The cinemas are finally open and the cinephiles can at last get a taste of some good old big screen magic. And as someone who has grown up watching the animated films of the legendary Japanese filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki, I don’t think that there could have been a better film to break the lull than the Japanese animator Haruo Sotozaki’s dark fantasy action film ‘Demon Slayer: Mugen Train’. Based on the shōnen manga series ‘Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba’ by Koyoharu Gotouge, ‘Mugen Train’ is a direct sequel to the first season of the anime series, which was also directed by Haruo Sotozaki.
So far ‘Mugen Train’ has done a business of around 500 million USD and in the process it has even surpassed Miyazaki’s 2002 masterpiece ‘Spirited Away’ to become the all-time highest grossing Japanese film worldwide. ‘Mugen Train’ was also the highest-earning film worldwide from 2020—the first non-Hollywood / non-American film to top the yearly box office worldwide in the history of cinema. While the COVID-19 pandemic has had a major role to play in it, the film’s unprecedented show at the box-office is no mean feat. When put together with the global exploits of Bong Joon-Ho’s 2019 film ‘Parasite’, it’s a clear indication of the growing dominance of Asian cinema, triggered by Hollywood’s creative block during the superhero decade.
‘Mugen Train’ follows Tanjiro Kamado’s journey as a demon slayer after his family gets brutally murdered with his sister being turned into a demon. Tanjiro joins with Inosuke Hashibira, a boy raised by boars who wears a boar’s head, and Zenitsu Agatsuma, a scared boy who reveals his true power when he sleeps. Together they board the Infinity Train as part of a new mission with the Flame Pillar, Kyojuro Rengoku, to defeat a vicious demon that’s has been tormenting the people and killing the demon slayers who oppose it. The journey is both external and internal for Tanjiro and his friends. What ensues is battle of wits as the demon and the demon slayers engage in a deadly game of one-upmanship.
Since I have been a huge admirer of Miyazaki and the anime-manga culture, I had a great time watching the English-dubbed version of ‘Mugen Train’ (with English subtitles) on the big screen. But for those of you who are new to the genre ‘Mugen Train’ may not be the ideal place to start. But, if you want to watch it purely for the big screen experience then you can certainly go for it.