Demon Slayer -Kimetsu no Yaiba- The Movie: Mugen Train (2020)

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – The Movie: Mugen Train (Japanese: 劇場版「鬼滅の刃」無限列車編, Hepburn: Gekijō-ban Kimetsu no Yaiba: Mugen Ressha-hen), is a 2020 Japanese animated dark fantasy action film based on the "Mugen Train" arc of the 2016–20 manga series Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba by Koyoharu Gotouge. It is a direct sequel to the first season of the anime television series as well as its first film adaptation. The film was directed by Haruo Sotozaki and produced by Ufotable, and written by the studio's staff members.

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – The Movie: Mugen Train was released during the COVID-19 pandemic, premiering in Japan on October 16, 2020, by Aniplex and Toho, and late 2020 to mid-2021 outside Japan by Crunchyroll through Sony Pictures Releasing. The film was a critical and commercial success, grossing over $512.7 million worldwide and making it the highest-grossing film of 2020. It marked the first time ever that a non-American production topped the annual global box office, and it set a number of other box office records, including the highest-grossing Japanese film both in Japan and worldwide, two titles previously held by Spirited Away (2001) and Your Name (2016), respectively, until it was surpassed in 2025 by the later installment, Infinity Castle – Part 1: Akaza Returns, as the highest grossing Japanese film worldwide. It was also the first Japanese film to surpass the half-billion dollar mark. It also has received numerous awards, including Animation of the Year at the 44th Japan Academy Film Prize, Best Film at the 6th Crunchyroll Anime Awards, and Best Animation Film at the 45th Hochi Film Award.

A sequel set after the events of the second season, Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – To the Swordsmith Village, was released on February 3, 2023, with a third film set after the events of the third season, Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – To the Hashira Training, released on February 2, 2024. A film trilogy titled Infinity Castle, set after the events of the fourth season has been confirmed, with the first installment, Part 1: Akaza Returns, released on July 18, 2025.

Plot

Demon Slayer Corps leader Kagaya Ubuyashiki and his wife Amane visits a graveyard where fallen Demon Slayers are buried. Lamenting those who died in the war against Muzan Kibutsuji, he declares that the human spirit will always rise to the challenge.

Tanjiro Kamado, his demon sister Nezuko, and his friends Zenitsu Agatsuma and Inosuke Hashibira board the Mugen Train to assist Flame Hashira Kyojuro Rengoku in finding a demon onboard. When two demons appear, Kyojuro kills them and they are awed by his power and skill. Later, all of them fall into a deep sleep, the work of Enmu, Lower Rank One of Muzan's Twelve Kizuki.

Enmu instructs four insomniac passengers to enter their dreams and destroy their spiritual cores, in exchange for a peaceful sleep. The Demon Slayers have idealistic dreams; Tanjiro reunites with his deceased family, Kyojuro reminisces on his past with his brother and father, Zenitsu envisions a life with Nezuko, and Inosuke imagines himself as a leader. The intruders fail to destroy their cores, while Tanjiro, aided by the unaffected Nezuko, realizes that he is dreaming. He abandons his family and wakes up when a vision of his father instructs him to commit suicide.

Nezuko uses her pyrokinetic Blood Demon Art to sever the intruders' connection to the others. Angered at being denied their own dreams, they attack Tanjiro, who knocks them unconscious except his intruder, after he refused to harm him despite suffering from tuberculosis. While Nezuko wakes up the others, Tanjiro confronts and beheads Enmu, but he is revealed to have fused with the train and prepares to devour the passengers.

Kyojuro instructs Inosuke and Tanjiro to cut Enmu's neck as he, Nezuko, and Zenitsu protects the passengers. They find it in the locomotive but are attacked by its defenses, including a Blood Demon Art that puts them to sleep. The conductor, under Enmu's control, stabs Tanjiro in his stomach amidst the chaos. With his mask making him immune to Emnu's attacks, Inosuke exposes his vertebra. Tanjiro slashes it with his newfound Hinokami Kagura, killing Enmu and derailing the train. As Tanjiro attempts to recover from his wound, Kyojuro teaches him how to stabilize it with his breathing techniques.

