Demon Slayer The Movie: Mugen Train spoilers follow.
What do Titanic and Spirited Away have in common? They're both classics and they're both obsessed with water to varying degrees of deadliness. But more importantly than that, they were both overtaken at the Japanese box office by Demon Slayer the Movie, which is now the most successful film ever made in Japan. Mugen Train is also the second anime film to ever top the US charts, and it looks like UK success is guaranteed too.
Demon Slayer The Movie continues right where we left off at the end of season one, with Tanjiro and Nezuko boarding the Mugen train alongside Zenitsu and Inosuke. Together, the demon slayers have banded together to investigate strange disappearances that keep happening on the train. Flame Hashira Kyōjuro Rengoku, an elite demon slayer, soon shows up too, and then chaos quickly follows.
Unlike most anime films, the Demon Slayer movie is not just a random spin-off. It actually connects directly to the main show, bridging season one to season two. That means it's unmissable for fans, but you already knew that because Demon Slayer is just unmissable in general. Bearing all that in mind, here's how Mugen Train ends and what that means for the show moving forward.
Demon Slayer The Movie: Mugen Train ending explained
Most of Demon Slayer The Movie focuses on Tanjiro's fight against Enmu, a lower-ranked demon who manipulates and kills his victims in their sleep. Our loveable slayers quickly fall prey to Enmu until Tanjiro manages to escape the perfect dream that he's been trapped in. Cue an absolute insane action sequence where the slayers take on and defeat Enmu who has now bonded with the train itself to become one giant demon on the tracks.
Before Tanjiro can celebrate this hard-won victory, a far more powerful demon called Akaza suddenly appears and fights Kyōjuro to the death. Using regenerative abilities, the demon is able to defeat the Flame Hashira before running off into the woods to avoid his own death by sunlight.
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It's a brutal twist, one that rams home just how precarious life is in the world of demon slaying. But before Kyōjuro's flame is snuffed out completely, the esteemed Hashira asks Tanjiro to visit his family's estate in order to find out more about his father's lost flame techniques.
How Demon Slayer The Movie: Mugen Train sets up season 2
Although no specific date has been confirmed just yet, we do know that Demon Slayer season two will air later this year in Japan. Titled 'Yuukaku-hen' ('Red-Light-District Arc'), the new episodes will continue directly where the movie left off, following Tanjiro on his quest to fulfil Kyojurou's wishes and become a more powerful demon slayer.
Studio Ufotable has already been confirmed that Tanjiro's crew will team up with another Hashira called Tengen Uzui in season two. Hopefully, his mastery over sound will help the group defeat their next demon opponent when they arrive in the Yoshiwara district.
That's all we know for sure right now, but Mugen Train also sets up a few more plot points which will definitely impact Demon Slayer's second season. The most crucial of these is the mission Kyōjuro sends Tanjiro on before his demise at the end of the film.
Early on in season two, expect to see Tanjiro visit the Rengoku residence in search of a book which should hopefully contain secret techniques left behind by the Flame Hashira's of the past. With this insight, Tanjiro hopes to learn more about his father's special breathing technique which none of the other Hashira's seem to know anything about.
Whether the book turns out to be helpful or not, the mission is still an important one because Tanjiro needs to tell Kyōjuro's family that he died a hero. And now that the Flame Hashira is no more, someone needs to step up and take his place...
Without diving into the manga that inspired this show, we can't reveal exactly what happens to Tanjiro, and the series could very well deviate from the source material anyway. But still, we can't help but wonder if Tanjiro or even one of his companions might end up replacing Kyōjuro as the new Flame Hashira. Tanjiro's affinity right now is for water, but Kyōjuro did mention that black sword-wielders are often unsure of their true path at first.
Either way, Tanjiro will need to improve his skills a lot moving forward if he has any hope of defeating the Yoshiwara demon in season two. And following Akaza's arrival in Mugen Train, it's now clearer than ever that the demons Tanjiro has faced so far are nothing compared to what lies ahead. Whatever happens, expect to be spirited away by a second season of titanic proportions and yep, okay, we'll see ourselves out.
Demon Slayer -Kimetsu no Yaiba- The Movie: Mugen Train is now out in UK cinemas. Demon Slayer season 2 will air later this year in Japan, and at some point, we expect to see it air in the UK on Netflix too.
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After teaching in England and South Korea, David turned to writing in Germany, where he covered everything from superhero movies to the Berlin Film Festival.
In 2019, David moved to London to join Digital Spy, where he could indulge his love of comics, horror and LGBTQ+ storytelling as Deputy TV Editor, and later, as Acting TV Editor.
David has spoken on numerous LGBTQ+ panels to discuss queer representation and in 2020, he created the Rainbow Crew interview series, which celebrates LGBTQ+ talent on both sides of the camera via video content and longform reads.
Beyond that, David has interviewed all your faves, including Henry Cavill, Pedro Pascal, Olivia Colman, Patrick Stewart, Ncuti Gatwa, Jamie Dornan, Regina King, and more — not to mention countless Drag Race legends.
As a freelance entertainment journalist, David has bylines across a range of publications including Empire Online, Radio Times, INTO, Highsnobiety, Den of Geek, The Digital Fix and Sight & Sound.
