🔗 Share this article

Two youngsters share a private, tender moment at the local secondary school’s open-air swimming pool late at night. While they drift together, suspended beneath the stars in the stillness of the night, the sequence portrays the fleeting, exhilarating thrill of adolescent romance, completely caught up in the moment, consequences forgotten.

Approximately 30 minutes into Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc, it became clear such moments are the heart of the movie. The love story became the focus, and all the contextual information and backstories I had gleaned from the anime’s initial episodes proved to be mostly irrelevant. Despite being a official installment within the franchise, Reze Arc offers a easier starting place for first-time viewers — even if they haven’t seen its single episode. This method brings advantages, but it also hinders a portion of the tension of the film’s story.

Created by the original creator, Chainsaw Man follows Denji, a debt-ridden fiend fighter in a world where Devils embody particular dangers (ranging from ideas like getting older and obscurity to terrifying entities like insects or World War II). When he’s deceived and killed by the criminal syndicate, he forms a contract with his loyal devil-dog, Pochita, and returns from the deceased as a chainsaw-human hybrid with the ability to completely destroy fiends and the terrors they represent from existence.

Plunged into a brutal conflict between demons and hunters, the hero encounters Reze — a charming barista concealing a deadly secret — sparking a heartbreaking clash between the pair where love and survival collide. The movie continues immediately following season 1, delving into the main character’s connection with Reze as he grapples with his emotions for her and his devotion to his manipulative boss, his employer, forcing him to choose between passion, faithfulness, and self-preservation.

An Independent Love Story Amidst a Broader World

Reze Arc is fundamentally a lovers-to-enemies plot, with our fallible main character the hero falling for his counterpart almost immediately upon meeting. He is a isolated young man looking for love, which makes his heart vulnerable and up for grabs on a first-come basis. Consequently, in spite of all of Chainsaw Man’s intricate mythology and its extensive ensemble, Reze Arc is very self-contained. Director the director recognizes this and ensures the romantic arc is at the forefront, instead of weighing it down with filler recaps for the uninitiated, especially when such details is crucial to the complete storyline.

Despite Denji’s flaws, it’s hard not to feel for him. He is after all a adolescent, fumbling his way through a world that’s distorted his sense of morality. His intense craving for affection portrays him like a infatuated puppy, although he’s prone to growling, snapping, and making a mess along the way. Reze is a ideal pairing for Denji, an compelling femme fatale who targets her mark in our protagonist. You want to see Denji earn the affection of his affection, even if Reze is clearly concealing something from him. So when her real identity is revealed, you still can’t help but hope they’ll somehow succeed, even though internally, you know a happy ending is not truly in the cards. Therefore, the stakes fail to seem as high as they ought to be since their relationship is doomed. It doesn’t help that the film serves as a direct sequel to Season 1, leaving little room for a love story like this among the more grim developments that fans are aware are approaching.

Stunning Animation and Artistic Craftsmanship

The film’s visuals seamlessly blend traditional animation with computer-generated settings, delivering stunning visual appeal even before the excitement begins. From vehicles to tiny desk fans, digital assets add depth and detail to each scene, allowing the 2D characters stand out beautifully. Unlike Demon Slayer, which often highlights its 3D assets and changing backgrounds, Reze Arc employs them less frequently, particularly evident during its action-packed finale, where those models, though not unappealing, are more apparent to spot. Such smooth, dynamic environments make the movie’s battles both visually bombastic and remarkably easy to follow. Nonetheless, the technique excels most when it’s invisible, improving the dynamic range and movement of the hand-drawn art.

Concluding Impressions and Broader Considerations

Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc functions as a good starting place, probably leaving new fans pleased, but it also has a downside. Telling a self-contained narrative restricts the tension of what should feel like a expansive anime epic. This is an example of why following up a successful anime season with a film isn’t the optimal approach if it weakens the series’ general storytelling potential.

Whereas Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle found success by tying up multiple seasons of animated series with an epic film, and JuJutsu Kaisen 0 avoided the issue entirely by serving as a backstory to its well-known series, Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc advances boldly, perhaps a bit recklessly. However this does not prevent the movie from proving to be a great time, a terrific point of entry, and a unforgettable romantic tale.