They are then confronted by Upper Rank Three Akaza, who tries to persuade Kyojuro into becoming a demon. Kyojuro refuses and fights Akaza, but he cannot overcome his regeneration and is severely wounded as Tanjiro and Inosuke look on. After attempting his most powerful move as a last resort, Akaza fatally injures him by impaling his solar plexus. With his remaining strength, Kyojuro attempts to restrain Akaza until sunrise and sever his neck, but Akaza breaks free and flees into a nearby forest.

In desperation, Tanjiro throws his sword at Akaza and impales his chest, though he escapes. He breaks down, calling the demon a coward and declaring Kyojuro victorious for fulfilling his duty to keep everyone safe. In his last moments, Kyojuro tells Tanjiro to visit his family's estate to ascertain writings from the past Flame Hashiras, which may help him learn about his Hinokami Kagura. He encourages Tanjiro and his friends to continue on their paths to greater strength, telling them to never give up in protecting others, before succumbing to his injuries and reuniting with his mother in the afterlife.

While Tanjiro and his friends mourn Kyojuro's death, the Hashira receive the news. Kagaya honors him for not letting anyone else die in his presence, stating that he will be glad to reunite with him when he too passes.

Voice cast

Production

Yūma Takahashi, the producer of the anime series, indicated a desire to continue production of the series with the Ufotable Production Team. The sequel project was greenlit following the success of the television series. A film was determined to be the best format for the "Mugen Train" arc due to the arc's shorter content and dramatic pacing. The main cast was made aware of the film project midway through the first season of the television series. The main production staff from the anime television series, as well as the cast, were carried over into the film's production. Haruo Sotozaki served as director, with Akira Matsushima and Manabu Kamino serving as animator and editor of the film, respectively. The film was announced on September 28, 2019, immediately following the airing of the anime series' season finale.

Release

Theatrical

The film was released theatrically in Japan on October 16, 2020. Because other major releases had been delayed as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of available screens was higher than usual. The film opened in 403 cinemas total, including all 38 IMAX cinemas within the country. The film had a very staggered international release, being released from as early as October 30, 2020, in Taiwan, to as late as August 13, 2021, in India. The theatrical release in China was delayed when a controversy surrounding the film Monster Hunter led the Chinese censors to review some foreign films a second time.

Home media

The film was released on Blu-ray and DVD in Japan on June 16, 2021; it sold over 800,000 units in its first day and over 1 million units in three days. In North America, the film was released digitally on June 22, 2021; pre-orders began on April 26, 2021. On April 26, 2021, two months before its official release, the film was accidentally made available for purchase on the PlayStation Store for a few hours before being removed, resulting in leaked copies being distributed across the Internet. Upon its video-on-demand (VOD) release in North America, the film debuted at number one on the Vudu, Google Play and YouTube charts. A novel adaptation was released on October 16, 2020.

Television series version

The first part of the second season of the anime television series, subtitled Mugen Train Arc, is an extended and recompiled version of the film that ran for a total of seven episodes. The first episode of the part is an entirely new episode that focuses on what Kyojuro did immediately before the events of the film, while the remaining six episodes are recompiled cuts of the film with several slight edits performed on them to account for its episodic format. It was broadcast in Japan from October 10 to November 28, 2021, while it was broadcast on Adult Swim's Toonami programming block in the United States from November 12 to December 17, 2023.

Reception

Box office

The worldwide box office total for Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba the Movie: Mugen Train is over $512.7 million from more than 41 million tickets sold, making it the highest-grossing film of 2020 as well as the highest-grossing anime and Japanese film of all time. It was the first time in the history of cinema that a non-Hollywood production topped the annual worldwide box office. It also became the highest-grossing R-rated animated film of all time, surpassing Sausage Party.

