#Rengoku’s Birthday Celebrations for Demon Slayer: Mugen Train Moviegoers Postponed Due to COVID-19

(Image via Demon Slayer: Mugen Train Official website)

The official Twitter account for the Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba anime franchise released a statement earlier today that revealed that there were plans for a new theatrical gift were in motion to celebrate the birthday of the main Hashira from the Mugen Train film, Rengoku, but those plans have been postponed due to the current State of Emergency in Japan to combat the coronavirus, which sees cinemas in Japan’s most metropolitan areas closed.

The gift was going to be a set of A5 cards featuring Rengoku drawn by anime studio Ufotable to celebrate his birthday and were scheduled to begin distributions in theaters across Japan on May 10, which is the date of Rengoku’s birth. No preview of these cards has been shown, nor has a new distribution date set for them. With the governors of Hyogo, Osaka, Kyoto, and Tokyo requesting an extension to the State of Emergency (which is currently scheduled to end on May 11), it’s doubtful cinemas in these areas will be opening any time soon.

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 second-highest-grossing film of 2020. You can read our review of the film here. In North America, Mugen Train made its stop in theaters on April 23 both dubbed and subbed formats, with a digital release of the film 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: Demon Slayer on Twitter

—-

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.