Demon Slayer: The Mugen Train Arc (2021) Cre: Koyoharu Gotouge

After just recently completing the first 'Demon Slayer' arc, I very swiftly moved onto the next one, 'The Mugen Train Arc', which came in the form of both a film and a series. Although the feature film version was released in 2020, the episodic version came out the next year, and it was this one that I watched - mainly because I was viewing this anime through Netflix, and that's the format it provided.

By now, I was already well aware of how good some of the animation in the series was, but even so, I thought that some of the action sequences in this arc were exquisite. This was particularly evident for the sequences involving fire, which looked so vibrant and detailed. I really love how this anime shows violence - its explicit without being too much so, allowing the focus to stay on the action itself.

The dialogue did perhaps lack a little bit of nuance, which was to be expected, to an extent. Animes do tend to have very direct or overly-explanatory dialogue to help with exposition, something even more evident with the English dubbed audio. With that said, if you can let that slide, as I could, for the most part, the story that was being told was an interesting one. I am very keen on the main set of protagonists in this anime, and this arc provided even more reasons to like them.

The climactic fight was emotional, epic, and extremely well-animated, providing one of the show's most emotional moments so far. I really appreciate the unwavering sense of heart and resolve that this anime provides, particularly through its main protagonist, who I have come to find very endearing. Even though a lot of the events of the anime are dark, including in this specific arc, the undeniable heart and yearning to be good cuts through the whole time - it's very wholesome.

Overall, I thought this was a really enjoyable arc to watch, particularly because of the exciting action sequences, which connected the seven episodes very neatly. I can't wait to see how the core group of characters continue to develop in the next set of episodes, and I'm certain the overarching arc will continue to he expanded upon in an intriguing way. Either way, I found 'The Mugen Train Arc' to be a very entertaining set of episodes.