The Disappointing Outcome of the Demon Slayer: Swordsmith Village Movie Experiment

Demon Slayer’s Swordsmith Village movie felt cheap compared with Mugen Train.

These spoilers are for Demon Slayer. To the Swordsmith Village is currently showing in select movie theaters

The new Demon Slayermovie is a bridge between the anime’s previous “Entertainment District” arc and the brand new “Swordsmith Village” arc. The Mugen Trainfilm is a wonderful continuation of Season 1 that helped anime fans prepare for the new era of Demon Slayer. However, To the Swordsmith Village has a very different ending.

Mugen Train was as solid an experience as, which is a full-length anime movie. The story had a beginning middle and an end. The new Swordsmith Village movie consisted of just two anime episodes. It’s an experiment that didn’t work.

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The Demon Slayer – Swordsmith Village Movie’s Failure Formula

Anime movies often tell stories differently than individual episodes and seasons. Like all movies, they contain tie-ins and have a beginning, middle, or end. It’s inaccurate to call them “supersized anime episodes”. A TV show episode is simply a fragment. Sometimes, it starts where the last episode finished or ends with a cliffhanger. A series of self-contained episodes may tell a full story, such as anthology stories or “monsters” tales. But that’s an exception.

Demon Slayer Swordsmith Village attempted to make an anime movie but it failed. Not only is it a scam, but putting older episodes into a movie is not a good idea. Even if Swordsmith Village consisted entirely of new material and contained the first three or four episodes of the next episode, it would not have worked. While the movie would have a solid beginning with the premiere episode of the series, its middle, and end would be flawed.

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A movie can’t be the beginning of a larger storyline, no matter what anime tie-in it may be. If Demon Slayer had done so for the “Entertainment District”, the viewing experience would conclude with Tanjiro finally fighting Daki. While the entire arc was too long and difficult to adapt, it is possible to make a movie of a few segments. The movie combined the “Entertainment District” episode’s last two episodes and the “Swordsmith Village” episode’s premiere. It started with a build-up and ended in a climax.

The Swordsmith Village movie was an attempt to combine two anime seasons. It did this by mixing three episodes. This is contrary even to the most basic principles of film analysis. It didn’t have a real end — it stopped abruptly, was not resolved, and had no payoff. This contrasts horribly with Mugen Train. It had a serious payoff, Enmu’s defeat and Akaza’s retreat. was the sorrowful, but hopeful, end to Kyojuro Rengoku’s life.

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Demon Slayer did not need another movie

Demon Slayer Swordsmith Village has a cold reception that is indicative of more than the general dislike of fans. According to statistics, Mugen Train has a 98% Rotten Tomatoes Score and Swordsmith Village has 68%. If fans choose to ignore it or not watch it, it may be moot that the score for the former is lower. Most disappointing of all, it’s possible that the Swordsmith Village movie wasn’t necessary to exist.

Even the most successful and popular anime series don’t always need a tie-in movie. While some anime films can deepen the original franchise’s lore, others just exist because they can. And some franchises have both. Fans are often able to see when a movie has been made for money and what it is doing to the original franchise. Swordsmith Village does not even have a cash grab.

Mugen Train was an integral component of Demon Slayer lore. It bridges both anime seasons and then reappears in Season 2. Ties-in films are rarely good for themselves. Even worse, the borderline scam movie Swordsmith Village — which added nothing new — is just plain bad. Frankly, the movie didn’t have to be made. Fans could even wait one more month to see the Season 3 finale. Demon Slayermovies don’t always have a hit. Mugen Train was, however, a truly unique anime film experience.