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“If you put in your all, you’ll stand your ground even in death.”
– Kyojuro Rengoku
Demon Slayer has been a huge success from the moment that the first season of the anime came out a couple of years ago. It has become a worldwide phenomenon, which is something that can be seen by the excitement for this movie which is set between the first two seasons, Demon Slayer: Mugen Train or also known as Infinity Train. Or also known as, up to date, the highest-grossing Japanese film of all time, which goes to show you the growth and development of anime in terms of reach all over the world.
Regardless, this film is not only a massive success from a commercial perspective but it also plays a very significant role in the story’s development because, in a way, this represents a breakthrough for Tanjiro and his friends when you consider the events that happened here. Tense, emotional, and filled with action, Infinity Train is what you expect a mainstream anime movie to be and then some.
What is Demon Slayer: Infinity Train?
The events of this movie, as I have mentioned before, take place between the first and second season, with Infinity Train serving as a connection of sorts. Tanjiro Kamado, his sister Nezuko, Inosuke Hashibira, and Zenitsu Agatsuma, have been training with Hashira Shinobu and her girls. After a few days of training with them, Tanjior and his comrades are handed a mission to support another Hashira, who happens to be the Flame Hashira, Kyōjurō Rengoku, on a train.
At first, everything seems normal, but as time goes by, they start to fall asleep and they discover that they have been controlled by Enmu, Lower One of the Twelve Kizuki, who are a group of extremely powerful demons. Enmu also has the ability to grant them the dreams or nightmares that she wants and they have to fight back or get help from people in the real world to get back to reality.
This is the setup for Infinity Train and how a lot of battles, blood, and tragedy happen.
How Was It?
I’m going to give you a weird revelation: I’m not the biggest fan of anime movies. My main gripe with them is that the material usually works better as a series because it allows for greater character and story development and it allows for much better visualization of the manga, which is the original source material. Plus, even most of the better anime films are non-canon and that is an annoying trope for me. Again, this is more of a personal taste rather than valid criticism, but it did make me enter this film with some trepidation, despite the fact that I loved the first season.
However, the movie has proven to be quite good and I think that is due to Demon Slayer having a very important virtue: its characters. This is a franchise that might not have the grandest or most original of concepts (demon hunters in Japan have been an idea that has been overly used for decades now), but it does have a very charming set of characters and manages to keep you invested in their struggles, their wants and what they go through.
A big example of this is the breakthrough character of the film, Rengoku. I’m not going to give a lot of spoilers because I want you to watch the movie, but Rengoku is a character that, while shown in the first season, is pretty much developed here and by the end of the story you are very connected to him and he has made a lot of impact to you as a viewer. It is a strength of this franchise to have strong, distinct, and charismatic characters whose personalities are totally developed, staying with you even after you’ve finished watching.
The movie is filled with themes about letting go of the past and moving forward to become the best version of yourself, but it doesn’t wallow in philosophy and it has a lot of room for action and humor, balancing all the different aspects of what a story should have. So while we see Tanjiro going through a lot of regret in his dreams, Zenitsu and Inosuke’s are a lot more comedic and lighthearted, allowing moments of levity to what is a very dark movie.
These different shades of gray are brilliant and it leaves you satisfied as a viewer.
Funny enough, everybody’s favorite part of Infinity Train, which is the final act, doesn’t fit with everything that has happened until that point in the film but it’s so well done, powerful and heartfelt that you just simply embrace it. It is a testament to the power of character and the execution of storytelling.
What About The Animation?
As you can imagine with this being a movie, the animation is a bit better because you have a bigger budget. It is certainly the case here, with the film maintaining the anime’s classic style, but also adding a bit more details and a bit more flow to the movements and the settings, making everything more visually appealing.
I’m not an expert in this area, but I definitely think that it plays to the strengths of the story that they are trying to tell, which is a big blockbuster anime film, and it also adds a lot of quality to the fight scenes, especially near the end. It is THAT good!
Conclusion
Overall, Demon Slayer: Infinity Train is a very successful story in what it tries to convey: to move the plot forward to the second season, to develop the characters through the traumatic events that they go through here and also offering high quality entertainment in both storytelling and in terms of action. It has all of that in spades.
This is the kind of movie that manages to combine commercial appeal with artistic value while also staying true to the story’s core values, so it is a major success in a lot of different fronts, which is well worth your time.
Now it is time to see what the second season has in store for me. Thank you for taking the time to read my Demon Slayer: Infinity Train Review. If you’ve seen this movie or if my review helped you, let me know by leaving a comment below.
