Hello and welcome to Project Nitsuj. So in the last few weeks we’ve been taking a look Kimestu no Yaiba easily one of the best animes of not only the last decade but of all time. The anime as you expect was a big success and received high praise from everyone who watched it. Naturally, a second season was guaranteed because of its success, but with its high-quality animation and the pandemic we would have to wait a year or two. Luckily, they knew how to keep us satisfied with a movie. Released in 2020 and called the Mugen Train, the film would serve as a direct sequel to the anime which was pretty rare. Usually, anime movies are just one-off fillers meant to keep people interested in the show after its conclusion. So, to see a movie continuing the story after the first season meant you had to go and see it or risk missing important details when the next season started. As you can imagine everyone went to go see this movie. Done once again by Ufotable, it shattered box office records in Japan bringing in $503 million about 32 times the budget it caused to make the movie and surpassing Spirited Away and Your Name to become Japan’s highest grossing film. Along with this it won a number of awards for best animated film of the year and director. Let’s all abroad the Crazy Train and take a look at Kimestu no Yaiba: Mugen Train. Tickets please.
So the movie begins where the anime ended with our three demon slayers boarding the train ironically called Mugen (not sure if that was on accident or if it was just them being clever). Once on the train they meet up with Rengoku (it’s hard to miss him) to help him with his investigation of the Mugen train. Apparently 40 people have gone missing on this very train (and yet people still ride it) and previous demon slayers who were called in to investigate have gone missing as well. As they ride Tanjiro asks Rengoku if he knows anything about the Hinokami Dance that Tanjiro performed in episode 19 (still an amazing spectacle of animation). Sadly, Rengoku knows nothing about the dance. In fact, he’s never even heard of it before despite having a breathing style similar to Tanjiro’s dad. Demons finally appear and we get to see Rengoku in action (I have to admit his flame effects are awesome) where he easily defeats the demons with one attack each impressing Tanjiro and the others who begin to call him aniki.
After defeating the demons everyone falls into a deep sleep courtesy of Enmu (oh Mr. Freak, how are you this evening?). He then orders 4 passengers to enter the dreams of the demon slayers and destroy their spiritual cores. Why are these passengers helping him? Well it’s jumping ahead but it turns out they all suffer from some sickness (insomnia, tuberculosis, etc.) and in order to get that one good night of sleep to escape their pain, they have to do what Enmu says (or else). We go into Tanjiro’s dream where he’s reunited with his family who are all alive (oh boy, it’s like Perchance to Dream from Batman the Animated Series). In Zenitsu’s dream he and Nezuko are a couple (funny, I thought he would have a harem). In Inosuke’s dream he’s their leader and reimagines Zenitsu as a mouse (because he is cowardly), Tanjiro as a tanuki (I guess Inosuke thinks he has big balls for fighting him), and Nezuko is a meek rabbit. As for Rengoku, his dream shows him meeting his dad and telling him the good news of how he became a hashira, but he doesn’t care nor is he impressed with his accomplishments (he’s one of those dads, huh? No matter what you do it’s never good enough for him). According to Rengoku his dad wasn’t always like this. In the past, he was a very passionate man who trained Rengoku and his brother with great enthusiasm until one day he just stopped being a swordsman and became cold. While Rengoku is enjoying his dream, one of the passengers makes it to his subconscious and tries to destroy his soul, but his body goes into autopilot and attacks the passenger in the physical world (dream fighting. I’ve been there). In Tanjiro’s dream his subconsciousness manages to reach him and tells him that he’s in a dream, but he has no idea how to get out of it. Nezuko headbutts him to get him to wake up a little (scene here: https://youtu.be/iO7nMZqzaqo) allowing him to regain his sword. In a heart wrenching scene, Tanjiro leaves his family (you can just feel the sadness in his voice as he wishes this was real and that he could be reunited with his family, but he can’t turn away from the truth. He couldn’t save his family, but he can still save Nezuko) and goes to search for the demon believing they’re nearby (the worst part about death isn’t the act of dying, but rather the people we leave behind to mourn us).
