Did Demon Slayer Mugen Train start a New Trend?
Demon Slayer Mugen Train has been dominating the box office ever since it was released. It was first released in Japan on 16th October 2020. On its first day of release, it broke the record of highest first-day record with 1.2 billion yen. Even with the COVID-19 restrictions, the film made history with its collection. Later, with the worldwide release, the records just started piling up. With a total collection of $474 billion, it has become the highest-grossing film of 2020. Such a feat has been achieved for the first time in history by a non-Hollywood movie, let alone an anime film. This huge success compelled the franchise to release a second season which would be coming later in the year.
Now, with such huge success of Mugen Train, much other anime franchise has also started releasing their anime films. The first one to follow was My Hero Academia who announced its third film “My Hero Academia Movie World Heroes Mission”. The film would be the third one in the franchise and would probably be continuing after the fifth season which is airing now. Following Mugen Train, My Hero Academia also wishes to recreate a similar scene with their movie. My Hero Academia has a big community much like Demon Slayer and would probably do similar to Demon Slayer. My Hero Academia World Heroes Mission will come out on 6th August 2021.
After My Hero Academia, the famous anime Black Clover from CloverWorks also announced that a Black Clover Movie has been given green light. Black Clover anime recently ended after 170 episodes on March 30, 2021. Along with it, an “important announcement” containing the announcement of the movie was also released. The anime ended abruptly leaving the viewers to anticipate whether it’s coming back or not considering the manga is ongoing? The announcement video contains the manga arts, hence a lot of still in the dark about the movie. Most probably, Black Clover will also follow Demon Slayer and continue the anime in the new movie. Black Clover Movie will release probably by Mid 2022 in Japan.
Almost simultaneously, Jujutsu Kaisen also announced a movie after it finished its first season. The movie is currently called “Jujutsu Kaisen 0” and is a prequel to the current season of Jujutsu Kaisen. The second season has been teased, but no fixed date has been given, so to compensate for it, a new movie would be released in 2022. The movie will focus on Yuta Okkotsu, a second-year student at Tokyo Jujutsu High School. Although the name Yuta Okkotsu is referenced very rarely in the anime, when it is, it is clearly shown he is revered very highly. Jujutsu Kaisen does the opposite of what Demon Slayer did, in terms of storyline, with the film progressing the story. The Jujutsu Kaisen Movie would follow the manga chapter #0–4 which would be a prequel to the anime season of Jujutsu Kaisen. The movie would be coming out in “Winter” which could be concluded as November or December 2021 or January 2022.
Now, the last one to join Demon Slayer’s trend is the OG Dragon Ball franchise. On May 9, also known as Goku’s day, the franchise announced a new Dragon Ball Movie which would come out in 2022. The Dragon Ball Movie would be animated by Toei Animation and would be a part of the Dragon Ball Super timeline, however, it is not a direct sequel to the 2018’s Dragon Ball Super: Broly. A lot has not been revealed by the writer Akira Toriyama except a few words, including saying that it would be “ A Dragon Ball Movie unlike ever in history”. The movie will be coming out in 2022, although, the question is whether it is a Japan-specific release date or a worldwide release date. Still, the success of Demon Slayer Mugen Train has started a new trend of releasing anime films to continue their storyline. Moreover, amidst the COVID-10 pandemic, a lot of viewers were stuck at home and the Mugen Train was their first opportunity to release from these restraints. Overall, Demon Slayer Mugen Train is already an excellent movie with amazing visuals and storylines, this alone is enough for its great success.
