Thomas Storai 
Thomas boards the Mugen Train to review the visually stunning Demon Slayer: The Movie. But can it live up to the hype?
Demon Slayer the Movie: Mugen Train is a direct sequel to season 1 of the anime series. Though, don’t worry if you haven’t watched the show you can still enjoy the movie. It’s the biggest box office success in Japan for an anime and it is a complete success in cinemas around the world. Because of it, there is a big hype surrounding this movie but does it really live up to its hype? The short answer is yes. That being said, I do have a lot of things to say about it!
STORY AND SCORE
The story is rather simple – Demon Slayers are boarding a train to protect it from Demons. What makes it extra special is that most of the story takes place on the train. It’s a rather interesting setting for a fantasy movie but it works well!
As you can expect, it’s an action-packed movie and all the action sequences are beautifully choreographed. Shiina Go and Yuki Kajiura have composed an epic score to go with the action. Right from the start, I was in Awe with the score. The track when Senjuro Rengoku first attacks a demon is phenomenal! It is smaller in scope but big in adventure and thrills.
Beyond all the action, Demon Slayer also has a lot of heart. The first act of the movie gets into the minds of the characters. This part is pretty much a small character study. There are some truly poignant scenes. Inosuke Hashibira is the comic relief of the movie and brings some needed fun among all of this.
AESTHETICS
This movie deserves to be experienced on the big screen. It’s visually mesmerizing. You can see a lot of work has been put into it. There are so many details in the scenery. The sky shots are some of their best, it almost felt like actual skies and not animation. The color grading is quite exceptional. It knows exactly when to be dark and when it needs to use vibrant colors. The action scenes have a lot of colors with the flames and the waves, it’s a visual spectacle. I hope for a 4K home release because it’s going to be impossible to capture that in any other format.
VOICE CAST
The voice acting is on point as you can expect from a Japanese movie. Japanese are dedicated people and you can feel they put all their heart into what they do. The intonations, the screams, it’s intense! So to have the best experience with animes, always watch them in the original language.
VERDICT
Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba the Movie: Mugen Train definitely lives up to its hype! It’s visually mesmerizing and deserves to be experienced on the big screen. It’s an action-packed movie but it also has a lot of heart and the score is phenomenal!
Demon Slayer: The Movie is distributed by Sony Pictures and is in cinemas now.
Collectables Editor at Future Of The Force.
Star Wars and Marvel specialist, anime expert
