#Demon Slayer: Mugen Train Has the Biggest 1st Week Home Video Release in Japan Since Reiwa Started in 2019

Image via Demon Slayer on Twitter

Oricon finally released its report on the first week of sales for the newly released Demon Slayer -Kimetsu no Yaiba- The Movie: Mugen Train, revealing that the regular editions of the film on DVD and Blu-ray has the highest first-week sales since Reiwa began in 2019, beating Frozen 2’s first-week sales by a very wide margin. 

Here’s the full breakdown from Oricon:

DVD sales:

• Regular Edition – 457,000
• Limited Edition – 165,000

Blu-ray Sales:

• Regular Edition -351,000
• Limited Edition – 338,000

Total across all versions – 1,311,000

For reference, Frozen 2 is now 3rd on the DVD chart behind the regular and limited edition, as well as 3rd on the Blu-ray chart behind the regular and limited editions. Demon Slayer is also the first physical release to sell over a million copies in the first week since the first Frozen film in 2014.

Speaking about Frozen, it is estimated that the sales from Mugen Train have outgrossed that of Frozen’s first week at an estimated 7.5 billion yen (US$67.6 million) compared to an estimated 6.3 billion yen (US$62.2 million) for Frozen. Going any further back in the records for DVD (and VHS) sales is difficult, though it’s presumed that Spirited Away sold way more when it was first released on DVD and VHS in 2002. 

It should also be noted that Oricon doesn’t track some independent stores and online retailers, with one of the biggest from Demon Slayer, the online ufotable store, not tracked in the above figures.

Demon Slayer -Kimetsu no Yaiba- The Movie: Mugen Train opened in Japanese cinemas on October 16 and had the best opening weekend in Japanese cinema history, becoming the highest-grossing film in Japanese theaters ever, the highest-grossing anime and Japanese film worldwide, and the highest-grossing film of 2020. You can read our review of the film here. The film’s home release in Japan topped sales charts and become the highest-selling release of the Reiwa era.

In North America, Mugen Train made its stop in theaters on April 23 both dubbed and subbed formats, with a digital and streaming release of the film coming on June 22, becoming the first anime film to top the US box office since Pokémon: The First Movie in 1999.

The Ufotable-produced anime film continues to adapt the manga series by Koyoharu Gotouge, which saw a TV anime series adaptation in 2019. The Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba TV anime series streamed on Crunchyroll as it aired. The second season of the TV anime series, subtitled “Entertainment District arc”, will premiere sometime in 2021 on Japanese TV.

Source: Oricon

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Daryl Harding is a Japan Correspondent for Crunchyroll News. He also runs a YouTube channel about Japan stuff called TheDoctorDazza, tweets at @DoctorDazza, and posts photos of his travels on Instagram.