NOTE: Many theaters have this Japanese animated film available in both “Subbed” and “Dubbed” versions. This review is based on the “Subbed” version – Japanese spoken with English subtitles, with the Japanese voice cast credited.

Ah, “Demon Slayer,” the anime franchise that comes out with a new movie about once every two years with seasons’ worth of television between the movies. I don’t keep up with the series, which admittedly puts me outside the film’s target audience of its existing fanbase. If you do follow “Demon Slayer,” you’ll almost certainly get more out of “Kimetsu no Yaiba – Infinity Castle” than I did, since you won’t spend half the movie asking who most of the characters are and how much is supposed to be known about them.

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If you’ve never seen “Demon Slayer” before, “Kimetsu no Yaiba – Infinity Castle” is not a good entry point. I at least knew about main hero Tanjiro (Natsuki Hanae), he of the green-and-black checkered kimono, as well as a few side characters like the pig-masked warrior Inosuke (Yoshitsugu Matsuoka) and Tanjiro’s formerly demon-infected sister Nezuko (Akari Kito), who is sidelined in this movie with an injury anyway. But aside from that, I was lost. Fortunately, it turned out that I didn’t need to care about as many characters as the advertising would have it seem – several presumably-popular characters are in the movie for just a few seconds – but I didn’t know that and I was overwhelmed with the prospect of having to keep track of everyone.

The movie sees most of the Demon Slayer army battling demons in the Infinity Castle, a sort of cityscape/maze designed by top demon Muzan. It’s the kind of setting you’d see in “Inception” or “Doctor Strange.” Some of the demons are mindless henchmen designed to keep the Slayers busy, but there are some formidable disciples in the mix. For example, butterfly-themed Slayer Shinobu (Saori Hayami) faces off against cult-leading demon Doma (Mamoru Miyano), who killed her sister. Twin “Thunder Breathers” attempt to settle their sibling rivalry once and for all when Slayer Zenitsu (Hiro Shimono) battles demon Kaigaku (Yoshimasa Hosoya). And, in what could be considered the movie’s “main event,” Tanjiro and his mentor Giyu (Takahiro Sakurai) team up to take on regenerative demon Azaka (Akira Ishida). Just when I thought that Azaka made for a dull antagonist, the movie went into his tragic backstory, which turned out to be the highlight of the entire film.

The weakest element of the movie is once again the fighting. I’m not saying that there’s no creativity to the moves and styles these characters use, I’m saying that the impact of these moves and styles don’t seem to matter much. This franchise has a style where it seems like every fifth move results in a huge explosion that should kill one, if not both of the fighters. But then it will usually turn out that both fighters survived, and then they take a few breaths and start fighting again – even in instances where the characters are physically incapable of breathing. The lack of lasting impact makes the fight scenes seem surprisingly low-stakes.

I wasn’t won over by my third experience with “Demon Slayer.” I was too far behind on lore to care about most of the characters, and the action, while often impressive from a technical standpoint, was largely frustrating. This frustration was compounded by the film’s nearly three-hour runtime. That’s an awfully long time to devote to basically three fights, even with flashbacks and the Infinity Castle framing device. If you’ve liked “Demon Slayer” in the past, don’t let me stop you from seeing “Kimetsu no Yaiba – Infinity Castle,” but I wouldn’t advise trying to become a new fan with this movie.

Grade: C-

“Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiban – Infinity Castle” is rated R for bloody violence throughout. Its running time is 155 minutes.

Contact Bob Garver at rrg251@nyu.edu.