Demon Slayer: Mugen Train is the 404th episode of the Screen Junkies comedy series Honest Trailers. It was written by Logan Rees, Spencer Gilbert, Danielle Radford and Lon Harris. It was narrated by Jon Bailey as Epic Voice Guy. It parodies the 2020 Japanese animated dark fantasy action film Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba the Movie: Mugen Train, based on the shōnen manga series Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba. It was published on July 6, 2021. It is 5 minutes and 19 seconds long. It has been viewed over 100,000 times.
Script[]
From, uh... Japan (Toho Co., Ltd.), comes what's probably not the best introduction to anime, but if you're already a fan, wipe that Pocky dust off on your wall scroll and get your hands on...
Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba the Movie: Mugen Train, the dubbed version. But don't worry; we watched it with subs, too. Promise.
Check out the anime sensation that everyone and their husbando bought a ticket for, that not only saved the Japanese box office (a The Japan Times article with the title "'Demon Slayer' first film in Japan to top ¥40 billion at box office" pops up), but had the biggest U.S. opening for a foreign film ever (a Vanity Fair article with the title "Demon Slayer: Mugen Train Makes Box Office History" pops up), and confused the sh*t out of anyone who wandered in to see what the fuss was about.
Inosuke: (to Nezuko) Come on. Look! I'll give you these sparkly acorns.
Though, to be fair, that's like making Age of Ultron your first Marvel movie. (as Thor is electrocuted in a pool while Dr. Erik Selvig watches, whispering) Okay, see, Thor's using his magic dream jacuzzi to recover a vision of the Infinity Stones, and-and-- You know what? N-Never mind. Just-Just watch the punching. (Iron Man uses the Hulkbuster to pummel the Hulk into submission)
Hop aboard the Mugen Train, a direct continuation of the Demon Slayer series, so it will not slow down to explain who this veiny narrator is, why the hero keeps a small child gagged in his backpack, or why his friend looks like the cover of a romance novel written by pigs.
Inosuke: I'm wearing the hide of the Mountain God on my head.
Ohh, he's just a guy wearing a severed boar head! That makes more sense... very slightly more sense.
But series fans will instantly recognize this colorful cast of characters, like Zenitsu, a Pikachu you'll want to slap instead of hug; Inosuke, the series' own tsundere, which is the anime term for "more than one character trait"... <GASP!>; and Tanjiro, the saintly protagonist: literally a perfect human, great kid, and you just know he makes sure to smell nice, too.
Tanjiro: (thinking) His scent is overwhelming... / But I can smell him, just barely. / There's a faint scent of demon on it, too. / The demon's scent is getting stronger by the moment. / --he smells the most like Kibutsuji!
Tanjiro: I could smell that Nezuko's hurt.
Tanjiro: (thinking) And I can smell he has a strong sense of justice.
Together, they'll board a train full of powerless losers -- who don't even have a cool haircut, so you can safely ignore them -- and team up with Rengoku, a samurai Guy Fieri who's become one with the flame broiler, and now runs the toughest dojo in Flavor Town. He's ultra-powerful, pure-hearted, and loves to eat...
Rengoku: Tasty!
...so if it helps your memory to just call him "Goku", I say roll with it.
Are there demons to slay aboard this Mugen Train? I'm gonna level with you: there are. There are several, like Enmu, a demon with the power to put the audience to sleep with hour-long dream sequences, who rides the line between upsetting and hilarious by having sick, frightened children do all of his dirty work. (Tanjiro knocks out Enmu's thralls) Naptime, orphans! Then, just when you think the Mugen Train has fully gone off the rails, middle-management demon Akaza shows up, with a burning desire to f*ck Rengoku-- uh, I mean, seduce Rengoku-- uh, I mean, fight Rengoku. Yeah... fight. That's what he wants to do.
Akaza: I can tell just by looking at you that you're strong. / --we could spar with each other endlessly. / What a magnificent attack! / Such skilled movement. / (thinking) What unbelievable strength! / --that ironclad stance! / Those reflexes! Brilliant! / You haven't reached your peak yet. / Keep your eyes on me. / We'd be able to f**** [fight] each other for the rest of eternity!
Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!
So don't worry if you get lost, because you can get the gist of Demon Slayer if you've seen any other shōnen anime (My Hero Academia, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood): the good guys have the big eyes and neon clothes, the bad guys are all pale pretty boys and/or tentacles, there's some kind of rigid power level hierarchy...
Zenitsu: Was it really an Upper Rank demon?
...everyone screams the names of their attacks out loud...
Tanjiro: (thinking) Water Surface Slash!
Rengoku: Third Form! Blazing Universe!
...there's always a secret reserve of power you can unlock on the brink of defeat, and the predictable death of the protagonist's mentor that still somehow works, 'cause damn if Goku doesn't go down like a champ. (tearing up) What a fighter... Even made his mom proud! He's just so noble! I'm not crying; you're crying! Everyone's crying! Even that bird is crying! Wait, why is that bird crying...?
So get ready for one anime-ass anime, and if you have a tolerance for that sort of thing, this is one of the better ones, 'cause it looks absolutely amazing, most of the humor survives the cultural gap, and there's an extended sequence where the hero learns to quickly chop his own head off in his dreams to wake up long enough to chop the head off a demon train and get saved from accidentally chopping his head off for real by a friend who wears the chopped-off head of the boar who raised him. Never change, anime; never change.
Starring: Rash Ketchum (Natsuki Hanae/Zach Aguilar as Tanjiro Kamado); Aang-xiety (Hiro Shimono/Aleks Le as Zenitsu Agatsuma); Charlotte's Weeb (Yoshitsugu Matsuoka/Bryce Papenbrook as Inosuke Hashibira); What's in the Boooox? What's in the Boooox? (Akari Kitō/Abby Trott as Nezuko Kamado); Lion-O (Satoshi Hino/Mark Whitten as Kyojuro Rengoku); and Hee Hee! [(*Michael Jackson Noises*)] (Daisuke Hirakawa/Landon McDonald as Enmu/Lower Moon One)
Demon the Tank Engine's Big Adventure
The honest title for Demon Slayer: Mugen Train was ‘Demon the Tank Engine’s Big Adventure’. Titles designed by Robert Holtby.
You want to bet on a naked boar man fighting a psychic child in his dreams? Mugen Train.
Viewer's Comments[]
Please say Eren Yeager. - Drew Fine
Say: "The seaweed is always greener, in somebody else's lake" in honor of Samuel E wright - Dream Master
Please say: "Silenzio, Bruno!" In the next video. - margareth michelina
Please say: "A really dumb movie about really dumb people doing really dumb things for really dumb reasons." - Slayer 0
My 44th birthday is next week and this summer my best friend and I will have been friends for 38 years. Please say our tag line... "Let's make a mess and get out of here." 🙏🙏👍🏻👍🏻 - Erik Miitel
Trivia[]
- The second comment in the viewer's comments pays tribute to Samuel E. Wright, an actor and singer best known for his role as Sebastian in the 1989 Disney animated film The Little Mermaid, who passed away on May 24, 2021, at the age of 74 due to prostate cancer.
Reception[]
Production Credits[]
Voice Narration: Jon Bailey aka Epic Voice Guy
Title Design: Robert Holtby
Written by: Logan Rees, Spencer Gilbert, Danielle Radford, & Lon Harris
Produced by: Spencer Gilbert
Edited by: Kevin Williamsen
Post-Production Supervisor: Emin Bassavand
Director of Video Production: Max Dionne
Associate Producer: Ryan O'Toole
Executive Producer: Roth Cornet