While Tanjiro struggles to find a way out, Inosuke and Zenitsu do give us a good laugh by giving their passengers a rough time finding their cores and destroying them (because their minds are not a good place to be). Back with Tanjiro, he comes across his dad who tells him the only way out is to kill himself (and if he’s wrong. Then he’ll see you in your nightmares). Tanjiro kills himself and wakes up where he and Nezuko try to wake up everyone else but have no luck. Three of the passengers try to attack him (and fail) except for the one who was in Tanjiro’s dream. Truth be told, he actually did find Tanjiro’s core but couldn’t bring himself to destroy it because it was so pure and warm (scene here: https://youtu.be/-xHVLDmzjUw. Wow, his soul is the opening for Tokyo Ghoul. All kidding aside, this scene really does personify Tanjiro’s character. Despite everything that has happened to him his soul is still at peace with himself and the world around him). Tanjiro goes on top of the train to fight Enmu where Enmu keeps trying to put him to sleep, but every time he does Tanjiro keeps committing suicide in order to wake back up (good God, that takes a lot of will power to kill oneself and Tanjiro did it multiple times). Enmu even tries to break his will by showing him nightmares of his family hating him for living, but he powers through it knowing that his family would never hold that against him (never insult a man’s family). Tanjiro finally succeeds in cutting through Enmu’s neck only he’s not dead (time for phase 2). It turns out Enmu fused his head and neckbone with the train (holy shit, Inosuke was right) and plans to devour all the passengers on the train where Tanjiro won’t be fast enough to protect every cart. Thankfully, Nezuko managed to wake up Inosuke who goes on a rampage protecting the carts in the back while Tanjiro and Nezuko protect the carts in the middle and front (all while the train turns into this nightmarish imagery. Scene here: https://youtu.be/b7ifSxbBNYk). Rengoku and Zenitsu wake up as well to protect the carts while Tanjiro and Inosuke look for the neckbone of Enmu. The two manage to find it in the engine room where they work together giving an awesome sequence as they manage to cut through the neckbone and kill Enmu. Enmu’s death causes the train to turn over where thankfully nobody died and only got a few injuries (that in itself is a miracle. Scene here: https://youtu.be/Lk3iSrfX834). Just as dawn is approaching and everyone thinks they can take a breather, another demon appears named Akaza who is a part of the Upper Moon (who next to Muzan are the strongest demons out there and have existed for years). Akaza goes directly for Tanjiro, but Rengoku protects him. Akaza invites Rengoku to become a demon to reach the epitome of strength, but he says no and the two face off against each other giving us hands down the best fight in the movie. The two go all out against each other where it comes to a standstill as Rengoku gets punched through the solar plexus while almost halfway through the neckbone of Akaza and the sun is rising. Akaza gets desperate and does the cowardly thing by ripping off his arms to escape Rengoku and run away. Tanjiro tries to take him down only to fail calling Akaza a coward for running and saying that Rengoku won and was stronger than him in the end as he protected everyone (scenes here: https://youtu.be/qgcgatVKgl4 and https://youtu.be/6VPYzhbP7EI). As Rengoku slowly dies he tells Tanjiro to go to his family’s residence to see if they know anything about the Hinokami Kagura, openly acknowledges Nezuko as a member of the Demon Slayer Corps. and encourages them to keep on learning and growing to become the next hashira. He finally dies with a smile on his face as Tanjiro and the others mourn his death. The other hashiras hear of his death with many in disbelief and others using this as motivation to get stronger.
Final Thoughts
Simply amazing. Just like the anime this movie manages to deliver. It tells a wonderful story that keeps your attention and manages to make you cry at the end as we see a great and strong character die. Rengoku’s death not only showed how much growing Tanjiro and the others have to do, but it also shows just how dangerous and powerful these Upper Moon demons are. The movie does a good job establishing just how powerful and likable Rengoku is, so that by the end of the movie you’re invested in the character and sad to see him die. The stuff with the dreams was also good. Inosuke and Zenitsu gave us a good laugh while Tanjiro really tugs at the heartstrings as he’s forced to leave his family behind once again, but at the same time shows just how strong his will power is to not only kill himself once but multiple times. The animation is fantastic here. If you liked the animation in the anime you won’t be disappointed here. The movie does a good job blending the 2D and 3D animation and I just like how they captured the feeling of a speeding train and the camerawork is also great here. The train fight against Enmu was good and action packed and the fight between Rengoku and Akaza stole the movie. While losing Rengoku is a huge blow to the Demon Slayer Corps. it’ll only motivate them to get stronger and carry on his will.
Final Score
The final score for Mugen Train is a 9.5/10 with a must watch stamp of approval. If you haven’t seen this movie yet definitely check it out. It’s worth the watch. I highly recommend you watch the anime first before watching the movie so you’re not lost on what’s going on. This movie does deserve all the praise and success its received and thanks to its success a second season has been greenlighted and will be coming out in just a few months. If the second season is anything like the first season and movie then we’re in for quite the ride. Thanks for reading and I’ll see you next time on Project Nitsuj.