🔗 Share this article

Two teenagers experience a intimate, gentle moment at the neighborhood secondary school’s outdoor pool after hours. As they float together, suspended under the night sky in the quietness of the evening, the scene portrays the fleeting, heady excitement of teenage romance, utterly engrossed in the present, consequences forgotten.

About 30 minutes into The Chainsaw Man Film: Reze Arc, I realized such moments are the core of the film. The love story became the focus, and all the contextual information and backstories I had gleaned from the anime’s first season turned out to be largely irrelevant. Although it is a canonical installment within the series, Reze Arc offers a more accessible entry point for newcomers — even if they haven’t seen its single episode. This method brings advantages, but it also hinders a portion of the urgency of the movie’s story.

Created by Tatsuki Fujimoto, Chainsaw Man chronicles the protagonist, a indebted Devil Hunter in a world where demons represent particular evils (including concepts like Aging and Darkness to specific horrors like cockroaches or World War II). After being betrayed and murdered by the criminal syndicate, he makes a pact with his loyal devil-dog, Pochita, and returns from the dead as a part-human chainsaw wielder with the ability to permanently erase Devils and the terrors they signify from reality.

Thrust into a violent struggle between demons and hunters, the hero meets a new character — a alluring coffee server concealing a deadly secret — igniting a heartbreaking confrontation between the two where love and existence collide. The movie continues immediately following the first season, exploring Denji’s connection with Reze as he wrestles with his feelings for her and his loyalty to his controlling boss, his employer, forcing him to choose between desire, loyalty, and survival.

A Self-Contained Romantic Tale Within a Larger World

Reze Arc is fundamentally a romance-to-rivalry story, with our imperfect main character Denji falling for his counterpart almost immediately upon meeting. He’s a lonely boy looking for affection, which makes his heart unreliable and up for grabs on a first-come, first-served. Consequently, despite all of Chainsaw Man’s complex lore and its extensive ensemble, Reze Arc is very self-contained. Filmmaker Tatsuya Yoshihara recognizes this and ensures the love story is at the center, instead of weighing it down with unnecessary summaries for the new viewers, especially when none of that is crucial to the overall storyline.

Regardless of the protagonist’s imperfections, it’s hard not to feel for him. He’s after all a adolescent, fumbling his way through a reality that’s distorted his understanding of morality. His intense craving for affection portrays him like a lovesick dog, although he’s likely to growling, snapping, and making a mess along the way. Reze is a ideal match for Denji, an compelling femme fatale who targets her prey in our protagonist. You want to see Denji earn the affection of his affection, despite she is obviously hiding something from him. So when her real identity is revealed, you still can’t help but wish they’ll somehow make it work, even though internally, it is known a positive outcome is not truly in the cards. As such, the stakes don’t feel as intense as they should be since their relationship is fated. This is compounded by that the movie serves as a direct sequel to Season 1, leaving minimal space for a romance like this amid the more grim developments that fans are aware are coming soon.

Stunning Visuals and Artistic Craftsmanship

This movie’s visuals effortlessly combine 2D animation with 3D environments, delivering stunning eye candy prior to the excitement kicks in. Including cars to small office appliances, digital assets add depth and detail to each scene, making the animated figures stand out beautifully. In contrast to Demon Slayer, which frequently showcases its 3D assets and shifting backgrounds, Reze Arc employs them more sparingly, most noticeably during its explosive climax, where those models, though not unappealing, become easier to spot. These smooth, ever-shifting backgrounds render the film’s fights both spectacular to watch and remarkably easy to follow. Still, the method shines brightest when it’s unnoticeable, enhancing the dynamic range and motion of the 2D animation.

Concluding Thoughts and Broader Considerations

Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc serves as a good starting place, likely resulting in new fans pleased, but it also has a drawback. Telling a self-contained narrative limits the stakes of what ought to seem like a expansive animated saga. It’s an example of why continuing a popular television series with a film isn’t the best strategy if it undermines the series’ overall narrative possibilities.

Whereas Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle succeeded by concluding multiple seasons of animated series with an epic film, and JuJutsu Kaisen 0 sidestepped the issue entirely by serving as a prequel to its popular series, Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc advances boldly, maybe a slightly foolishly. But that doesn’t stop the film from proving to be a enjoyable experience, a terrific introduction, and a memorable romantic tale.