Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle has become the highest-grossing Japanese movie of all time, and it will probably be surpassed by the next movie in the Infinity Castle Arc movie trilogy. Since 2020, Demon Slayer has managed to become an unprecedented phenomenon, and it looks like it will stay that way for a while.

However, despite the massive box office, currently estimated at about $800 million, Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle had a somewhat modest budget, estimated at $20 million per The New York Times. Studio Ufotable is known for making things look more expensive than they actually are. Therefore, let’s check some anime movies that, despite costing more than Demon Slayer, aren’t nearly as good (and sometimes don’t even look nearly as good).

5

Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero

Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero is fun to watch, but it lacks the beautiful 2D animation style of the previous movie, Dragon Ball Super: Broly. With an estimated budget of $36 million, it was far more expensive than Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle, with a “modest” return of about $100 million (good, but far less than Infinity Castle).

The plot is mild, and the 3D animation, despite being technically high-quality, makes the movie feel like one very long cutscene from a Dragon Ball video game, such as FighterZ or Xenoverse. It cost far more and delivered less than Demon Slayer.

4

Steamboy

For a long time, Steamboy was the most expensive Japanese movie, with a budget of around $26 million (when it comes to pure production budget). Back in 2004, this was an insane amount of money for an animated movie, especially considering it was entirely Japanese-funded and most of it was spent on the production process. Unfortunately, not even the fact that it was penned and directed by Akira creator Katsuhiro Otomo would turn this movie into a profitable investment, as it gathered about $18 million.

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The animation, even for the time, is great and carefully crafted, with over 180,000 hand-drawn frames. However, there are some CG cuts, and CG back then was a lot weirder than today. Furthermore, the story itself is not as impressive. It’s a good movie, but Infinity Castle has the upper hand here and doesn’t even need inflation applied to have cost less.

3

Yu-Gi-Oh! The Movie: Pyramid of Light

Image via studio Gallop.

Yu-Gi-Oh! The Movie: Pyramid of Light is said to have cost $20 million in 2004, the same estimated budget for Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle today. However, considering inflation, its cost would be equivalent to about $36 million today, almost the same as Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero. No wonder it’s often considered one of the biggest mistakes in the franchise, even though it still managed to at least pay for itself. It was a joint project between 4Kids Entertainment and TV Tokyo, but mostly a 4Kids gamble.

It’s actually hard to believe this movie was so expensive because the animation looks cheap, and the plot seems made for anyone who has never heard of the franchise. It feels like an extended episode for viewers who have never watched the anime. Even though it’s not the most hated Yu-Gi-Oh! movie, it’s too mild for something this expensive.

2

Pokémon: The Movie 2000

Pokémon: The Movie 2000 was already more expensive than Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle in 1999 if we consider the total investment Warner Bros poured into licensing and distributing this movie (and even if we adjust the box office for inflation, it didn’t earn nearly half as much), such an investment for a very plain plot. It has good animation…. except for the moments CGI was on-screen.

More than 25 years later, there’s really not much to it except nostalgia, even though today it sits mostly buried between the first movie and Pokémon 3. There are some memorable moments, though, like Ash’s “first kiss” (or the first time he is kissed) and Team Rocket saving the world. But that’s all there is to it.

1

Evangelion: 3.0+1.0 Thrice Upon a Time

Neon Genesis Evangelion is one of the most important anime series of all time. That claim is undisputed. However, the Rebuild tetralogy turns the franchise into something else. Some, perhaps most, like it. After all, it brings closure. Some don’t. That’s natural. It’s visually stunning, that’s for sure.

However, after decades of waiting, the finale deserved something grander. Something with better pacing and a bit more complexity, perhaps. It’s not that happy endings are intrinsically bad, but the movie feels a bit weird, almost rushed, like forcing the ending. Infinity Castle just looks more in line with what Demon Slayer is supposed to deliver, while Thrice Upon a Time doesn’t really look like what Evangelion should be (but Hideaki Anno is happy to disagree with me).

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Infinity Castle

Release Date

September 12, 2025

Runtime

156 Minutes

Director

Haruo Sotozaki, Hikaru Kondo

Writers

Koyoharu Gotouge, Hikaru Kondo

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  Natsuki Hanae

  Tanjiro Kamado (voice)

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  Akari Kito

  Nezuko Kamado (voice)

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  Yoshitsugu Matsuoka

  Inosuke Hashibira (voice)

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  Hiro Shimono

  Zenitsu Agatsuma (voice)