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One of the keys to Demon Slayer's dominance in anime has been keeping the team at Ufotable intact since the first episode

Demon Slayer's director confirms that he has been able to keep his core team intact for more than six years, which has made following up the success of the Mugen Train movie that much easier.

Final Selection Arc Image Demon Slayer — Image credit: Ufotable

News by Trent Cannon, Senior Contributing writer

Published on Sun Jul 27 2025

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Just like any other creative industry, anime is made by people. And people all have unique skills and talents that they bring to the team. Which is why keeping good people is so important to making a show like Demon Slayer work. In fact, according to the series’ director, keeping the Demon Slayer anime team intact has been a key part of making the show the iconic anime that it has become.

We had the chance to sit down with Haruo Sotozaki, who has been the director of the Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba anime since the very beginning. That includes directing the record-setting Mugen Train movie and the newly released (in Japan) Infinity Castle movie. He explained that keeping his animation team at Ufotable intact has helped make his job much easier as director.

“We always give 100% when producing the anime,” Sotozaki-san told Popverse at San Diego Comic Con 2025. “But ever since the Unwavering Resolve Arc, we’ve had, luckily, the same staff. A lot of the core same team members. So, I don’t have to go into so much detail, per se. I think there is a lot of shorthand communication, so they kind of understand what it is we’re trying to achieve.”

Fans will note that the Unwavering Resolve Arc is the first arc in the show, so Haruo Sotozaki has had most of the same team since Demon Slayer began. Having the same team doesn’t mean Sotozaki and Ufotable are content to just coast, though.

“And there’s always gonna be a little bit of pressure to try and improve and better whatever it is we produce, but I think because of the team I’m surrounded with, I mean, it makes my job a little bit easier in that regard because of the trust that we built.”

You can see the results of more than six years working with the same animation team when Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – The Movie: Infinity Castle comes out in their area. It just released in Japan this month, but it is landing in the US on September 12, 2025.

Each week, Popverse's resident anime expert Trent Cannon runs down the latest and, dare we say "greatest," in anime and manga in Popverse Jump. Some recent columns have included...

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