Before I jump into the episode itself, I just have to say this.  It’s not enough that a series which has made about 9.7 gazillion Yen for the production committee is recycling a movie to show on TV and re-package as new discs – they have to do an almost three-minute recap at the beginning too?  So technically the beginning of this episode was the third time that material has been used.  It’s just kind of unsavory, really.

Of course one can see why this was done – simply, because this material wasn’t produced to be shown in 22 minute blocks.  The pacing of this episode felt very off – that long recap at the beginning, and it just kind of stopped.  It played like what it was – a chunk of a movie separated out and shoehorned into an episodic TV slot.  I know there was talk of new footage being part of Mugen Ressha-hen and I’m sure there is some, but the continuity factor is still way off.

In effect, then, this ep was one extended battle sequence.  Inosuke woke up thanks to Nezuko, Zenitsu did not (thank goodness) apart from one- well, what will we call it, “sleephacking” sequence?  Rengoku woke up too – though unless I’m misremembering, I don’t think we were actually shown how or why (which seems pretty important).  I’m not sure how exactly a demon is able to fuse its body with an inanimate object like a train – seems pretty out there to me but it’s entirely possible this was explained in the mythology somewhere in an episode (or movie scene) I missed.

It was kind of refreshing to see Tanjirou all out at sea about how to handle this, as he can be a bit of a Marty Stu at times.  Rengoku is rather one-note personality-wise but he is very much the adult in the room, and he’s leagues ahead of the teeny-boppers in composure and tactics at the very least (and maybe in power levels too, at least usable).  Once he breaks things down for Tanjirou and gives him an assignment, the boy calms down and sets about the task at hand and it’s only a matter of time before the Mugen Enmu meets its end.

Inosuke is Inosuke – not much to say there.  Some find him as or more annoying than Zenitsu – he’s not on the same level for me, though I can see it.  He was pretty tolerable by his standards here – even actually following orders a couple of times with only a modicum of posturing.  As for the action, I would say this – it’s quite good for a TV anime but when you consider this was shown in theatres, I don’t actually find it all that impressive.  There’s a lot of CGI, and it’s pretty good CGI but nothing awe-inspiring or anything.  Where Kimetsu shines visually is not with the animation per se, but the fight choreography – that continues to be lovely, and the visual representations of the power moves (especially the Mizu no Kokyuu) are genuinely beautiful.