Witch on the Holy Night: the new film from the Demon Slayer studio

Demon Slayer fans are waiting for the next part of the Infinity Castle, and ufotable answers first with another film. Witch on the Holy Night, “Mahōtsukai no Yoru” in Japanese, is the first feature the studio has released since the triumph of Infinity Castle, Part 1, in 2025. It carries the same visual signature, and part of the same team.

This article gathers what is known about the film as of 13 November 2026: its release dates in France and around the world, its story without spoilers, the team that made it, and what it says about the studio’s schedule. Where the films fit in the series is explained on our page Demon Slayer watch order, seasons and films.

When does Witch on the Holy Night come out?

The film opens in Japan on Friday 20 November 2026, released by Toho and Aniplex, the two companies that also release the Demon Slayer films there. Since 29 October, we have known that it will open on the same day in IMAX cinemas, with a poster drawn for the occasion.

For the rest of the world, Crunchyroll and Sony Pictures Entertainment announced on 10 September 2026 a cinema release in January 2027. France, Belgium and French-speaking Switzerland get it on Wednesday 27 January 2027, in the middle of a rollout spread over two weeks.

The French trailer was released in Japanese with subtitles. As of 13 November 2026, Crunchyroll has not said whether a French dub will come with the release, nor which cinemas will show the film. The list of cinemas and the opening of bookings are expected in the weeks before 27 January.

This two-month gap between Japan and France is the same as for Infinity Castle, Part 1, released in Japan on 18 July 2025 and in France on 17 September. Our article on Infinity Castle, Part 1 tells the story of that film without giving anything away.

What is Witch on the Holy Night about?

The story takes place in the late 1980s in Misaki, a provincial Japanese town where magic is practised in secret. Aoko Aozaki leads the ordinary life of a high school girl until the day she inherits from her grandfather the role of the family’s magic user. To learn, she moves in with Alice Kuonji, a witch from England who lives in an old mansion.

At school, Aoko is president of the student council. She is put in charge of a newcomer, Soujyuro Shizuki, a boy who grew up in the mountains and is seeing the city for the first time. One evening, he catches the two young women in the middle of a fight against an enemy in a park. Convinced he has witnessed an attempted murder, he becomes an awkward witness.

The two magic users decide to keep an eye on him, under their own roof if need be, while they look for a way to erase his memory. The film follows this forced cohabitation between two heirs to a hidden world and a boy who knows nothing about magic.

The story is as much a high school chronicle as an action film. The mansion, the rotary telephone, the wood-panelled corridors: the images released by the studio show a Japan before mobile phones, filmed with the same care for light as the Taishō-era settings of Demon Slayer.

A Type-Moon visual novel, from the home of Fate

Witch on the Holy Night started out as a visual novel, a kind of game in which you read an illustrated story. It was written by Kinoko Nasu, the writer of Fate/stay night, and published in Japan by Type-Moon on 12 April 2012. A remastered version, translated into English, came out worldwide in December 2022 on Switch and PlayStation 4, then on PC in 2023.

The game’s characters were drawn by Hirokazu Koyama, from ideas by Takashi Takeuchi, co-founder of Type-Moon. Koyama drew several artworks for the film, including the one where Aoko and Alice stand back to back. On screen, Moe Tsuzuki adapted these drawings for animation.

The Aozaki name rings a bell with fans. Aoko’s older sister, Touko Aozaki, is one of the characters of The Garden of Sinners, a series of films ufotable produced between 2007 and 2013. The studio has therefore known this world for almost twenty years.

The ties between Type-Moon and ufotable do not stop there. The studio made Fate/Zero in 2011, Fate/stay night: Unlimited Blade Works in 2014, then the Heaven’s Feel film trilogy, from 2017 to 2020. To go with the release, a back-to-back screening of the three Heaven’s Feel films is being held in Japan. Our article on ufotable, the Demon Slayer studio traces this whole journey.

Who made the film at ufotable?

The film is directed by Masashi Takeuchi, under the overall direction of Hikaru Kondo, the president of ufotable. Kondo holds exactly the same title on the Demon Slayer films, whose production he also supervises. The script is written by ufotable’s own team, as with the demon slayers’ series.

