All in all, “Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle” was the highlight of my ever-anime-loving year. Even with some storytelling flaws, the film manages to innovate and entertain. For fans, this was a thrilling kickoff to the endgame. For general viewers, it’s an insanely impressive introduction to the height of anime cinema.

Our real world is too much to bear, so we escape into the fantasy worlds of gacha games — where the underlying pain comes from loss of money, not lives.