Author: Tania Escobar
If you love Demon Slayer and also love tasty food, Aniplex has partnered up with Bearology to bring us the Demon Slayer x Bearology Mugen Train Immersive Experience.
For a limited run of two months, Bearology in Temple City has been transformed into the Mugen Train to serve gyunabe bento box and boba drinks inspired by the main characters of Demon Slayer, in anticipation for the next chapter of Demon Slayer to come into theaters soon.
If you’re familiar with the manga or the anime Demon Slayer, then you’re familiar with the Mugen Train. Once you arrive, you receive a collectible train ticket with a character on it, and you get to pick your favorite character. The ticket is a stamp rally; you earn stamps through secret tasks once inside. I picked Nezuko, but I didn’t know they had a ticket with Rengoku on it, but it gives me an excuse to go again. One of the secret tasks is to visit the Mugen Train a second time. Make sure to bring your first ticket if you manage to get it stamped on your first visit!
Right when you walk in you’re transported into a train car that looks exactly like the train cars in the Mugen Train arc. The train seats look just like the ones in the episode, and instead of train booths, it’s restaurant booths with a table in between the train seats. Each booth seats a party of 4, and it’s shared seating just like in a train, to accommodate reservations and walk-ups due to the high volume of fans. I was a party of one and got to sit and converse with other Demon Slayer fans. I recommend going in a group so you can have a train booth all to yourselves. What added to eating in a train were the train windows; screens that would show outside movement as though the train were moving.
One of my favorite things from the Mugen Train arc, besides one of my favorite characters, Rengoku, is the bento box meal he eats while on the train. I always thought the box looked cool and the food looked amazing, even though it’s a drawing. For $25, you get the Mugen Gyunabe Bento Box, the same exact bento box Rengoku eats on the train. I also had Grilled Onigiri meant for a Hashira. For my drink, I had the Nezuko Sweet Bloom, which is a strawberry lychee milk tea that comes with a heat-reactive mug that is Nezuko’s box and reveals Nezuko! Each main character has a themed drink, and for $25, you can choose between the Nezuko Mug or a Nichirin Tumbler. Along with the purchase of a Nichirin Tumbler, you get a randomly selected debit card skin with a character on it. There was Tanjiro Sword Churros on the menu, but I was already full after a tasty bento box. For $50, you can get a limited edition Tanjiro & Nezuko apron that you can only get inside the experience. You can also order food and drinks off of the Bearology Cafe menu. I couldn’t resist a Taro Milk Tea to drink on my way home.
The experience had several in-store activations you can ask the staff about. I didn’t do any because I was full after a meal fit for a Hashira. There were also a handful of photo-ops of the main characters, and a sword-catching arcade game with a Rengoku photo-op. If you manage to catch all the swords without dropping, you may get your ticket stamped.
I never thought I would ever get to experience one of my favorite animes like I did at the Demon Slayer x Bearology Immersive Experience. Probably one of the best immersive experiences I’ve done, not just because of the food but because I got to do what Rengoku got to do before his last battle. If you know, you know, and if you don’t, recommend watching Demon Slayer on Netflix and catching up before the new arc movie comes out. Almost every Demon Slayer fan I’ve spoken to has a special place in their heart for Rengoku, and to have a Mugen Gyunabe Bento Box meal just like his makes this experience and anime even more meaningful to me as a fan.
I highly recommend going to the Demon Slayer x Bearology Immersive Experience before it disappears. It will run for 2 months up until the end of July, and I also recommend making a reservation on their website before going. The experience will also appear at Anime Expo in Los Angeles on July 3rd – 6th.
And make sure to yell “TASTY” just like Rengoku after you finish your bento box.
Make your reservation today!
