Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba - En route vers l'entraînement des piliers

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.

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.

The "movie" began with kind of a recap from the beginning and then showed the title of the movie, unlike the previous movie which basically started with the opening song of that episode. So even though then it proceeded with the last episode of the last season, it fooled me into thinking this time they have made a minimum effort to edit it as a movie properly. But no, taking almost an hour to finish up showing everything we've already seen, it started with the title and credits for the next season. Why can't they put in even that much effort?

The visuals and the story and characters that I'm already invested in made it a nice watch but it clearly not targeted to be played in theaters did affect my experience. At least the previous movie had a lot of great visual set pieces to present. Here it's more or less an emotional season finale and a lot of setting up for the next season for which there's not much to gain as a movie. It is so not meant to be a movie. But I can't help really like it because of how much I'm invested in it. The emotions do work big time even if they push it to your face a bit too much. Watching it with a houseful crowd is certainly a good experience even if it can't be really called a movie.

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'.