While we still confine ourselves to our houses, I got a special opportunity to be one of the first people in Europe to screen a long-awaited anime movie: Demon Slayer – Mugen Train.
Not even released yet here in the West, this movie is already breaking decade long anime-records and has been raking the $$ in spite of the current state of the world and several region-wide lockdowns.
(This review contains spoilers)
Demon Slayer aka Kimetsu no Yaiba is a manga that was already making bank prior to its second arc movie. The anime managed to climb the rankings in a very short time and has been breaking manga-sales records that are close to rival even the Big Three (Bleach, Naruto, and One Piece). The opening song is suer catchy, and I admit I was hooked fairly quick.
But the manga and anime records were not enough, despite the pandemic this recently released movie,which adapts the Mugen Train Arc from the manga, the movie has now already broken Japan’s national and international anime box office records, effectively throwing Hayao Miyazaki’s Spirited Away from its 20 year throne.
But let’s dive into the review, because is Kimetsu no Yaiba Mugen Ressha-hen (Demon Slayer Mugen Train) worth it’s multi-million dollar box office record?
The short answer: Yes!
Mugen Train does everything right to be appealing to both those who are already into the Demon Slayer series, as well as those who might not have a clue of the background yet. Which I might say is quite the feat, especially seeing that this is already a sequel arc to season 1 of the series. And mostly anime movies as part of ongoing series mostly require you to be already up-to-date with the show.
We get a quick intro to all the characters from Tanjiro and his demon-cursed sister, their friends, and the main good guy Rengoku. While also keeping through to the DM narrative of having a well-rounded villain that starts of as true evil, but who you can/will sympathize by the time they slowly fade and die.
I can definitely recommend watching Season 1 prior to the movie, however, if you want to get a good tasting first then feel free to go in blind. I was amazed by how emotionally wrecked I was by the end of the film when one of the main characters bites the dust, and we see our main guy Tanjiro absolutely loose it from the trauma. Mugen Train is not a cut and dry Shonen, because Demon Slayer isn’t, and that depth shows.
Go give it a watch when it releases near you/ online on streaming (Crunchyroll)