The iconic first fight between Goku and Vegeta in Dragon Ball Z used it way back in 1989, but the use of computer animation makes shots like these far faster and easier to produce. Obviously, this is possible using drawn images and has been for decades now. Once the environment has been designed and rendered, the action can move around it with near-total freedom. It allows animators to incorporate the kind of big, panning shots with lots of changes in perspective as you see in Demon Slayer’s latest film, moving the camera around the landscape in a way similar to how a live-action director would. Some shows, like Trigun Stampede, are rendered fully in CG animation, while others take the Attack on Titan approach and use CG to create more outlandish character designs or inhuman movements. It is hard not to notice how more anime studios are using CG animation to make scenes like this happen. It is, without a doubt, the best-looking scene in the entire film and serves as a showcase for what this technology can offer animation studios. The demon himself is drawn using the more traditional, drawn animation style that studio Ufotable usually employs, while the folding walls of Infinity Castle are rendered with CG. Akaza, who fans will remember for his incredible fight against Flame Hashira Rengoku in the Mugen Train movie, drops, jumps, and flies over the shifting walls of the Infinite Castle. This isn’t the first time that fans have seen the inside of Muzan’s lair, but it is the best look anime fans have had at its ever-changing structure. Fortunately, the first fresh animation we see is easily the most visually stunning scene in the movie, seamlessly blending traditional animation techniques with Computer Generated (CG) animation technology as the demon Akaza traverses Infinity Castle. The opening 45 minutes are the closing episodes of the 'Entertainment District' arc that aired in 2022 and it isn’t until halfway through that we see any new footage. The Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – To the Swordsmith Village film is merely an appetizer for the upcoming third season of the anime.

Demon slayer background scenery