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Episode Notes
Coming off a legendary year of success in 2025, Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba , Infinity Castle is off to a rough start in 2026. The franchise’s chain of record breaking accomplishments was snapped at the Golden Globes, where Infinity Castle lost Best Animated Motion Picture.
Reader Version
In this podcast episode, the host Roos discusses the recent news that Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba , Infinity Castle has experienced its first official loss of 2026. After a highly successful 2025, the film was nominated for Best Animated Motion Picture at the 83rd Golden Globe Awards but ultimately lost to K pop Demon Hunters The Film. Roos notes that while Demon Slayer was a runner up, the win by K pop Demon Hunters was not entirely surprising given the competition. Roos shares his personal take on K pop Demon Hunters, admitting he enjoyed the film despite initially not knowing much about it.
He highlights the film’s music and entertainment value, suggesting that its Netflix release and style may have led many to view it more as Western entertainment than traditional anime. He also believes the film has potential to expand into a series and that its success has likely boosted the careers of its voice actors. The host points out several factors that made Demon Slayer’s nomination notable, including its R rating, nearly three hour runtime, and status as a continuation of a long running franchise rather than a standalone film.
Roos agrees with the article’s assessment that the film’s length and reliance on prior series knowledge may have made it less accessible to new viewers, which could have contributed to its loss. Despite the Golden Globe outcome, Roos emphasizes that the nomination itself is a significant milestone for Demon Slayer and anime’s growing recognition in Western awards. He mentions that Infinity Castle remains in contention for other major awards, including the BAFTAs and the upcoming Oscars, and that the franchise’s box office success is arguably more important than these accolades.
Roos also addresses some community reactions, noting that some fans downplay the Golden Globes’ relevance to anime and Hollywood awards in general. He agrees that Demon Slayer’s popularity and financial success speak louder than awards, especially compared to the larger promotional budgets of competitors like Sony’s K pop Demon Hunters. Overall, Roos views the Golden Globe loss as a minor setback rather than a major blow. He sees it as part of a broader trend where anime is gaining more mainstream acceptance and hopes that both Demon Slayer and K pop Demon Hunters will help introduce wider audiences to anime.
The episode closes with Roos encouraging listeners to support the podcast and stay tuned for more updates.
Automatic Transcript
Alright, what's going on guys, it's your boy Roos. Welcome back to another episode on our podcast. Today we are reading an article titled Demon Slayer Suffers Its First Official Loss of 2026. We have just gone into 2026, so I don't know what this article could be talking about, but what I do know is that if you guys follow the podcast, it gets pushed out to more people. Once again, thanks for the support. New year, new me, now I'm lying. Well, I'm not lying, but let's just keep pushing. Let's get it. Alright, it says here, coming off a legendary year of success in 2025, Demon Slayer Himetsu no Yaiba Infinity Castle is off to a rough start in 2026.
The franchise's chain of record breaking accomplishments was snapped at the Golden Globes, where Infinity Castle lost Best Animated Motion Picture. At tonight's 83rd annual Golden Globe Awards, Demon Slayer Infinity Castle failed to secure the trophy for Best Animated Motion Picture, finishing as one of the runners up to K pop Demon Hunters The Film. Well, K pop Demon Hunters, sorry. The film competed against five other nominees, also including Zootopia 2, which I've seen. It's quite decent. Elio, Little Amelie, or the character of Rain and Arco, with K pop Demon Hunters ultimately taking home the awards. K pop Demon Hunters was actually really good.
I'm not going to lie, I actually had fun watching that when it first came out. I didn't know what it was, but I just saw demons, and I was like, you know what, I'm interested in girls trying to take down demons, so why not? And it was actually really good. There's music in there that really bangs. Let's just say, in terms of anime, the context of how people look at anime, I don't feel like people looked at K pop Demon Hunter as an anime. Yes, of course, it's made in Japan, or whatever, and it's animated in the way that we know animation is meant to be animated in, if you get my drift.
