Let's get one thing out of the way from the very start Demon Slayer Releasing these intermittent movies between seasons is not a Money Grabbing Scheme, it's Fan service at it's finest, the release and subsequent Rise to the number one most earning anime movie of Mugen Train made one thing very clear: There is a massive audience for demon slayer in the theatres it's straight up foolish to not Tap that potential.
Things Such as Demon Slayer are massive spectacles and meant to be watched/enjoyed on the big screen if one gets the chance, however to restrict parts of the entire story to just the theatre would be massively unfair, and so they released them as a season, with added scenes, which on a whole Enhanced the experience, for example
Who can forget the moment when a piece of Tanjiro latches on to the one sent to destroy his spiritual core and that changes him forever.
I could break down the philosophy of this scene right now, but that is besides the point.
The point is that Movie as a medium can be pretty limiting both in terms of locking out certain audiences, and also in terms of creating a concise experience which will lead to the Deletion of Certain scenes which otherwise will add to the over all story but can lead to a worse overall movie.
But at the same time the Audience that wants to see Demon Slayer in the theaters is Huge, so what to do?
Well, without overworking your Staff, you may always edit the episodes into a movie and put it in the Theaters, because hey, this shit is Movie level anyways, why not!
It ain't milking Fam, it would have been Milking if the movie was required watching(oh wait... Marvel is milking us...) but it's not, it's an optional experience for the really dedicated fans who want to see it.
And from that perspective, I thoroughly enjoyed it.
It is truly something else to see/hear Kamado Nezuko No Uta on the big screen in 4DX
and of course there is Muzan's Backstory and Hantengu's backstory.
I did do a Cardinal Sin though.
I watched it in Dub and not Sub
Yes that is how that line translates.
But whatever, you make do with what you have, and to be honest, it reminded me of my childhood when all I had was Dubbed anime on Cable TV.(Truer pain has never been found.)
But now that I have made the obvious points, so what happens in the new scenes of the movie? Which is what most went for lets be honest.
So this movie has some new scenes, which are not present in the manga even.
Just like there were a few scenes present in the Red Light District Arc(Entertainment District can go fuck itself, we know what that district is.) to showcase Tanjiro going on Multiple missions after Rengoku and Before Tengen.
The first set of new scenes sets off to introduce the Snake Hashira Obanai Iguro and Wind Hashira Sanemi Shinazugawa in combat.
And they succeed amazingly. As the two Hashiras try to unravel the mystery of why an abandoned castle suddenly has an extra serving of Demons and als gives us a first glimpse into the Infinity Castle, which is a Great way to set it up properly and tease it even further as to what it can be, what it's function in the show is, right before the team is Taken straight to it, cause Imma be honest with you, that shit was Rushed af.
I don't have any screen Grabs, because of course.
But one change that they made that I really liked in this version is that it is revealed straight from the start that any who manifest the mark will die early, where as in the Manga the reveal comes much later from Kokushibou.
Sure we loose the Badass moment of Gyomei saying that he doesn't care but this time around the others also appear Badass as they just accept their deaths without a care, and this also justifies why Gyomei waited so long to activate his mark, in the Manga, since he had no Idea that we knew of, him "saving" it made no sense, now it will.
The arc in the Manga itself isn't that big, and even though they are adding bits and pieces here and there, I don't know if it will justify an entire season without the Infinity castle arc stuck on top, so my guess is they are adding the additional Hashira side chapters as sort of Flashbacks? I guess? whenever the story calls for it, that way they can flesh out the Hashira more before the Infinity Castle Arc and also animate some really Awesome moments that the Fans will for sure want to see.
Like Rengoku VS the Gun Demon.
Not only is this battle sheer bloody Amazing, because of course it is, it's Rengoku VS a gunman Wolf Demon, come on. It also will give us some more of Rengoku while giving us insight into another previous Lower moon, with a unique Power, reveal the origin of Kanroji's Love Breathing, and show us Shinjuro Rengoku's past and how Kyojuro had to suffer for it.
The Manga also never really much showcased Giyu's Talents fully before the infinity Castle, same goes for Obanai, Gyomei, Sanemi etc. So it is good imo that this arc seems in line to correct that mistake, and maybe they can also give us more insight into how Tamayo and Kocho were while working together, cause like, one of them hates Demon's the other is one... We need that story.
Don't make it go offscreen and then flashback to a fucking verbal explanation like the Manga Ufotable. Please, I beg you.
I mean sure, I get it, you needed all the poisons to be secret for the plot twists, but at a certain point they just felt like they were coming out of no where, and dare I say, felt very Deus Ex Machina.
But whatever let's hope they do a better job of setting things up this time without giving too much away, because I do like my plot twists, but I also like good story telling, and I want to see those two work out their differences for a common Goal, come on we need that.
And so far, they have set up the two of them working together, be weird if we never saw anything until the next season, so fingers crossed and let's hope.