Demon Slayer : Kimetsu no Yaiba - En route pour le village des forgerons

Seeing anime in a theater is a special experience in the United States, because you know that everyone who's joining you loves the genre and is just as excited as you for what they're about to see.

This special event was no exception, and it was well worth the trip to the theater for anyone who is a fan of the series.

As far as the content of the special, it is presented as you would see them on TV... as episodes. They keep the intros, the end credits, the songs, and the episodes end as they normally would, just without the ad breaks. That would be my one and only critisicm of this event. I believe it would have felt just a bit more special if the studio had removed those openings and end credits, and made some adjustments to the sound and footage to string it together as a film, that way the audience would have a slightly more unique experience than they would have, simply binge-watching the episodes in one go at home.

That being said, the episodes are fantastic. Amazing fight sequences and animation, a subplot that nearly makes you cry, and of course getting viewers excited for the upcoming season. Absolutely worth seeing in the short window that it will be in the theater.

If you go into this cinematic experience expecting another Mugen Train, you will be disappointed. However, none of the marketing materials I saw implied this, so I came into this with my expectations tempered. This movie is advertised as being the final two episodes of the Entertainment District arc and the first episode of the Swordsmith Village arc. And that's exactly what it is, along with some new introductory material at the very beginning. I did dock a couple of stars because I think the episodes should have been edited together more seamlessly, but, as far as I know, that was never implied from the trailers or announcements, so I'm not upset about it. I just think it would have made for an all-around better experience.

However, I thought this film was still great for what it was. I remember watching the final episodes of the Entertainment District arc and thinking, "I wish I could watch this in a theater," so I would have jumped at the chance for that by itself, let alone a preview of the new arc.

So, if you haven't seen the film yet and are expecting another true movie experience like Mugen Train, adjust your expectations. Know that this film is three complete episodes back to back to back, with two of them being already released material. If that makes you not want to watch, then don't! Save your money and wait for the new arc to start streaming in April. But if you just want to experience some of the best action so far in Demon Slayer on the big screen plus an early start to the upcoming arc, then this just might be for you.

Demon slayer looks and sounds immaculate on the big screen. Unfortunately though, the film is ultimately three episodes stitched together - credits and all.

The first part is the last two episodes of the entertainment district arc, while the last part is the start of the next series.

The new content looks great and builds anticipation for the new series. We get to meet the rest of the upper rank demons against a familiar backdrop that is mind bendingly beautiful.

I was hoping to see some more colourful demon slayer action in this movie. Instead, a large proportion of the last part of the film is slapstick comedy and loud wailing from the characters.

All in all, I was somewhat disappointed but still enjoyed it overall.

A lot of you dislike about the movie because it's mostly recap and poorly edited together. Yes, that is true, but holy the new episode makes up for it. The cgi animation completely blows every other anime out of the water. The camera controls and large scale shots were immaculate, and the comedy afterwards was great too. And some of you may say it's bad because there were no action scenes, but I think it would be weird to expect another fight right after the last season ended. So overall, this is a great movie, but it should have been edited together more seamlessly. I did find sitting through credits 2 times midway through the movie a bit weird.

They were completely upfront in saying that this was the last two episodes of Season 2 and the double length premiere of Season 3. If you are mad that this is that, blame it on your own ignorance.

Seeing that penultimate episode on the big screen alone is worth the price for me. The Season 3 premiere was a solid first episode, but I'm glad they included the last two to give some action, as S3E1 is largely a setup episode. Even if it'd be cool to have seen more of next season, it was cool to get the sneak peek. And the new opening was great.

This was a really fun experience, especially since I'd waited to watch the two final episodes of Season 2.