Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba -To the Swordsmith Village- (2023)

Generally speaking I am fan of these action animé, but here I rather struggled. It reminded me of one of those Buster Crabbe "Flash Gordon" serialisations from the 1930s. Only difference being that here, they didn't even bother to edit out the credits and titles of each of the three episodes contained within this unremarkable compendium. Using a series of real-time and flashback action "Tanjiro" must defeat a powerful and resourceful upper rank demon who has claimed his sister into his murky ranks. His success does not impress the leader "Muzan" who soon convenes his warriors to devise a strategy to thwart the upstart once and for all. Can he and his friends survive and free her? It's action packed and entertaining enough, but the conclusion of the film is merely the end of part one of a season yet to come - the entire thing is clearly an ongoing work in progress that someone has decided could be compartmentalised for cinema release almost as a full-length trail for the next series using the last two episodes of the last one as a teaser. Will there be another film release of episodes 2-4, I wonder? If so, can you at least tighten it up and spare us twenty minutes of credits for who did what when. Watchable, yes - but sloppily and casually cobbled together.