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Demon Slayer Mugen Train Arc Episode 5 Review: Right on the Money

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Quick Summary of Demon Slayer 2 Episode 5

In Demon Slayer Mugen Train Arc Episode 5, “Move Forward!”, Enmu, having confided that the train had become his entire body to Tanjirou, launched an all-out attack on the 200 passengers. Enmu’s plan was to exhaust the Demon Slayers, including Inosuke, Zenitsu, and even the Hashira Rengoku, then leisurely feast on them all. And based on Enmu’s regenerative abilities, the plan looked pretty solid. Can Tanjirou and friends, even with Nezuko’s help, protect the passengers? And if they solely do that, how will they confront and kill Enmu?

My Turn to Host!

Irina from I Drink and Watch Anime and I are back to bring you our reactions to the latest episode! But before we get into that, how’re things for you this week, Irina? We had our first substantial snowfall today here in Ohio. I realize that by Canadian standards, it’s nothing, it turned our roofs white. But next week will be closer to 70F. So, yeah, that’s Ohio for you!

We haven’t had snow yet but it is consistently below freezing temperature so we’re bound to get some soon. White Christmas and all.

Demon Slayer Mugen Train Arc Episode 5 Review

Opening Thoughts about Demon Slayer Mugen Train Arc Episode 5

There will probably be spoilers here! I don’t want to ruin any surprises for you. This episode reminded me a lot of the old Naruto or Bleach episodes where a single battle would take up one or more episodes. I’m not complaining — the fighting animation looked great! But before we talk about that or our favorite moments from the episode, do you have any opening thoughts, Irina?

I like this season of Demon Slayer a lot, but I think there might be something off with the pacing. I can’t put my finger on it because it’s not as if the episodes are dragging on, they go by quite quickly in fact, it’s more like I’m getting the feeling the story is going back and forth instead of forward. It doesn’t help that every episode begins with a rather extended recap of the last scene. That seems like padding to me. 

I can see that!

Picking Up Where We Left Off in Demon Slayer Mugen Train Arc Episode 5

This episode opened with the same scene from the end of the previous episode, where Enmu up and told Tanjirou that the entire train was now the demon’s body. Who does that? “Yeah, here’s my greatest weakness LOL!” Guess that’s why Enmu isn’t one of the top demons. Or lower demons, I guess.

That aside, I enjoyed the right scenes in this episode. Seeing Zenitsu light up the train as he flew through the cars, zapping demon ectoplasm all the while, was a treat. Rengoku’s style is always vibrant and rich in color. He’s fast, too. Not as fast as Zenitsu, maybe, but still fast.

Irina, what did you think of their fighting scenes? And, just between the two of us (and our readers!), did you roll your eyes like I did when Zenitsu had to save Nezuko?

Nezuko reacts to Zenitsu’s assist. Capture from the Crunchyroll stream.

I did not roll my eyes. I’m not sure why I would have. 

I like the fight scenes. The animation is fantastic. I do however find that these action heavy episodes are difficult to discuss. Short of just describing what happened, which is a bit of a waste, I don’t feel like I have a lot to add to it, you know. If the animation was bad maybe it would be a different story.

Nezuko Back in Fighting Form

I will say that Nezuko back in fighting form was good to see. Her chibi proportions were giving me some serious uncanny valley feels last week. So it was great to see her looking like her usual self. I was happy to see all of them up and about actually. Including knocked out Zenitsu. It’s sort of a mirror to last season’s House of Escher arc which makes sense as this is essentially a cinematic arc. I like it. It’s a nice bit of fanservice to drop in for those of us who have been following the series since the start.

You have me so on the lookout for Nezuko issues (e.g., she being the only one that seemed, at the time, to have needed rescuing) that maybe I read too much into it. Glad to hear that wasn’t the case!

What I really liked about this episode is how well Tanjirou and Inosuke fought together. Sure, our favorite boar head-wearing Demon Slayer acted very bossy. In a lot of cases, that kind of character would start to really annoy me. But there are times when Inosuke can take a step back and realize others had a good idea. Like when Tanjirou suggested they synchronize threat breathing and coordinate their attack.

“Sounds good! Great idea! I can praise you for that!” Inosuke said (14:29). 

Inosuke recognized that Tanjirou had a good idea. Capture from the Crunchyroll stream.

Does that kind of thing keep Inosuke from becoming too much of a one-note character for you, Irina?

Inosuke’s Insistence on Leading Not an Issue

I’m a bit at a loss. What type of thing? Like the fact that he can coordinate and attack or the fact that he said it was a good idea? In any case, I would say yeah, Inosuke is a one note character. They all are. That’s part of the charm, isn’t it. These are really simple archetypal heroes and we love them for it. Demon Slayer isn’t really about reinventing the fighting shonen or anything like that. I think the show embraces all the classic tropes. It’s simply a really good execution of those tropes in my opinion. 

This said, it’s definitely a plot driven series. And I think that’s what serves this type of story best. It keeps the pace nice and brisk and the emphasis on the classic hero’s journey and the stellar production. I think it would be wasted on a character study personally.

My favorite moment was part of that fight sequence. Tanjirou and Inosuke had backed Enmu into a figurative corner. They had discovered that his new neck bones ran under the floor of the engine’s cab. When Enmu realized they had discovered that secret, he threw everything into defense. That means especially his Demon Art to put Tanjirou asleep. As we remembered, Tanjirou sliced his own throat in his dream to wake up. 

Enmu’s Rapid-Fire Defense

Well, Enmu hit Tanjirou so many times in rapid succession that I started to wonder how Tanjirou kept track of the sleep/wake cycles. At that instant, Tanjirou did get confused and prepared to cut himself in real life!

Fortunately, Inosuke’s boar’s head made it hard for Enmu to know where the Demon Slayer was looking, which left Inosuke free to save Tanjirou. I thought that was kind of cool, for two reasons. First, Tanjirou had saved Inosuke a few moments before, and it offset Nezuko as being the only damsel in distressed to be saved.

Not to say Tanjirou is a damsel. Just drawing a parallel.

Inosuke really came through for Tanjirou. Capture from the Crunchyroll stream.

Irina, what’d you think? Did you have another favorite moment?

I can’t really pinpoint one. I did like the idea that Enmu couldn’t tell where Inosuke was looking. Just like you did, I thought it was a nice moment. I also generally liked to see just how Enmu’s anatomy had fused with the train.  Think they exaggerated it a bit too much but it’s still kind of cool. I like those H.R. Giger types of constructs.

Closing Thoughts about Demon Slayer Mugen Train Arc Episode 5

Now that Enmu’s apparently dead (or is he?), I’m interested to see what happens next (because I’ve instructed myself to forget the movie). Any closing thoughts, Irina?

I keep on thinking, well that was too easy. Last week even Tanjirou agreed that something wasn’t right and I don’t know, it still seems like things just happened too smoothly. They had way more trouble with seemingly much weaker demons. Something’s up.

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2 thoughts on “Demon Slayer Mugen Train Arc Episode 5 Review: Right on the Money”

  1. Hm……. interesting way to describe the series, Irina. I never thought of it like that- I always just kind of saw it a “What you’d expect from a series called ‘Demon Slayer.'” You’re right; it’s not trying to reinvent the wheel- and that’s a good thing in some case. I LOVE “Black Clover-” and that can be kind of tropey at times(LOTS of times). “Demon Slayer-” same thing. But in a charming way- the both of them.

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  2. Pingback: Demon Slayer 2 Episode 5 Review: Right on the Money — Crow's World of Anime

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