Good, bad and powerful spells collide in this impressively animated romp that inspires touching reflections on life suspended

If, like me, you have not watched the hit 2019 Japanese TV series Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba, let alone read the manga series it was based on, then you may struggle somewhat to understand exactly what’s going on in this feature-length instalment in the saga. But even if you don’t dive into Google to work out the backstory, it’s not that hard get the hang of; or at least who are the slayers and who are the demons.

The good guy slayers have huge eyes, albeit ones with weird polygonal shapes and strangely coloured irises, while the evil demons often have kanji characters where their pupils should be, as well as shapeshifting abilities. The latter also have hard-to-define but distinctly “villainous” voices, while the good guys tend to speak in a staccato, declamatory fashion, prone to awkward enunciations such as: “While this our first time meeting, I already dislike you.”