demon Slayer Corps and the demons ignites.”
The 10 Best Demon Slayer Moments
These are the most kick-ass, impassioned, empathic, horrific, fist-bumping cool moments in the Demon Slayer anime franchise so far!
10. Muzan’s First Appearance A hero’s journey is only as good as its villain, and thankfully Demon Slayer has a villain to match its young hero, an absolute monster that is as iconic and frightening as he is incredibly stylish and well-dressed. Good villains make good first impressions, and Muzan’s first appearance was the perfect introduction to him. While Tanjiro may have been expecting a giant demonic monster to be the leader and progenitor of all demons, we first see Muzan in the middle of a busy street in a big city, walking normally among humans — and walking side-by-side with a woman and a child. Rather than try to kill or attack Tanjiro, Muzan appears composed, polite and very civilized. Even if we see him kill people mercilessly not five minutes after, our first look at Muzan made it clear he is a much more dangerous and enigmatic figure than our hero imagined. It also set him up to be one of the most fascinating anime villains in recent years.
9. Nezuko Proves She Won’t Hurt Humans The Hashira may be the greatest warriors in the Demon Slayer universe, but they can also be major pricks, as Sanemi the Wind Hashira repeatedly stabs Nezuko to bait her into attacking him so he can prove she’s dangerous and execute her. However, much to his surprise and disappointment, Nezuko is stronger than that and resists the urge to feed on human flesh, resorting to staying inside her box to sleep the pain way. This action leads to her being accepted by the other Hashira. By the time of the film Mugen Train, Rengoku declares her to be a Demon Slayer in her own right.
8. The Kid Assassin Decides Not to Kill Tanjiro’s Soul In Mugen Train, the demon Enmu sends a group of children to assassinate our main heroes by destroying the personifications of their souls. While the one sent to kill Tanjiro has no problem finding his soul, he stops before acting. We see that Tanjiro’s soul literally invites the assassin in and guides him to the center of Tanjiro’s being. This act of complete selflessness moves the assassin to tears, as he decides not to go along with his plan, no matter the consequences.
7. Tanjiro Has to Kill Himself Over and Over Many movies and TV shows follow the trope of having the characters trapped in a vision of their own deepest desires, with them ultimately having to renounce their biggest wish in order to return to reality. And Mugen Train certainly makes that a painful choice for Tanjiro. After an emotionally devastating dream in which he finds his family still alive and realizing he has to give that up to return to the real world, Tanjiro literally decapitates himself to wake up. In one of the most shocking sequences in an already shocking movie, Tanjiro cuts off his own head over and over to free himself from the dreams the demon Enmu puts him in. This leads to a nail-biting moment of tension as Tanjiro is unable to distinguish dream from reality and almost kills himself for real.
6. Nezuko Cries When Tanjiro First Tries to Save Her This is the moment that sets Demon Slayer apart from most shonen anime, the moment that we first realize demons can still retain some humanity and that Nezuko is special despite her new flesh-eating ways. When Nezuko turns into a demon after her family is slaughtered, her first instinct is to try and devour her brother Tanjiro for sustenance, as the transformation drained a lot of her energy. But it quickly becomes apparent that Nezuko is fighting her instinct, as she starts shedding tears over Tanjiro. It is our first hint that there is something special about her, and that the show will not treat demons as simple monsters.
5. Zenitsu Saves Nezuko From Inosuke Even after we see him use Thunder Breathing for the first time, the most heroic thing Zenitsu does in the first few episodes we see him in is sacrifice himself to save Nezuko from Inosuke, who declares there is a demon inside Nezuko’s box and it must die. Zenitsu has no reason to want to protect the box, let alone stand in front of it, sacrificing himself to save it. As Inosuke starts beating the living hell out of Zenitsu, we realize he was fully aware that a demon was in the box, but because he trusted Tanjiro’s sweet and caring demeanor, he would protect it — showing that he too is capable of being a hero.
