"Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle" and anime's biggest year yet
Make Me Smart
Marketplace
4.6 • 5.4K Ratings
🗓️ 26 December 2025
⏱️ 14 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Hey smarties! We’re taking a short break for the holidays. In the meantime, enjoy this bonus episode on one of Kimberly’s favorite topics: anime!
Anime had a big year in 2025. The animated film “KPop Demon Hunters” broke Netflix’s record for most-watched movie on the streaming platform. And “Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle" became the top-grossing international film ever at the North American box office. When “Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle” debuted in theaters earlier this year, Kimberly spoke with Crunchyroll’s executive vice president of global commerce Mitchel Berger about the strategy behind the film’s release and the future of anime content.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | My place in tech changes every day, but I don't fear the future, because I'm with the leader, Pluralsight. |
| 0:08.7 | Their online learning platform has the hands-on expert-led courses I need to master new tech skills and create bigger impacts. |
| 0:17.3 | So I can learn quickly and stay ahead. |
| 0:21.1 | With Pluralsight, I don't fear what's next. |
| 0:24.0 | I embrace it. |
| 0:25.6 | Tap in at Pluralsight.com and see for yourself. |
| 0:30.0 | Hey, Smarties, it's Kimberly. |
| 0:32.2 | Make Me Smart is on a little holiday break. |
| 0:34.2 | So today we're sharing a special bonus episode on one of my favorite topics, |
| 0:39.1 | anime. Animation in general had a year in 2025. K-pop demon hunters became Netflix's most |
| 0:46.6 | watched movie ever, and the anime Demon Slayer Infinity Castle became the top grossing international |
| 0:53.1 | film ever at the North American box office. When Demon Slayer came Castle became the top grossing international film ever at the North American |
| 0:54.7 | box office. |
| 0:56.2 | When Demon Slayer came out in theaters back in September, I spoke with Mitchell Berger, |
| 1:01.2 | executive vice president of global commerce at Crunchyroll about it. |
| 1:04.9 | You may have seen a snippet of our conversation on Marketplace's Instagram or TikTok feeds. |
| 1:09.5 | Here's the full conversation. |
| 1:16.5 | Music on Marketplace's Instagram or TikTok feeds, here's the full conversation. Mitchell, welcome to the show. |
| 1:18.4 | Thanks for having me. |
| 1:19.2 | It's a pleasure to be here. |
| 1:20.4 | So give us the numbers. |
| 1:22.2 | How has Demon Slayer done? |
... |
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