The Critics Choice Association has announced the nominees for its 6th annual Critics Choice Super Awards, and Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Infinity Castle is sitting in the Best Superhero Movie category, right next to Superman.
That's right - the highest-earning Japanese film of all time is officially in the running for Best Superhero Movie!
The nominations went out Wednesday (July 15th), and the winners will be revealed on Thursday, August 6th. Don't go looking for a red carpet. The Super Awards skip the televised ceremony and announce their winners by press release.
Here's the full Best Superhero Movie lineup:
- Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Infinity Castle
- Exit 8
- The Fantastic Four: First Steps
- Masters of the Universe
- Mortal Kombat II
- Supergirl
- Superman
Superman is the heavyweight of the field, leading every film this year with six nominations, while The Boys tops the television side. Tanjiro is walking into a category with the DCU's crown jewel and Marvel's First Family. It's stacked.
How does a demon-hunting dark fantasy land in a superhero race? The Super Awards, which launched back in 2021 to celebrate the genre fare traditional awards shows tend to overlook, don't have an animation category. Every film gets filed into whichever lane fits best - superhero, horror, science fiction/fantasy, or action. A kid with supernatural Breathing Techniques carving up demons to save innocent people? Close enough to a cape for some critics.
Infinity Castle isn't the strangest nomination on the list either. Exit 8, the live-action Japanese thriller based on the walking-simulator video game, landed in Best Superhero Movie too, and its star Kazunari Ninomiya picked up a Best Actor in a Superhero Movie nod next to David Corenswet and Pedro Pascal. The Best Actress race pulls from the same pool: Milly Alcock, Rachel Brosnahan, Julia Garner, Vanessa Kirby, Camila Mendes, and Adeline Rudolph.
One snub: the Super Awards have a Best Villain in a Movie category, and Akaza didn't make the cut, which is a shame because he's a truly memorable villain if you've seen the anime or read the manga. The superhero nomination is the film's only one.
The resume behind that nomination is absurd. The ufotable-animated film opened in Japan on July 18th, 2025, stayed in Japanese theaters for a full 266 days, and has pulled in roughly $740 million worldwide with nearly 100 million tickets sold, passing Spirited Away to become the highest-earning Japanese film ever!
It's the second time this franchise has rewritten box-office history. Mugen Train finished 2020 as the highest-grossing film in the world, and now Part 1 of the Infinity Castle trilogy, subtitled Akaza Sairai (Akaza's Return), has gone even bigger while kicking off the adaptation of the final arc of Koyoharu Gotouge's manga.
The Super Awards nod isn't the film's first Critics Choice recognition, either. Back in the fall, Infinity Castle took home the International Animation Award at the CCA's Celebration of AAPI Cinema and Television, only the second anime to earn that honor after Makoto Shinkai's Suzume. This nomination is a separate, brand-new race.
Whatever happens on August 6th, the nomination itself is new territory. An anime film competing head-to-head with the year's biggest superhero movies, in their own category, is mainstream footing the medium has been inching toward for years, and a $740 million box office is a big part of why critics now see it as a Superman peer, rather than a niche import.
The nomination landed less than two weeks before the film finally hits streaming: Infinity Castle Part 1 arrives on Crunchyroll July 28th at 8:00 a.m. PT / 11:00 a.m. ET, a date that turned out even sooner than expected, with a full slate of subs and dubs. If you'd rather own it outright, the film is also up for digital purchase on Apple TV, Prime Video, and Google Play.
Winners follow nine days after the streaming debut, so you'll have plenty of time to rewatch the Akaza fight from your couch before finding out whether Tanjiro topped Superman!
As for Infinity Castle Part 2 and Part 3, those release dates are still up in the air, whatever the reports claim.
While I'm a HUGE Demon Slayer anime fan (I can't speak to the manga), I'm not sure how to feel about this news. While I'm glad it's been nominated for an award and it's getting some recognition, as it is one of the truly great anime properties out there right now, it doesn't scream "Superhero". At least not for me.
What do you think? Should anime films be competing in superhero categories, or do the Super Awards need a proper animation lane? Does Infinity Castle have a real shot at winning it?
Sound off in the comments below!
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