"Demon Slayer: Infinity Train" is now the highest grossing Japanese film of all time. It's also done well around the world, even topping the box office in the U.S. for a week in April. I figured it was my duty as a movie nerd and former anime obsessive to see what all the fuss was about. I'm not familiar with the popular "Demon Slayer" franchise, but I've seen plenty of anime and plenty from this genre in particular. And frankly, this movie has me stumped.
"Demon Slayer" is a typical Shonen Jump franchise. This means it's aimed at teenage boys, and built around a familiar formula of superpowered combatants, epic battles, and strictly delineated hierarchies that our heroes are meant to ascend as they get stronger and more experienced. "Demon Slayer" began as a serialized manga, and is currently one season into what is sure to be a long-running anime adaptation. "Infinity Train" takes place between the first two seasons, and feels like a short arc from the anime. Aside from some CGI elements, the animation is roughly the quality I'd expect from a television show. It's not remotely in the same class as the Ghibli films or Makoto Shinkai's films. Overall, the film struck me as deeply, deeply mediocre.
Fans might complain that I'm not familiar with "Demon Slayer," so I'm not one to judge, but there's really not much to the story. The premise involves an organization of demon slayers who are eternally at war with destructive demons. A group of greenhorn fighters, including our young hero Tanjiro Kamado (Natsuki Hamae) and his demon-infected sister Nezuko (Akari Kito), are sent to hunt a dangerous demon that has been sighted on a train. They're meant to assist a "Hashira," one of the most powerful Demon Slayers, named Rengoku (Satoshi Hino), whose powers are all about fire. About half the film is spent trying to rouse Kamado and his friends after the villain traps them in dreams that also serve as helpful flashbacks. The other half is having the big showdown with the demons. The story beats are laid out so that the chapter/episode breaks are clearly identifiable, so I expect that this is going to be broken down to be broadcast as four episodes of the ongoing anime eventually.
Viewers who aren't familiar with manga or anime will probably have a tough time with this one, because it indulges in some of the most tiresome anime tropes - the "Dragonball Z" style screaming dialogue, the constant torrent of made-up terminology for fighting techniques and magical abilities, and so much time spent just posturing and comparing power levels. And my god, the villain monologuing is so needlessly annoying. The execution is pretty decent otherwise, and I like some of the character designs, but I have absolutely no idea what makes "Demon Slayer: Infinity Train" any more appealing than the many similar "Naruto" and "One Piece" movies, let alone the big guns like "Spirited Away." "Demon Slayer" is a bloodier example of this kind of franchise than most, with some horror elements, but it's not especially dark. From what I can tell, the most interesting character, Rengoku, really only plays a major part in this movie, and isn't prominent in the rest of the franchise.
So how to account for the movie's runaway success? Is this a "Pokemon: the First Movie" situation where a super popular property supercharged interest in a mediocre tie-in? Did the pandemic removing all competition from western sources give the film extra legs? Is the movie better than I'm giving it credit for? Probably all three to some extent. I haven't liked many of the popular anime series in a while, and I never had much success with the boys' action shows even when I was a really committed otaku. Those curious newcomers who come into "Infinity Train" expecting something better than "Your Name" and the Ghibli movies are bound to be disappointed. Still, the movie has made its many fans very happy, and I think it best to just let them have this.
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