🔗 Share this article

A pair of youngsters share a intimate, tender moment at the local secondary school’s outdoor swimming pool after hours. As they float together, suspended beneath the night sky in the stillness of the night, the sequence captures the fleeting, exhilarating excitement of adolescent love, utterly engrossed in the moment, consequences overlooked.

About 30 minutes into Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc, it became clear such moments are the heart of the film. Denji and Reze’s romantic tale took center stage, and every bit of background details and character histories previously known from the series’ first season turned out to be largely irrelevant. Although it is a canonical installment within the series, Reze Arc provides a easier entry point for newcomers — even if they haven’t seen its single episode. This method brings advantages, but it also hinders some of the urgency of the film’s narrative.

Developed by Tatsuki Fujimoto, Chainsaw Man chronicles Denji, a indebted fiend fighter in a universe where Devils embody particular evils (ranging from concepts like getting older and obscurity to terrifying entities like cockroaches or historical conflicts). After being deceived and killed by the yakuza, Denji makes a pact with his loyal devil-dog, his pet, and comes back from the dead as a part-human chainsaw wielder with the ability to permanently erase Devils and the horrors they signify from existence.

Plunged into a brutal struggle between devils and hunters, the hero meets a new character — a alluring barista hiding a lethal mystery — igniting a heartbreaking clash between the two where affection and existence collide. The movie picks up immediately following the first season, delving into the main character’s connection with Reze as he grapples with his emotions for her and his devotion to his manipulative superior, Makima, compelling him to decide among passion, faithfulness, and survival.

A Self-Contained Love Story Amidst a Larger Universe

Reze Arc is fundamentally a lovers-to-enemies plot, with our imperfect protagonist Denji falling for his counterpart right away upon introduction. He is a isolated boy seeking affection, which renders him unreliable and up for grabs on a first-come basis. Consequently, in spite of all of Chainsaw Man’s intricate lore and its extensive ensemble, Reze Arc is very self-contained. Filmmaker Tatsuya Yoshihara recognizes this and guarantees the love story is at the center, instead of bogging it down with unnecessary summaries for the new viewers, particularly since such details is crucial to the overall plot.

Regardless of Denji’s imperfections, it’s difficult not to feel for him. He’s after all a teenager, stumbling his way through a reality that’s distorted his sense of morality. His desperate craving for love portrays him like a infatuated puppy, even if he’s likely to barking, biting, and causing chaos along the way. Reze is a ideal match for him, an effective femme fatale who finds her mark in our protagonist. Viewers hope to see Denji earn the affection of his affection, even if she is obviously concealing a secret from him. Thus when her real identity is revealed, audiences can’t help but wish they’ll somehow make it work, although internally, it is known a happy ending is not truly in the cards. Therefore, the tension don’t feel as high as they ought to be since their relationship is fated. It doesn’t help that the film serves as a immediate follow-up to Season 1, leaving little room for a love story like this amid the more grim developments that fans are aware are coming soon.

Breathtaking Animation and Artistic Execution

This movie’s visuals effortlessly combine traditional animation with 3D environments, delivering impressive eye candy prior to the action kicks in. Including vehicles to tiny office appliances, digital assets enhance realism and detail to each shot, making the animated figures stand out strikingly. Unlike Demon Slayer, which often highlights its digital elements and shifting backgrounds, Reze Arc employs them less frequently, most noticeably during its explosive finale, where those models, while not unattractive, become easier to identify. Such fluid, dynamic environments render the film’s fights both visually bombastic and remarkably easy to follow. Still, the method shines brightest when it’s invisible, enhancing the dynamic range and movement of the 2D animation.

Concluding Thoughts and Wider Considerations

Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc functions as a solid point of entry, likely resulting in first-time audiences satisfied, but it additionally carries a drawback. Presenting a standalone narrative limits the stakes of what ought to seem like a sprawling animated saga. This is an illustration of why following up a successful anime season with a movie is not the best approach if it weakens the series’ overall narrative possibilities.

While Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle succeeded by concluding multiple seasons of animated series with an epic movie, and JuJutsu Kaisen 0 avoided the issue completely by serving as a prequel to its popular series, Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc charges forward, maybe a slightly recklessly. However that doesn’t stop the film from proving to be a enjoyable experience, a terrific point of entry, and a memorable love story.