🔗 Share this article

Two teenagers experience a private, tender instant at the local secondary school’s outdoor pool late at night. As they float as one, suspended beneath the stars in the stillness of the evening, the scene captures the fleeting, exhilarating thrill of adolescent romance, utterly caught up in the moment, consequences overlooked.

Approximately 30 minutes into The Chainsaw Man Film: Reze Arc, I realized these scenes are the heart of the film. The romantic tale became the focus, and every bit of contextual information and backstories I had gleaned from the series’ initial episodes proved to be mostly irrelevant. Despite being a canonical installment within the series, Reze Arc offers a more accessible starting place for newcomers — regardless of they haven’t seen its single episode. This method has its benefits, but it simultaneously limits some of the urgency of the film’s story.

Developed by Tatsuki Fujimoto, Chainsaw Man follows the protagonist, a indebted fiend fighter in a world where Devils embody particular dangers (ranging from ideas like getting older and Darkness to terrifying entities like insects or historical conflicts). After being betrayed and murdered by the yakuza, he forms a contract with his loyal companion, his pet, and returns from the dead as a chainsaw-human hybrid with the power to completely destroy Devils and the horrors they signify from existence.

Plunged into a violent struggle between demons and hunters, Denji encounters a new character — a alluring barista concealing a lethal mystery — igniting a tragic confrontation between the two where love and existence intersect. This film continues immediately following season 1, exploring the main character’s relationship with Reze as he grapples with his emotions for her and his loyalty to his controlling boss, Makima, compelling him to choose between passion, faithfulness, and survival.

A Self-Contained Romantic Tale Amidst a Broader Universe

Reze Arc is inherently a romance-to-rivalry plot, with our fallible protagonist the hero becoming enamored with Reze right away upon meeting. He is a isolated young man seeking affection, which renders him vulnerable and easily swayed on a first-come basis. As a result, in spite of all of Chainsaw Man’s intricate lore and its large ensemble, Reze Arc is very self-contained. Filmmaker Tatsuya Yoshihara recognizes this and guarantees the love story is at the forefront, rather than bogging it down with filler recaps for the new viewers, particularly since none of that really matters to the complete plot.

Regardless of Denji’s imperfections, it’s difficult not to sympathize with him. He is still a teenager, fumbling his way through a reality that’s distorted his sense of right and wrong. His desperate longing for love makes him come off like a lovesick dog, even if he’s prone to barking, snapping, and causing chaos along the way. His love interest is a ideal pairing for Denji, an effective seductive antagonist who finds her mark in our protagonist. You want to see the main character earn the affection of his affection, even if she is clearly concealing a secret from him. So when her real identity is unveiled, audiences cannot avoid hope they’ll somehow succeed, even though internally, it is known a positive outcome is never really in the plan. Therefore, the tension fail to seem as high as they ought to be since their romance is fated. This is compounded by that the movie acts as a immediate follow-up to Season 1, allowing minimal space for a love story like this among the more grim developments that fans are aware are coming soon.

Breathtaking Visuals and Technical Execution

The film’s graphics seamlessly blend traditional animation with 3D environments, delivering impressive visual appeal prior to the action kicks in. Including cars to small office appliances, 3D models add depth and detail to every scene, allowing the animated figures pop beautifully. Unlike Demon Slayer, which often showcases its 3D assets and changing backgrounds, Reze Arc uses them more sparingly, particularly evident during its explosive finale, where those models, though not unappealing, become easier to identify. These smooth, dynamic environments render the movie’s battles both visually bombastic and remarkably easy to follow. Still, the method shines brightest when it’s invisible, improving the vibrancy and motion of the 2D animation.

Final Impressions and Wider Implications

Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc serves as a solid starting place, probably leaving new fans satisfied, but it also has a downside. Telling a self-contained story limits the stakes of what ought to seem like a expansive anime epic. This is an illustration of why following up a popular television series with a film is not the best approach if it weakens the series’ general storytelling potential.

Whereas Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle succeeded by tying up multiple installments of animated series with an epic movie, and JuJutsu Kaisen 0 avoided the problem completely by acting as a backstory to its well-known series, Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc advances boldly, maybe a slightly foolishly. However this does not prevent the film from proving to be a great experience, a terrific point of entry, and a unforgettable romantic tale.