But I think because it was on Netflix first, before anywhere else, it's much seen as an entertainment type of western type of thing, if that makes sense. I don't know, I could be running, let me know if I'm wrong. So yeah, K pop Demon Hunter has so much potential to be much more than what it was in just the film. It could literally be a series, and they could just go up from there. I'm sure even the actresses that were acting for the K pop Hunters, slash doing the voiceovers for them, their careers have really taken a big jump in terms of trajectory, because it really did blow up, and as you can see, won Best Animated Motion Picture.
Nonetheless, even earning a nomination was a major milestone for Infinity Castle. The film is one of the only R rated animated features ever nominated in the category, and a win would have made it to the first to achieve that distinction. Its inclusion was also notable, because Infinity Castle is not a standalone film, but a direct continuation of a long running franchise, setting it apart from past nominees. The film's scale further distinguished it from the rest of the category. With a runtime of 155 minutes, Infinity Castle is nearly three hours long, making it by far the longest nominee this year. For comparison, Zootopia 2 runs 108 minutes, while K pop Demon Hunters clocks in at 95 minutes.
Infinity Castle is also roughly 30 minutes longer than the franchise's previous theatrical release, Demon Slayer Mugen Train. Given those factors, the loss doesn't come as a major shock. Infinity Castle entered the category as a dark horse, with its R rating, extended runtime and reliance on existing series knowledge making it less accessible to first time viewers than several of its competitors. I fully agree on that. Also, I also feel like the runtime for Demon Slayer did not have to be that long as well. It's because they do this thing where they get comfortable now, because it works for them in the past in terms of the series, where they go back and forth into the past.
I mean, it works in anime series because you want to know and get more context, but in a movie you want it to be fast paced, you want it to be digestible within the time frame of you actually watching the movie, instead of weekly series, episodic, where you have to build up the excitement slash tension of what is about to be revealed to you. Do you know what I'm saying? Moving on, the popularity and broader appeal of K pop Demon Hunters likely played a significant role in the final outcome. Despite the loss, the nomination itself represents a major milestone for the Demon Slayer franchise and for anime's continued rise in Western awards spaces.
Previous Japanese animated nominees such as The Boy and The Heron, I think I've seen that, and Shizume, I've seen that, were standalone films. Infinity Castle's recognition signals growing acceptance of long form, franchise driven anime at major international ceremonies. Demon Slayer Infinity Castle is not finished with awards season just yet. The film was recently listed on the official BAFTA longlist for best animated film, where it will face many of the same competitors, excluding K pop Demon Hunters, which did not qualify, and including The Bad Guys 2.
Infinity Castle also remains in contention for Academy Awards recognition, with Oscar nominations scheduled to be announced on January 22nd, which is actually in a few days. I don't think it being a loss is a big thing. Someone said here in the comments, loss? It's the Golden Globes lol, which mostly awards Hollywood stuff. You can tell the fact that the Chainsaw Man movie is not even nominated tells you that Glowing Globe juries don't know anything about anime. The same goes for the Oscar juries. Demon Slayer doesn't need these Hollywood awards because it already won audience recognition and a massive successful box office smash, which is crucial for films to earn money compared to streaming.
They did it with just 20 million compared to Sony who spent 100 million, and that's very true. Sony did spend a lot of money to promote K pop Demon Hunter, whilst I guess Demon Slayer did it with 20 million. I've already said it in the beginning, I believe it got big because it was already directed at the Western audience and no one was really looking at K pop Demon Hunter when it pops up on Netflix as an animated anime, that traditional type of thing. But obviously, you know, in the Western and for the Western culture popularity in terms of being relative and close to what they know or see what animation is or animating like, drawing style is, it's a win. It's still a win for both to be honest.
People already know what Demon Slayer is but more people know about Demon Slayer and this probably K pop Demon Hunters will probably allow people to find series just like Demon Slayer and more to then broaden their knowledge and mindset on the idea of allowing themselves to like and watch more anime. But yeah, hope you guys enjoyed this news. It's been your boy Rus of Mr36. Make sure to follow the podcast, okay? Whether you're watching it in the morning, afternoon, evening, take care of yourselves, okay? We need this podcast to blow up. It's already blown up, you know what I mean? Don't worry about that. But yeah, just keep pushing it. I'm out. Peace.