The excellent and popular anime Demon Slayer has had as successful a turn on the box office as you can get in Japan – the processing of its “Mugen Train” manga arc is the largest in the country’s history. Now the film is finally coming to North America, and begins on April 23 in the US and Canada with distribution of Aniplex of America and Funimation.
The official title of the film, in true anime style, is a bit mouth-watering: Demon Slayer – Kimetsu No Yaiba – The Movie: Mugen Train. But that did not dominate the film. It broke the $ 100 million milestone in Japan in just ten days, and has since earned nearly $ 400 million in the country alone, beating Hayao Miyazaki’s Carried and Titanic for the record of all times.
The film is R and lasts one hour and 57 minutes, ensuring that fans of the fantasy anime’s beautifully animated, high-octane battle can see some bloody and well-choreographed battle scenes. There will also be 4DX and IMAX views, and both duplicate and subtitle versions. According to Aniplex and Funimation, those interested in watching Mugen Train home will have to wait until June 22, when digital purchases and rentals will be distributed on Amazon, Apple TV, Google Play, the Microsoft Store, Vudu and the PlayStation Store.
For those who are unfamiliar, Demon Slayer is a fantasy manga, written by Koyoharu Gotouge, focusing on the trials of young swordsman Tanjiro Kamado, who is looking for his sister in her human form after turning into a demon. Mugen Train specifically covers a middle part of the manga’s storyline, following the anime’s season 1 adaptation of the story’s beginning and first few bows. The anime is produced by the well-known studio Ufotable, which also animated the film and is working on the second season of the program to premiere somewhere in 2021.