Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba - To the Hashira Training

If you came to this movie thinking that you wanted to see an uninterrupted sequence, no breaks, of the Swordsmith Vllg Arc, but on the Big Screen for all of that Grandiose Big Screen pleasure, you Win!! If you loved the Swordsmith Arc, and wanted to see it this way Or... if you failed to watch the Swordsmith Arc the right way, and need to re-watch it as a single movie and NOT separate episodes, again, you win!!

If, like me, you thought that they would pick up this great narrative storyline they have been crafting so perfectly and so sweetly for us and plunge us deeper into anime bliss, they don't. They move the narrative about 6 inches forward.

You might feel like the bus picked you up at your house, drove you in a circle, and deposited you 2 inches further ahead of the exact spot it picked you up. Almost nothing is advanced by way of narrative and storyline.

Let's say it like this; you feel hustled and cheated when it's over. Imagine if the new Star Wars movie was actually episodes 5-8 of last Summers's Mandalorian series on Disney!!

Not really a new movie is it if they attach some tiny little unremarkable filler stuff at the very end, and the movie then ends just like that!

I am getting really frustrated from all of the 1 star reviews on what you guys think of the so called 'movie'. It isn't supposed to be a full on movie, yet people are calling it a 'scam' for absolutely no reason. There has been MULTIPLE teasers/trailers for the last 3 months CLEARLY stating that the movie will include the last episode of the Swordsmith Village Arc, along with the first episode of the new Hashira Training Arc. Nowhere did it say that is would be a full movie including 100% new content. This is supposed to be a fan event with special screenings of the new episodes no one has watched yet.

Do your research before going in the movie theaters mindlessly, having no idea of what to expect, then calling the movie a scam. If you had literally watched ANY trailer for this, you would of known.

One other thing I had to add was that these peoples' reviews have absolutely nothing to do with the rating new content, overriding it with a 1 star review because it was a 'scam'.

The Mugen Train used to be one of my most anticipated movies of 2020, and the Demon Slayer manga has been a great part of my quarantine life. However, I have to say that this film is quite perfunctorily made. Most of the dialogues spend 15 minutes conveying emotions and information that could've been condensed into 3 minutes. Such pacing certainly works for a season-long anime so that you get the most out of each character, but is excessive to the point of tedious for an adapted screenplay. Additionally, the movie focuses on the transition period from season 3 to the Hashira Training Arc, which seems like unnecessary work since it's not an independent story like the Mugen Train. Instead of spending so much time explaining the context, why not make a film about the actual Hashira Training? Aside from the complaints, all the action sequences are spot-on as expected. The segment where the Wind and Serpent Hashira explored the mansion is perfect in length and smoothly animated, and seeing their breathing styles in motion is all I could ask for as a manga reader. Though I'm all for the Infinity Castle Arc to come as soon as possible, I'd ask that Ufotable take as much time as needed to perfect the animation. As a former global phenomenon, Demon Slayer deserves a proper end.

Now it's probably my fault, but I should have remembered after watching "Swordsmith Village" last March that this isn't a film at all, but the tail episode of a series (I hadn't seen) used to introduce the first episode of a new season (which I won't watch either) and so it didn't really make much sense. The ongoing training of "Tanjiro" as he seeks to become Hashira is mixed in with the continuing search for "Nezuko" and "Ubuyashiki" by the increasingly frustrated "Muzan". As with any serialisation, each episode is just a conduit to the next, so this film delivers very little by way of plot development. A tiny bit of closure is soon subsumed into an whole new set of challenges that will beset them as the next slew of episodes follow. Sadly, that means there's precious little story for us to get our teeth into and so we are really just left with some stylish and accomplished animation that we have all seen many, many, times before. As with last time, they didn't even bother to sew the episodes together properly, we get a credit roller amidst the thing. There are loads of interesting characters here but this film relies way too heavily on your having followed the strand elsewhere. As a stand alone piece of cinema, it's watchable, but pretty meaningless.

Tanjiro and his friends saved the swordsmith village and defeated two upper-ranked demons. While Tanjio is recovering, the Hashira are meeting to discuss Nezuko's recent ability to withstand the sun and Muzan's next move.

This movie is the next part in the Demon Slayer series and takes place right after the Swordsmith Village Arc. Unlike the Mugen Train movie, this one is more of a filler. The movie spends the majority of the runtime recapping the Swordsmith Village Arc. The remaining runtime does not expand too much on the story, and by the end, it is just a setup for the next arc. The movie is worth a stream for diehard fans and completionists, but it can be skipped for casual fans.