I never thought there would be ANY possibility of records being set this year in the box office, any box office around the world, with COVID-19 either closing theaters, delaying movies, and keeping audiences at home. Japan has been doing a steady and solid job of keeping COVID-19 from hitting another wave and so has been rewarded with relative return to normalcy. Movie theaters have been open for many months now and all everyone can talk about this month is the runaway and record breaking success of animated movie Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba the Movie: Mugen Train.

It’s a standalone movie based on the hit shonen manga Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba, so popular as to have dethroned One Piece as the number one selling manga in Japan. The movie was released on October 16th and to date (7 weeks in) has surpassed Your Name as the and also surpassed Frozen in box office haul in the Japanese box office. It has earned $250 million USD and shows no sign of slowing down, currently sitting at the #3 spot for highest grossing movie in Japan EVER. Top spot remains Spirited Away followed by Titanic and now Demon Slayer. I love the manga, it’s action packed but super into family and sibling affection and being brave.