The music is by Hideyuki Fukasawa, who had already composed the game’s score in 2012. The theme song, “Yoru to Ao”, “Night and Blue”, is by supercell: written and composed by ryo, it is sung by Nagi Yanagi. It can be heard in the final trailer, released on 30 September.

Three names in the credits also appear on Infinity Castle. Yuichi Terao directs the photography and the finishing of the images, the work of light and effects that gives the Breathing techniques of Demon Slayer their waves, flames and lightning. Koji Eto handles the art direction, and Manabu Kamino the editing.

This team is what gives the studio its reputation: hand-drawn characters placed in backgrounds and effects built digitally, then blended together at the finishing stage. The blue lightning of Aoko’s magic comes off the same production line as Zenitsu’s thunder.

What is the link with Demon Slayer?

The most direct link is one you can hear. Alice Kuonji is voiced by Kana Hanazawa, who also voices Mitsuri Kanroji, the Love Hashira, in the Japanese version of Demon Slayer. Aoko is played by Haruka Tomatsu, and Soujyuro by Yusuke Kobayashi: all three return to the roles they already played in the game.

The two roles have nothing in common. Mitsuri is an exuberant swordswoman who blushes and gets excited about everything. Alice is a cold, reserved witch who says little. Hearing the same actress in these two registers is one of the pleasures of the film for anyone who knows the Japanese version of the series.

Our portrait of Mitsuri Kanroji, the Love Hashira tells her story, and our article on the Japanese seiyu of Demon Slayer presents all the voices of the series. Mitsuri also has her place on our page about the Hashira of Demon Slayer.

The Mitsuri figure keeps the momentum of her fights.

It is part of our Mitsuri Kanroji collection, which brings together everything in her pink and green colours.

What the film says about the next Demon Slayer film

In February 2026, ufotable released a video presenting its projects. Witch on the Holy Night featured as the film of 2026. Infinity Castle, Part 2, was listed among the upcoming projects, with no date, and the studio implied it would not come out in 2026.

With this film out, the schedule clears. Part of the team is shared by the two projects, from photography to art direction and editing, and it is leaving a finished job. This is not an announcement, only a reading of the schedule: as of 13 November 2026, neither ufotable nor Aniplex has given a date for the second instalment.

A lead has been circulating since September 2026: a Sony Pictures listing gives an untitled Crunchyroll film for 17 September 2027 in US cinemas. The press sees it as the next part of the Infinity Castle, without confirmation. Our article on the release of Infinity Castle, Part 2 follows the story and will be updated at the first announcement.

The studio saves its news for its own events. In Tokushima, the city where it has its workshops and its cinema, ufotable CINEMA, the Machi Asobi festival on 17 and 18 October already hosted Demon Slayer voice actors and events around Witch on the Holy Night. The next big occasion is Jump Festa, on 19 and 20 December 2026 near Tokyo.

The second film should pit the Hashira against the two most powerful Upper Moons, Doma and Kokushibo.

The other demons of the Castle have their place among our demon figures, and our range of Demon Slayer figures brings together the demon slayers who face them.

Should you see Witch on the Holy Night if you love Demon Slayer?

Do not expect demons or swords. Witch on the Holy Night tells of a meeting, a cohabitation and a young magic user’s apprenticeship. The pace is calmer, the magic is discreet, and a good part of the film takes place within the walls of a mansion and a high school.

The fights are there all the same. The film’s artwork shows Aoko and Alice in the middle of combat, in an illuminated city or in the heart of an amusement park, with the bursts of light that made the studio’s name. Those who loved the visual work on the fight against Akaza will find the same mastery, applied to another genre.

The film will appeal above all to viewers curious to discover another world animated by the same hands. You do not need to know the game or Fate to follow it: the story stands on its own. Our selection of anime and manga to discover after Demon Slayer offers other ideas, including the studio’s Fate series.

For a film night at home while you wait for the release, our Demon Slayer posters dress a wall in the demon slayers’ colours, and our page on all the Demon Slayer characters helps you recognise every face before the next part of the Castle.