Prior to its release in Japan, the film set monthly sales records for advance tickets sold for two consecutive months in September and October 2020. Upon release, it set several box office records including highest opening weekend gross (¥4.6 billion, $44 million) and fastest to gross ¥10 billion (ten days), ¥20 billion (24 days), and ¥30 billion (59 days). It also set the record for the highest-grossing IMAX release in Japan with $25 million, surpassing the $13 million record previously set by Bohemian Rhapsody in 2018. The film became the first film to top the Japanese box office charts for ten consecutive weekends since the charts began publication in 2004, and ultimately remained in the top 10 for 32 weeks, the second-highest number of consecutive weeks in the Japanese charts behind Titanic's 40 weeks in the late 1990s. It became the highest-grossing film of all time in Japan in 73 days at a gross of ¥32.48 billion, surpassing Spirited Away, which had held the record for 19 years. After 220 days of release, it became the first film in the history of Japanese cinema to gross ¥40 billion.

Outside of Japan, its highest gross in a single market was in the United States and Canada, where it was released on April 23, 2021, and grossed US$47.7 million to become the second-highest-grossing anime film of all time in the market, after Pokémon: The First Movie which grossed US$85.7 million. Its North American opening weekend gross of $21.2 million set the record as the biggest opening for any foreign-language film released in North America. Also, its second weekend topped the box office, which was the first anime film since Pokémon: The First Movie. It became the highest-grossing animated film of all time in Taiwan by grossing NT$360 million (US$12.6 million) in 17 days after its release and went on to gross NT$634 million in total. It also became the highest-grossing anime film in several other markets, including Singapore where it was released on November 12, 2020, and went on to gross S$2.42 million ($1.83 million), Malaysia where it was released on March 5, 2021, and went on to gross more than RM4.3 million to surpass One Piece: Stampede's RM3.3 million, Thailand where it surpassed the previous record held by Your Name during the first weekend and went on to gross ฿124 million, and Russia where it grossed $1.7 million. In Hong Kong, the film topped the box office for four consecutive weekends following its opening on November 12, 2020, but its box office run came to a halt as all the cinemas in Hong Kong were shut down on December 2, 2020, amidst the outbreak of the fourth wave of COVID-19 pandemic in Hong Kong; cinemas did not reopen again until February 18, 2021.

The box-office success of the film was attributed to a confluence of different factors. Among these were being released during a period of relative calm in the COVID-19 pandemic in Japan, which meant that theaters were open but competition from other films was low, and the protracted sequential release of the manga, anime and film which allowed anticipation to build up over time.

Critical response

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 98% of 49 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 7.8/10. The site's critics consensus reads, "Demon Slayer's visually stunning animation and masterful action set pieces serve a heartfelt plot that is sure to satisfy fans." According to Metacritic, which assigned a weighted average score of 72 out of 100 based on 10 critics, the film received "generally favorable reviews". American audiences surveyed by PostTrak gave it a 92% positive score, with 78% saying they would definitely recommend it. Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba the Movie: Mugen Train was one of the Jury Recommended works at the 25th Japan Media Arts Festival in 2022.

Crunchyroll reviewer Daryl Harding gave the film a positive review, praising the combination of 2D and 3D animation techniques, the music, and the character writing. IndieWire reviewer David Ehrlich, who gave the film a "C" on an A to F scale, likewise praised the film for its striking visuals, and for the characters of Kyōjurō Rengoku and Enmu, but said its R rating was excessive. By contrast, Anime News Network reviewer Kim Morrissy and Variety reviewer Peter Debruge compared the animation quality unfavourably to that of the TV series. Harding, Ehrlich, Morrissy and Debruge all noted that fully understanding and appreciating the film requires having watched the first season of the anime beforehand.

Accolades

Notes

References

External links

Official website (in Japanese)

Official website (in English)

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – The Movie: Mugen Train (film) at Anime News Network's encyclopedia

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – The Movie: Mugen Train at IMDb

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – The Movie: Mugen Train at Rotten Tomatoes

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba the Movie: Mugen Train at Box Office Mojo

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba the Movie: Mugen Train at Metacritic