‘Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba – To The Hashira Training’ review: A film just for the fans

What a sight it’s to see followers sporting anime t-shirts throng a hardly opened theatre corridor for an early morning screening of the much-awaited Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba – To The Hashira Coaching. The corridor erupting in cheers and screams of “Nezuko chan” to welcome a fan-favourite character was sufficient to talk of the immense international reputation of the Demon Slayer franchise.

Just like the 2023-released film, Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – To the Swordsmith Village, To The Hashira Coaching serves extra as a teaser for the upcoming season than an precise characteristic movie. Directed by Sotozaki Haruo, the movie opens with a brief montage of scenes from earlier Demon Slayer seasons, adopted by the ultimate episode of the final season, To The Swordsmith Village. Solely after the primary half of the film will we get to see the primary episode of the upcoming season.

The earlier season ended with younger Demon Slayer Kamado Tanjiro (Hanae Natsuki) defeating the Higher-Rank demon, Hantengu (Furukawa Toshio). His half-demon sister, Kamado Nezuko (Kito Akari), overcomes the risks of a demon being beneath the solar and even begins speaking. Nezuko’s feat catches the eye of the despicable demon king, Kibutsuji Muzan (Seki Toshihiko), who’s now looking out for her to realize her newfound powers.

Following a recap of this episode, the film jumps straight to the brand new episode, as we see the Hashiras on a mission to defeat Muzan, hoping to get a particular mark on their our bodies that would offer them a bonus in preventing demons. They start rigorous coaching for the remainder of the Demon Slayer corps. In the meantime, Tanjiro recuperates from his earlier battles and will get prepared to hitch the coaching alongside along with his buddies, Agatsuma Zenitsu (Shimono Hiro) and Hashibira Inosuke (Matsuoka Yoshitsugu).

Ufotable, the producer of Demon Slayer, has one of many anime business’s greatest artwork course and compositing groups, and with Demon Slayer, they’ve perfected the mix of 2D hand-drawn artwork and 3D animation mixing, making the motion scenes look dynamic and fluid.

Nevertheless, even with Ufotable’s gorgeous visuals, ready for nearly half the movie’s runtime for the precise story to start makes for a weird movie-watching expertise. Whereas Demon Slayer followers could think about it a deal with, as a film, Kimetsu No Yaiba – To The Hashira Coaching is severely missing, being only a compilation of an current episode and an upcoming episode.

On the plus facet, the movie does embody an thrilling anime-exclusive battle sequence, that includes the Wind Hashira, Shinazugawa Sanemi (Seki Tomokazu) and the Snake Hashira, Iguro Obanai (Suzumura Kenichi). We additionally get to see the remainder of the Hashiras and different supporting characters after a very long time. The occasional light-hearted and humorous scenes are entertaining however the remainder of the brand new episode, loaded with exposition and idle dialogue, doesn’t do a lot to supply for a great movie-watching expertise.

Following the success of Demon Slayer: Mugen Prepare, launched in 2020, the plot and the pacing of the anime present took a extreme hit. Battle scenes have been unnecessarily dragged out and the protagonist is all the time discovering himself with handy power-ups. Whereas this may be dismissed as typical shounen anime (anime focused in the direction of adolescent boys), it simply feels lazy at this level.

Demon Slayer: Mugen Prepare took up a brief arc from the unique manga sequence and translated it into an excellent characteristic movie that was not solely a box-office success globally but additionally one that might maintain its personal as a standalone film. As a result of absolute lack of context and introduction to the characters and plot, Kimetsu No Yaiba – To The Hashira Coaching would make no sense to a standard movie-watcher.

And for followers, although it might make extra sense to attend for the brand new season to hit OTT platforms, watching Demon Slayer’s iconic gorgeous visuals on a giant display screen makes the expertise barely bearable. The collective expertise of gathering with fellow anime followers to cheer and scream for our favorite demon slayers nearly makes even the ticket value appear value it.

The author is a former journalist with a ardour for cinema. Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba – To The Hashira Coaching is at present operating in theatres.