4. Tanjiro Slices the Boulder The boulder episode depicts many things that Demon Slayer does well compared to other shonen anime, like compressing an entire training arc into just one episode, but mostly it’s a testament to the show’s dedication to be as much about emotions as it is about cool fights. After being tasked with slicing a boulder using a sword, Tanjiro befriends two kids and former pupils of his master, Sabito and Makomo. After the kids teach him how to master Water Breathing, Tanjiro is able to slice the boulder, and immediately realizes that the boulder was the physical representation of Sabito, who can now rest in peace. It’s a small moment, but one that shows how much Tanjiro cares about people, and how the show cares so much about humanity and its characters that it immediately undercuts its main hero’s triumphantly completing his training with such a devastating and poignant moment.
3. Zenitsu Becomes Useful for Once Zenitsu wasn’t taken seriously for most of Demon Slayer, a frail kid who seemed scared by absolutely everything and was apparently unable to do much aside from creep over Tanjiro’s sister. Sure, we had seen him use his absurdly powerful Thunderclap and Flash form once before, but it is during his fight against the Spider Brother that we truly get that he is no joke and can actually be as powerful as any other slayer. Indeed, this scene showcases the success of Demon Slayer as an adaptation, as the show takes a relatively short and visually simple scene and turns it into a grandiose and almost operatic moment of character development for Zenitsu. Likewise, the sequence is a great example of the horror elements of Demon Slayer, with the dozens of creepy spider babies crawling all around Zenitsu.
2. Rengoku Fights the Demon Akaza Not only is this a thrilling fight scene that shows the incredible talent of the animators at Studio Ufotable, but it’s also a marvelous piece of storytelling. After all, how many movies can move the audience to tears for a character they only just met? How many movies can do so mostly through fight scenes? The emotional gut-punch of seeing Rengoku not only go down fighting, but with a smile as he promises that no one will die on his watch, is accentuated by Satoshi Hino’s powerful and memorable performance as the character. Hino adds enough gravitas and warmth to instantly make Rengoku iconic and likable in a short amount of screen time. Really, who can’t love a guy whose ultimate move is literally just his name?
1. Nezuko and Tanjiro Defeat Rui Was there any other choice? This is the scene that catapulted Demon Slayer from being another shonen anime to becoming the anime phenomenon of 2019, the moment that the show became a trending topic on Twitter and broke into the mainstream. And with good reason too. It is a remarkable achievement of animation. The gorgeous CG by Ufotable is so realistic it almost resembles rotoscope, while the fluid, almost rhythmic movement flows like the water of Tanjiro’s preferred breathing method. Still, the moment would not work as well as it does without the effective pull at the heartstrings, as not only does Tanjiro get to have his next tier power-up, but Nezuko also gets to show her Blood Demon Art for the first time and save her brother, all while Nami Nakagawa sings the perfectly fitting “Kamado Tanjiro no Uta.” The climax of Episode 19 is the perfect recipe for a moment that demonstrates everything that makes Demon Slayer a special show. It has stunning animation and badass fight scenes, yes, but it also knows that the action is in service of this intimate story of two siblings.
In 2020, fans were treated to Demon Slayer the Movie: Mugen Train, a theatrical follow-up that picks up where Tanjiro, Zenitsu, and Inosuke’s story leaves off in Season 1 while also focusing on the Flame Hashira, Kyojuro Rengoku, and Twelve Kizuki member Akaza. Crunchyroll and Aniplex’s statement adds that the film currently holds records as the highest-grossing Japanese anime movie ever and the highest-grossing Japanese film at the global box office.
If Mugen Train is anything to go off of, each Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Infinity Castle movie will be a force to be reckoned with as they come to theaters in the next few years. While we wait to learn more about Tatum as Keizo and Wang as Koyuki, and as Ufotable nails down more specific release plans for future Demon Slayer content, you can read our Demon Slayer Season 4 review. You can also see how we felt about Mugen Train in our 7/10 review.
Tatum photo by Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images for CinemaCon.
Michael Cripe is a freelance writer with IGN. He’s best known for his work at sites like The Pitch, The Escapist, and OnlySP. Be sure to give him a follow on Bluesky (@mikecripe.bsky.social) and Twitter (@MikeCripe).
